Chapter 15 - The Secret Evelyn Left Behind|
Norah showed the email to Marcus immediately.
He read the message twice.
"Who sent it?"
"The address is hidden."
Marcus forwarded it to Daniel.
Within an hour, the attorney had traced the image to a private medical archive.
The photograph had been taken six months before Evelyn's accident.
She was standing outside a hospital in Connecticut.
Marcus recognized the building.
It was where his father had received treatment during the final year of his life.
"Why was Evelyn there?"
Norah examined the image.
"Could she have been visiting your father?"
"Possibly."
Daniel called the hospital.
The records were incomplete, but one detail stood out.
Evelyn had visited a patient under an assumed name.
The patient was a woman named Margaret Bellamy.
Norah went pale.
"My mother?"
Marcus looked at her.
"Your mother?"
Norah took the photograph.
She recognized the coat Evelyn was wearing.
Her mother had mentioned that name once.
Years earlier.
Before her health deteriorated, Margaret had worked as a bookkeeper for a small shipping company.
She had never discussed the details.
Norah called the hospital.
The records confirmed that Margaret had been admitted for an emergency procedure six months before Evelyn's death.
Evelyn had paid part of the bill.
Norah sat down.
"Why would she do that?"
Daniel found an old financial document.
Margaret Bellamy had been the original accountant responsible for identifying irregular transfers in the Bellara accounts.
She had discovered that money was being diverted from several family trusts.
When she confronted the company, she was dismissed.
Then someone began threatening her.
She had kept quiet because Norah was still a child.
Evelyn had found her years later.
She had helped Margaret obtain medical treatment and had promised to protect her daughter.
Norah felt tears in her eyes.
"My mother knew Evelyn?"
Marcus nodded.
"Apparently."
Norah looked at him.
"Then why didn't she tell me?"
"Perhaps she was trying to protect you."
The answer hurt.
Because Norah suddenly understood that her entire life had been shaped by secrets other people called protection.
She visited her mother that afternoon.
Margaret was sitting beside the window, wrapped in a pale blanket.
When Norah showed her the photograph, the older woman began crying.
"You found her."
Norah took her hand.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Margaret looked down.
"Because I was ashamed."
"Of what?"
"Of working for people who hurt others. Of being too frightened to speak."
Norah sat beside her.
"Mom, you were trying to survive."
Margaret shook her head.
"Evelyn was brave. She wanted to expose everything. She told me she had evidence that could clear my name."
"Did she give it to you?"
Margaret nodded.
"Not all of it."
"Where is it?"
Her mother looked toward the bedside cabinet.
Inside was a small envelope.
Norah opened it.
There was a handwritten letter and a photograph.
The letter was addressed to Margaret.
If anything happens to me, make sure my son knows that his father wasn't the only person involved. The original records are safe, but there is someone inside the family who still believes they can control the truth.
Norah read the final line.
Then she looked at the photograph.
It showed Evelyn standing beside a woman.
May you like
The woman was Vivien.
But the date printed on the back was three weeks after the accident.
