Chapter 3 - THE DAUGHTER IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Detective Naomi Brooks arrived at the hospital shortly after noon.
She was in her forties, sharp-eyed, and unimpressed by the Harrington family name. She listened to Richard’s account, examined the photograph, and asked Daniel to identify everyone who had access to the mansion.
“Your father says the coffin was specially constructed,” she said. “Who ordered it?”
Daniel thought for a moment.
“Margaret handled the funeral arrangements. She said the funeral director had worked with the family for years.”
“Name?”
“Peter Caldwell.”
Naomi wrote it down.
“Who was the doctor who signed the death certificate?”
“Dr. Samuel Price.”
The detective looked up. “The same doctor who treated your father?”
Richard nodded.
Naomi closed her notebook.
“Then we have several people to speak with.”
Before she left, Richard asked her to look into Lydia.
“I have one name,” he said. “Lydia Anna Harrington. She may have been registered under another surname.”
Naomi promised to search official records.
Later that afternoon, Elena arrived at the hospital carrying a small canvas bag. She had washed her face and changed into a plain gray dress, but her hands still trembled.
Daniel stood when she entered.
“I owe you an apology.”
Elena looked startled.
“For what, sir?”
“For letting everyone treat you as if you were invisible. For almost having you dragged out of the funeral. You saved my father.”
Elena lowered her eyes. “I only did what he asked me to do.”
“You risked your job. Maybe your life.”
“Mr. Richard gave me a place to work when my husband died. He helped my son finish school. I wasn't going to let someone bury him alive.”
Richard reached for her hand.
“You did more than protect me, Elena.”
She smiled faintly, then placed a small envelope on the bedside table.
“I found this in your study after the funeral was announced. It was hidden behind the loose panel in your desk.”
Richard recognized the handwriting immediately.
“Anna.”
Inside was a letter addressed to him, dated eighteen years earlier. Anna had written that she was frightened because someone had been asking questions about the baby. She planned to leave the city until she could be sure Lydia was safe.
At the bottom, she had written an address.
Daniel read it aloud.
“St. Catherine's Children's Home.”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“I thought Anna had died before she could tell me where the baby went.”
Elena shook her head. “I remember that place. The family used to donate to it.”
Daniel called the home. It had closed twelve years earlier, but its records had been transferred to a regional archive.
Naomi arranged for an investigator to retrieve them.
Two hours later, she returned with a preliminary report.
A baby girl named Lydia Anna Harrington had been admitted to St. Catherine's eighteen years ago. She had later been adopted by a couple named James and Helen Moore.
The adoption had been legal.
But there was a complication.
The original birth record had been altered. The name of the biological father had been removed, and the adoption file contained a note requesting that the child never be contacted by the Harrington family.
Richard stared at the report.
“Who requested that?”
May you like
Naomi looked at him.
“The signature belongs to Margaret Harrington.”
