Chapter 6: The Twin Who Was Missing
“You should have locked the station doors, Officer.””
Douglas stood beneath the emergency light with bloodless calm, one hand holding Charlotte's photograph and the other hidden beside his coat.
Terrence kept his weapon raised.
“Put your hands where I can see them.””
Douglas smiled.
“You really still think I'm the threat?””
Emily stepped out from behind the desk.
“Where is Anna?””
Douglas looked at her.
“You always did ask the wrong question first.””
“Where is my daughter?””
“She isn't your daughter.””
Emily froze.
Terrence glanced at her.
Douglas lifted the photograph.
“Charlotte isn't yours.””
Emily's face went blank.
“That isn't funny.””
“I wasn't joking.””
Terrence tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Douglas, put the photograph down.””
Douglas ignored him.
“You've spent seven years believing you gave birth to twins.””
Emily whispered, “Stop.””
“You believed the story because I made sure you had no reason to question it.””
“Stop.””
“Charlotte and Delilah were never twins.””
Emily shook her head violently.
“No.””
Douglas's expression softened.
“You had one daughter.””
Terrence felt the room go silent.
Emily's lips parted.
“Which one?””
Douglas smiled.
“That depends on what you mean by daughter.””
A gunshot suddenly cracked from the hallway.
Everyone ducked.
Terrence shoved Emily to the floor.
Lena fired once toward the corridor.
“Police! Drop the weapon!””
Footsteps pounded away.
Terrence rushed to the doorway.
Nobody.
Only a trail of blood disappearing around the corner.
He looked back.
Douglas was gone.
“Where did he go?””
Lena pointed toward the stairwell.
“Fire exit.””
Terrence ran.
They found the door swinging in the rain.
No Douglas.
Only his photograph remained on the floor.
Terrence picked it up.
On the back, beneath the original message, someone had written another sentence.
*ASK EMILY ABOUT THE HOSPITAL FIRE.*
Emily saw it.
She stopped breathing.
Terrence turned.
“What hospital fire?””
She didn't answer.
“Emily?””
Her knees buckled.
Lena caught her.
“I killed someone.””
Terrence stared at her.
“What?””
“I didn't mean to.””
“Who?””
Emily looked toward the stairwell.
“Douglas's first patient.””
Terrence's mind raced.
“Lily?””
“No.””
“Then who?””
Emily pressed both hands against her face.
“A nurse.””
She sat on the floor.
“Her name was Rachel Voss.””
Lena crouched beside her.
“What happened?””
Emily's voice broke.
“Rachel found the records. She told me Douglas was experimenting on children. She wanted to report him.””
“When?””
“Seven years ago.””
Terrence looked at the photograph again.
Seven years.
The girls were seven.
A terrible thought surfaced.
“Emily,” he said slowly, “where did you give birth?””
She stared at him.
“St. Vincent's.””
“Was there a fire?””
Her eyes closed.
“Yes.””
Terrence's pulse accelerated.
“What burned?””
“The maternity wing.””
“And the records?””
“Everything.””
“Everything?””
“Almost.””
Terrence remembered the pharmacy file.
The revoked prescription.
The missing records.
The twenty-three photographs.
All of it had been built around one destroyed night.
Lena asked, “How did the fire start?””
Emily whispered, “They said it was electrical.””
“But you don't believe that.””
“No.””
“Why?””
Emily looked at Terrence.
“Because Rachel was found in the records room.””
Terrence felt cold.
“Dead?””
“Yes.””
“Before the fire?””
Emily nodded.
Terrence stood.
“And you said you killed someone.””
Emily swallowed.
“I didn't kill Rachel.””
“Then why did you say that?””
“Because Douglas told me I did.””
She reached inside her purse and pulled out a small folded paper.
Terrence opened it.
It was old.
The edges were burned.
There was handwriting across the center.
*BABY A — FEMALE — HEALTHY*
Below it:
*BABY B — FEMALE — DECEASED AT BIRTH*
Terrence looked at Emily.
“You had twins.””
She nodded.
“Yes.””
“But one died.””
Emily's eyes filled.
“That's what they told me.””
Terrence turned the paper over.
A second notation had been written in blue ink.
*BABY B TRANSFERRED — PRIVATE RESEARCH HOLD.*
Lena stared.
“Research hold?””
Emily nodded.
“I found that paper two weeks ago.””
“Where?””
“In Douglas's office.””
Terrence looked at the photograph.
“So Charlotte and Delilah…”
“I don't know which one.””
“Then what did Douglas mean when he said Charlotte isn't your daughter?””
Emily whispered, “I think he meant neither of them is.””
Terrence's phone rang.
Hospital.
He answered immediately.
“Callahan.””
Dr. Harris's voice came through.
“Delilah is awake.””
Terrence exhaled.
“Is she stable?””
“For now.””
“Can she talk?””
“Yes.””
“Put her on.””
A pause.
Then a tiny voice.
“Officer?””
“Delilah?””
“Yes.””
“Can you tell me where Daddy took Anna?””
“I don't know.””
“Do you remember anything before you came to the station?””
Silence.
Then:
“Daddy wasn't the one who gave me the medicine.””
Terrence looked at Emily.
“Who did?””
“I don't know her name.””
“What did she look like?””
“She had red hair.””
Emily suddenly gasped.
Terrence turned.
“Emily?””
She was staring at the old paper.
“Rachel.””
Terrence's heart slammed.
“Rachel Voss?””
“No.””
Emily shook her head.
“Rachel had blonde hair.””
“Then who?””
Emily whispered:
“Her sister.””
Delilah's voice came through the phone.
“Officer?””
“Yes?””
“The woman said she was sorry.””
“For what?””
“She said she was sorry about the fire.””
Terrence's face tightened.
“Delilah, did she say anything else?””
“She said…”
The little girl hesitated.
“She said Charlotte wasn't supposed to survive.””
Emily stood abruptly.
“Give me the phone.””
Terrence handed it to her.
“Baby?””
“Mommy?””
“Listen to me. You're safe.””
Delilah began crying.
“Mommy, why did she call me by another name?””
Emily's face drained of color.
“What name?””
Delilah whispered:
“Lily.””
The call dropped.
Terrence stared at the phone.
Nobody spoke.
Then Lena's radio crackled.
“Officer Morales, emergency traffic.””
Lena answered.
“Go ahead.””
“County General reports a security breach in pediatric care.””
Terrence grabbed his coat.
“What kind?””
“The nursery doors were opened remotely.””
“Who opened them?””
A pause.
Then dispatch answered:
“Access credentials belong to Emily Sinclair.””
Emily shook her head.
“I didn't do it.””
Terrence believed her.
But somewhere in the hospital, a locked nursery door had just opened.
And inside it were two children.
May you like
One was Anna Mercer.
The other was Charlotte Sinclair.
