Chapter 6 - Nine Years Earlier
Caroline agreed to meet.
She brought old photographs.
Rachel and Vanessa together.
Laughing.
Traveling.
Celebrating birthdays.
They had once been close friends.
Rachel never told me.
“Why?”
Caroline looked uncomfortable.
“Because of what happened.”
Nine years earlier, Vanessa became pregnant.
The father disappeared.
She had little money and nowhere stable to stay.
Rachel helped her.
Paid part of her rent.
Drove her to appointments.
Then something destroyed their friendship.
Vanessa became convinced Rachel had betrayed a private confidence concerning the pregnancy.
Rachel denied it.
Vanessa never believed her.
“What happened to the baby?”
Caroline hesitated.
“That's complicated.”
My chest tightened.
“Is Sophie—”
“No.”
She cut me off immediately.
“Don't do that to yourself without evidence.”
Again, someone saved me from racing toward the most sensational conclusion.
Caroline said Vanessa delivered a daughter.
The child was placed through a private adoption.
Afterward, Vanessa disappeared from Rachel’s life.
Years later, Rachel saw her again at the hospital.
Working near the laboratory.
Vanessa apparently acted as if their history no longer mattered.
Rachel didn't trust her.
Then Sophie was born.
That was when Vanessa’s interest returned.
“Why?”
Caroline didn't know.
But Rachel told her Vanessa kept asking strangely specific questions.
Sophie’s blood type.
Her delivery records.
Whether Rachel had undergone fertility treatment.
Whether any newborn samples remained stored.
My skin prickled.
Rachel began investigating Vanessa.
Then Rachel became ill.
Her investigation stopped—or seemed to.
“Did Rachel think Vanessa was Sophie's biological mother?”
Caroline shook her head.
“Rachel gave birth to Sophie. I visited her in the hospital.”
That closed one wild possibility.
But another remained.
Why would Vanessa connect Sophie to a child she'd surrendered years earlier?
Caroline opened her purse.
“I kept this because Rachel asked me to.”
A sealed envelope.
My name on it.
Inside was a copy of an adoption-related letter Rachel had somehow obtained lawfully through Vanessa herself years before.
Most identifying information was absent.
But one fact remained.
Vanessa’s daughter had a rare inherited blood marker.
Rachel had later noticed the same marker referenced in Sophie’s newborn medical workup.
Not proof of a relationship.
Just a clue.
Rachel had ordered further testing.
And someone interfered.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Vanessa.
A photograph.
The blue metal case.
She had it.
May you like
Underneath:
**Come alone if you want the truth about Sophie.**
