Chapter 19 - The Second Band

The jet engines behind us died into a low, metallic whine as the smell of aviation fuel hung heavy in the dawn air.

I stared at the translucent plastic strip pinched between the prosecutor’s gloved fingers. The ink was faded, but the stamped blue lettering remained undeniable: Infant B — Vance/Dallas Methodist — May 14, 1985.

"Twin B?" I whispered, my ears ringing louder than the prop wash.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena Vance—no relation to Judith’s toxic branch—pulled a pair of certified microfilm logs from her accordion folder. Her sharp gaze flicked between me and Arthur Caldwell.

"The hospital birth register Judith tampered with listed a single stillborn male," Elena explained, keeping her voice level against the rising wind. "She erased Infant A from the ward books and renamed him Ryan. But she didn't just hide a deceased child's identity. She broke up a multiple birth."

Beside me, Arthur leaned heavily into his silver-tipped cane, the rubber stopper squeaking against the wet asphalt. His face had turned the color of dry bone.

"Where was the second child taken?" Arthur asked, his baritone trembling with quiet fury. "Judith only brought one infant home to Midland."

Judith thrashed against the Texas Ranger holding her down against the hood of the cruiser. Mud smeared across the lapel of her tailored camel coat, her manicured fingers clawing at the patrol car's slick paint.

"She has no proof!" Judith shrieked, spitting rain and bile toward the tarmac. "The statute of limitations expired twenty years ago! You can't touch what’s already buried!"

"Kidnapping has no statute of limitations under federal law, Judith," Elena Vance said, snapping the evidence folder shut with a crisp, authoritative thud. "Especially when the second infant was transported across international borders under a falsified medical escort."

Elena turned back to me, extending a carbon copy of a flight manifest stamped thirty-nine years ago.

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