Chapter 2 - THE SECOND CHILD NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUTClaire was careful.
She refused to speculate.
“There were multiple casualties transported from the crash site,” she said. “The deceased child arrived here without confirmed identification.”
“Then why did everyone tell me it was Chloe?”
Claire looked toward Mark.
He answered before she could.
“Because of the coat.”
I stared at him.
“A coat isn’t an identification.”
“It was hers.”
“Ruby was wearing it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I remember giving it to her.”
My memory came in broken pieces.
I had been sitting in the front passenger seat of the Bennett Executive Transport SUV.
Our driver, Daniel Ruiz, was taking Chloe and Ruby home after a school art program because Mark had needed our regular car for a corporate event.
Ruby was cold.
Chloe gave her the raincoat.
Then rain.
Headlights.
Daniel saying something under his breath.
The steering wheel jerking.
My body hitting the door.
Glass.
Then nothing.
I looked at Claire.
“What happened to the other child?”
“She was transported to St. Catherine Pediatric Trauma.”
“Alive?”
Claire paused.
“At the time she left the scene, yes.”
My knees buckled.
Mark caught my elbow.
I ripped myself away.
“You knew there was another child.”
“I knew there was an unidentified survivor.”
“When?”
“Sarah—”
“When?”
Evelyn stepped in.
“You were unconscious.”
I turned on her.
“That wasn’t the question.”
Claire quietly said:
“The hospitals began cross-checking identities several hours ago.”
“Several hours?”
I looked at Mark.
He had been sitting beside my hospital bed for most of that time.
He had told me Chloe was gone.
Held my hand while I screamed.
Watched a nurse give me medication because I could not stop shaking.
Then brought me settlement papers before taking me downstairs.
“How long have you known?”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
“We didn’t know which child was which.”
“But you knew one was alive.”
“Yes.”
The elevator suddenly felt too small.
“You let me believe my daughter was dead while another seven-year-old girl was alive in another hospital.”
“We had no confirmed ID.”
“So you gave me a settlement?”
“The settlement is about the crash.”
“Before identification?”
“It protects you financially.”
I laughed.
It sounded almost unrecognizable.
“From what?”
Mark looked away.
That was the first time I noticed his phone.
He had received six calls in twenty minutes.
Every one from the same contact.
BENNETT MOBILITY LEGAL.
His family company.
His merger.
The SUV belonged to them.
And the crash was already becoming a corporate problem.
I turned to Claire.
“Call St. Catherine.”
“I can’t disclose another patient’s identity based solely on—”
“I’m not asking you to disclose somebody else’s child.”
I held up the red bracelet.
“I’m asking you to tell them Ruby Hayes may be the child you have here.”
Claire nodded.
“That I can do.”
Mark grabbed my shoulder.
“Sarah.”
I looked at his hand until he removed it.
“If Chloe is alive and you knew there was even a chance—”
“There is more at stake than you understand.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because my daughter was missing.
May you like
Another family had likely just lost theirs.
And Mark was still talking about stakes.
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