Chapter 17 - The Question They Never Asked
Marjorie Bell's interview lasted nearly four hours.
She had been twenty-six when she worked at the adoption agency. Her job involved filing records, preparing meeting rooms, and arranging transport for temporary placements. She remembered Anna clearly.
“She was frightened,” Marjorie said. “But she was not confused. She knew what she wanted.”
“What did she want?” Detective Moore asked.
“To keep her daughter safe until she could prove the financial fraud. She believed someone would use the baby to force her to stay quiet.”
Marjorie explained that Anna had arrived at the agency one evening with a folder of documents. She asked for an emergency placement but wanted the child's identity protected only temporarily. She expected Richard to join her once he understood the danger.
Margaret arrived later with a different set of papers. She claimed Richard was unable to make decisions and had authorized her to handle the family. She also said Anna was unstable and might try to take Lydia away without proper permission.
The agency initially refused to finalize an adoption without consent. But the next morning, the director received a call from Thomas Mercer, who offered a large donation to the emergency housing program.
The director changed the file.
“Did you see the money?” Martin asked.
“No. But I saw the director's reaction. He told us the Harrington family had agreed to fund a new wing if we completed the placement quickly.”
Richard felt sick.
“Did Anna know?”
“She suspected something was wrong. She came back two days later and demanded to see the file. Margaret was waiting in the lobby.”
Marjorie said the two women argued. Margaret told Anna that if she tried to take Lydia, the family would claim she was mentally unwell. Anna said she would go to the police.
Then Margaret told her that Richard had already signed the papers.
“I never signed anything,” Richard said.
“I know,” Marjorie replied. “I found the original signature sheet later. It was blank.”
Marjorie admitted she had been afraid to report what she saw. She had a young son, and the director threatened to dismiss her if she spoke about the placement. After Anna died, the file was moved.
She contacted Lydia now because Thomas Mercer had hired someone to find her. Marjorie feared he would reach Lydia before the police understood what had happened.
She also remembered a statement Anna had hidden inside a nursery-rhyme book that was sent with Lydia's belongings.
Lydia had been listening from the adjoining room with Elena. She entered quietly.
“I think I know the book,” she said.
She remembered a small collection of nursery rhymes with a loose blue cover. Her adoptive mother had kept it in a box, and Lydia had brought it with her when she moved into the mansion.
They returned home under police escort. Lydia found the book on a shelf in her room. An evidence technician examined the binding and discovered a narrow paper sleeve stitched beneath the lining.
Inside was a folded statement in Anna's handwriting.
Anna wrote that she was leaving Lydia with people she had been told she could trust, but she did not trust the man who had made the arrangement. She named Thomas Mercer and Victor Crane. She also wrote that she had copied the financial ledger and given the original to Margaret only because Margaret promised to protect it.
At the bottom, Anna had added: If Lydia is ever returned to her father, tell him the danger did not begin with the business. It began with the people he allowed to speak for him.
Richard read the sentence until the words blurred.
Lydia placed a hand on his arm. “I don't blame you for what they did. But I can't become the little girl you lost. I'm the person who grew up somewhere else.”
Richard nodded. “I understand.”
“I want to keep this book.”
“It's yours.”
That night, Detective Moore called. The agency's original director had agreed to cooperate. He also claimed that Margaret had not acted alone.
There had been a second person at the agency that night.
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Someone who signed the false placement order using Richard's name.
And that person was still connected to the Harrington foundation.
