Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Wanted Elena’s Child
Daniel gripped the phone so tightly that the stitches in his shoulder pulled.
“What did you just say?”
Claire’s breathing remained steady.
She sounded as composed as she had on the lawn outside the burning mansion, standing beside forged documents while officers prepared to take Eliana from her mother.
“She was supposed to be mine,” Claire repeated.
Daniel stepped away from Evelyn’s hospital bed and moved toward the window.
Outside, federal vehicles crossed the snowy grounds of Pine Hollow. Agents searched buildings, photographed records, and led shaken survivors toward medical vans.
None of it felt real anymore.
Every truth uncovered another lie beneath it.
“My daughter is not property,” he said.
“I know that.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I know better than most.”
“Where is she?”
“You are asking the wrong question.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“The next sound I want to hear is Eliana’s voice.”
Claire was silent for a moment.
Then Daniel heard movement.
A door closing.
The hum of a car engine.
They were traveling.
“Eliana is frightened,” Claire said. “Forcing her to speak to an angry stranger will not help.”
“I am her father.”
“Biologically, perhaps.”
The word perhaps ignited something violent in him.
“Richard’s trust required a biological heir. You forged adoption papers. You helped imprison my wife. Do not play games with me.”
“I am not playing.”
“Then explain what you meant.”
Claire exhaled slowly.
“Five years ago, I was preparing to become a mother.”
Daniel pressed the phone against his ear.
He looked toward Ava through the glass wall of the medical room. She was speaking with two agents near the nurses’ station.
He raised one hand sharply.
She saw his expression and immediately began moving toward him.
“I had undergone six rounds of fertility treatment,” Claire continued. “Two miscarriages. One failed adoption. Richard knew how desperate I had become.”
Daniel almost laughed at the familiarity of the pattern.
Richard did not find weakness.
He cultivated it.
“And he offered you Elena’s baby.”
“He offered me an arrangement.”
“She was carrying my child.”
“Richard told me the child was not yours.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What did he tell you?”
“That Elena had become involved with another man while investigating the foundation.”
“That was a lie.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not then.”
Ava entered the room.
Daniel put the call on speaker without warning Claire.
Ava immediately gestured to an agent in the hallway. The agent took out a tablet and began tracing the call.
Claire continued.
“Richard said Elena planned to disappear before the birth. He claimed she was unstable and intended to abandon the baby. He said I could provide a safe home.”
“You were his attorney. You knew he manipulated records.”
“I believed he manipulated records to protect families.”
“You helped him steal children.”
“I helped seal private placements.”
“Call them what they were.”
Claire’s voice sharpened for the first time.
“You think everyone involved understood the entire operation? Richard divided information deliberately. Doctors saw medical transfers. Judges saw emergency petitions. Families saw confidential adoptions. Attorneys saw paperwork. No one person had the full map.”
“Elena found it.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped silence her.”
A pause.
“I prepared the conservatorship petition.”
“You forged her signature.”
“I relied on medical evaluations.”
“From doctors Richard paid.”
“I know that now.”
Daniel’s laugh was bitter.
“You keep discovering morality after the damage is done.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
The line landed on more than Claire.
Daniel regretted it immediately but could not pull the words back.
Ava leaned toward the phone.
“Claire, this is Detective Ava Brooks. You are currently wanted for escape, kidnapping, obstruction, and conspiracy. Tell us where you are, release the child, and that will matter when charges are filed.”
Claire gave a small, humorless laugh.
“You still believe the law is coming to rescue everyone.”
“I believe you have a five-year-old child in a moving vehicle and very few options.”
“I have more options than you think.”
“Richard is in custody.”
“Richard is not the only person you should fear.”
The room became still.
Daniel looked at Ava.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Claire ignored him.
Ava spoke calmly.
“Who else is involved?”
“There are people whose names are not written in the black ledger.”
“The red ledger?”
Silence.
Claire knew.
Daniel saw Ava’s expression harden.
“You know where it is,” he said.
“I know Richard spent twelve years looking for it.”
“My mother hid it.”
“Evelyn always believed evidence could defeat power.”
Evelyn opened her eyes and spoke toward the phone.
“Sometimes it can.”
Claire stopped breathing for half a second.
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“You survived longer than they expected.”
“So did Elena.”
“So did I.”
Evelyn’s voice remained weak but clear.
“You did more than survive, Claire.”
“You know nothing about me.”
“I know Richard offered you a stolen baby after your last miscarriage.”
Claire’s voice changed.
The professional polish cracked.
“He said she had no one.”
“You wanted to believe him.”
“I had an empty nursery.”
“And Elena had a child inside her.”
“She was unconscious for most of the pregnancy.”
Daniel turned toward Evelyn.
“What?”
His mother looked down.
Claire answered.
“Richard kept Elena sedated after the staged accident. She woke for short periods. Sometimes she remembered where she was. Sometimes she did not.”
Daniel felt physically ill.
Elena had carried their daughter in captivity.
Surrounded by doctors who lied to her.
While he walked riverbanks and begged police to continue searching.
“Who delivered Eliana?” he asked.
“Dr. Harlan.”
“The doctor in the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Were you there?”
Claire did not respond.
Daniel knew the answer.
“You were there.”
“I waited outside.”
“You waited to take my daughter.”
“I believed her mother had abandoned her.”
“She was drugged in the next room.”
“I did not know that.”
“Did you see Elena afterward?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Claire’s voice softened.
“She woke while I was holding the baby.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
He could see it too clearly.
Elena waking confused and weak.
Claire holding Eliana.
Richard standing nearby, controlling the story.
“What happened?”
“She screamed.”
Evelyn turned her face away.
Daniel forced himself to continue.
“And?”
“She pulled out the IV. She tried to get off the bed. She fell.”
“You still believed she didn’t want the baby?”
“No.”
The single word was quiet.
Honest.
Too late.
Daniel spoke through clenched teeth.
“So you knew.”
“I knew Richard had lied.”
“And you took Eliana anyway.”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“I refused.”
Ava moved closer to the speaker.
“Then why is Eliana’s name connected to your initials?”
“Because Richard kept my original placement file active.”
“For five years?”
“He said Elena would eventually become permanently incompetent. At that point, he wanted me to petition for custody.”
“And you agreed?”
“I delayed.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“You call that resistance?”
“I leaked information.”
“To whom?”
“Nora Gray.”
Evelyn stared at the phone.
“You sent me the birth records.”
“Yes.”
“You never identified yourself.”
“I could not.”
“You could have gone to the FBI.”
“Richard controlled federal contracts, hospital boards, prosecutors, politicians. You think saying his name into the right office would have ended him?”
Ava looked at the black ledger on the table.
“No,” she said. “But evidence might have.”
“That is why I helped Evelyn locate the red ledger.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You knew Claire was helping you?”
“I knew someone inside the legal office was leaving doors unlocked.”
Claire continued.
“I changed file numbers. I delayed transfers. I removed names from lists. I warned families before Richard’s people arrived.”
Daniel looked toward Ava.
“Could that be true?”
“We verify it,” she said.
Claire heard.
“You will find my initials beside children who were not taken.”
“And beside Eliana,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Claire’s voice broke for the first time.
“Because I could not remove hers.”
“Why not?”
“Richard checked her file personally.”
Daniel paced.
“You said she was supposed to be yours. Were you telling me what Richard planned or what you still want?”
Claire did not answer quickly enough.
Ava stepped closer.
“Claire.”
“I wanted a daughter,” she said.
“That is not an answer.”
“I held Eliana once. For eleven minutes.”
Daniel’s skin went cold.
Claire’s voice trembled now.
“She wrapped her hand around my finger. I had spent years imagining that moment. Then Elena woke and screamed for her child. I knew immediately that everything Richard told me was false.”
“And yet you stayed.”
“I had already signed documents.”
“You were afraid of prosecution.”
“I was afraid Richard would give the baby to someone worse.”
“So you convinced yourself remaining close was protection.”
Evelyn whispered, “We all did that.”
Claire was silent.
Daniel looked at his mother.
Three women.
Three different cages.
All had used the language of protection to justify silence.
Richard had relied on that.
He had not needed everyone to be evil.
He only needed each person to be frightened enough to do one wrong thing and ashamed enough to hide it.
“Where is Elena?” Daniel asked.
Claire did not respond.
His heart accelerated.
“You said she was alive.”
“She was when I left.”
“When you left where?”
“The hospital.”
“You took Eliana and abandoned Elena?”
“I did not have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
“Two men arrived before the forged transport team.”
Ava’s attention sharpened.
“What men?”
“They were dressed as federal officers. They knew my transfer documents were false.”
“Who sent them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“They called Richard careless. They said the gala had exposed an operation that existed before him.”
Ava exchanged a look with the tracing agent.
Richard had built a system.
But perhaps he had not built all of it.
“What did they want?” Daniel asked.
“The child.”
“Eliana?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They said her bloodline was valuable.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
She seemed equally confused.
“The trust?” he asked.
“Not the Mercer trust.”
“Then what?”
Claire lowered her voice.
“Richard’s entire fortune is small compared to the families behind the placement network.”
Ava spoke sharply.
“Names.”
“I don’t have them.”
“You have worked with Richard for fifteen years.”
“I have names of intermediaries. Shell organizations. Clinics. Judges. But the oldest records used family symbols, not names.”
Daniel thought of the colored markings Elena described.
Red circles.
Blue lines.
Black stars.
“What symbol was beside Eliana?” he asked.
Claire hesitated.
“A white crown.”
Evelyn gasped.
Daniel looked at her.
“You know what that means?”
She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.
“I saw it in Richard’s earliest files.”
“What does it mean?”
“Legacy child.”
Claire said nothing.
Daniel’s voice rose.
“What is a legacy child?”
Evelyn struggled to explain.
“A child connected to a founding family.”
“Founding what?”
“The network.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That makes no sense. Eliana is Elena’s and mine.”
“Yes.”
“Then one of us is connected.”
Evelyn looked at him.
The implication entered the room slowly.
Richard had stolen Daniel as an infant.
His biological identity had been erased.
Eliana’s value might not come from Elena.
It might come from him.
Daniel’s phone shook in his hand.
“Claire, where are you taking her?”
“I am trying to keep her away from them.”
“By kidnapping her?”
“I saw what happened when Elena trusted official protection.”
“You are not taking Eliana into hiding.”
“They are already searching every road.”
The tracing agent wrote something on the tablet and turned it toward Ava.
Call source moving south on Route 7.
Ava nodded almost imperceptibly.
“Claire,” she said, “listen carefully. The people you fear may already know your vehicle, your phone, and your planned destination. Your best chance is coordinated protection.”
“My best chance is the red ledger.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn’s key.
“You want to trade Eliana for it.”
“No.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because it contains the only identity they cannot afford to expose.”
“Whose?”
“Your biological mother’s.”
Daniel’s pulse pounded in his ears.
“You know her name.”
“I know the name Richard used when he spoke about her privately.”
“What was it?”
Claire’s voice dropped.
“Catherine Vale.”
Ava frowned.
“Vale?”
Daniel remembered the woman from the earlier story seed, but in this current narrative there had been no Victoria Vale. Still, the surname struck him because Claire’s full name was Claire Voss, not Vale.
“Who is Catherine Vale?” he asked.
“The daughter of one of the network’s founders.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Richard said Daniel’s mother was homeless.”
“She became homeless after her family expelled her.”
“Why?”
“Because she tried to expose them.”
Daniel leaned against the wall.
Richard had taken him from a frightened seventeen-year-old and told her the child died.
Not simply because Richard wanted a son.
Because Daniel was connected to the people above him.
A legacy child.
“What happened to Catherine?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You said the red ledger contains her identity.”
“It contains her original intake record and the signature authorizing your removal.”
“Richard’s?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
Claire was silent.
Daniel heard Eliana in the background.
A small frightened voice.
“Where’s Mommy?”
His entire body went rigid.
“Eliana!”
The child gasped.
“Daddy?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Relief and terror collided.
“I’m here.”
“Mommy fell down.”
“What happened to her?”
“The man pushed her.”
Claire interrupted.
“She should not be talking.”
“Do not take that phone away from her.”
Eliana began crying.
“Daddy, the car is going too fast.”
Daniel forced his voice to remain calm.
“Can you see anything outside?”
“Trees.”
“What color is the car?”
“Black.”
“Is Claire driving?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s breathing sharpened.
“Eliana, give me the phone.”
“No!”
Daniel heard movement and a muffled struggle.
“Eliana!”
The line crackled.
Then the child’s voice returned farther away.
“She locked the doors!”
Claire cursed.
A loud horn sounded.
The vehicle swerved.
Tires screamed.
Ava stared at the location feed.
“They are approaching the Mill Creek bridge.”
Daniel remembered the area from the map.
A narrow crossing over a frozen river.
“Claire, slow down.”
“I cannot.”
“What does that mean?”
“There is a vehicle behind us.”
Ava spoke firmly.
“Describe it.”
“White SUV. No plates.”
“Do not go onto the bridge.”
“There is nowhere else.”
“Take the service turn before it.”
“I passed it.”
Daniel heard another impact from behind.
Metal struck metal.
Eliana screamed.
“Daddy!”
Daniel’s heart tore open.
“I’m here, sweetheart. Get low. Put your head beneath the window.”
Claire shouted, “Stay in the seat!”
Another collision.
The call nearly disconnected.
Ava relayed orders to units in the area.
“Roadblock south of the bridge. State police approaching northbound.”
Claire laughed breathlessly.
“Too late.”
“What do they want?” Daniel asked.
“Eliana.”
“Then stop and let her run.”
“They will reach her before your police do.”
The engine roared.
Daniel stared helplessly at the moving dot.
“You said you cared about her.”
“I do.”
“Then trust me.”
“I trusted Richard.”
“I am not Richard.”
“No. You still believe people can be saved without becoming ruthless.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Ruthless people built the basement my daughter grew up in.”
Claire went silent.
He continued.
“You are doing what Richard taught you. Taking a child, hiding the truth, and calling it protection.”
“That is not fair.”
“It is exactly true.”
Another impact slammed the vehicle.
Claire cried out.
The phone fell.
Eliana’s sobs filled the line.
“Daddy, I want Mommy.”
Daniel could barely speak.
“I know.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
He remembered telling her not to trust easy promises.
Now he gave one anyway.
“I am coming.”
The tracing agent pointed.
The vehicle had reached the bridge.
Ava shouted into her radio.
“Mill Creek units, visual?”
Static.
Then a voice.
“We see two vehicles. Black sedan pursued by white SUV. Both traveling south at high speed.”
Daniel heard the report through Ava’s speaker.
“Bridge is partially iced. We are setting spikes.”
“No spikes,” Ava said. “Child in the target vehicle.”
The officer responded, “White SUV is attempting to force them over the barrier.”
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
Ava looked at him.
There was nothing she could say.
Through the phone came the roar of wind.
Claire had opened a window.
“What are you doing?” Daniel shouted.
“I am giving them what they expect.”
“What does that mean?”
“Richard taught me one useful thing.”
“Claire!”
“How to prepare an exit before entering a trap.”
The phone cut out.
The tracking dot stopped moving.
For one terrible second, Daniel believed the car had gone over the bridge.
Then Ava’s radio erupted.
“Black sedan crashed through the south barrier!”
Daniel’s legs nearly gave way.
Ava grabbed his arm.
The officer continued.
“Vehicle is hanging above the river. Rear section supported by guardrail. One adult and one child visible.”
Daniel pressed the phone against his ear.
The call was dead.
“Get me there.”
Ava looked toward Evelyn.
“You cannot leave your mother.”
“I am not choosing again.”
“Daniel—”
“My wife is injured, my daughter is hanging above a river, and Claire may know who stole me. Get me there.”
Evelyn reached toward him.
“Go.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I just found you.”
“And your daughter found you tonight.”
The words settled his choice.
Evelyn took the red key from the evidence bag and pressed it into his palm.
“St. Matthew’s. Behind the marble plaque.”
Ava shook her head.
“This should remain evidence.”
“It will,” Evelyn said. “But Richard’s people may reach the church first.”
Daniel closed his fingers around the key.
“I’ll come back.”
His mother gave him a tired smile.
“Tell the truth every day.”
Eliana’s words.
Daniel kissed Evelyn’s forehead and followed Ava out.
A helicopter carried them south.
The flight took twenty-four minutes.
It felt like twenty-four years.
Ava sat opposite Daniel, headset pressed to one ear as rescue teams updated her.
“The sedan has stabilized,” she said. “Fire crew secured it with cables.”
“Can they remove Eliana?”
“Passenger side is against the barrier. Driver’s side hangs over the river.”
“Claire?”
“Conscious. Possible leg injury.”
“Eliana?”
“Moving.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Where’s the white SUV?”
“Abandoned half a mile south.”
“Occupants?”
“Gone.”
“Then they’re still nearby.”
“Yes.”
Snow began falling heavily as the helicopter descended near the bridge.
Emergency vehicles blocked both ends. Firefighters in harnesses moved along the icy roadway. The black sedan had broken through the guardrail and hung nose-down above a dark river choked with ice.
Claire was visible through the windshield.
Blood covered one side of her face.
Eliana sat in the rear seat, crying but conscious.
Daniel ran toward them.
A firefighter grabbed him.
“You cannot approach.”
“That is my daughter.”
“The vehicle shifts every time someone moves.”
Daniel saw the rear tires slowly sliding against bent metal.
“How are you getting them out?”
“We’re stabilizing from both sides.”
“How long?”
“Ten minutes.”
The car creaked.
A section of guardrail snapped.
The vehicle dropped several inches.
Eliana screamed.
Daniel broke free and ran.
Ava shouted behind him.
Firefighters cursed.
He reached the broken barrier and lowered himself onto the rear of the sedan.
The metal groaned beneath his weight.
Claire looked up through the cracked windshield.
“You came.”
“Unlock the rear door.”
“Electrical system is dead.”
“Manual lock.”
“My leg is trapped.”
“I said unlock the door.”
Claire reached awkwardly behind her seat.
The sedan shifted again.
Daniel pressed his body flat across the trunk.
“Eliana!”
Her face appeared through the rear window.
“Daddy!”
“Stay very still.”
“I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
She looked surprised.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“Grown-ups get scared?”
“All the time.”
“Then how do they know what to do?”
“They don’t. They choose the next right thing.”
He heard the lock click.
Daniel reached for the rear door.
It opened two inches before the crushed frame caught.
A firefighter crawled toward him with a cutting tool.
“We need another cable.”
“There is no time.”
The car shifted.
The front end dipped closer to the river.
Claire cried out.
Daniel pulled the door.
The wound in his shoulder tore open beneath the bandage.
Pain burned down his arm.
The door moved another inch.
“Eliana, can you crawl toward me?”
“My belt.”
Daniel saw the seat belt locked across her chest.
“Can you press the red button?”
“I’m trying.”
Her small hands shook.
Claire twisted in her seat.
“I can reach it.”
“Don’t move,” the firefighter warned.
Claire ignored him.
She stretched backward, fingertips barely touching the buckle.
The car groaned.
“Claire, stop,” Daniel said.
“I can reach her.”
“You’ll shift the weight.”
“She was supposed to be mine.”
Daniel stared through the broken window.
Claire’s face collapsed.
“I thought loving her once meant something.”
“It means something now only if you save her.”
Claire strained farther.
Her fingers hit the release.
The belt snapped open.
Eliana slid forward.
Daniel reached through the gap.
“Take my hand.”
She stretched.
Their fingertips touched.
The car dropped again.
Daniel’s ribs slammed against the trunk edge.
Eliana screamed and slipped toward the front seat.
Claire caught the back of her sweater.
Her injured leg remained pinned beneath the steering column.
“Pull her!” she shouted.
Daniel grabbed Eliana’s wrist with both hands.
The firefighter widened the door enough for the child’s shoulders.
Daniel pulled.
Eliana came through the opening and crashed against his chest.
He wrapped his good arm around her.
“Got you.”
She buried her face against his neck.
The rescue crew dragged them backward onto the bridge.
The moment Daniel reached solid pavement, Eliana clung tighter.
“Mommy.”
“We’re going to her.”
Claire remained in the sedan.
The cables snapped tight as the car slid another foot.
Daniel turned.
Firefighters prepared extraction equipment.
Claire looked at him through the rear window.
“Go,” she mouthed.
Daniel handed Eliana to Ava.
The child protested.
“No!”
“I’m right here.”
He returned to the barrier.
Ava caught his sleeve.
“You cannot save everyone yourself.”
“Maybe not.”
“Then stop acting like you can.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“She knows where Elena is.”
“That is not why you’re going back.”
Ava was right.
He hated her for it.
Claire had stolen his daughter.
She had forged records.
She had helped Richard construct a legal prison around Elena.
But she had also released Eliana’s seat belt knowing the movement might send the car into the river.
Daniel could not watch another person disappear into dark water while standing safely above.
He crawled back.
The firefighters cut through the driver’s door.
Claire’s leg was crushed beneath the dashboard.
“Can you feel your foot?” one asked.
“No.”
“Once we cut the column, the vehicle may shift.”
Claire laughed weakly.
“That seems to be the theme tonight.”
Daniel reached through the rear door and took her hand.
She looked at him.
“I don’t deserve that.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Then why?”
“Because my daughter is watching.”
Claire turned her face toward the bridge.
Eliana stood wrapped in Ava’s coat, staring at them.
Daniel continued.
“She needs to see that we do not become Richard.”
Claire began crying.
Rescuers cut the steering column.
The sedan lurched.
The front half dropped into the river.
Water rushed through the broken windshield.
Claire screamed.
Daniel held her hand while firefighters dragged her through the door.
All three were pulled onto the bridge seconds before the sedan tore free from the cables and plunged into the freezing water below.
For several moments, no one spoke.
The current swallowed the car.
Daniel sat on the icy pavement, breathing hard.
Eliana ran toward him.
She collided with his chest and wrapped both arms around his neck.
He held her.
This time she did not hesitate.
“You came,” she whispered.
“I told you I would.”
“You’re bleeding again.”
“I know.”
“You’re not very good at staying safe.”
A laugh escaped him.
“No. I’m not.”
Ava crouched beside them.
“We located Elena.”
Daniel’s smile vanished.
“Where?”
“The federal hospital’s security footage shows two false officers entering her room after Claire left.”
“Did they take her?”
“No.”
Daniel’s relief lasted one second.
Ava continued.
“Elena fought them. One escaped. The other is dead.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Dead?”
“Blunt-force trauma.”
“Who killed him?”
“Elena says she did.”
Eliana looked between them.
“Mommy had to fight?”
Daniel covered her ear gently.
Ava lowered her voice.
“She used a metal IV stand. The hospital police have detained her.”
Daniel rose.
“They arrested her for defending herself?”
“The dead man carried forged federal credentials. The surviving witnesses saw only Elena strike him repeatedly after he fell.”
“She spent four years imprisoned.”
“I know.”
“She believed he came for Eliana.”
“I know.”
“Then why is she detained?”
“Because Richard’s psychiatric records have already been sent to the prosecutor.”
Daniel understood.
The legal cage was closing again.
Richard had prepared for Elena to react like a terrified prisoner, then built documents that would make survival look like violence.
Claire groaned from the stretcher.
“Daniel.”
He approached her.
Paramedics worked around her crushed leg.
“Who were the men?” he asked.
“I don’t know their names.”
“Symbols?”
“One wore a ring.”
“What kind?”
“A white crown.”
Ava leaned closer.
“Where would they take Elena?”
Claire looked toward Eliana.
“Not Elena.”
Daniel’s body went cold.
“What?”
“They were not sent for Elena.”
“Then why enter her room?”
“To find out where Claire had taken the child,” Ava said.
Claire nodded.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
Eliana had stopped crying.
She was staring at something beyond the emergency vehicles.
A man in a paramedic jacket stood near the southern roadblock.
He was not treating anyone.
He watched Eliana.
A white crown ring shone on his hand.
Daniel moved instantly.
“Eliana, behind me.”
The man turned and ran.
Ava drew her weapon.
“Stop!”
He vaulted over the barrier and disappeared down the snowy embankment.
Officers followed.
Daniel pulled Eliana close.
The child trembled.
“Who was he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Daniel looked at her.
Eliana’s face had gone pale.
“I saw him before.”
“Where?”
“In the basement.”
“When?”
“He came to look at me.”
Daniel crouched.
“What did he say?”
Eliana looked toward Claire.
“He said Mommy wasn’t my real family.”
Daniel’s heart sank.
“What else?”
“He said when the white crown came, I had to remember my other name.”
Ava knelt beside them.
“What other name?”
Eliana looked frightened.
“I’m not supposed to say it.”
Daniel took her hands.
“You’re not in the basement anymore.”
“He said people would die.”
“Richard’s people said many things to scare you.”
“He wasn’t Richard’s.”
Daniel forced himself to remain calm.
“What name did he give you?”
Eliana looked at him with Elena’s eyes and Daniel’s dimple.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Catherine.”
