Chapter 8: What Happened at 9:17
The abandoned hospital stood six miles from the waterfront.
The building had been condemned after the fire, but portions of the old structure remained untouched. Blackened windows stared over an overgrown parking lot. Ivy covered the brick walls.
Daniel parked behind a police vehicle.
Officer Shaw grabbed his arm before he could get out.
“You are not going inside without us.””
“Someone has my daughter.””
“I know.””
“He wants me alone.””
“Which is exactly why we aren't giving him what he wants.””
Eleanor sat in the back seat of another car.
She looked exhausted.
Martin stood beside her.
Vivian had insisted on coming.
Daniel looked at all of them.
“This ends tonight.””
Shaw nodded.
“We find Lily. We find Gabriel. Then we find out what happened.””
They entered through a side door.
The smell of smoke still lingered beneath decades of dust.
Their flashlights moved across old corridors.
Daniel's shoes crunched over broken glass.
“This was the maternity wing,” Vivian whispered.
Daniel stopped.
“You've been here?””
“Once.””
“When?””
“The night you were born.””
His heart tightened.
“What happened that night?””
Vivian looked at Eleanor.
“She knows.””
Daniel turned toward his mother.
Eleanor finally spoke.
“Your grandfather arrived before you were born.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Why?””
“He had learned Evelyn was carrying twins.””
“And?””
“He wanted one child.””
“Me.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Thomas was his only legitimate heir.””
Daniel looked confused.
“That's why you kept me?””
Eleanor shook her head.
“Not at first.””
“What changed?””
“You were born at 9:17.””
Daniel remembered the clock in his father's study.
Stopped at 9:17.
“That's why the clock stopped.””
Eleanor nodded.
“Thomas had given me instructions. He wanted both babies protected. But your grandfather arrived with two men.””
“Who?””
“I never learned their names.””
“Where was Thomas?””
“In surgery.””
Daniel's voice dropped.
“And Evelyn?””
“She was in the delivery room.””
“What happened to her?””
Eleanor looked down.
“She was bleeding badly.””
Daniel closed his eyes.
“And the babies?””
“You were taken to the nursery.””
“What about my twin?””
Eleanor hesitated.
“She was placed in another bassinet.””
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Then what?””
“My father ordered the nurses to change the records.””
Shaw stepped closer.
“Why?””
“Because he wanted the girl registered under another name.””
Daniel's breathing slowed.
“What name?””
Eleanor whispered:
“Evelyn Cross.””
Daniel stared.
“My twin was named after her mother.””
“Yes.””
“Where was she taken?””
Eleanor's voice cracked.
“I don't know.””
“You don't know?””
“I was told she died.””
“But she didn't.””
“No.””
“Who told you?””
“My father.””
Daniel looked toward Vivian.
“Did Evelyn know?””
“She was unconscious after the birth,” Vivian said.
“When she woke, both babies were gone.””
Daniel's stomach turned.
“What did she do?””
“She searched.””
“For how long?””
“Until she was forced to disappear.””
Daniel stared at the burned corridor.
“Why didn't she find me?””
Eleanor answered.
“Because I took you home.””
The words were barely audible.
“You stole me.””
“Yes.””
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew she was alive.””
“For years.””
“You let her believe I was dead?””
Eleanor cried silently.
“I believed your grandfather would kill both of us if I didn't.””
Daniel wanted to hate her.
Part of him did.
But another part saw the terror in her face and understood that fear had shaped every decision she'd made.
“Where is my twin now?””
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don't know.””
A sound echoed from the basement.
Three knocks.
Daniel froze.
“Lily?””
They moved toward the stairs.
The basement was almost completely dark.
A narrow beam of light shone beneath a steel door.
Daniel rushed toward it.
Shaw grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait.””
She signaled Miller.
The officers moved ahead.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
Empty.
Except for a chair.
On the chair sat Lily's stuffed rabbit.
Daniel's heart dropped.
He picked it up.
A note lay beneath it.
*9:17.*
He turned.
“What's at 9:17?””
Vivian stared at the wall.
“Room 917.””
Daniel followed her gaze.
A faded plaque hung above another door.
*917 — RECORDS*
The door was locked.
Martin stepped forward.
“That's impossible.””
“What?””
“The records department was destroyed in the fire.””
“Then why is the door intact?””
Nobody answered.
Shaw forced the lock.
The door opened.
Inside were rows of metal cabinets.
Most were covered in soot.
But one cabinet stood clean.
Recently cleaned.
Daniel approached it.
A single folder rested on top.
His name was written across it.
*DANIEL THOMAS MERCER*
He opened it.
Inside was his original birth certificate.
Mother: Evelyn Margaret Cross.
Father: Thomas Andrew Mercer.
But beneath the certificate was another document.
A handwritten statement.
Daniel recognized Thomas's handwriting.
At 9:17, my son Daniel was born.
At 9:19, his sister was born.
Daniel stopped breathing.
His twin had been born two minutes later.
The statement continued.
My father has ordered Eleanor to take Daniel.
He believes the second child belongs to Jonathan Cross.
He is wrong.
Daniel looked at Vivian.
“What does this mean?””
Vivian's face had gone white.
“Jonathan wasn't the father.””
“Then who was?””
She shook her head.
“Thomas.””
Daniel stared at the page.
His father had been the biological father of both twins.
His grandfather had lied.
Eleanor had lied.
Someone had spent thirty-eight years maintaining a lie built on another lie.
Then Daniel saw the final line.
If anyone finds this, understand one thing: the second child was not lost.
A sound came from behind the cabinet.
Daniel turned.
A woman stepped from the darkness.
She held Lily's hand.
Daniel's heart stopped.
“Lily!””
The little girl ran toward him.
He dropped to his knees and pulled her close.
“Daddy!””
“Are you hurt?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“Who brought you here?””
Lily pointed behind her.
The woman stood motionless.
She was perhaps forty years old.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
A small crescent-shaped scar above her left eyebrow.
Daniel stared.
The same mark as Lily.
The same mark he had seen in the photograph of the baby.
The woman looked at him.
“My name is Evelyn.””
Daniel couldn't speak.
She smiled through tears.
“And I'm your twin.””
Behind them, a gunshot exploded somewhere in the corridor.
Officer Shaw shouted.
“Everybody down!””
Evelyn grabbed Lily and pulled her behind the cabinet.
Daniel dropped beside them.
Another shot struck the metal door.
Then a man's voice echoed through the basement.
“You were never supposed to find her.””
Gabriel.
May you like
But Evelyn whispered something that made Daniel's blood run cold.
“That's not Gabriel.””
