Dr. Reeves explained that investigators had recently reopened parts of the old case.
They had spent months trying to identify adults who had once lived at Maplewood House.
But the records were incomplete and inconsistent.
The small blue tattoos were among the few pieces of evidence that couldn’t easily be rewritten.
“A document can be altered,” he said. “A mark someone has carried on their skin for decades is different.”
Then he looked directly at my mother.
“Helen, were you connected to Maplewood House?”
Mom looked at me.
For a long moment, neither of us said anything.
Then something in her expression changed.
It was as though thirty years of avoiding one conversation had finally come to an end.
“I worked there,” she said.
I stared at her.
“As a nurse.”
“What?”
Tears filled her eyes.
