Chapter 7 - THE GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT
“Isabella was sixteen,” Nathan said.
Daniel nodded.
“So was Elise.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You're saying two teenage girls knew what was happening at the hospital?”
“Not everything,” Daniel answered. “But enough to get themselves into trouble.”
Nathan stood.
“Where did you hear this?”
“Margaret told me when I was older. She said Elise came to the house carrying a book of hospital payments.”
“Where is the book?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never saw it.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“Then what happened to Elise?”
Daniel looked toward the red sketchbook.
“That's what nobody would tell me.”
Nathan paced the small office.
I could see the conflict in his face.
He'd spent his adult life believing Isabella was selfish, difficult, and obsessed with protecting the Caruso name.
Now he was learning she had been involved in something frightening while still a child.
But her actions toward Rebecca were still cruel.
Both things could be true.
Dorothy spoke quietly.
“Isabella and Elise were friends.”
Nathan stopped.
“You knew that?”
“Your mother mentioned Elise. She said Isabella had finally found a girl who didn't care about the family money.”
Rebecca looked up.
“Then why would Isabella help Catherine?”
Dorothy hesitated.
“Maybe she didn't.”
Nathan turned toward Daniel.
“Did Margaret ever describe Elise?”
Daniel nodded.
“Dark hair. Quiet. Always carrying a notebook. She wore a blue coat her mother hated.”
I remembered the note in the silver locket.
Do not trust the child who says she remembers everything.
I looked at Nathan.
“Maybe Evelyn wasn't warning you about Isabella.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Maybe she meant Elise.”
Nathan frowned.
“Why would Evelyn warn us about a girl who was trying to expose Catherine?”
“Because something changed,” I said.
Daniel turned another page of the sketchbook.
Margaret had drawn the two teenage girls beside a fence.
One was crying.
The other was holding her shoulders.
Underneath, she'd written:
One wanted to save Rebecca. The other wanted the truth.
Nathan stared at the words.
“Which was which?”
Nobody knew.
For the first time, the mystery wasn't just about who had hidden Rebecca.
It was about two girls who might have been forced to choose between protecting a baby and exposing a crime.
Nathan asked Daniel if he would allow copies of the sketches to be made.
Daniel agreed.
But he refused to surrender the original notebook.
“Margaret trusted me with it,” he said.
Nathan nodded.
“Then it stays with you.”
Rebecca looked at her brother.
“You aren't going to insist?”
“No.”
“Even though you could probably make his life difficult?”
Nathan met her eyes.
“I've spent years believing control was the same thing as protection. I'm beginning to understand the difference.”
Rebecca didn't smile.
But she didn't look away either.
We returned to the mansion that afternoon.
Before Nathan entered the house, Marco approached.
“Sir, there's something you should know.”
Nathan stopped.
“What?”
“Mrs. Bennett's foundation has been contacting former hospital employees.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“They're asking whether anyone has recently spoken about Rebecca.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“She's trying to find out what we know.”
Marco nodded.
“That's how it looks.”
Nathan looked toward the mansion.
“Where's Isabella?”
“In the west sitting room.”
We found her seated beside a window.
She was holding an old photograph.
When Nathan entered, she looked up.
“Did you find Daniel?”
“Yes.”
Her expression softened.
“Is he all right?”
Nathan studied her.
“You care about him?”
“I always wondered what became of him.”
Rebecca walked into the room.
Isabella stood.
“Rebecca.”
“Sit down,” Rebecca said.
Isabella obeyed.
I watched from beside Dorothy.
Rebecca moved toward the fireplace.
“Did you know Elise Bennett?”
Isabella's face changed completely.
She gripped the chair.
“Who told you that name?”
“Daniel.”
Nathan placed the copied drawing on the table.
Isabella stared at it.
Then she reached for the photograph in her lap.
It showed two teenage girls standing beside the Caruso garden.
One was Isabella.
The other wore a bright blue coat.
“Elise was my best friend,” Isabella whispered.
Rebecca approached.
“What happened to her?”
Isabella's voice broke.
“I betrayed her.”
Nathan said nothing.
Isabella looked at the photograph.
“Elise discovered her mother was using the foundation to move children between private facilities. Some transfers were legitimate. Others weren't.”
Dorothy's face tightened.
“What happened to Rebecca?”
“Father was being pressured to approve a shipping contract through one of his companies. Catherine wanted him to cooperate.”
Nathan understood.
“She used Rebecca.”
Isabella nodded.
“Father refused at first. Then Catherine showed him proof that Rebecca was alive and being kept somewhere he couldn't reach.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Isabella continued.
“Elise found the records. She wanted to tell the police.”
“Why didn't she?” Nathan asked.
“Because Catherine found out.”
Isabella began crying.
“She threatened to have Elise committed to a psychiatric facility. She said nobody would believe a frightened teenager accusing her own mother.”
Nathan looked at the photograph.
“And you?”
“I was terrified. I thought if I told Father, he would send men after Catherine and Rebecca would be hurt.”
Rebecca's voice shook.
“So you stayed quiet.”
“No.”
Isabella looked up.
“I helped Elise escape.”
The room went still.
“We bought the train ticket together. Elise was going to Boston to meet someone who could preserve the records.”
“Who?” Nathan asked.
“An accountant who worked for Catherine's foundation.”
“What was his name?”
Isabella hesitated.
“Thomas Avery.”
Nathan frowned.
He recognized the name.
So did Marco.
“Thomas Avery handled the old Caruso charitable accounts,” Marco said.
Isabella nodded.
“He was supposed to meet Elise at South Station.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Did he?”
Isabella shook her head.
“Catherine intercepted us before we reached the platform.”
“What happened?” Nathan demanded.
Isabella looked at her brother.
“I gave Catherine the notebook Elise was carrying.”
Rebecca recoiled.
“You betrayed your friend?”
“I thought Catherine would let her go if I handed it over.”
“Did she?”
Isabella's eyes filled.
“No.”
Nathan's voice dropped.
“What did Catherine do?”
“She took Elise away.”
Rebecca stared.
“And you never saw her again?”
Isabella looked down.
“I saw her once.”
“When?”
“Three weeks later. Through the back window of a car.”
Nathan slowly sat.
Isabella continued.
“She was crying. Catherine told me Elise was ill and needed treatment.”
Rebecca's expression hardened.
“And you believed her?”
“For years.”
Nathan looked toward the drawing.
“Is that why you kept visiting Rebecca?”
Isabella nodded.
“I was terrified Catherine would do the same thing to her.”
Rebecca's voice was quiet.
“So you made me believe everyone was dead.”
Isabella began crying.
“I thought a lie would hurt you less than being taken somewhere nobody could find you.”
Rebecca turned away.
I could see her shoulders trembling.
Nathan asked one last question.
“Isabella, what happened to the original ledger?”
His sister hesitated.
Then she reached into her handbag.
From a worn leather wallet, she removed a small brass key.
“I've kept this since I was sixteen.”
Nathan stared.
“What does it open?”
“A safety deposit box Elise rented in Boston.”
“Why didn't you use it?”
“I didn't know where the box was. Elise never told me which bank.”
Nathan reached for the key.
But Isabella held it back.
“There's something else.”
She turned the key over.
Tiny initials were scratched into the metal.
E.B.
And below them were two numbers.
Nathan read them.
“Fourteen. Seventeen.”
Isabella nodded.
“Elise always said those numbers mattered.”
Dorothy leaned forward.
Then her face changed.
“Fourteen and seventeen,” she whispered.
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
Dorothy pressed a trembling hand to her chest.
“Those weren't bank numbers.”
She looked toward Rebecca.
“They were the room numbers assigned to your mother and Daniel's mother.”
Nathan stared at the key.
Then Dorothy whispered:
“Which means Elise wasn't hiding money.”
She looked at Isabella.
“She was hiding proof that the two mothers were treated differently on purpose.”
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And Isabella said something that stopped all of us.
“Then Nathan needs to know what Catherine demanded from Father in exchange for Rebecca's life.”
