Chapter 5 - THE LETTERS THAT NEVER ARRIVED
Lydia invited them inside, but she remained standing near the door.
She was twenty-three, with dark hair and the same gray eyes as Richard. She looked at the photograph Daniel held, then at the old man in front of her.
“I've seen this woman,” she whispered.
Richard looked down at the picture.
“Your mother. Anna.”
Lydia nodded. “My adoptive mother kept a photograph in a box. She told me Anna had died when I was a baby.”
Richard’s face crumpled.
“Anna did die. But she tried to find me before she passed.”
Lydia turned away.
“Why didn't you come?”
Richard had no answer that could repair eighteen years.
“I was told you were dead.”
“By whom?”
“My wife. Margaret.”
Lydia laughed once, bitterly.
“Your wife told my adoptive parents that my biological family was dangerous. She said they should never let anyone from the Harrington family contact me.”
Daniel felt anger rise.
“She knew you were alive.”
Lydia looked at him.
“Then why did she send me birthday cards?”
Richard froze.
“What?”
Lydia went to a small cabinet and removed a box. Inside were envelopes, most of them unopened. Each carried a handwritten message and a return address that no longer existed.
“She sent them for years,” Lydia said. “She said they were from a distant relative who wanted to stay in touch. But the letters stopped when I turned eighteen.”
Richard opened one.
The writing was Margaret’s.
It said: Your father is not a safe man. He has forgotten you. Build a life away from him. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise.
Another letter said that Richard had remarried and had a son who would inherit everything.
Lydia looked at Daniel.
“I thought you were the reason I was abandoned.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I didn't know you existed until yesterday.”
Richard lowered himself into a chair.
“I am sorry,” he said. “I can't ask you to forgive me. I only want you to know that I searched for you when I learned the truth.”
Lydia studied him for a long moment.
“Did you really search?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you stop?”
“Margaret made me believe the records were false. I didn't know she had arranged the adoption file.”
Lydia’s eyes filled.
“My parents loved me. I had a good childhood. But I always wondered why nobody from my first family came.”
Richard nodded.
“I should have.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You don't owe us anything. If you want to walk away, we will respect that. But Margaret tried to hide you because she was afraid of what you might inherit. She also tried to kill our father.”
Lydia went pale.
“What?”
Daniel explained the funeral and the hidden compartment.
Lydia sat down.
“She tried to kill him?”
“We believe so.”
Lydia looked at the letters in her hands.
For years, she had thought the woman who sent them was protecting her.
Now she understood that Margaret had been keeping her isolated, not safe.
“There's something you should know,” Lydia said quietly. “The last letter included a photograph of a document. It said I had signed away my inheritance.”
Richard leaned forward.
“You signed nothing.”
“I know that now. But the signature looked like mine.”
Naomi, who had been waiting outside, entered the apartment.
“May I see it?”
Lydia handed her the letter.
May you like
The detective examined the attached document.
“This is a forged release of inheritance rights,” she said. “And it may connect Margaret to the financial transfers.”
