Chapter 16 - Eighteen Hearts
Greene looked exhausted.
Not powerful.
Not composed.
Terrified.
That made him more dangerous.
“Put the bag down.”
Naomi slowly raised her hands.
“Wallace.”
“Don’t.”
“You know how this ends.”
“Yes.”
His laugh was hollow.
“That’s why I’m here.”
Nora stood beside the opened floor compartment.
Eighteen silver hearts caught the dim light.
Eighteen babies.
Eighteen mothers.
Maybe more.
Greene pointed toward the bag.
“Slide it over.”
Nora did not move.
“You helped steal them.”
“Nora.”
“You changed their names.”
“Do not make me ask again.”
“You became a police officer afterward.”
Greene’s jaw tightened.
“I became a police officer because Margaret needed someone inside.”
Naomi stared.
“So your whole career was bought.”
“Built.”
He corrected her.
“There’s a difference.”
“No.”
Naomi’s voice hardened.
“There really isn’t.”
Greene aimed at her.
Daniel stepped slightly forward.
Greene shifted the weapon toward him.
“You.”
Daniel stopped.
“You ruined everything six years ago.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I ruined it?”
“You started asking questions.”
“I was looking for my daughter.”
“You should have listened to your mother.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“That seems to be everybody’s favorite mistake.”
A sound came from outside.
Greene looked toward the window.
That moment was enough.
Naomi moved.
Fast.
The gun struck the floor during the struggle.
Daniel kicked it away.
Nora grabbed the bag.
Seconds later, officers entered.
Naomi had activated an emergency signal before entering Rosewood.
Greene was arrested.
This time, no one inside the department could protect him.
The bag changed everything.
Federal investigators entered the case within hours.
Rosewood had not been an isolated illegal adoption operation.
It had been a network.
Hospitals.
Lawyers.
Private agencies.
Wealthy clients.
Families pressured into silence.
Some mothers had been told their babies died.
Others had been manipulated into signing forms they did not understand.
Nora sat at a conference table as investigators cataloged evidence.
One agent placed the eighteen necklaces in separate evidence envelopes.
“Why hearts?”
Nora looked at Evelyn.
The former nurse answered.
“Margaret liked symbols.”
Nora almost laughed.
Of course she did.
“She ordered matching necklaces for every baby?”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“The mothers did.”
Nora stared.
“What?”
“Rosewood staff took sentimental objects from infant belongings.”
“Why?”
“To make identification harder.”
Nora felt sick.
The half-heart necklace had saved Lily because Evelyn secretly put it back around the baby’s neck before Margaret took her.
Nora turned.
“You did that?”
Evelyn nodded.
“I couldn’t stop them.”
Her eyes filled.
“So I thought maybe one day someone would recognize her.”
Nora reached across the table and took her hand.
For the first time, the anger she had felt toward Evelyn loosened.
One frightened nurse had made one small choice.
Six years later, that choice had brought Lily home.
But one question remained.
Why had Lily known the lullaby?
Evelyn did not know.
Daniel did.
“My mother played your recording for her.”
Nora looked at him.
“Why?”
“To calm her.”
“Margaret used my voice?”
“Yes.”
The cruelty of it was almost impossible to comprehend.
Margaret had stolen Nora’s child.
Then used Nora’s voice to comfort the baby she had stolen.
Later that evening, Nora returned to Lily.
Lily was drawing.
Nora sat beside her.
“What are you making?”
“A heart.”
Two halves.
One labeled MOMMY.
One labeled LILY.
Then Lily asked:
“Can I live with you now?”
Nora stopped breathing.
The obvious answer was yes.
But the legal answer was not yet simple.
The forged relinquishment order still existed.
Margaret’s lawyers had already filed emergency motions.
And Lily had known Nora for less than forty-eight hours.
Nora chose truth.
“I want that more than anything.”
Lily’s face fell.
“But?”
“But we’re going to do this the right way.”
“Why?”
“So nobody can ever take you from me again.”
Lily considered that.
Then nodded.
Nora kissed her forehead.
Outside the room, Naomi was waiting.
“What now?”
Nora asked.
Naomi handed her a folder.
“Now we prove the document is fake.”
Nora opened it.
Hannah Price’s forensic report was complete.
The signature had been forged.
But Hannah had found something even stronger.
The ink used for Nora’s signature had not been manufactured until two years after Lily’s birth.
Nora looked up.
May you like
Naomi smiled.
“Margaret just lost her favorite lie.”
