Chapter 12 - THE NURSE WHO REMEMBERED BOTH BABIES"If those records are destroyed, we may lose our strongest evidence."
Nadia spoke into her phone while walking quickly toward her car.
It was shortly after seven in the evening.
The hospital's legal office was closed, but its emergency administration line remained active.
Nadia contacted the hospital's on-call legal representative and issued an urgent preservation demand, warning that the records were directly relevant to pending criminal and civil proceedings.
She also prepared an emergency application for judicial relief if the hospital refused to cooperate.
By the following morning, the scheduled disposal had been suspended.
The evidence would not disappear without a fight.
Diamond received the news while standing in Miriam's kitchen.
"So they found it?"
"Not yet," Nadia explained. "But the records must be preserved while we determine what's there."
Diamond exhaled.
"That's something."
"It is."
Miriam stood beside the stove, listening.
Since her release, she had moved carefully through the house, as though afraid someone might suddenly take her away again.
Diamond noticed her hesitation.
"Mama?"
"Yes?"
"You don't have to keep checking the window."
Miriam tried to smile.
"Old habit."
Diamond walked toward her.
For a moment, they stood facing each other.
Then Diamond embraced her.
Miriam froze.
Ever since learning about the adoption, Diamond had kept a distance between them.
The anger had not disappeared.
Neither had the confusion.
But when Diamond imagined life without Miriam, she still felt the same terror she had experienced on the morning of the arrest.
"I was so scared," Diamond whispered.
Miriam wrapped her arms around her.
"I know, baby."
Diamond began crying.
"I'm still angry with you."
Miriam nodded.
"You have every right."
"You should have told me."
"I should have."
Diamond rested her head against Miriam's shoulder.
"But I still love you."
Miriam closed her eyes.
"And I will love you for every day I have left."
At Northcrest, Gold found herself standing alone during lunch.
Janelle had stopped speaking to her after Gold refused to repeat the kidnapping rumors.
Several classmates had noticed her spending time near Diamond and began speculating about their resemblance again.
Gold had always considered herself popular.
But popularity, she was discovering, could be remarkably fragile.
When she stopped encouraging cruelty, some of the people who had laughed beside her disappeared.
She approached Diamond's usual table.
Eli looked up.
"Can we help you?"
Gold shifted uncomfortably.
"Is Diamond here?"
"She's in the lab."
"Okay."
Eli studied her.
"You're really her sister?"
Gold nodded.
"Apparently."
"That's a pretty big apparently."
She looked down.
"I know."
Eli closed his laptop.
"Can I ask you something?"
Gold hesitated.
"Sure."
"Why were you so mean to her?"
The question startled her.
She had expected an insult or a lecture.
Instead, Eli sounded genuinely curious.
Gold considered lying.
She could say Diamond had been rude first.
She could claim everyone had misunderstood.
But she was tired of hearing excuses.
"Because I was jealous."
Eli nodded slowly.
"Of what?"
Gold looked toward the laboratory.
"She walked into school wearing clothes I would never have chosen. She didn't have money or connections. And people started admiring her immediately."
Eli waited.
"I've spent my whole life trying to be the most impressive person in every room."
Gold swallowed.
"She didn't seem to be trying at all."
Eli considered that.
"Diamond tries very hard. Just not at being admired."
Gold looked at him.
For some reason, that hurt more than an insult.
That afternoon, Rosa Ellis arrived at Nadia's office.
She was sixty-eight, with silver hair and a worn leather handbag.
Abigail, Miriam, Diamond, and Gold were waiting.
Rosa stopped when she saw the twins.
"Oh, my goodness."
Her hand rose to her mouth.
"Look at you."
Diamond stood.
"Do you remember me?"
Rosa's eyes filled.
"I remember both of you."
Gold looked surprised.
"You held us?"
Rosa smiled through her tears.
"I helped take care of you during your first days."
She turned toward Abigail.
"Mrs. Whitmore, I owe you an apology."
Abigail remained still.
Rosa continued.
"I knew there was something wrong with the records. I should have asked more questions."
Abigail took a slow breath.
"Then please tell us what you remember."
Rosa opened her handbag.
Inside was a small notebook containing dates, names, and observations.
"I kept personal shift notes for years. I was careful not to copy full patient records, but I recorded incidents that troubled me."
She opened a page.
"September twelfth. Twin girls delivered by emergency cesarean. Both alive."
Abigail began crying.
Rosa turned the page.
"September thirteenth. Baby B stable. Nurse Brooks assigned to nursery care."
She looked toward Miriam.
"You remember?"
Miriam nodded.
"Yes."
Rosa continued.
"September fourteenth. Baby B transferred out of nursery through special administrative discharge."
Nadia leaned forward.
"Who authorized it?"
Rosa looked at the page.
"The entry listed Victor Hale."
"And the parents?"
Rosa hesitated.
"Mr. Whitmore was present. Mrs. Whitmore was still recovering in intensive care."
Abigail covered her mouth.
Nadia wrote quickly.
"Was Abigail capable of signing adoption consent at that time?"
Rosa shook her head.
"Not according to what I observed."
Gold looked toward her fatherless reflection in the office window.
She felt sick.
Her mother had been fighting for her life while Lawrence arranged to erase her sister.
Rosa continued.
"I also remember a private argument between Victor and a physician. The doctor refused to sign a statement declaring Baby B deceased."
Nadia looked up sharply.
"Do you remember the physician's name?"
"Dr. Martin Feld."
"Is he still practicing?"
"Retired. But I believe he's alive."
Nadia wrote down the name.
Rosa's eyes filled.
"I should have spoken up."
Abigail looked at her.
"Yes. You should have."
The older woman lowered her head.
Abigail continued quietly.
"But you can speak now."
Rosa nodded.
"I intend to."
Two days later, the preserved warehouse records were examined through the formal legal process.
The original discharge ledger contained an entry for Baby Girl B.
It recorded that Diamond had left St. Catherine's alive.
It also identified the administrator who approved the release.
Victor Hale.
The signature attributed to Abigail appeared on a separate reproduction, but the timing conflicted with her medical records.
She had been sedated and receiving critical care when the authorization was supposedly signed.
Nadia ordered a forensic document examination.
She also submitted the new evidence to the authorities investigating Miriam's case.
For the first time, the allegations against Miriam began to unravel.
But the most unsettling discovery came that evening.
Nadia received a telephone call from an investigator.
"Ms. Reyes, we've been trying to interview Victor Hale."
Nadia straightened.
"And?"
"His office is empty."
"Perhaps he's traveling."
"We checked."
Nadia felt a cold sensation in her stomach.
The investigator continued.
"His employees say he cleared his desk yesterday, canceled his appointments, and left without explaining where he was going."
Nadia looked toward the folder containing the discharge records.
"Has anyone located him?"
"Not yet."
May you like
Then the investigator added:
"And according to the security records, Lawrence Whitmore was the last person seen entering Hale's office before he disappeared."
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