The Second Baby
Chapter 04 - The Second Baby
Maya was escorted off campus while Evelyn was driven home by Margaret’s assistant.
Before they were separated, Evelyn mouthed one word.
Library.
The next morning, Maya visited the city’s public archives, where old hospital records and local newspapers had been transferred after St. Catherine’s Medical Center closed. She searched the date printed on Evelyn’s photocopy.
A retired librarian named Ruth Mercer noticed the name Elena Bennett on Maya’s request form.
“I remember her,” Ruth said. “She came here often after the hospital fire.”
“What fire?”
Ruth led Maya to a microfilm machine. An article from seventeen years earlier described a small electrical fire in St. Catherine’s maternity records room. No patients were injured, but dozens of birth files were damaged. The hospital administrator at the time had been Dr. Samuel Nolan—Principal Nolan’s father.
Another article showed Margaret Hart donating money to repair the hospital.
Maya searched Elena’s name and found a shorter story published three months later: LOCAL BOOKKEEPER QUESTIONED IN CHARITY THEFT. Elena had worked for the Hart Family Education Trust. She was accused of transferring scholarship money into a private account. Charges were never filed, but she disappeared before the audit ended.
“That’s why they called her a thief,” Maya whispered.
Ruth looked around before unlocking a drawer. “Elena left something with me.”
Inside was a yellow envelope marked for Rachel Bennett. It had never been collected because Rachel had moved after Elena vanished.
Maya opened it with shaking hands.
The letter was written in Elena’s handwriting.
Rachel, if anything happens to me, protect Maya. Margaret knows the truth about the twins. She took Evelyn from the hospital and altered the records. Andrew wanted both daughters recognized, but he died before he could change the trust. The original birth ledger survived the fire. Samuel Nolan hid it for her.
Maya stopped reading.
Twins.
The word felt impossible, yet every strange detail suddenly aligned: the matching birthdays, identical lockets, Elena’s photograph, and the way Evelyn’s face sometimes looked familiar when her expression softened.
The letter continued.
The girls’ inheritance is tied to the education trust. If they are ever legally recognized as sisters, Margaret loses control of the fund.
Maya photographed every page.
Then she noticed the final line.
Do not trust anyone who says I drowned. I was followed that night.
Maya called Rachel, but before she could explain, someone slammed into her shoulder. The envelope disappeared from her hand.
A man in a dark jacket ran toward the exit.
Maya chased him through the archive hall, but he escaped into traffic.
The original letter was gone.
Only the photographs remained on her phone.
May you like
Seconds later, the screen went black.
Her phone had been remotely erased.
