Chapter 12: The Forgotten Home
Chapter 12: The Forgotten Home
The following morning, Detective Brooks, Ethan, and Detective Ramirez drove toward the outskirts of the city.
Their destination was the abandoned property once known as St. Anne's Children's Home.
The orphanage had closed more than twenty-five years earlier.
Nature had slowly reclaimed the land.
Overgrown vines covered the brick walls.
Broken windows stared back like empty eyes.
A faded wooden sign still hung near the entrance.
ST. ANNE'S CHILDREN'S HOME
The letters were barely visible.
Ethan stepped out of the SUV.
"So this is where my father believed Grace ended up."
Brooks nodded.
"If Richard's notes are accurate."
Ramirez looked at the rusted gate.
"Let's hope someone left us more than ashes."
Inside...
The building was eerily quiet.
Dust covered the floors.
Old toys lay scattered in the corners of empty rooms.
Sunlight filtered through broken windows.
The silence felt almost sacred.
Ramirez carefully photographed every room.
Brooks examined an abandoned office.
Most filing cabinets had been emptied.
But one cabinet refused to open.
The lock had rusted shut.
An evidence technician forced it open with a pry bar.
Inside...
Nothing but water-damaged folders.
Most pages were unreadable.
Then Ethan noticed something tucked beneath the bottom drawer.
A small metal box.
It was sealed.
Brooks carefully opened it.
Inside rested a bundle of children's records wrapped in plastic.
Someone had deliberately protected them from moisture.
Ramirez spread the files across an old desk.
Most listed names of children who had lived there.
Many pages were faded beyond recognition.
Then she stopped.
"Detective..."
Brooks looked over.
One record remained almost perfectly preserved.
Child Name: Grace Carter
Ethan's heartbeat quickened.
The record included only a few details.
Age: Six
Date Admitted: June 14, 1992
Guardian: Confidential Court Order
Date Released: July 2, 1992
"Only eighteen days?" Ethan asked.
"Where did she go?"
Brooks turned the page over.
A single line had been stamped across the back.
Transferred to Foster Placement #27
No address.
No family name.
No additional information.
Someone had intentionally removed the rest.
Across town...
Margaret sat quietly inside the detention center library.
She appeared to be reading a novel.
Instead...
She carefully tore a tiny piece of paper from the back cover.
She wrote only three words.
Find Foster 27.
When the correctional officer wasn't looking...
She slipped the note into another inmate's book.
The inmate closed it without saying a word.
By lunchtime...
The message had already left the jail.
Margaret still had people working for her.
Meanwhile...
At Mercy General Hospital...
Ava completed another rehabilitation session.
This time she managed nearly twenty steps with the assistance of a walker.
Dr. Harper couldn't hide her excitement.
"Your progress is extraordinary."
Ava smiled.
"I still have a long way to go."
"You do."
"But your spinal cord wasn't as severely damaged as we first believed."
"What changed?"
"The sedatives."
"They weakened your nervous system."
"Without them..."
"Your body is responding much better."
Ethan wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders.
"We're going to get through this."
Ava looked into his eyes.
"For the first time..."
"I believe that."
Back at St. Anne's...
A maintenance worker approached the investigators.
"I heard you're looking for old records."
Brooks nodded.
"Were you employed here?"
The elderly man smiled faintly.
"For thirty-one years."
"My name is Walter Greene."
Brooks introduced himself.
"Do you remember Grace Carter?"
Walter stood silently for a moment.
"I remember every child."
"And Grace?"
The old man's eyes softened.
"She cried every night."
Ethan swallowed hard.
"Did anyone ever visit her?"
Walter nodded.
"One man."
"My father?"
"No."
Walter frowned.
"He was younger."
"He always wore expensive suits."
"He told everyone he was Grace's uncle."
Brooks asked,
"Did he give his name?"
Walter slowly nodded.
"Charles."
Ethan exchanged a glance with Brooks.
"Charles Donovan."
The Carter family's financial adviser.
Walter continued.
"I never trusted him."
"Why not?"
"He wasn't interested in the little girl."
"He only wanted the paperwork."
"What paperwork?"
"The adoption records."
Walter looked troubled.
"He argued with Sister Agnes."
"What happened?"
"She refused to release the files."
"And then?"
Walter's expression darkened.
"Three days later..."
"The records room caught fire."
Brooks frowned.
"The warehouse fire?"
Walter nodded.
"No."
"This happened years before that."
"Only the adoption files burned."
The detective made another note.
Someone had been erasing Grace's trail for decades.
Suddenly...
Ramirez called everyone over.
"You need to see this."
She had discovered a loose floorboard beneath the old office desk.
Hidden underneath was a cloth pouch.
Inside were several photographs.
One showed six-year-old Grace standing beside Sister Agnes.
Another showed Grace holding a stuffed rabbit.
But the third photograph froze everyone.
Grace stood beside Charles Donovan.
The date written across the bottom read:
July 2, 1992
The day she disappeared.
On the back of the photo, Sister Agnes had handwritten a single sentence:
"This transfer was against my wishes."
At that very moment...
Charles Donovan sat alone inside his downtown office.
He nervously packed files into a briefcase.
His secretary knocked.
"Mr. Donovan?"
He looked up.
"Yes?"
"There are police officers downstairs asking for you."
Charles immediately froze.
He glanced toward the private exit hidden behind his bookshelf.
Then toward the window overlooking the city.
His hands began to tremble.
He knew this moment would eventually come.
The question was...
Would he run...
Or finally tell the truth?
Outside, Detective Brooks stepped out of his vehicle with an arrest warrant in hand.
May you like
If Charles Donovan knew where Grace Carter had been taken...
The next few hours could uncover a secret that had remained buried for nearly three decades.
