Chapter 6: The Woman at the Gate
The address Rachel sent them belonged to a narrow brick house on the outskirts of Bath.
David drove without speaking.
The mortgage document lay on the passenger seat, its pages fluttering whenever the air-conditioning shifted. Jasmine sat beside him, staring at Charlotte's signature.
A living woman had signed a mortgage guarantee using a name that had supposedly been dead for eleven years.
Someone had forged David's signature to transfer the estate.
Someone had drained Jasmine's trust account.
And someone had used Charlotte's identity to secure millions of pounds against the property.
Three victims, perhaps.
Or three people being manipulated by the same person.
“Dad,” Jasmine said, “what if Charlotte is involved?””
David kept his eyes on the road.
“I don't know.””
“She could have signed the guarantee herself.””
“She might not even know the estate exists.””
“But her name is on the document.””
“Names can be forged.””
Jasmine glanced at him.
“You're saying that because you want her to be innocent.””
David's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“I'm saying it because I refuse to condemn another daughter before we know the truth.””
The word another hung between them.
Jasmine looked out the window.
She had spent nineteen years believing she was an only child. Now, in a matter of hours, she had learned that she had a sister, that her mother had hidden a devastating secret, and that the woman who had raised her after Eleanor's death might have been involved in the disappearance.
She didn't know whether to hope Charlotte was alive or fear what finding her might uncover.
When they reached the address, David parked across the street.
The house had a faded blue door and a small garden enclosed by a low stone wall. A bicycle leaned against the front railing. Wind chimes moved beneath the porch roof.
A woman in her thirties stood near the gate, speaking to a delivery driver.
She wore a long gray coat despite the mild weather. Her dark hair was pulled into a loose bun, and a thin scar ran from her left eyebrow toward her temple.
Jasmine noticed her hands first.
They were shaking.
The delivery driver handed her a small package and left.
The woman looked toward David's car.
Then she froze.
David opened his door.
“Charlotte?””
The woman stepped backward.
“No.””
He crossed the street slowly.
“Charlotte, please. My name is David Mitchell.””
“I know who you are.””
Her voice was sharp, but Jasmine heard the fear beneath it.
David stopped several feet from the gate.
“Then you know why we're here.””
Charlotte gripped the package against her chest.
“Did Jessica send you?””
“No,” David replied.
“We came because someone has been using your name to take out a mortgage against our family estate.””
Charlotte's face went white.
Jasmine stepped out of the car.
“Are you Charlotte Eleanor Mitchell?””
The woman looked at her.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Charlotte whispered, “Who are you?””
“Jasmine. I'm your sister.””
Charlotte laughed once, without humor.
“I don't have a sister.””
Jasmine felt the words cut deeper than she expected.
“I didn't know about you until today.””
Charlotte's expression changed.
“Today?””
David nodded.
“We found a photograph. We found hospital records. We found documents showing that you were discharged from St. Catherine's Hospital on the day my wife died.””
Charlotte's eyes filled with tears.
“Your wife?””
“Eleanor. Your mother.””
The package slipped from Charlotte's fingers and landed on the path.
She didn't look down.
“Don't call her that,” she whispered.
David went still.
Charlotte's voice trembled.
“You don't get to call her that after what you did.””
Jasmine stepped closer.
“Charlotte, he didn't know—”
“You weren't there.””
“No, I wasn't. I was a child. I didn't know you existed.””
Charlotte looked at her with an expression that was almost unbearable to witness.
“Lucky you.””
She turned toward the house.
David followed her to the gate.
“Please. We need to talk.””
Charlotte shook her head.
“You need to leave.””
“Someone is using your identity to commit fraud. If you signed that mortgage guarantee, we need to know why.””
Charlotte stopped.
Slowly, she turned around.
“What mortgage guarantee?””
Jasmine took the document from the car and held it up.
“This one. It has your name and signature.””
Charlotte stared at the page.
Then she shook her head.
“I've never seen that document.””
David felt a surge of relief, followed immediately by anger.
“Then someone is forging your signature, too.””
Charlotte looked at him.
“Why would anyone forge my signature?””
“We're trying to find out.””
She laughed bitterly.
“Eleven years late.””
Jasmine lowered the paper.
“Charlotte, please. We don't know what happened to you. We don't know why Mum's records were altered. We just want the truth.””
Charlotte's expression crumpled at the word Mum.
For several seconds, she looked like someone trying not to fall apart in front of strangers.
Then she opened the gate.
“Five minutes,” she said.
“And if either of you lies to me, you're leaving.””
Inside, the house was small but immaculate. Books lined the sitting room shelves. A kettle sat on the kitchen counter beside two mugs. Family photographs covered a narrow wall near the stairs.
Jasmine recognized none of the faces.
Charlotte placed the package on the table and gestured toward the sofa.
“Sit.””
David remained standing.
Charlotte noticed.
“Afraid I'll steal something?””
“No,” he said quietly.
“I'm afraid I've already lost enough.””
She looked away.
Jasmine sat down.
“Can you tell us who raised you?””
Charlotte folded her arms.
“A couple named Michael and Anne Bennett. They adopted me when I was a baby. They told me my birth mother had died during childbirth.””
David flinched.
“That isn't true.””
Charlotte's eyes flashed.
“That's what I've been told my entire life.””
“Your mother died eleven years ago. You were still alive when she died.””
Charlotte stared at him.
“Then why didn't she come for me?””
The question was so simple that David had no defense against it.
He sat down slowly.
“I was told you had died. Eleanor gave me a death certificate. I believed her.””
“Why would she lie?””
“I don't know.””
“Why would Jessica take me from the hospital?””
David's head snapped up.
“You know Jessica?””
Charlotte gave him a cold look.
“She came to see me when I was sixteen. She told me I had a living father, that he had another daughter, and that the family estate would one day belong to me.””
Jasmine felt her heart race.
“What?””
Charlotte walked to a cabinet and removed a small black box.
“She brought me these.””
Inside were several photographs, a copy of the hospital discharge record, and a letter bearing Jessica's signature.
Charlotte handed the letter to Jasmine.
The first line read:
Dear Charlotte,
Your father has never known the full truth about your birth. Eleanor made a choice that hurt everyone involved, and I have spent years trying to repair the damage.
Jasmine read on.
Jessica claimed that Eleanor had voluntarily placed Charlotte for adoption, then changed her mind after the paperwork was completed. She claimed David had agreed to keep Charlotte's existence secret because he feared the scandal would damage the family business.
According to the letter, Jessica had spent years trying to restore Charlotte's rightful place in the family.
But there was a condition.
Charlotte would need to cooperate with a legal restructuring of the estate when the time came.
Jasmine looked up.
“She told you Dad knew about you?””
“Yes.””
“And that he agreed to hide you?””
Charlotte nodded.
“Jessica said he chose you over me. She said you were the daughter he wanted, and I was the mistake he couldn't admit.””
David stood abruptly.
“That's a lie.””
Charlotte's eyes filled.
“Then why didn't you find me?””
David looked at her.
Because he had no answer that could repair eleven years of absence.
“I didn't know you were alive,” he said.
“But I should have asked more questions. I should have questioned the certificate. I should have looked for you.””
Charlotte looked down.
“I spent my whole childhood wondering what was wrong with me. My adoptive parents loved me, but I always felt there was something missing. When Jessica found me, I thought I'd finally get answers.””
“What did she ask you to do?”” Jasmine asked.
Charlotte opened the box again.
“She told me to sign a statement confirming that I was Eleanor's firstborn daughter and that I had been denied my inheritance. She said it would force the family to acknowledge me.””
“Did you sign it?””
“Yes. But I never signed a mortgage guarantee.””
“Did you receive money?””
Charlotte shook her head.
“Jessica offered me £100,000 to cooperate with the estate transfer. She said it was compensation for what I'd lost. I refused.””
David stared at her.
“Why?””
“Because I didn't want money from people who had lied to me.””
Jasmine felt an unexpected surge of respect.
Charlotte had been offered a fortune by a woman who claimed to be helping her reclaim her identity. She had refused.
Yet someone had continued using her name.
“Do you have the statement you signed?”” Martin had asked them to obtain every original document they could find.
Charlotte reached into the box and removed a folded sheet.
“This is the only thing I signed. It says I want my identity formally recognized. It doesn't mention any mortgage or property transfer.””
Jasmine examined it.
The signature looked genuine.
Unlike the one on the mortgage document, which appeared unnaturally neat, Charlotte's real signature had a distinctive downward stroke at the end of her surname.
Jasmine placed the documents side by side.
“They're different.””
Charlotte leaned closer.
“Someone copied my signature.””
David took out his phone.
“I'm sending both documents to Martin.””
Before he could finish, a car horn sounded outside.
Charlotte went rigid.
Jasmine looked toward the window.
A black Range Rover had stopped across the street.
Ethan stepped out.
He looked directly at the house.
Charlotte backed away from the window.
“No.””
David rose.
“Do you know him?””
“That's Jessica's son.””
“Ethan?””
Charlotte nodded, her face pale.
“He came here last month. He told me that if I didn't sign the final paperwork, I'd lose the only chance I had to meet my real family.””
Jasmine stared at her.
“He threatened you?””
“He said I'd regret it if I refused.””
Outside, Ethan walked toward the gate.
David moved to the front door.
“Stay here,” he told Jasmine and Charlotte.
He opened it before Ethan could knock.
“What are you doing here?””
Ethan stopped.
For a moment, surprise flashed across his face.
Then his gaze moved past David and landed on Charlotte.
“You weren't supposed to tell them.””
Charlotte's hands curled into fists.
“Tell them what?””
Ethan glanced at Jasmine.
His expression shifted from surprise to anger.
“Jasmine, you don't understand what's happening.””
“Then explain it.””
He looked at Charlotte again.
“She's not who you think she is.””
Charlotte laughed bitterly.
“That's rich coming from you.””
Ethan stepped into the doorway.
“Dad, we need to talk privately.””
“No,” David replied.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it here.””
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Jessica has gone too far. I know that now. But you have no idea what she promised people to make this happen.””
“Which people?””
Ethan glanced toward the street.
Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded document.
“I found this in her office. It proves she didn't act alone.””
David took it.
Jasmine moved closer.
The document was a copy of a private agreement between Jessica and Northbridge Property Holdings.
It stated that, once the estate transfer was completed and the mortgage approved, the property would be sold to the company for a substantial sum.
At the bottom were three signatures.
Jessica Mitchell.
Ethan Mitchell.
And a third name.
*Peter Lang.*
Charlotte gripped the edge of the table.
“Dr. Lang?””
David looked up.
“You know him?””
Charlotte's voice shook.
“He was the man who came to see me when I was sixteen. Jessica said he was a family friend.””
Jasmine stared at the signature.
The retired physician who had approved Charlotte's hospital discharge.
The man whose name appeared in Eleanor's complaint.
The man who had supposedly authorized the release of a baby without proper guardian documentation.
And now his name was connected to the company buying their estate.
Ethan looked at his father.
“I didn't know about the forged signatures. I swear. I thought we were arranging a sale after everyone had agreed.””
David held up the document.
“Then why did you sign this?””
Ethan's face crumpled.
“Because Mum told me Charlotte had already agreed to the terms. She said the sale would give all of us money, and the past would finally be settled.””
Charlotte stepped forward.
“You knew who I was?””
Ethan looked at her.
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Six months ago.””
Charlotte's mouth fell open.
“You knew I existed for six months, and you still helped them take the estate?””
“I didn't know they were going to forge anything!””
“You knew they were trying to take the property away from Jasmine.””
Ethan looked at his sister.
For once, he had no answer.
Then Charlotte noticed something written in the margin of the agreement.
A short handwritten note, dated two days before the document was signed.
She read it aloud.
“Once the sale is complete, the witness must be removed from the arrangement.”
Jasmine felt a chill run down her spine.
“Who wrote that?””
Ethan stared at the note.
“I don't know.””
Charlotte turned the page over.
There, beside the clause, was a small handwritten initial.
A capital J.
David looked toward the front window.
Across the street, the black Range Rover was still parked.
But another car had pulled up behind it.
A silver Mercedes.
The driver's door opened.
Jessica stepped onto the pavement, holding a brown leather handbag.
She looked directly at the house.
Then she raised her phone and called someone.
Jasmine's phone rang a second later.
An unknown number.
She answered without speaking.
A man's voice came through, calm and unmistakably familiar from the hospital records.
“Jasmine Mitchell?””
“Yes. Who is this?””
“My name is Peter Lang.””
She looked through the window at Jessica.
Dr. Lang continued.
“I understand you've found Charlotte.””
Jasmine's fingers tightened around the phone.
“Why did you help Jessica take her from the hospital?””
A pause.
Then he said, “Because your mother begged me to protect her.””
Jasmine froze.
“What?””
“Eleanor knew Jessica was planning to remove Charlotte. She asked me to get the baby out of the hospital before Jessica could reach her.””
Jasmine looked at Charlotte.
The woman stood motionless, listening.
“Then why was Charlotte released to Jessica?”” Jasmine demanded.
Dr. Lang's voice dropped.
“Because the woman who collected her was not Jessica.””
Jasmine stared at the phone.
Outside, Jessica had reached the gate.
May you like
And Dr. Lang delivered the words that shattered everything they thought they knew.
“The woman who took Charlotte that night was your mother.””
