C18 The missing page

The knock came again.

“Mr. Price? Alexander Hayes.”

Inside the house, Edmund Price stood frozen, the missing page trembling between his fingers.

He had imagined this moment for five years.

In some versions of the nightmare, Alexander arrived alone and demanded answers. In others, Victoria came first, begging him to keep the secret buried.

He had never imagined that the truth would arrive with a second visitor.

His phone vibrated.

Do not give him the document. If he reads it, we all lose everything.

Price stared at the message.

Then came another knock.

“Mr. Price,” Alexander called again. “I know you're inside.”

The old lawyer slipped the document into the lining of his jacket and approached the door.

He opened it just enough to see Alexander standing on the doorstep, Daniel behind him.

“Mr. Hayes,” Price said. “This is an unexpected visit.”

“I'm sure it is.”

Alexander glanced past him into the house.

“May we come in?”

“I don't think that's necessary.”

“Your office was broken into this morning. Files connected to my father disappeared. A woman who knew about the hospital transfer has vanished. And someone has threatened me for asking questions.”

Alexander's expression hardened.

“I think it's necessary.”

Price hesitated before opening the door wider.

“Five minutes,” he said.

Alexander stepped inside.

“I'm afraid we're past five minutes.”

---

The study smelled of old books and expensive tobacco.

Alexander remained standing while Daniel examined the room. Several drawers had been left open, and papers lay scattered across the desk.

“Someone searched this place,” Daniel observed.

Price adjusted his jacket.

“Yes. A regrettable incident.”

“What did they take?” Alexander asked.

“Old business documents.”

“Did they take anything connected to Jonathan Hayes?”

Price's face revealed nothing.

“Your father had many business dealings.”

“I'm not asking about his business dealings. I'm asking about a private agreement he signed with my grandfather concerning two children.”

The lawyer went very still.

Alexander noticed.

“You know exactly what I'm talking about.”

Price walked to the desk and poured himself a glass of water.

“Your grandfather believed the Hayes family was facing a crisis. He thought certain arrangements were necessary to preserve its future.”

“What arrangements?”

“Decisions involving inheritance, family obligations, and the protection of private information.”

“Stop speaking in riddles.”

Price placed the glass down.

“You have your father's letter, don't you?”

Alexander's eyes narrowed.

“How do you know about that?”

“Because Jonathan told me he had written one.”

“Then you know why I'm here.”

Price looked at him for a long moment.

“Yes.”

“Tell me what happened at St. Vincent's Hospital five years ago.”

The old lawyer sighed.

“I can tell you what I witnessed. I cannot tell you what I was never told.”

“Start there.”

Price walked to a locked cabinet and removed a thin folder.

He opened it, revealing a copy of the family agreement.

“The original document contained several conditions. Your grandfather wanted to ensure that the Hayes inheritance remained within what he considered the rightful line.”

“And the babies?”

“The agreement referred to two children whose identities and futures were to remain confidential until a particular condition was met.”

“Which condition?”

“The death of your grandfather.”

Alexander frowned.

“My grandfather died before the children were born.”

“Exactly.”

The room fell silent.

Daniel stepped closer.

“Are you saying the arrangement was made before the births?”

Price nodded.

“Your grandfather had received information about a family matter that he believed could threaten the inheritance. He wanted to settle it before it became public.”

“What information?”

“I was never given the complete story.”

Alexander let out a bitter laugh.

“You expect me to believe that you helped prepare a legal agreement involving two babies without knowing why?”

“I was a lawyer, Mr. Hayes. My responsibility was to prepare the document I was instructed to prepare.”

“And your conscience?”

Price flinched.

For the first time, his composure cracked.

“I have spent five years asking myself the same question.”

Alexander leaned forward.

“Who gave you the instructions?”

Price looked toward the window.

“Your grandfather. Your mother was present at one meeting. Your father objected to the arrangement.”

“My father objected?”

“Fiercely.”

Alexander felt something tighten in his chest.

“Why?”

“Because he believed no child should be used to settle a dispute over an inheritance.”

“Then why did he sign the agreement?”

Price looked down.

“Because your grandfather told him that refusing to sign would put someone he loved in danger.”

Alexander's blood ran cold.

“Who?”

Before Price could answer, the lights went out.

Daniel immediately moved toward Alexander.

“Don't move.”

A crash came from the hallway.

Then a door slammed.

“Price!” Alexander shouted.

No answer.

Daniel switched on his phone's flashlight.

The study was empty.

The back door stood open, curtains moving in the cold night air.

Edmund Price was gone.

And so was the missing page.

---

“Damn it!”

Alexander reached the back garden seconds later, but there was no sign of the lawyer.

Daniel called their security contact while Alexander scanned the narrow street behind the house.

A dark vehicle accelerated away from the corner.

He caught only a glimpse of its rear lights.

“Did you see the driver?” Daniel asked.

“No.”

“Could that have been Price?”

Alexander stared at the empty road.

“I don't know.”

His phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered immediately.

“Where is Edmund Price?”

A man's voice replied, calm and unfamiliar.

“You're asking the wrong question, Alexander.”

“Who is this?”

“Someone who has watched your family destroy lives in the name of protecting its fortune.”

“Then stop hiding and tell me what happened.”

A pause.

“Your father tried to stop it.”

“I know that.”

“No. You know he objected. You don't know what he sacrificed.”

Alexander tightened his grip on the phone.

“What did he sacrifice?”

“The truth.”

The caller ended the call.

Alexander stood in the darkness, anger burning beneath his skin.

Daniel approached him.

“Should we call the police?”

“Yes. Report the break-in and Price's disappearance. Don't speculate about the family agreement until we have something verifiable.”

Daniel nodded.

Alexander looked at his phone again.

A new message had arrived.

It contained a photograph of a woman standing outside a hospital entrance.

The image was old and slightly blurred.

Beneath it was a single sentence.

Find the woman who left St. Vincent's without her baby. She is the only person who can explain why your father signed the agreement.

Alexander enlarged the photograph.

The woman had dark hair and wore a pale coat. Her face was turned slightly away from the camera.

He couldn't identify her.

But he recognized the hospital entrance.

St. Vincent's.

And someone had written a date across the bottom of the image.

The date was five years old.

The day Grace was born.

---

Elizabeth knew something was wrong before Alexander even entered the apartment.

He was usually careful to greet Grace first when he came home. Tonight, he barely removed his coat before asking Elizabeth to follow him into the study.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Edmund Price disappeared.”

Her face paled.

“The lawyer?”

“Yes. Someone broke into his office this morning. When Daniel and I went to his house tonight, the lights went out, and Price vanished.”

“Did he tell you anything?”

“Enough to confirm that my father opposed the arrangement involving the babies.”

Elizabeth sat down.

“Your father tried to stop it?”

“Apparently. But someone threatened him, and he signed the agreement anyway.”

“Who threatened him?”

“I don't know.”

Alexander showed her the photograph of the woman outside St. Vincent's.

Elizabeth studied it.

“Who is she?”

“That is what I need to find out.”

She looked closer.

“Wait.”

Alexander leaned toward her.

“What?”

Elizabeth pointed at the photograph.

“Her coat.”

He frowned.

“What about it?”

“I've seen that style before. Not the exact coat, but the same hospital maternity uniform beneath it.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because when I went to St. Vincent's after I found out I was pregnant, I saw a woman wearing something similar. She was leaving the private maternity wing.”

Alexander stared at her.

“Why were you there?”

“I went to ask about my prenatal records. I was worried because I hadn't received some of the documents I'd been promised.”

“And did you see this woman?”

“I think so. She was crying. A nurse was trying to stop her from leaving, but the woman kept saying she wanted her baby back.”

Alexander felt his heart pound.

“Elizabeth, are you sure?”

“No. It was five years ago, and I didn't know any of this mattered. But I remember her saying something that frightened me.”

“What?”

Elizabeth swallowed.

“She said, ‘You promised me I would be able to take him home.’”

The room seemed to shrink around them.

Alexander sat opposite her.

“A baby boy?”

“I think so.”

He showed her the message about the woman who left the hospital without her baby.

Elizabeth looked at the photograph again.

“Alexander, what if this woman was the mother of the second baby?”

“Then we need to find her.”

“What if she knows where the child is?”

“Then she may be the only person who can tell us what happened.”

Elizabeth's eyes filled with worry.

“And what if she knows something about Grace?”

Alexander took her hands.

“Whatever she knows, we'll face it together.”

She looked at him for a long moment.

“I want to believe that.”

“I know.”

“No more secrets between us.”

“No more secrets.”

This time, he didn't look away when he said it.

---

Across the city, Richard Hayes was making a dangerous decision of his own.

He had spent the evening trying to contact Edmund Price.

No answer.

He had tried his mother.

She had refused to speak to him.

Finally, he called the number of the woman who had contacted him earlier.

She answered on the first ring.

“Did you find the document?” she asked.

“No. Someone got to Price before I did.”

“Then you need to move quickly.”

“Tell me who you are.”

“I will, when I know I can trust you.”

Richard laughed without humor.

“Trust? My own mother has lied to me for years. Alexander thinks I'm responsible for everything. And you expect me to trust a stranger?”

“I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm asking you to decide whether you want to know the truth.”

Richard looked toward the windows of his penthouse.

The city glittered below him, indifferent to the secrets tearing his family apart.

“What do you want from me?”

“Access to the Hayes family archives.”

“Why?”

“Because there is a document your grandfather hid before he died. It contains the name of the woman who gave birth to the second baby.”

Richard's pulse quickened.

“Where is it?”

“In the family mausoleum.”

He stared at the phone.

“That is impossible.”

“Your grandfather believed some truths belonged with the dead. He arranged for the document to be sealed inside a compartment beneath his memorial plaque.”

Richard stood abruptly.

“Why didn't you tell me this before?”

“Because I needed to know whether you were willing to look for it.”

“And if I find it?”

“You will finally understand why your mother was so desperate to keep the babies apart.”

The call ended.

Richard remained motionless.

Then he grabbed his coat.

For the first time, he wasn't looking for a way to protect his inheritance.

He was looking for the truth.

Even if it destroyed him.

---

At 11:47 p.m., Daniel called Alexander.

“I've identified the woman in the photograph.”

Alexander sat upright.

“Who is she?”

“Her name is Laura Bennett. She worked as a nurse at St. Vincent's private maternity wing five years ago.”

Elizabeth, sitting beside him, immediately looked up.

“A nurse?”

Daniel continued.

“She resigned three days after the births. There are no employment records for her after that. Her last known address was in Boston.”

“Is she still there?”

“No. The property was sold two years ago. But I found a financial record that might help us.”

“What record?”

“Six months after she left the hospital, someone transferred a large sum of money into an account under her name. The payment came from a company linked to the Hayes family.”

Alexander's expression hardened.

“Who authorized it?”

“The company records are incomplete. But the payment was approved by a representative acting on behalf of your grandfather's estate.”

Elizabeth covered her mouth.

“Someone paid her to disappear,” she whispered.

“Possibly,” Daniel replied. “But there's more.”

Alexander stood.

“Tell me.”

“Three weeks ago, Laura Bennett used her real name to check into a hotel outside Boston.”

“Three weeks ago?”

“Yes. She stayed one night and left the next morning.”

“Did she leave a forwarding address?”

“No. But the hotel manager remembered her because she asked whether anyone had been looking for her.”

Alexander's mind raced.

“Did she say who?”

“No. But she left something behind.”

“What?”

“A child's drawing.”

Alexander went silent.

Daniel sent the image.

The drawing showed two babies lying side by side in bassinets.

Above them, a woman had written a short message.

I was only supposed to take one home.

Elizabeth stared at the screen.

Alexander felt a cold certainty settle over him.

Someone had arranged for one baby to leave the hospital with a particular person.

Someone else had interfered.

And a nurse named Laura Bennett had been caught in the middle.

But the most troubling question remained unanswered.

Who was supposed to take the baby home?

And why had the other child been left behind?

Alexander looked at Elizabeth.

“We're going to Boston tomorrow.”

She nodded.

“I'm coming with you.”

“No. Elizabeth—”

“You promised there would be no more secrets. I'm not staying here while you investigate something that could involve our daughter.”

He hesitated.

She was right.

He couldn't ask her to trust him while shutting her out of the truth.

“All right,” he said. “But we'll take security with us.”

Elizabeth squeezed his hand.

“Agreed.”

From the hallway came a small voice.

“Daddy?”

They turned.

Grace stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes.

Alexander immediately crossed the room and lifted her into his arms.

“What's wrong, sweetheart?”

“I heard you talking about babies.”

He exchanged a glance with Elizabeth.

Grace hugged his neck.

“Daddy, I remembered something from my dream.”

Alexander's heart began to pound.

“What did you remember?”

Grace looked at him solemnly.

“The little boy wasn't crying because he wanted to go home.”

Alexander brushed her hair away from her face.

“Why was he crying?”

Grace's answer came in a whisper.

“Because the woman told him his real mommy was never coming back.”

The room fell silent.

Elizabeth felt a chill run down her spine.

Alexander held his daughter closer.

He knew Grace was only five. Dreams were dreams, and children sometimes repeated things they had overheard without understanding them.

But the sentence was too close to the mystery unfolding around them to ignore.

Someone had told a child that his mother would never return.

Someone had made a promise to a woman who left St. Vincent's without her baby.

And somewhere, a little boy might still be waiting for the truth.

Alexander looked at Elizabeth.

Tomorrow, they would find Laura Bennett.

And when they did, he would finally ask the question that had haunted his family for five years.

Who was the baby they were never supposed to take home?