CHAPTER 21 Lena’s Visit
Lena denied visiting Robert.
“I was at the center all morning.”
Security records supported her.
So did eight witnesses.
But the photograph appeared real.
It showed Lena wearing the gray coat she had worn to court.
A timestamp in the corner indicated 9:14 a.m.
Robert’s prison was nearly two hours away.
Alvarez sent the image to a forensic lab.
Until the results returned, I refused to accuse her.
Adrian was less patient.
“She lied to you for years.”
“She also confessed when silence would have protected her.”
“That does not erase what she did.”
“No. But evidence can be manufactured.”
He looked toward Catherine’s hospital room.
“So can deaths.”
Natalie had not spoken since learning Catherine was her biological mother.
She remained beside Lily, holding her hand.
The discovery had not created an instant family.
It had created a wound without a clear shape.
Catherine asked to speak with Natalie privately.
Natalie refused.
Then Catherine asked to speak with Adrian.
He refused too.
She finally asked for me.
I entered her room alone.
“You knew my mother,” I said.
“She was the bravest person I ever met.”
“Do not turn her into a symbol. Tell me what happened.”
Catherine described the night Elizabeth died.
They had planned to leave through an airfield controlled by Thomas Bell. Robert intercepted a coded message and sent a driver to stop Catherine permanently.
Elizabeth changed coats with her.
She carried Catherine’s passport.
The car was forced off a mountain road.
The body was identified as Elizabeth Mercer.
No further examination was allowed.
I had been told my mother died after a sudden infection while traveling.
Samuel had not even given me the truth of where she died.
“He believed the lie protected you,” Catherine said.
“He always believed that.”
“He was wrong.”
“Yes.”
There was relief in hearing her admit it.
“Who remained inside the family?” I asked.
Catherine looked toward the door.
“Lena’s father.”
I stared at her.
Lena had told me her father died when she was a child.
“His real name was Warren Pike.”
The missing federal agent.
The man whose vehicle contained evidence from the Catherine V.
“That is impossible.”
“He used Lena to stay close to you.”
“Lena did not know him.”
“She may not know him as Warren.”
Catherine reached beneath her blanket and removed a ring.
A black stone engraved with a lighthouse.
“Hollis gave these to senior members of his organization. Warren wore one when he tried to kill me.”
The photograph of Lena entering the prison showed a ring on her hand.
A black stone.
The forensic results arrived an hour later.
The photograph had not been digitally altered.
The woman in the image had Lena’s face, Lena’s height, and Lena’s fingerprints on the prison registration form.
But Lena was still at the center during that exact period.
Alvarez offered the only explanation that fit.
“There are two women.”
Lena’s face drained of color.
She sat down slowly.
“My mother told me I had a twin.”
No one spoke.
“She said the baby died.”
“Did you ever see a certificate?” Alvarez asked.
“No.”
“What was her name?”
Lena closed her eyes.
“Evelyn.”
Catherine gripped the hospital rail.
Evelyn Pike had worked for Hollis.
She had also been one of the names in the Catherine V ledger.
Status: Relocated.
Not dead.
Relocated.
A prison officer confirmed that the woman claiming to be Lena had met Robert for eleven minutes.
During that meeting, she passed him a folded message.
The officer had confiscated it after she left.
The paper contained only a single sentence.
YOUR DAUGHTER IS READY TO COME HOME.
Robert had no known daughter.
Then Catherine whispered, “Yes, he does.”
Adrian looked at her.
Catherine did not look back.
“The woman Lena calls her twin is Robert’s child.”
Lena stood frozen.
“That would make her—”
“Adrian’s half sister,” I finished.
Catherine nodded.
“And Hollis raised her to believe the Mercer family stole everything from her.”
My phone rang.
The caller identification showed Lena’s number.
But Lena was standing directly in front of me.
I answered.
May you like
A woman with Lena’s voice said, “Ask my sister which one of us Samuel actually saved.”
Then the hospital lights went out.
