Chapter 8 - The Name Beneath Her Name
Daniel was taken to the hospital under police guard.
He refused to speak again until an attorney arrived.
By morning, news of the attack had reached local reporters. A television van parked outside Margaret’s house. Another appeared near Evelyn’s downtown clinic.
Naomi kept Evelyn inside the guest suite with the curtains closed.
“You’re not making a statement,” she said.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Your clinic employees need guidance.”
“Tell them operations continue and payroll is protected.”
“Two banks have temporarily restricted your business credit lines because of North Lake’s ownership claim.”
Evelyn looked up.
“They can’t do that based on a forged agreement.”
“They can until a judge reviews it.”
“What about payroll?”
“We have enough protected cash for two cycles.”
“And after that?”
“We fight.”
Evelyn leaned back carefully.
Every hour Daniel and Margaret delayed the truth, her businesses moved closer to paralysis. Patients would cancel if they believed the clinics were collapsing. Employees would leave if they feared missed wages.
The scheme had been designed to pressure Evelyn from every direction.
At noon, Detective Shaw arrived with Officer Brooks.
He placed an old driver’s-license photograph on the table.
The woman in the image was younger, with dark blond hair, but her eyes belonged to Margaret.
The name read:
MARION VALE.
Evelyn stared at it.
“Vale?”
“Simon Vale’s sister,” Shaw said.
“Margaret’s maiden name was Hale.”
“According to the records we found, Margaret Hale did not exist until twenty-nine years ago.”
Naomi sat across from him.
“Explain.”
“Marion Vale changed her identity after an investigation into insurance fraud in Pennsylvania. She was never charged. Soon afterward, she relocated to Ohio and began using the name Margaret Hale.”
“What about Daniel?” Evelyn asked.
“His birth certificate lists Margaret Hale as his mother and no father.”
“But he said she wasn’t his mother.”
“We don’t yet know what he meant.”
Shaw placed another photograph on the table.
It showed Simon Vale, Margaret and a young woman standing outside a dental office nearly four decades earlier.
The young woman was pregnant.
Her name was written on the back.
Rebecca Carter.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Carter was Daniel’s surname.
“What is this?”
“We hoped you could tell us.”
“I’ve never seen her.”
“Daniel’s records identify his mother as Margaret.”
“Then who is Rebecca?”
Shaw turned the photograph over again.
Beneath the names, someone had written:
Rebecca, Simon and Marion — June 1987.
Daniel was born in early 1988.
Naomi examined the image.
“Could Rebecca be Daniel’s biological mother?”
“That is one theory.”
“And Simon his father?”
“Possibly.”
Evelyn felt the pieces rearranging.
Margaret was Simon’s sister.
Daniel might be Simon’s son.
That would make Simon not merely a criminal associate but Daniel’s father.
It would also explain why Margaret protected Simon and why Daniel became involved with a clinic he supposedly knew nothing about.
“Why raise him under the Carter name?” Evelyn asked.
Shaw opened a folder.
“Rebecca Carter disappeared six weeks after Daniel’s birth.”
“Disappeared?”
“She left a note saying she was moving west. Her family never heard from her again.”
“Was a report filed?”
“Yes, but investigators concluded she left voluntarily.”
“What did Simon say?”
“He denied paternity.”
“And Margaret?”
“Marion Vale gave a statement claiming Rebecca was unstable and had abandoned the child. Within a year, Marion relocated with Daniel and became Margaret Hale.”
Evelyn looked again at the pregnant woman in the photograph.
Rebecca had Daniel’s mouth.
The resemblance was undeniable once she knew where to look.
“Where is Simon now?”
“We’re trying to locate him.”
“He transferred money through North Lake.”
“The company address leads to an empty office.”
Naomi tapped the table.
“Does Daniel know all of this?”
“He knows something,” Shaw said. “But his attorney has advised silence.”
Evelyn felt anger flare beneath the pain.
“He watched his mother hit me. He stole evidence. Now he wants protection?”
“His attorney claims he was coerced for years.”
“He discussed killing me.”
“We haven’t forgotten that.”
Shaw removed another item from the folder.
A photocopy of a dental treatment log.
Patient: Laura Bennett.
Treating dentist: Dr. Simon Vale.
Emergency contact: Rebecca Carter.
Evelyn read it twice.
“Rebecca disappeared in 1988. Laura died years later.”
Shaw nodded.
“So why is Rebecca listed as her emergency contact?”
Naomi leaned closer.
“Could Laura Bennett have been Rebecca using another name?”
“That is what we’re investigating.”
The room fell silent.
If Rebecca survived and became Laura, then Simon had treated the woman who once accused him of abandoning their child.
And Laura later died during a procedure in his clinic.
“What was Laura’s age?” Evelyn asked.
“Fifty-one at the time of death.”
“That fits.”
“Her identification was issued only three years before the procedure. We have not found reliable records before that.”
Evelyn looked toward the curtained window.
A woman disappeared.
A new woman appeared.
She returned to Simon’s clinic under another name.
Then she died.
Simon kept a ledger that could expose everyone.
Margaret tried to gain control of the clinics containing that evidence.
Daniel helped her.
A phone rang inside Detective Shaw’s coat.
He answered and listened.
His face changed.
“When?” he asked.
A pause.
“Secure the scene. We’re coming.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” Evelyn asked.
“Margaret’s attorney was found dead in his office.”
Naomi stood.
“How?”
“Apparent overdose.”
“Apparent?” Evelyn repeated.
May you like
Shaw gathered the photographs.
“His assistant found a sealed letter on his desk addressed to Evelyn Carter.”
