“Charles.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“My God.”
Margaret's voice dropped.
“She told me that the baby was never supposed to disappear.”
Maya looked at the old woman.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Rebecca had agreed to move you temporarily.”
“Temporarily?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“From Charles?”
“Yes.”
Maya stood.
“But I was gone for twenty-five years.”
Margaret looked at her.
“That wasn't the plan.”
They drove back toward Denver.
Nobody spoke for almost an hour.
Finally Maya said:
“What if Rebecca was telling the truth?”
Eleanor turned.
“About what?”
“That she took me to protect me.”
Eleanor was quiet.
Maya continued.
“What if she didn't steal me?”
Daniel glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
“That's what we're going to determine.”
Maya looked down at the hospital bracelet.
“Because if she didn't steal me…”
She couldn't finish.
Eleanor reached backward and took her hand.
Maya held it.
Neither woman said anything.
The next morning Daniel received a call.
Claire Carter was alive.
She had been living under her middle name.
Clara Rose.
She had changed her surname after leaving Colorado.
She lived in a small coastal town in Oregon.
Maya stared at the screen.
“Why would she hide?”
Daniel said:
“Because she was afraid.”
Eleanor whispered:
“Of Charles.”
“Yes.”
“Let's go.”
Claire opened the door.
She was seventy-one.
Her hair was white.
Her face was thin.
But her eyes were unmistakably Rebecca's.
Maya knew immediately.
This was her aunt.
Claire looked at Maya.
For several seconds she couldn't breathe.
Then she whispered:
“Lily.”
Maya froze.
Nobody had called her that before.
Not since she learned the name.
Not in a voice that carried recognition.
Claire's hand went to her mouth.
“Oh, God.”
Maya stepped forward.
“Do you know me?”
Claire began crying.
“Yes.”
Maya's voice shook.
“Tell me everything.”
Claire looked at Eleanor.
“I owe you the truth.”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“You do.”
Claire opened the door wider.
“Come inside.”
Claire kept an old wooden box in her bedroom.
She brought it downstairs.
Placed it on the table.
And opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Letters.
A hospital badge.
A tiny pink blanket.
And a cassette tape.
Maya stared at it.
“What is that?”
Claire touched the tape.
“Rebecca gave me this.”
“When?”
“The night before she disappeared.”
Maya's heart stopped.
“Rebecca disappeared?”
Claire nodded.
“She didn't just stop talking to you. She disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three weeks after Lily was taken.”
Maya looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor whispered:
“What happened to her?”
Claire looked down.
“I don't know.”
Maya's voice cracked.
“You're my aunt. You have to know something.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I know enough to tell you that your mother spent twenty-five years protecting you.”
Maya sat down.
“Then tell me.”
Claire inserted the cassette into an old player.
The machine clicked.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice.
Rebecca.
Young.
Terrified.
“Claire, if you're listening to this, something has gone wrong.”
Maya covered her mouth.
Her mother's voice continued.
“I don't know who I can trust anymore.”
Claire began crying silently.
Rebecca continued.
“Lily is alive.”
Eleanor's entire body shook.
“I need you to believe me.”
Static.
Then:
“She was never supposed to stay with the Carters.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Rebecca's voice trembled.
“I thought I was buying us time.”
A pause.
“Charles knows.”
Maya opened her eyes.
Rebecca continued.
“He knows Lily survived.”
Another pause.
“If anything happens to me, take the papers to Eleanor.”
The recording crackled.
“And tell her I'm sorry.”
The tape stopped.
No one moved.
Maya stared at Claire.
“What happened after that?”
Claire wiped her tears.
“Rebecca came to me that night.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she had made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She had agreed to help someone move Lily out of the clinic.”
“Who?”
Claire shook her head.
“She never said.”
“But she knew where I was?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't she come for me?”
Claire looked down.
“Because she was being watched.”
“By Charles?”
“Yes.”
Maya's voice became sharper.
“You keep saying Charles. Did you ever see him?”
Claire nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“The night Lily disappeared.”
Eleanor stood.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside the clinic.”
“What was he doing?”
“Talking to a man.”
“Who?”
“I didn't know his name.”
“Can you describe him?”
Claire nodded.
“He was tall. Dark hair. Gray coat.”
Daniel immediately asked:
“Did you ever see him again?”
Claire looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At Rebecca's house.”
Daniel's face changed.
“When?”
“Three days after Lily disappeared.”
“Was Charles there?”
“No.”
“Just the man?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
Claire whispered:
“He wanted the bracelet.”
Maya looked down at her wrist.
“What bracelet?”
“The one Lily was wearing.”
Maya slowly lifted the hospital bracelet.
“This?”
Claire stared.
“Yes.”
The bracelet suddenly felt heavier.
Maya looked at it.
“Why would anyone want this?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel took a photograph of the bracelet.
“Maybe there's more information hidden in the marking.”
He examined it carefully.
“Baby L.W.”
Then he turned it over.
There was a tiny number etched into the metal.
“Room 214.”
Maya frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Claire answered.
“The old clinic had a storage room numbered 214.”
Daniel looked up.
“Was that room used for medical records?”
“Yes.”
“Still there?”
Claire nodded.
“I don't know.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Then we have somewhere to go.”
They returned to the clinic two days later.