CHAPTER 28 — THE FALSE LEAH
The call lasted forty-three seconds.
Federal technicians could not trace it.
The false Leah knew private details unavailable in public records.
Medication schedules.
Room assignments.
Security rotations.
Someone inside the foundation was feeding her information.
All staff members were temporarily removed from duty and interviewed.
Rosa objected.
“The residents will believe we suspect them.”
“We suspect access,” Evelyn replied. “Not victims.”
Victor reviewed the foundation’s original hiring records.
One employee file contained inconsistent fingerprints.
A night nurse named Teresa Vaughn had passed every background check.
But the social security number belonged to a woman who died eleven years earlier.
Teresa’s room was empty.
Her uniforms remained in the closet.
Her phone had been dismantled and placed neatly on the bed.
Inside the battery compartment, investigators found a small photograph.
It showed Katherine standing beside Helena Vale.
They were smiling.
On the back, Katherine had written:
HELENA AGREED TO HELP ME SAVE THE BOY.
Evelyn struggled to understand.
“Helena helped my mother?”
Mara shook her head.
“Or wanted Katherine to believe she would.”
A second photograph showed Helena holding the younger blond child.
Julian.
Beside them stood an unidentified woman whose face had been cut from the photograph.
Gabriel recognized the building behind them.
It was the Hartford clinic.
“We need the clinic records,” Evelyn said.
“The facility was destroyed in a fire,” Mara replied.
“Officially,” Gabriel added.
The foundation’s legal team discovered that one surviving archive had been transferred to a private hospital network.
The network was controlled by Julian Cross.
Evelyn, Gabriel, and federal agents traveled to its headquarters.
They found the offices abandoned.
Every cabinet had been emptied.
On the executive floor, a projector was running.
A video of Evelyn’s childhood played against the wall.
Six-year-old Evelyn and Julian sat together in the mansion garden.
They were building a house from wooden blocks.
Young Evelyn placed a small figure inside.
“Who lives there?” Katherine asked from behind the camera.
“Me and Julian.”
“What about Adrian?”
Young Evelyn knocked the block house down.
“Adrian isn’t real.”
The adult Evelyn stepped closer to the screen.
She had no memory of the conversation.
The video continued.
Julian looked directly into the camera.
“When the door opens, I get the house.”
“No,” young Evelyn said. “We share it.”
Julian shook his head.
“They said only one of us can stay.”
The recording stopped.
A live image replaced it.
It showed the Vale mansion.
The camera was inside the residential wing.
A woman wearing Leah’s face stood beside the children’s rooms.
In her hand was an electronic device connected to the fire-control system.
Words appeared on the screen.
CHOOSE WHICH DOOR OPENS.
Evelyn immediately called Rosa.
Rosa answered in a whisper.
“The locks just activated.”
“Get everyone out.”
“We can’t.”
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Behind Rosa’s voice, children began screaming.
Every bedroom door had locked from the outside.
