Chapter 13 - The Truth Beneath St. Catherine’s.
Chapter 13 - The Truth Beneath St. Catherine’s.
The investigation changed everything.
Within days, St. Catherine’s Hospital became the center of a major investigation.
Old records were reopened.
Missing documents were recovered.
People who had remained silent for years finally started speaking.
Nora sat in a quiet room at the police station.
Emma slept beside her.
The little girl refused to let go of the rabbit.
Or Nora’s hand.
A detective placed a folder on the table.
“We found more information.”
Nora looked up.
“About my daughter?”
The detective nodded.
“And about what happened six years ago.”
Inside the folder were photographs.
Hospital documents.
Names.
Every piece of evidence showing the truth.
Nora looked at the first page.
Her own name was there.
Below it was Emma’s original birth record.
The one that had disappeared.
“She was born healthy.”
The detective nodded.
“Yes.”
Nora closed her eyes.
The words she had waited six years to hear.
Her daughter lived.
The detective continued.
“Margaret Hale was a nurse.”
“She discovered the records were being changed.”
“She tried to expose it.”
Nora looked at Emma.
“So she took her?”
The detective hesitated.
“She believed it was the only way.”
Nora struggled with that answer.
Because Margaret had stolen years from them.
But she had also protected Emma.
The truth was painful because nobody was completely innocent.
Nobody was completely guilty.
Except the people who created the lie.
The detective placed another document on the table.
“This was found hidden inside St. Catherine’s archives.”
Nora opened it.
Her hands shook.
It was a letter.
Written six years earlier.
From Ethan.
To Nora.
But she had never received it.
She read the first line.
“Nora, if you are reading this, it means I failed to protect you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Ethan had tried to tell her.
Someone stopped him.
Someone erased the message.
Someone controlled the truth.
Nora continued reading.
“I saw what they planned.”
“I knew they wanted your daughter removed from your life.”
“I was afraid.”
“I was weak.”
“But I never stopped believing she would find you.”
Nora looked away.
Six years of anger.
Six years of grief.
Six years of questions.
All leading to this moment.
A door opened.
Emma walked in holding the rabbit.
“Mommy?”
Nora looked at her.
“Yes?”
Emma smiled softly.
“Can I tell you something?”
Nora nodded.
“What?”
Emma touched the rabbit.
“Grandma said something before we left.”
Nora became still.
“What did she say?”
Emma whispered:
“She said the person who started this is still hiding.”
Nora felt cold.
Because everyone thought the nightmare was ending.
May you like
But Emma knew something they did not.
Someone was still out there.
