Chapter 8 — Diana’s Version
1004 Words
Diana studied Olivia long enough to make the inspection deliberate.
Then she turned to Richard.
"You should have called me before bringing everyone in."
"I wanted to see the documents first."
"And now?"
"Now you can see them too."
Diana sat beside him. Vanessa moved closer at once. Albert stayed between Olivia and the rest of the room.
The green stones on Diana's bracelet caught the light when she reached for the neonatal chart.
She read it without visible hesitation and set it down.
"I understand why this affects you," she told Richard. "After Eleanor. After the baby. Anyone would want to believe there had been a mistake."
"A healthy newborn isn't a mistake," Olivia said.
"No. But a stolen file can be made to tell almost any story."
"She isn't accusing you of forging it," Lucas said.
Diana gave him a brief look. "I'm saying Mara Reed may have believed what she told Olivia."
Albert folded his arms. "She took a baby."
Diana's hands settled over one knee.
"I remember Mara's name from the investigation. A nurse disappeared around the same time. There were questions about records, medications, whether she had become unstable."
Olivia held her gaze.
"You knew Mara Reed?"
"No. I never met her."
"But you remember her name."
"It appeared in reports."
Gabriel looked up. "Not in the family file I reviewed."
"There were hospital reports too. Most were lost when Crown closed."
Olivia opened her case and removed only the copies she had already shown.
Birth certificate.
Neonatal chart.
Bracelet photographs.
"The records show I was born alive," she said. "Mara's confession explains why I left the hospital."
"Her confession explains her version," Diana replied. "A woman who abducted a child had twenty-six years to build one."
The argument worked because part of it was true.
Mara had saved Olivia.
Mara had also kept her for twenty-six years, filed a false birth record, and waited until death to confess.
Diana did not need to make Mara a monster. She only needed to make every true thing Mara had done carry the weight of the lie she had also told.
Diana placed a hand over Vanessa's.
"People can do terrible things and convince themselves they were protecting someone."
Olivia watched the bracelet turn once on Diana's wrist.
"You said there were questions about medications."
"I said records."
"You said medications."
"There were many missing items. Charts. Orders. An entire discharge page, apparently."
"The discharge page disappeared this week," Olivia said. "Mara couldn't have taken it twenty-six years ago if the archive inventoried it six months ago."
Diana's fingers touched the bracelet again.
"Then Mara's theft may have been broader than you realize. A missing medication order could have been taken with the rest."
Olivia went still.
No one had mentioned a medication order.
Not in this room.
Not in the copies on the desk.
Not in the fragment of Mara's recording Sebastian had heard.
Richard looked at Olivia. "What order?"
Olivia did not take her eyes off Diana.
"Which medication?"
Diana's fingers stopped.
"I don't recall."
"You recalled the type of document."
"I made an example."
"A very specific one."
Diana's answer came faster. "I read about it years ago."
"Which report?" Gabriel asked.
"I don't remember the title of every document I read after Eleanor died."
"Family report or Crown report?"
"I said I don't remember."
Vanessa stood. "This is cruel. My mother lived through that week. She may remember things she hasn't thought about in years."
"I'm not asking her to remember less," Olivia said. "I'm asking how she knew more than I showed anyone."
Diana rose too.
"You arrived with a dead woman's accusation and incomplete papers. Now ordinary memory is guilt."
"I haven't accused you of anything."
"You don't need to."
The study doors opened.
A staff member stepped inside. "Mr. Ashford is here for the four-thirty meeting."
Albert turned. "Tell him we need to reschedule."
"No," Richard said. "Have him wait."
Olivia looked at the clock.
Sebastian's meeting had existed before she arrived.
The staff member started to leave.
"Let him in," Olivia said.
Albert faced her. "This is a family discussion."
"He saw the certificate before any of you. He is a witness."
Richard considered her, then nodded.
Sebastian entered moments later.
His gaze found Olivia first, then moved across Richard, Albert, Vanessa, Diana, and the documents on the desk.
He did not approach Olivia. He did not ask whether she was all right or announce what he knew.
He waited.
That restraint was small compared with the damage his call had done at the archive. Olivia noticed it anyway.
Olivia opened her case but left the concealed medication order inside.
"Sebastian, did I show you a medication order at the archive?"
"No."
"Did I mention one?"
"No."
"Did the archivist?"
"Not while I was present."
Nothing more.
No explanation about his investigation. No attempt to turn the room toward himself.
He answered the question she asked and stopped.
Diana gave a short breath. "Then my remark was a guess."
"A specific one," Gabriel said.
Sebastian looked at Diana. "You knew there was an order?"
"I assumed there might be one."
"Based on what?"
"The chaos after Eleanor's death."
Albert stepped toward him. "Enough."
Sebastian did not look at Albert. "Olivia asked me to answer. I answered."
For the first time since the archive, he had let her decide how his information was used.
It did not erase his call to Albert.
It was different.
Vanessa moved closer to Diana. "You're turning one sentence into evidence."
"No," Olivia said. "Evidence can be authenticated."
She closed the case.
"A sentence is a lead."
Diana's eyes narrowed. "And where does this lead take you?"
Olivia thought of Mara's notes.
Pearls. Green stones. A physician willing to change a newborn's record.
Memory could be denied.
Jewelry could be explained.
Money left a trail, and a trail could be checked.
"I'm going to find out who paid Dr. Vale."
She would follow the payment before she accused anyone.
- Writer
