Chapter 20 - THE DOCTOR'S CONFESSION
Daniel found Dr. Whitmore hiding in a motel outside the city.
The doctor had packed his belongings and was preparing to leave when Daniel entered.
“You sent me the footage,” Daniel said. “Why?”
Whitmore locked the door.
“Because I helped create this nightmare.”
He confessed that Robert had paid him to alter the hospital records after the twins were born. One baby remained with Daniel and Claire. The other was secretly transferred under a false identity.
“But I never knew who took her,” Whitmore insisted. “Thomas arranged the transfer. Victor paid for it.”
“Why would Thomas help Victor?”
“Because Victor threatened to expose Thomas’s financial crimes.”
Daniel paced the room, furious.
“And Claire found out.”
“Yes. She confronted me days before her death. She said she had spoken to Evelyn’s adoptive family and planned to bring the truth to the police.”
“Who stopped her?”
Whitmore’s hands trembled.
“I saw someone enter her hospital room after midnight. I heard an argument. Then a crash.”
“Who?”
“I never saw the face. But I heard Claire say one name.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Which name?”
“Margaret.”
Daniel recoiled.
“My wife’s mother?”
Whitmore nodded.
“She came to see me afterward. She told me Claire had fallen and begged me not to mention the visit.”
Daniel wanted to believe Margaret had lied about everything else but not this. Yet the evidence kept pointing back to her.
Before he could question Whitmore further, the motel window shattered.
A masked man rushed in and struck Daniel across the face. Daniel fell against a table. Whitmore screamed as the attacker punched Daniel in the ribs and tried to seize the doctor’s bag.
Daniel grabbed a lamp and swung it, forcing the man backward.
The attacker fled through the broken window.
Whitmore was shaking.
“They know I talked.”
Daniel called Harris, but the doctor refused to leave with the police.
“I need to tell you one more thing,” Whitmore whispered.
He handed Daniel a small envelope.
Inside was a hospital bracelet marked EVELYN HALE and a photograph of a young woman standing beside a woman whose face was partly obscured.
On the back, Claire had written:
If anything happens to me, find the woman who raised our daughter.
Daniel looked up.
“Who is she?”
Whitmore swallowed.
“Her name is Rebecca. She worked at the clinic. She was also Margaret’s closest friend.”
“Where can I find her?”
“Her grave is in the old cemetery.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Her grave?”
Whitmore nodded.
“Rebecca died six years ago.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
May you like
An unfamiliar woman whispered, “If you want to meet your daughter, come alone to the cemetery tonight.”
Then the call ended.
