Chapter 20 - THE THIRD NAME IN THE LEDGER|
The package remained unopened on Gabriel’s desk until Catherine arrived the following morning.
He had spent the night checking the sender’s details, reviewing the evidence from the clinic, and asking investigators whether any third birth had been recorded on the date Elena delivered her daughters.
The answer was no.
Officially, only two babies had been born at the clinic that night.
The photograph suggested otherwise.
Three newborns lay in separate bassinets beneath a handwritten date. Elena stood beside one of the nurses, exhausted but smiling. Two bracelets bore the names Catherine Elena Bell and Isabella Moretti.
The third bracelet carried no name.
Only a number.
317.
Catherine turned it over.
On the reverse, someone had scratched a small symbol: a key surrounded by three circles.
She recognized the design from the hidden silver case.
“Gabriel, this is the same mark.”
He examined the bracelet.
“Then the third child was connected to the original ledger.”
They contacted Rebecca Sloan, the former nurse who had delivered the recording. She studied the photograph for several minutes before covering her mouth.
“There were three babies,” she whispered.
Catherine stared at her.
“You said the records showed two.”
“The records showed two because the third baby was never officially registered. I was told the child had died shortly after birth.”
“Who told you?”
“Dr. Price.”
“Did you see the body?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No. I saw a closed incubator. I was ordered to leave the room.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“Someone removed a living child and recorded a death.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“I thought it was a terrible mistake. Then Elena disappeared, the clinic closed, and everyone who asked questions was threatened.”
Catherine looked at the photograph again.
“Was the third baby a boy or a girl?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
A second envelope lay beneath the photograph. Inside was a bank statement from an account opened under a false name. Deposits had been made every year for more than two decades, each one on the same date.
The most recent deposit had been made three days earlier.
The account holder was listed as E. Romano.
Gabriel frowned.
“My mother?”
“Elena Romano is already under investigation,” Catherine said. “Could she have been paying someone to protect the child?”
They drove to the estate.
Elena was waiting in the library, her face pale when she saw the photograph.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she sat down.
“I was told the third baby had died.”
“By whom?” Catherine asked.
“Dr. Price. He said there had been complications. I was barely conscious. I believed him.”
“Why did you make the payments?”
Elena looked toward Gabriel.
“Because years later, I received a letter saying the child was alive. The writer demanded money in exchange for silence. I paid because I thought it was the only way to keep another child from being used against the family.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I didn’t know who the child was. I only knew that someone had proof of a third birth.”
Catherine placed the bracelet on the table.
“Who sent the letter?”
Elena reached into a drawer and removed a folded sheet.
“I never learned the name.”
Catherine opened it.
The message contained a single sentence.
When the third daughter returns, the Romano family will finally pay for what it did.
Beneath the sentence was an address in Chicago.
Catherine recognized the street immediately.
It belonged to a small alterations shop where her adoptive father had once taken her to have a coat repaired.
The shop had closed years ago.
But the account had received another deposit that morning.
Catherine looked at Gabriel.
“Someone is still alive who knows the whole story.”
He reached for her hand.
“Then we find them together.”
Outside, a black car passed the estate gates and disappeared into the morning traffic.
Inside the car, a woman watched the house through a camera lens.
She lowered the camera and opened a small notebook.
On the first page were three names.
Catherine Bell.
Isabella Moretti.
And a third name that had been crossed out so thoroughly it was impossible to read.
The woman turned to the final page and wrote a new sentence.
They found the ledger. Now let them find me.
Then she closed the notebook, started the engine, and drove toward the abandoned alterations shop.
The Romano family believed its darkest secrets were finally coming to light.
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They had not yet discovered that the person who knew the truth had been watching Catherine since before her wedding.
And she had a reason for keeping the third daughter hidden.
