Her face was pale.
Margaret Bell sat at the kitchen table.
She looked older than Eleanor remembered, thinner and exhausted, but her eyes were steady.
“I knew you'd come,” Margaret said.
Jason entered.
“Where is Sophie?”
Emily immediately pointed toward the living room.
“She’s with Chloe.”
Jason went to check.
Both children were safe.
Only then did he return to the kitchen.
Margaret folded her hands.
“I don't have much time.”
Jason stared at her.
“You've had twenty years.”
Margaret looked down.
“And I have spent every one of them regretting what I knew.”
Eleanor sat across from her.
“Then tell us.”
Margaret took a breath.
“Richard Bell was never supposed to control the hospital records.”
Jason's jaw tightened.
“He did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered that certain children had been entered under false identities. Some were mistakes. Some were deliberate.”
“Who was responsible?”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“Dr. Vance.”
The name seemed to confirm what the notebook had already suggested.
“But Bell?” Eleanor asked.
Margaret shook her head.
“Bell did not begin it. He discovered it. Then he realized he could profit from it.”
Jason looked at Michael.
Michael said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“Daniel found the first ledger. He thought exposing Bell would be enough. He was wrong.”
“What happened to him?”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“Daniel was threatened.”
“By Bell?”
“Yes.”
“Did Bell kill him?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I never saw Bell kill anyone.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Margaret looked directly at Jason.
“Daniel disappeared before his death was officially recorded.”
The room went silent.
Eleanor leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“His body was identified later.”
“By whom?”
“Dr. Vance.”
Michael suddenly stood.
“That's impossible.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel told me he didn't trust Vance.”
Margaret's expression changed.
“Then he was right.”
Jason felt a coldness move through him.
“Whose body was identified?”
Margaret whispered, “I don't know.”
That answer was worse than anything else.
Jason walked toward the window.
All his life, he had believed his father had died.
Now he was being asked to accept that even the body might not have been Daniel.
Margaret reached into her handbag.
She removed a folded sheet of paper.
“Daniel gave this to me.”
Jason took it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
If they tell you I died, don't believe them.
Jason's hands began to shake.
Below the sentence was an address.
Not Boston.
Not the hospital.
A small town in Vermont.
Michael looked at the page.
“I've seen that address.”
“Where?”
“In Daniel's second file.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“He wanted someone to find him.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Bell threatened my daughter.”
Jason looked up.
“Who?”
Margaret did not answer.
Instead, she said, “Bell had people everywhere.”
Eleanor remembered Sophie’s ledger entry.
“Protected.”
Margaret nodded.
“Sophie was protected because Daniel believed Bell would eventually use her connection to Jason.”
Jason turned.
“Connection to me?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Your father knew something about Sophie’s birth records.”
The room became silent again.
Emily stepped into the doorway.
“What are you saying?”
Margaret looked at her.
“I am saying that your family was never supposed to find out how closely your lives were connected.”
Jason's voice was low.
“Tell me.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not here.”
A sound came from outside.
A car door closing.
Michael immediately moved toward the curtains.
His face changed.
“Bell.”
Jason stepped beside him.
Across the street stood Richard Bell.
He was not hiding.
He looked directly at the house.
Then he raised his phone.
Jason's phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE THE WRONG STORY.
A second message followed.
COME OUT ALONE.
Jason put the phone away.
Michael grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Jason looked at him.
“I need answers.”
“That's what he wants.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Then we don't give him the advantage.”
Margaret stood.
“There is one thing you don't understand.”
“What?”
“Bell isn't afraid of the ledger.”
She pointed toward Jason's jacket.
“He's afraid of what Daniel wrote beside one particular name.”
Jason reached inside and opened the notebook.
The name was there.
Sophie.
Protected.
But underneath it, barely visible beneath the faded ink, was another word.
DAUGHTER.
Jason stared at it.
He looked toward the living room.
Sophie was laughing with Chloe.
For a moment, the sound seemed impossibly distant.
“Daughter of whom?” he whispered.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“That's what Daniel died trying to protect.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: No one spoke for several seconds.
My Brother Accused Me Beside Our Father’s Coffin, but the Lawyer Arrived Carrying a Key Dad Had Hidden for Years
Part 11 of 15
