Chapter 8 - The Second Bed
Richard looked genuinely shocked.
“There was no second child.”
Ethan no longer accepted technical answers.
“Was there a second bed?”
“Yes.”
“Used?”
“I don’t know.”
Haven House photographs showed Room Eleven contained two twin beds.
Nora occupied one.
Laundry invoices showed two additional bedding sets above registered count, not one.
Eleven breakfasts could be Nora.
Twelve towels?
Maybe staff.
But a former overnight employee, Denise Harper, remembered something.
“I saw two girls.”
“When?”
“Second night.”
“One was Nora?”
“I didn’t know names.”
“Describe.”
“One dark-haired. One blonde.”
Nora had dark hair.
Second child blonde.
“Why didn’t you report?”
“I assumed both were emergency placements.”
Next morning blonde girl gone.
Denise never thought again until Anna contacted her years later.
Anna’s file included interview.
So Richard had either not known—or lied.
Who brought blonde girl?
Denise remembered a woman.
Not Richard.
“She wore burgundy coat.”
Claire?
Eight years ago Claire was thirty.
Possible.
Ethan confronted.
Claire’s face changed.
“I didn’t bring a child.”
“Were you at Haven House?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“During Nora case.”
“Why?”
“My mother called. She needed overnight supplies.”
“Did you see another girl?”
Claire hesitated.
“Yes.”
There.
“What happened?”
“I thought she belonged to Gregory Hale.”
“A six-year-old?”
“His niece. That’s what Mom said.”
Margaret Cole denied saying that.
She remembered Claire arriving around 1 a.m.
She also remembered Claire leaving briefly and returning.
“With anyone?”
Margaret paused.
“I was dealing with Nora. I don’t remember.”
Claire’s old phone records no longer existed.
But foundation security log did.
Vehicle entry:
CLAIRE COLE — 1:06 A.M.
Vehicle exit:
1:31 A.M.
Re-entry:
2:04 A.M.
Final exit:
7:42 A.M.
Thirty-three minutes away.
Where?
Claire said convenience store.
Receipt?
None.
Then Anna’s note:
Claire’s timeline does not explain second child.
That was why Claire panicked when Emily found binder.
Not only mother’s signature.
Claire had been present during unrecorded second child.
Ethan asked:
“Who was she?”
Claire started crying.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“Because I know where I picked her up.”
“Where?”
Claire looked at Richard.
“Your house.”
Ethan froze.
“The Bennett mansion?”
“Yes.”
“Who gave her to you?”
Claire whispered:
“Richard’s wife.”
Ethan’s mother, Evelyn Bennett, had died five years earlier.
May you like
Richard went white.
“My wife never told me that.”
