Chapter 5 - THE GIRL WITH EVELYN'S EYES
Arthur saw the bracelet.
Then he saw the girl's face.
He stopped breathing.
“That could be her,” Daniel whispered.
Mom reached for the phone.
Her hands trembled as she enlarged the picture.
The teenage girl's features were sharper than Evelyn's in the old photograph.
But the eyes were the same.
Gray.
Serious.
Almost sad.
Arthur sat down slowly.
“How old is she?”
Daniel checked the article.
“Seventeen.”
Mom stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Evelyn's baby would have been almost nine.
Arthur nodded.
“So she's not Evelyn's daughter.”
Relief flashed through Mom's face.
Then confusion.
“Then why the bracelet?”
Daniel read further.
“Her name is Lena Vale.”
“Vale?” Arthur said.
“Margaret's granddaughter, according to the article.”
Mom shook her head.
“Margaret never mentioned children.”
Arthur handed the phone back.
“We talk to her.”
Mom gripped his sleeve.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You don't storm into that girl's life because she resembles Evelyn.”
“I wasn't planning to storm anywhere.”
“You don't know how not to.”
Arthur looked at her hand gripping him.
Then at her.
“You're right.”
Mom seemed almost annoyed that he agreed.
Arthur continued.
“So you tell me how to do it.”
That surprised all of us.
The next afternoon, Mom was still hospitalized, but stronger.
The twins were sleeping in bassinets beside her.
Arthur had quietly arranged a private room.
I noticed he never mentioned money.
He simply made problems disappear.
It scared me a little.
It also made me wonder what else a man like that could make disappear.
Arthur went to the children's home with Daniel.
Mom refused to let me go.
Three hours later, Arthur returned alone.
His face told us immediately something had happened.
“Where's Daniel?” Mom asked.
“Looking into something.”
Arthur placed a brown paper envelope on the table.
“What did Margaret say?” Mom asked.
“She denied knowing Evelyn.”
Mom laughed bitterly.
“Then she's lying.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
Arthur opened the envelope.
Inside was a child's drawing.
Crayon.
Old and faded.
Three figures stood beneath a yellow sun.
A woman with black hair.
A little girl.
And a tall man in a dark coat.
Above the man, a child had written one word.
DADDY
Arthur's face remained controlled.
His hands didn't.
They shook.
“Where did you get that?”
“Lena gave it to me.”
Mom stared.
“She knew you?”
“No.”
“Then why give it to you?”
Arthur looked at me.
“Because she said she'd been waiting for a man with my eyes.”
Mom went silent.
Arthur placed another object on the table.
A rosary.
Wooden beads.
One bead painted blue.
Mom covered her mouth.
“Evelyn's.”
“You're sure?”
“She carried it since we were kids.”
Arthur sat beside her.
“Lena says Margaret gave her three things when she turned sixteen. The bracelet. This rosary. And the drawing.”
“Who drew it?”
“Lena doesn't know.”
“Where is she now?”
“At the home.”
Mom narrowed her eyes.
“You left her there?”
“She didn't want to leave.”
“What did Margaret say?”
“Nothing useful.”
“Meaning?”
“She told me Evelyn Sterling destroyed people by refusing to understand when danger was real.”
Mom stared at him.
“That sounds personal.”
“It was.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
I looked at Arthur.
“Really?”
He looked at me.
“Really.”
I wasn't sure I believed him.
He almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“Margaret did say one thing.”
Mom waited.
“She said if I wanted the truth, I should stop asking who betrayed Evelyn.”
Arthur turned the cracked silver watch over in his palm.
“She said I should ask who Evelyn betrayed.”
Mom went rigid.
“No.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't. Evelyn wouldn't—”
“Claire.”
Arthur's voice stayed gentle.
“I didn't believe her either.”
He pulled a folded photocopy from his pocket.
It was an old ledger page.
Names.
Amounts.
Dates.
One name had been circled.
Evelyn Sterling.
Beside it was a payment.
$75,000.
Mom stared.
“That's not possible.”
Arthur pointed to the date.
“Two weeks before she disappeared.”
“What was the payment for?”
“I don't know.”
“Then it proves nothing.”
“I agree.”
I looked at the numbers.
“Maybe somebody paid her.”
Arthur nodded.
“That's what it looks like.”
“Maybe she was buying something.”
Everyone looked at me.
“What?” I asked.
Mom wiped tears from her cheek.
“Nothing, sweetheart.”
“No. Ivy's right.”
Arthur studied the ledger.
“We're assuming money moved to Evelyn.”
He turned the page.
“But the ledger doesn't say direction.”
Daniel entered.
His face was tight.
“I found out.”
Arthur stood.
“Found out what?”
“What the seventy-five thousand dollars bought.”
He placed a yellowed receipt on the table.
St. Vincent's Hospital.
Private maternity services.
Seventy-five thousand dollars.
Paid in cash.
Mom stared.
“She paid to have the baby there.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
Daniel pointed at the patient name.
It wasn't Evelyn Sterling.
It wasn't Claire Sterling.
It was Margaret Vale.
Mom looked up.
“What?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“According to hospital records, Margaret Vale was listed as the mother.”
Arthur went very still.
“Then Evelyn's baby was never officially Evelyn's.”
Daniel nodded.
“And there's more.”
He laid down a second document.
A discharge card.
INFANT FEMALE.
Released to Margaret Vale.
Arthur gripped the table.
“Evelyn's daughter didn't die.”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the recent charity photograph.
“She left the hospital with Margaret.”
Mom whispered, “Then Lena could still be connected.”
Arthur looked at the age again.
“Seventeen.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You're thinking about the wrong girl.”
He turned the photograph over.
On the back was a handwritten list of the children's names.
Lena.
Marcus.
Toby.
Grace.
And one final name.
A nine-year-old girl who had been cropped out of the newspaper photograph.
Emily Vale.
Daniel looked at Arthur.
“She wasn't at the home today.”
Arthur's face hardened.
“Where is she?”
May you like
Daniel swallowed.
“Margaret says Emily disappeared three days ago.”
