“I gave it to a nurse before they told me Daniel died.”
Ethan looked up sharply.
“What nurse?”
“Maria Santos.”
Ethan knew that name.
Maria had been the retired neonatal nurse he contacted hours earlier.
“She knew?”
Hannah nodded slowly.
“She told me once, before I was discharged, that if anything strange happened, I should leave something for my baby.”
A chill passed through Ethan.
“Maria knew.”
Before Hannah could answer, the door opened.
A hospital security officer entered.
“Dr. Caldwell?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a woman downstairs asking for Hannah Mercer.”
“Who?”
The officer checked his phone.
“Maria Santos.”
Ethan and Hannah looked at each other.
Minutes later Maria entered carrying a yellowed envelope.
She was seventy now, small and trembling.
The moment she saw Hannah and Daniel together, she began crying.
“Thank God.”
Hannah’s voice turned cold.
“You knew my son was alive.”
Maria nodded.
“I tried to stop them.”
