Chapter 7 - The Daughter Nobody Claimed
The baby in the photograph had been born on March 3, 1998.
Her name was Evelyn Bell.
At least, that was the name written in Mercy's handwriting.
But no birth certificate under that name had been located in the preliminary records search.
No school enrollment.
No medical history.
No official trace of the child after her first birthday.
Sullivan believed the records might have been altered.
Reyes warned us not to assume that Thomas Bennett was Evelyn's father until they could corroborate it.
Katherine, however, remembered something.
"Mercy told me Eleanor took her daughter."
The words landed heavily.
I turned toward her.
"What do you mean, took her?"
"Mercy said her baby had been sent somewhere safe. Eleanor promised she could see her again if she stopped asking questions about the foundation."
"Did she believe Eleanor?"
"At first."
Katherine looked down.
"People believe whatever they need to believe when someone has their child."
I thought about Eleanor.
The way she controlled everything.
The wedding.
The house.
My career.
Even the doctor who treated my injuries.
For eleven years, I had believed her obsession with appearances came from pride.
Now I wondered whether it came from something much darker.
Control was not a habit for Eleanor Bennett.
It was a system.
And anyone who challenged it became a problem to be managed.
That evening, Daniel received a call from an investigator working with Reyes.
A woman had been located in Connecticut whose childhood adoption records contained unusual amendments.
Her original name had been sealed.
Her adoptive parents were deceased.
She was twenty-eight.
And her current name was Evelyn Hart.
Daniel warned me that none of this proved she was Mercy's daughter.
But something about the name made me pause.
"Evelyn Hart," I repeated.
I knew it.
Not personally.
Professionally.
She was a forensic accountant who had appeared in several high-profile financial investigations.
Two years earlier, she'd testified before a state legislative committee about misuse of charitable funds.
I remembered watching a clip on the hospital break-room television.
"Daniel."
He looked at me.
"She's an accountant."
"Yes."
"Mercy was studying accounting."
"That may be coincidence."
"Maybe."
But my hands were trembling.
"What if Evelyn has spent her entire life investigating the kind of crime that destroyed her mother?"
Daniel studied me.
"Claire, we don't know whether she knows anything about her origins."
Before I could answer, his phone rang again.
He listened.
Then went completely still.
"Who contacted her?"
A pause.
"When?"
Another pause.
He closed his eyes.
"Thank you."
I stared at him.
"What happened?"
Daniel set the phone down.
"Evelyn Hart contacted the attorney general's office this morning."
"About what?"
He looked at me.
"The Bennett Foundation."
I felt a chill.
"She already knows?"
Daniel shook his head.
"We don't know what she knows."
May you like
Then he said the words that changed our entire investigation.
"She's been examining the foundation for eighteen months."
