“I thought she left without calling.”
“You didn’t fail her,” Claire said.
“He kept her from you.”
David smiled without warmth.
“She still ran.”
Margaret stood between us.
“No, David.
You drove her away.”
He stared at her.
“I kept you out of prison.”
Margaret flinched.
“What does that mean?” Emily asked.
Margaret opened her folder again.
“David told me Rachel had forged Michael Cole’s signature.
He said the guardianship papers would protect Claire while Rachel received treatment.”
“You helped him,” Claire said.
“Yes.” Margaret’s voice broke.
“And when I began asking questions, he showed me altered records carrying my signature.
He said I would lose my license if I spoke.”
She handed Claire a storage receipt.
“I kept copies of everything in case he ever turned on me.”
David tore the receipt from Claire’s hand and ran.
We followed him into the parking lot.
He threw the paper into a storm drain, but Emily held up her phone.
“I photographed it.”
David stopped.
“You ungrateful child.”
Emily’s chin lifted.
“You taught me to keep receipts.”
An hour later, we stood in front of a storage unit rented under Margaret’s name.
A retired social worker waited beside it.
“My name is June Parker,” she said.
“I placed Claire with Ruth Foster.”
Claire stared at her.
“Did my mother give me away?”
“No.
Rachel signed a temporary medical-care form.
The permanent surrender form arrived later, carrying Anna’s forged signature.”
June unlocked the unit.
Inside were six boxes of files and a canvas bag filled with unopened letters.
Every envelope carried my name.
I picked up the first one.
Anna, I am alive.
Claire is safe for now.
Please believe I did not leave you.
Claire opened another.
Anna, David found us.
He says you hate me.
I don’t believe him, but your letters never come.
“There were no letters from her,” I whispered.
June placed a hand over mine.
“Ruth tried to contact you.
David told the agency you were medically unfit and wanted no involvement.”
Emily sat on the floor beside the boxes.
“He erased both of you from each other’s lives.”
Margaret took a sealed envelope from the bottom of the bag.
“This one was delivered six months ago.”
My name was written across it in Rachel’s unsteady hand.
I opened it.
Anna, if you finally receive this, come quickly.
David knows I remembered where Michael hid the original ledger.
Beneath the message was an address.
June checked her phone and went pale.
“St.
Catherine’s just called.
David arrived there twenty minutes ago.”
Claire was already running for the door.
