Chapter 8 - THE HOUSE WHERE DEAD PEOPLE LIVED
The house outside Baton Rouge stood behind iron gates and towering oak trees.
From the road, it looked peaceful.
White columns.
A long driveway.
A garden filled with roses.
But the records associated with the property were anything but ordinary.
The house was registered as a private assisted-living residence.
Several elderly patients had lived there.
Most received legitimate care.
But investigators uncovered unusual restrictions on visitors and incomplete identity records.
One resident was listed as Evelyn March.
Another was registered under the name Nathaniel Vale.
The photograph attached to Nathaniel's record strongly resembled Nathan Vanderpool.
Fay stared at it.
Her stomach twisted.
“That's him.”
Rafferty stood beside her.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Fay whispered, “He let Josie believe he was dead.”
Rafferty looked toward her.
“You don't know his reasons yet.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Is there a good reason to abandon a child?”
He didn't answer.
Because there wasn't an easy answer.
The investigators arranged interviews with the residents through appropriate legal channels.
Evelyn agreed to speak first.
Rafferty entered the visiting room alone.
Fay waited outside.
When he returned forty minutes later, his eyes were red.
“She knew my birthday,” he whispered.
Fay stood.
“What?”
“She remembered the scar on my knee from falling off the monastery steps.”
His voice broke.
“She remembered the song she used to sing when I couldn't sleep.”
Fay covered her mouth.
“She's your mother.”
Rafferty nodded.
Independent documentation and identification checks supported the conclusion.
Evelyn Cain had survived.
For decades, she'd been told her son was dead.
Rafferty sat heavily.
“She tried to find me.”
Fay knelt beside his chair.
He looked at her.
“I thought nobody wanted me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Someone did.”
He nodded.
“My mother.”
Then he whispered, “And yours.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Meanwhile, investigators interviewed Nathan.
He admitted he'd used another identity.
But he denied choosing to disappear voluntarily.
According to Nathan, Charles had threatened to expose financial misconduct and destroy his future if he acknowledged Josie.
Fay was furious.
“Then he should've fought for her.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
His regret didn't erase five years of absence.
And Fay wasn't ready to forgive him.
Then Evelyn provided a new piece of evidence.
She had kept several letters Marguerite Delacroix sent her decades earlier.
One described suspicious payments from the Cain Foundation.
Another mentioned Charles Vanderpool.
But the final letter contained something unexpected.
If anything happens to me, protect the little boy and the girl I raised.
Rafferty frowned.
“The girl?”
Fay looked toward him.
“My mother only had me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
Then whispered:
May you like
“Marguerite had another daughter.”
And the girl had been taken from her family before Fay was born.
