Chapter 7: The Woman in the Photograph
The darkness lasted three seconds.
Maya counted every one.
One.
Two.
Three.
Emergency lights flickered on along the courthouse corridor, bathing the walls in a dim red glow. Detective Walker reached for her radio. Daniel grabbed Maya's hand and pulled her behind him.
“Don't move,” he whispered.
Maya stared at the doorway.
Detective Walker stood perfectly still, her phone pressed against her ear.
“What do you mean the cameras are down?”” she demanded.
“Who authorized the shutdown?””
A burst of static answered her.
She lowered the phone.
Daniel's grip tightened around Maya's hand.
“Was that your people?”” he asked.
Walker turned toward him.
“I don't have people here.””
“Then who's controlling the building?””
“I don't know.””
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“You've spent years investigating your mother's operation, and you don't know who controls the courthouse?””
Walker's expression hardened.
“My mother died five years ago. Whatever she did, I wasn't part of it.””
“Then why did you threaten to keep Maya from her mother unless I handed over the file?””
“I needed the evidence.””
“You needed control.””
Maya pulled her hand free.
“Stop!””
Both adults turned.
She stood between them, clutching the envelope against her chest.
“Every time I ask someone a question, two adults start arguing, and somehow I'm the one who gets left without an answer.””
Walker lowered her radio.
Maya looked directly at her.
“You said my mother was being held by someone who had spent eleven years pretending to help me. Were you talking about Danielle?””
Walker hesitated.
“I was talking about the person who has been sending you messages.””
“Who is it?””
“I don't know for certain.””
“Then why did you say it was my biological mother?””
“Because the location of Elena's confinement was traced to an account registered under Danielle Brooks's name.””
Daniel shook his head.
“That proves nothing.””
“I agree,” Walker said.
“Which is why we need to find Danielle before someone else does.””
Maya glanced at the photograph in Walker's hand.
“Where did you get that picture of Mom?””
“From a security camera at a private medical facility. Elena was being held in a room there until approximately twenty minutes ago.””
Maya's heart lurched.
“Was she hurt?””
“She appeared frightened, but she was conscious.””
“Did she know I was looking for her?””
“Yes.””
“Did she ask for me?””
Walker didn't answer quickly enough.
Maya felt the answer before she heard it.
“She did,” Walker said.
“She asked us to find you first.””
Daniel closed his eyes.
For the first time since Maya had met him, he looked as though he might collapse.
“That's Elena,” he whispered.
Maya looked at him.
“You knew her?””
“I knew the woman she was before everything went wrong.””
“Was she a good person?””
Daniel considered the question.
“She made mistakes. So did I. But she loved you, Maya. Never doubt that.””
Maya looked down at the confession in her hands.
The document accused Elena of knowingly authorizing the identity change. She wanted to ask Daniel how he could defend her when he had just discovered the evidence himself.
But there was no time.
A loud metallic bang echoed from the stairwell.
Walker drew her radio again.
“Security, identify yourself.””
No response.
Another bang.
Then the sound of running footsteps.
The footsteps stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the doorway.
Then a voice spoke from the corridor.
“Maya?””
It was Elena.
Maya's heart leaped into her throat.
“Mom?””
Daniel grabbed her shoulder.
“Wait.””
The voice came again, softer this time.
“Baby, it's me. Please open the door.””
Maya struggled against Daniel's grip.
“Let me go!””
He looked at her with desperate eyes.
“Listen carefully. If that's your mother, she'll understand why we need to be cautious.””
Maya stopped struggling.
She looked toward the doorway.
“Mom, what did you call me when I was little?””
A pause.
Then the voice answered.
“My little star.””
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
It was what Elena had called her since she was a toddler.
But it wasn't enough.
“What's the song you used to sing when I couldn't sleep?””
The voice outside the door began humming a familiar tune.
Maya recognized it immediately. Elena used to hum it while brushing her hair, folding laundry, or waiting beside her bed during thunderstorms.
Maya took a step forward.
Then Walker raised one hand.
“Wait.””
She moved toward the door and glanced through the narrow glass panel.
Her face changed.
“That's not Elena.””
Maya froze.
“What?””
Walker backed away from the doorway.
“Get down!””
The door burst open.
A woman in a dark coat stood outside, holding a small electronic device. She had dark skin, shoulder-length hair, and a silver necklace that caught the emergency light.
For one disorienting second, Maya thought she was looking at an older version of herself.
The woman looked at Maya.
Then at Daniel.
And her face crumpled.
“Daniel?””
He went white.
“Danielle.””
Maya stared at the woman.
Her biological mother.
The woman who had spent eleven years searching for her.
The woman Detective Walker suspected of holding Elena.
Danielle stepped inside, tears running down her cheeks.
“I found you,” she whispered.
Daniel moved toward her.
“Where have you been?””
“Trying to get to Maya.””
“Did you take Elena?””
Danielle recoiled.
“No.””
Walker raised her hand.
“Danielle, put the device on the floor and step away from the door.””
Danielle looked at her with open fury.
“You still believe your mother's lies.””
“My mother is dead.””
“Your mother may be dead, but her organization isn't.””
Danielle placed the device on the floor.
It emitted a soft electronic beep.
Maya looked at it.
“What is that?””
“A signal jammer,” Walker said.
“It interrupted the courthouse security system.””
Danielle nodded.
“I needed the cameras disabled long enough to get inside.””
“Why?””
“To find the original records.””
Daniel held up the envelope.
“We have them.””
Danielle stared at the document in Maya's hands.
Then she began to cry harder.
“After all these years.””
Maya took one step toward her.
“Are you my mother?””
Danielle looked at her.
“Yes, baby.””
“Did you take Elena?””
“No.””
“Did you know where she was?””
Danielle hesitated.
“I knew she was being watched. I didn't know she had been moved until tonight.””
Walker stepped closer.
“You expect us to believe you had nothing to do with her disappearance?””
“I expect you to check the evidence.””
Danielle reached into her coat and removed a folded sheet of paper.
“Marcus contacted me three weeks ago. He said he wanted to make things right. He told me he had proof that Elena had altered Maya's identity without my consent.””
Maya's stomach tightened.
“What did you tell him?””
“I told him I wanted to see my daughter.””
“Did you agree to help him?””
Danielle looked down.
“I agreed to meet him.””
Daniel's face hardened.
“Danielle.””
“I thought I could get to the records. I thought if I met him, I could finally find out what happened to you.””
“You should have told me.””
“I didn't know you were alive!””
The words echoed through the room.
Daniel stared at her.
Danielle covered her mouth.
For eleven years, they had both believed the other was gone.
Maya watched them, feeling as if she were standing between two pieces of a story that had been torn apart before she was born.
“Why did you never stop looking for me?”” she asked.
Danielle turned toward her.
“Because you're my daughter.””
“But you didn't know where I was.””
“I knew you existed. I knew someone had changed your name. I searched every record I could access.
I visited agencies, hospitals, courthouses. I sent letters that were returned unopened.””
She took a shaky breath.
“I kept a room ready for you. Every year, on your birthday, I bought a cake. I didn't know if you liked chocolate or vanilla, so I bought both.””
Maya's lips trembled.
“That's ridiculous.””
Danielle laughed through her tears.
“I know.””
“Why would you do that?””
“Because I needed to believe there was still a place for you to come home to.””
Maya looked away.
She wanted to run into Danielle's arms.
She also wanted to ask why every adult in her life had made decisions about her without allowing her to speak.
Before she could choose, a phone rang.
Walker's.
She answered immediately.
“Yes?””
A pause.
Her expression hardened.
“Where?””
She listened.
Then looked at Maya.
“We found Elena's last known location.””
Maya stepped forward.
“Where is she?””
Walker lowered the phone.
“An abandoned medical records facility outside the city.””
Daniel took the envelope from Maya and tucked it inside his coat.
“Then we're going.””
“No,” Walker said.
“We're going with a team.””
Danielle picked up the signal jammer.
“By the time your team arrives, she'll be gone.””
Walker moved toward her.
“Put that down.””
Danielle did.
But as she stepped away, something small slipped from her sleeve and landed on the floor.
A brass key.
Maya bent and picked it up.
A number was engraved on the side.
*B-12.*
The same room where they had found the hidden archive.
Maya looked at Danielle.
“You've been there before.””
Danielle's face went still.
Then she whispered, “Yes.””
“Why?””
Danielle looked toward the open door.
“Because that's where I last saw your father.””
Daniel's hand tightened around the envelope.
Maya stared at him.
“You said you disappeared.””
“I did.””
Danielle shook her head.
“No, Daniel. You were taken.””
Daniel looked at her, stunned.
Danielle's voice dropped to a whisper.
“And the person who took you was the one person you trusted more than anyone.””
She turned toward Maya.
“Your father knows who it was.””
Maya looked at Daniel.
He was staring at the brass key.
May you like
And for the first time, she saw something in his face more frightening than fear.
Recognition.
