Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE GLASS
Elliot replayed his father's recording six times.
Each time, he stopped at the same sentence.
Isabella Russo may still be alive.
Norah watched him carefully.
“Do you want to keep going?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Dominic sat silently nearby.
His grief was written across his face.
For fifteen years, he had believed his wife was dead.
Now, every decision he'd made since her disappearance seemed to be collapsing around him.
Margaret contacted Thomas Whitmore's attorney.
The attorney confirmed that Isabella Russo's original hospital records contained serious inconsistencies.
Her death certificate had been signed by Dr. Helen Mercer.
The same physician connected to Northbridge.
Elliot immediately began comparing archived patient records.
He found a woman registered under the name Anna Bell.
No photograph.
No verifiable family history.
Medical notes referencing a traumatic brain injury.
Transferred between three facilities over fifteen years.
And one detail that made Elliot stop.
The patient's date of birth matched his mother's.
“Could it be her?” Norah asked.
“Possibly.”
He examined the latest transfer record.
“She's scheduled to be moved tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“A facility overseas.”
Dominic stood abruptly.
“Enzo's moving her out of the country.”
Elliot shook his head.
“We need proof before assuming anything.”
Norah looked at him with quiet admiration.
Even now, frightened and desperate, he refused to mistake suspicion for certainty.
Margaret's phone rang.
She answered.
Then her face changed.
“The authorities have secured an emergency order to search the Northbridge property outside Albany.”
Norah's heart raced.
“My father?”
“They're looking for him.”
“And my mother?”
“Still missing.”
Before anyone could speak, Elliot received another message.
This one came from an unfamiliar number.
Elliot, this is Dr. Mercer.
He froze.
A second message followed.
I've helped keep your mother alive. Enzo is moving her tonight.
Then a photograph arrived.
It showed an older woman sitting beside a window.
Her dark hair was streaked with silver.
A small scar crossed her eyebrow.
Elliot recognized that scar.
He had touched it as a child while she read bedtime stories.
His hands began trembling.
“Mom.”
Norah moved closer.
“Elliot?”
He turned the phone toward her.
Then another message appeared.
If you want to see Isabella again, come to the old Saint Agnes Chapel before midnight.
A final photograph followed.
Norah gasped.
Because standing beside Isabella in the photograph was Thomas Whitmore.
May you like
And he was holding a handwritten sign.
DO NOT TRUST DR. MERCER.
