Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO NEVER STOPPED WAITING
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The next morning, the district attorney's investigator called with an update.
The storage company had located several boxes of records from the old New Hampshire facility.
One contained a patient admission file under the name Elena Ward.
Nora felt her heart stop.
“Is there a photograph?”
“Yes.”
“Can you send it?”
The investigator promised to forward a secure copy.
Minutes later, Nora opened the file.
A woman sat in a wheelchair beside a window.
Her hair was thinner.
Her face was older.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
It was her mother.
Nora pressed a hand over her mouth.
Holly sat beside her.
“It's her?”
Nora nodded.
“She was alive.”
The record showed that Elena Ward had been admitted under a private arrangement. Her medical expenses had been paid through a company connected to Gideon Rourke.
The file also contained visitor logs.
Camden Rourke appeared six times.
Arthur Pike appeared eleven times.
Nora stared at the names.
“Camden visited her.”
Holly nodded.
“That's significant.”
The last visitor entry was dated six years ago.
After that, the record became incomplete.
A transfer form showed that Elena had been moved to another facility.
But the destination had been blacked out.
Nora stood.
“I want to find her.”
Holly reached for her arm.
“We will.”
That afternoon, Daniel Whitmore arrived with a new document.
It was a handwritten note from Eleanor, found inside an old family archive.
If my daughter ever returns, tell her I never stopped waiting. Tell her I tried to reach her. Tell her I did not abandon her.
Nora read it again and again.
For years, she had imagined her mother as a woman who had left.
Now she was beginning to understand that someone had taken the choice away from both of them.
Daniel sat across from her.
“I should have found you sooner.”
Nora looked at him.
“You were searching?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did no one tell me?”
“We were told you had been adopted by a family in another state. The information was deliberately falsified.”
“By Gideon?”
Daniel nodded.
“Your grandfather trusted him. Gideon managed the family security operation. He controlled the records, the money, and the people who were supposed to protect Eleanor.”
Nora's expression hardened.
“And Camden?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He was young, but he was involved.”
“Did he know where my mother was?”
“We believe he did.”
Nora looked down at the photograph.
“Why would he marry me if he knew?”
Daniel gave her no answer.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
Your mother is alive. Stop searching, or she won't be for long.
Nora looked up.
Holly had already read it.
“We're notifying the investigator.”
Nora shook her head.
“No. We're going to find her first.”
Holly stared at her.
May you like
“Nora—”
“She has waited long enough.”
