Chapter 9 - Eleven Names
Claire returned to Richard’s study.
This time, Ethan, Nathan, Detective Hale, and Samuel Price were with her.
They examined every drawer.
Every book.
Every panel.
Nothing.
Then Claire remembered Richard’s words.
He had hidden proof somewhere Eleanor could never legally access.
Nathan looked toward the wall.
“My father donated part of this property before he died.”
Ethan frowned.
“To whom?”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“The staff.”
A small chapel at the edge of the estate had been transferred into an employee charitable trust.
Eleanor had hated the decision.
Legally, she had never owned it.
They crossed the grounds.
Rosa met them outside.
“My mother used to clean this chapel.”
Claire looked at her.
“Did she know Richard?”
Rosa nodded.
“Everyone who worked here knew Mr. Blackwood.”
“He protected staff from Mrs. Blackwood.”
Inside the chapel stood twelve wooden pews.
One had a brass plaque beneath it.
FOR THOSE WHO WERE GIVEN DIFFERENT NAMES.
Claire knelt.
A hidden latch opened beneath the pew.
Inside was a metal case.
The case contained birth certificates.
Hospital records.
Payment receipts.
Photographs.
Eleven folders.
Claire’s was number seven.
Detective Hale turned pale as he read.
“This is enough to reopen everything.”
Then Rosa gasped.
She had opened folder number four.
A baby photograph was clipped inside.
The child had a distinctive crescent-shaped birthmark near her left ear.
Rosa touched the same place beneath her hair.
Everyone stared at her.
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“My mother told me I was born in Puerto Rico.”
Hale checked the file.
The child had actually been born in Massachusetts.
The biological mother’s name was listed.
Maria Alvarez.
Rosa whispered.
“That’s my mother’s name.”
Then she saw the notation.
ADOPTIVE PLACEMENT CANCELLED.
CHILD TRANSFERRED TO EMPLOYEE HOUSEHOLD.
AUTHORIZED BY R. BLACKWOOD.
Rosa looked confused.
“Richard gave me to my mother?”
Claire read the remaining pages.
Maria Alvarez had worked as a housekeeper at the Vale estate.
Charles Vale had taken her newborn after claiming Maria was financially unfit.
Richard later discovered the scheme.
He secretly returned the baby.
Rosa began crying.
Richard had saved her.
But he had not been able to save all eleven.
Hale photographed every document.
Then he froze.
Folder number eleven was empty.
Only one sentence remained.
CHILD ELEVEN REMAINS INSIDE THE BLACKWOOD FAMILY.
Ethan looked at Nathan.
Nathan looked at Ethan.
May you like
Claire felt the room grow cold.
One of Eleanor’s sons might not be who he believed he was.
