Chapter 8 - THE SECOND BASSINET
Sofia looked at Victoria as if she had spoken another language.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“There were two.”
“I had one baby.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
Sofia grabbed the doorframe.
“The hospital told me I delivered one girl.”
Victoria’s expression became uneasy.
“I saw two bassinets.”
Leo stepped closer.
“Were there babies in both?”
Victoria hesitated.
“One was crying.”
“The other?”
“Covered.”
Sofia’s breathing became shallow.
Hale immediately called Mercy Children’s.
Within forty minutes, hospital records from Sofia’s emergency delivery were being reviewed.
The obstetrician who treated her after the crash had retired six months earlier.
The initial chart listed:
LIVE FEMALE INFANT.
One child.
But another document appeared twelve minutes later.
Neonatal transport sheet.
TWO INFANTS TRANSFERRED TO OBSERVATION.
Sofia stared.
“That has to be a clerical error.”
Hale didn’t answer.
The second infant had no name.
No sex listed.
No identification bracelet number.
Only:
INFANT B.
Leo looked at Sofia.
“Do you remember?”
“I was unconscious.”
The crash had caused internal bleeding.
Emergency delivery.
Sedation.
Two days missing from her memory.
“I woke up and they told me my daughter was premature but stable.”
“Did you ever ask if there had been another baby?”
“Why would I?”
Her voice cracked.
“Nobody told me.”
Rebecca sat down.
“Twins run in our family.”
Sofia turned sharply.
“What?”
“My grandmother was a twin.”
Leo stared.
“You never mentioned that.”
“It never mattered.”
Now it did.
Detective Hale ordered a full audit of the medical records.
Then another discovery surfaced.
One nurse’s signature appeared repeatedly.
Janet Greene.
Victoria’s mother.
Victoria froze.
“No.”
Hale turned.
“Your mother worked at St. Catherine’s?”
“Years ago.”
“She signed Sofia’s neonatal transfer.”
Victoria stared at the paper.
“She told me she retired before Sofia’s crash.”
“She lied.”
Victoria began trembling.
Sofia looked at her.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
For the first time, the fear on Victoria’s face looked genuine.
“She told me Uncle Samuel was the one involved with Robert.”
Hale asked:
“Where is your mother now?”
Victoria swallowed.
“I haven’t seen her in four years.”
“When did she supposedly disappear?”
Victoria looked toward Leo.
“The same month Leo and I met.”
Nobody spoke.
Another coincidence that no longer looked accidental.
Hale ordered officers to locate Janet Greene.
At 3:10 a.m., Sofia was finally allowed to sit beside her recovered baby.
The tiny girl slept under a warming blanket.
Emma curled in a chair nearby.
Leo stood at the doorway.
Sofia touched the baby’s fingers.
“I named her Hope.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“It fits.”
Sofia looked at him.
“You believe there was another baby?”
“I believe we need to find out.”
She stared at Hope.
“What if there was?”
Leo didn’t know how to answer.
“What if someone took my child while I was unconscious?”
“We find them.”
“What if they’re dead?”
His voice softened.
“Then we find the truth.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“You always make things sound simple.”
“I used to.”
Leo leaned against the wall.
“I’m starting to understand nothing is.”
Sofia looked at him.
For the first time, there was less anger.
Not forgiveness.
But something closer to recognition.
Then Hope began crying.
Sofia lifted her carefully.
A nurse entered.
“Ms. Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“There’s someone asking for you downstairs.”
Hale immediately appeared.
“Who?”
The nurse looked confused.
“An older man.”
Sofia’s heart stopped.
“What name?”
“He wouldn’t give one.”
Leo moved toward the door.
Hale stopped him.
“I’ll check.”
Five minutes later, Hale called.
“He’s gone.”
Sofia felt dread return.
“But he left something.”
Hale brought up a small plastic hospital bracelet inside an evidence bag.
The bracelet was faded.
Six days old.
It read:
BENNETT, SOFIA — INFANT B.
Sofia’s legs nearly gave out.
Leo caught her.
Attached to the bracelet was a handwritten note.
YOUR FATHER HAS THE OTHER ONE.
Sofia stared.
Then another nurse rushed into the room.
“Detective!”
Hale turned.
“We checked the hospital security footage.”
“What?”
“The man who left the bracelet.”
She held out a tablet.
The image was grainy.
An older man in a baseball cap walked through the lobby.
He lifted his face for only one second.
Rebecca began crying.
Leo stopped breathing.
Sofia whispered:
“Dad.”
May you like
Robert Bennett had just been inside the hospital.
And according to the note he left behind, he had been hiding Sofia’s second baby for six days.
