Chapter 22 - THE WOMAN AT THE SCHOOL
I didn't tell Leah.
Not yet.
She had spent too many years being dragged into adult secrets.
This time, I wanted to protect her from them.
So I did what any father would do.
I went to her school.
Her teacher met me outside the classroom.
"Mr. Whitmore?"
"Has anyone unusual been asking about Leah?"
Her expression changed.
"Why?"
"Please."
She looked toward the hallway.
Then lowered her voice.
"Actually... yes."
My stomach tightened.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Who?"
"A woman."
"What woman?"
"I don't know her."
"What did she want?"
The teacher hesitated.
"She said she was Leah's aunt."
I felt the blood leave my face.
"Did you let her see Leah?"
"No."
I exhaled.
"Thank you."
"But there was something strange."
"What?"
"She knew Leah's middle name."
I froze.
Almost nobody knew it.
Even most relatives didn't.
"Did she leave a name?"
The teacher nodded.
"She called herself Elena."
"Elena what?"
"I don't know."
I thanked her and walked outside.
My phone rang.
Nah.
"Where are you?"
"At Leah's school."
"Why?"
"I need you to come here."
"What happened?"
"Someone came asking about Leah."
Silence.
Then Nah said:
"Is it Arthur?"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because the woman used a name I've never heard before."
"What name?"
"Elena."
There was a pause.
Then Nah whispered:
"Graham..."
"What?"
"Do you remember the photograph?"
I stopped walking.
"What photograph?"
"The one from your father's file."
My mind raced.
Months earlier, buried among the evidence, there had been a photograph of a woman standing outside the adoption agency.
I had never understood why it was included.
I had assumed she was an employee.
But now I remembered the name written on the back.
Elena Whitmore.
My heart began pounding.
I drove home.
I opened the evidence box.
The photograph was still there.
A young woman.
Dark hair.
Pale blue eyes.
She was holding a baby.
The baby was Leah.
I stared at the photograph.
But something was wrong.
Leah had been only a few weeks old.
The woman holding her wasn't a nurse.
She wasn't an adoption worker.
She was smiling at the camera.
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
I never gave her away.
I read it again.
Then I turned the photograph over.
There was another sentence.
Graham doesn't know who I am.
My hands started shaking.
Nah walked into the room.
"What did you find?"
I showed her.
She stared at the photograph.
"Who is Elena?"
"I don't know."
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text appeared.
You finally found her.
Another message arrived.
Now ask why she disappeared.
Then a third.
And ask Leah what she remembers about the woman in the blue coat.
I stared at the screen.
Leah was nine.
She had been a baby when the photograph was taken.
May you like
She couldn't possibly remember.
Could she?
