Chapter 5: The Son Who Knew Too Much
Emily spun around.
James stood in the doorway wearing a black sweater and dark trousers.
His face was expressionless.
But his right hand was gripping the doorframe so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
Thomas slowly stood.
"James, I can explain.""
"Can you?""
James stepped into the study.
"I find you in my mother's private room. I find a locked drawer open. And now you're holding documents that have been missing for twenty-six years.""
Emily held the hospital bracelet.
"Why is your name connected to this?""
James looked at it.
For a moment, he seemed unable to speak.
Then he reached for the envelope.
Emily pulled it back.
"Not until you tell me the truth.""
His eyes narrowed.
"You're making a mistake.""
"Maybe. But I'm tired of everyone telling me what I don't deserve to know.""
James looked at Thomas.
"Leave us.""
"No.""
"Thomas.""
"Your mother authorized me to help Emily.""
James laughed without humor.
"My mother is vulnerable. She doesn't understand what she's signing.""
From the corridor came the sound of a wheelchair.
Margaret appeared at the doorway.
She had apparently been awake the entire time.
Her blanket was draped over her knees, and a young nurse pushed her into the room.
James closed his eyes.
"Mother, you should be in bed.""
Margaret raised one hand.
She signed sharply.
Emily translated.
"She's saying you should stop lying.""
James stared at her.
"That's enough.""
Margaret pointed at the open drawer.
Then at James.
Then she made a sign Emily had never seen before.
Thomas moved closer.
"She's asking him to tell you about the second baby.""
James looked away.
"There's no second baby.""
Margaret slapped the armrest.
She signed again.
This time, Thomas translated.
"She says there were two babies. One belonged to Elizabeth. The other belonged to Sarah.""
Emily felt her heart pound.
"My mother had a baby?""
Margaret nodded.
"Was that baby me?""
Margaret hesitated.
Then she shook her head.
Emily's breath caught.
James suddenly laughed.
"Now you see why this is pointless.""
Emily turned toward him.
"What do you know?""
James walked to the desk.
He picked up the hospital bracelet and examined it.
"My mother has spent decades rewriting what happened that night. She believes she lost two children. She believes Sarah was protecting one of them. She believes our family was destroyed by a conspiracy.""
He placed the bracelet down.
"But the truth is much simpler.""
"What truth?""
James looked directly at Emily.
"Your mother gave birth to a girl. Elizabeth gave birth to a boy. Both children survived. And one of them was sent away.""
"Which one?""
James didn't answer.
Margaret began signing again.
Her hands moved with desperate urgency.
Emily watched.
"You're saying the boy was taken?""
Margaret nodded.
Then she pointed to James.
James's face hardened.
"No.""
Margaret signed again.
Emily looked at Thomas.
"What is she saying?""
Thomas swallowed.
"She says James was the baby who was taken.""
Silence.
Emily stared at James.
He seemed almost amused.
"That's absurd.""
Margaret continued signing.
Emily followed as best she could.
"She says you were raised under a different name.""
James shook his head.
"Stop.""
"She says your biological mother was Elizabeth.""
"Mother!""
"And my mother...""
Margaret pointed toward Emily.
Then toward the photograph.
She signed slowly.
"Protected.""
Emily felt her throat close.
"Protected whom?""
Margaret pointed at James.
Then she made a sign indicating a baby being carried away.
Thomas translated.
"Sarah took James out of the hospital during the fire because someone was trying to kill him.""
James turned pale.
Emily looked between them.
"Someone wanted to kill a newborn?""
Thomas nodded.
"Elizabeth had discovered financial irregularities involving several senior members of the Whitmore family. She was planning to expose them. Someone believed the baby could become an obstacle.""
James stepped backward.
"That's enough.""
But Emily wasn't finished.
"Then why did my mother disappear?""
James looked at her.
"Because she was blamed for taking the child.""
"Did she take you?""
James remained silent.
Margaret nodded.
Emily looked at the hospital bracelet.
The name Elizabeth Whitmore.
The date.
The falcon.
Suddenly, the story was becoming something much larger than a family disagreement.
"Who raised you?"" Emily asked.
James swallowed.
"My father.""
"Your father knew?""
"He told me my mother died shortly after childbirth.""
"Which mother?""
James didn't answer.
Emily felt a cold wave move through her.
"Did he know about Elizabeth?""
James turned away.
Margaret began signing again.
This time, her expression changed.
She pointed toward the door.
Then she made a movement like someone entering a room.
Thomas watched closely.
"She's saying someone else was there that night.""
Emily looked at Margaret.
"Who?""
The elderly woman signed a name.
Thomas froze.
"Richard.""
James's face went white.
Emily frowned.
"Who's Richard?""
James slowly turned.
"My father.""
Twenty minutes later, Emily sat in the study while Thomas searched through the documents.
James had left the room.
Margaret remained beside the desk.
Her eyes were fixed on a framed portrait of Richard Whitmore.
He had died twelve years earlier.
In the photograph, he stood beside Margaret at a charity gala, wearing a black tuxedo and a silver tie.
Emily studied his face.
"He was the one who arranged everything?""
Margaret nodded.
"Why?""
The old woman lowered her eyes.
Then she signed.
Money.
Power.
Fear.
Thomas found another envelope beneath the false bottom.
It contained several bank statements and a photograph of a man standing beside Richard.
The man was younger, perhaps forty.
Emily recognized the face.
It was the same man who had been sitting in the reception area when she first arrived at the estate.
"Who is that?""
Thomas looked at the photograph.
"Arthur Bell. Richard's personal attorney.""
"Is he still alive?""
Thomas nodded.
"He's now the chairman of the Whitmore Family Trust.""
Emily stared.
"James works for him?""
"James controls the business operations. Arthur controls the trust.""
Margaret began signing again.
Thomas's face tightened.
"She says Arthur was at the hospital the night of the fire.""
Emily leaned forward.
"Why?""
Margaret pointed to the photograph.
Then she made a sign indicating a document being destroyed.
Thomas looked at Emily.
"She believes Arthur removed the original birth records.""
Emily glanced at the hospital bracelet.
"Then why does James have the forged confession?""
Thomas didn't answer.
Margaret took the notebook and began writing with considerable effort.
Her handwriting was uneven.
But the words were clear.
Richard made Sarah take the baby.
Emily looked at the sentence.
"Why would he make her do that?""
Margaret wrote again.
To save him.
Then she wrote another line.
But Sarah came back.
Emily stared.
"When?""
Margaret's hand shook.
She wrote:
Three days later.
Thomas leaned closer.
"Did she return with the baby?""
Margaret nodded.
Then she pointed to Emily.
And wrote:
She had another child.
Emily stopped breathing.
The room seemed to shrink around her.
"Another child?""
Margaret nodded.
Thomas looked at the documents.
"That would mean...""
He stopped.
Emily finished the sentence.
"My mother had two children.""
Margaret began crying.
Emily's fingers went numb.
"Where is the other child?""
Margaret tried to write.
But her hand trembled too badly.
She looked toward the door.
Then pointed upward.
Emily followed her gaze.
Above the desk was a portrait of two young girls standing beside a little boy.
One girl was Elizabeth.
The other was Sarah.
And the boy was James.
Emily looked at the faces again.
Then she noticed something she hadn't seen before.
The little boy had a small black falcon embroidered on his shirt.
Just like the one on her wrist.
"Thomas," she whispered.
"Who is the other child?""
The doctor stared at the portrait.
His face drained of color.
Before he could answer, the study telephone rang.
James had returned.
He picked up the receiver.
"Yes?""
A man's voice came through loudly enough for Emily to hear.
"Have you found the girl?""
James looked toward her.
"Yes.""
"And the documents?""
"Some of them.""
There was a pause.
Then the caller said:
"Do not let her meet Arthur.""
James's hand tightened around the receiver.
"Why?""
The answer came quietly.
"Because Arthur knows which child Sarah actually took.""
The line went dead.
James slowly lowered the phone.
Emily stared at him.
"Who was that?""
James didn't answer.
Then he looked at Margaret.
For the first time, he seemed genuinely afraid.
"Mother," he whispered.
"What have you done?""
Margaret raised her hand.
She pointed directly at Emily.
Then signed one sentence.
May you like
Emily understood every word.
"Find your brother.""
