Chapter 8 - The Child Named Elena

Naomi did not sleep.

Neither did Damon.

At four in the morning, they sat across from each other in the breakfast room while Zuri slept upstairs under Mrs. Whitfield's watch.

Naomi placed a folder on the table.

"These are the adoption records."

Damon did not touch them.

"Do you want me to call Shaw?"

"I want to know who my daughter is before the police turn her into a case file."

"Fair."

She opened the folder herself.

The birth certificate listed the child as Elena Grace Miller.

Mother: unknown.

Father: unknown.

Date of birth: the night Elena Ashford died.

Damon stared at the name.

"Isaiah changed it?"

"After the adoption. We named her Zuri because his grandmother used to say it meant beautiful."

"Why didn't you ever question the coincidence?"

"I did."

"And?"

"Isaiah said Elena was the name on the hospital bassinet. He thought it was a sign after everything that happened here."

Damon leaned back.

"Everything he wouldn't tell you."

Naomi's eyes flashed.

"He was trying to protect us."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"More than I did yesterday."

Caleb arrived with coffee and an old storage box.

"I found Isaiah's journals."

Naomi stood.

"You had those?"

"In Mom's attic. I forgot them."

They went through the notebooks page by page.

Most contained shift schedules, security codes, and mundane household observations.

Then, three weeks before Elena's death, Isaiah's handwriting changed.

Mrs. A says someone follows her.

Vale in east hall after midnight.

Victor deleted camera 4C.

D.A. won't listen.

Naomi looked at Damon.

"D.A."

"My initials."

Another page.

Mrs. A asked me to make two copies.

If she dies, take one to board, one to press.

Then the final entry.

Hospital chaos. Found baby in service corridor. Woman said Vale's people looking for "Elena." Thought she meant Mrs. A. She meant infant tag. Why?

Naomi read it twice.

"What does that mean?"

Damon said, "Isaiah found Zuri at the hospital after the crash."

Caleb continued.

Next line.

Nurse gave me baby, said mother disappeared. Security coming. Took child out. Will fix tomorrow.

Then nothing for four days.

The next entry read:

Records altered. Nurse gone. Baby not in system. Naomi will kill me, but cannot return her to people deleting children.

Naomi began to cry.

"He brought her home because he thought she was in danger."

Caleb nodded.

"He never planned to steal a baby."

Damon asked, "Who was the nurse?"

The journal gave only initials: M.R.

Shaw arrived at sunrise.

She was not happy they had waited.

But when she saw the journals, her anger vanished.

"We'll locate hospital staff."

Naomi said, "Zuri stays with me."

Shaw's tone softened.

"No one is removing a child based on a three-year-old notebook. But we do need to establish identity."

"DNA?"

"Eventually, maybe."

Damon said, "Against whom?"

Shaw looked at him.

"That's the question."

Hospital records from that night showed no missing infant.

But an archived staffing roster identified a nurse named Maria Reyes.

She had resigned the morning after Elena's death.

Current address: Providence, Rhode Island.

By afternoon, Shaw had spoken to her.

Maria agreed to meet.

They gathered in a private room at the district attorney's office.

Maria Reyes was sixty-two and terrified.

When Naomi showed her Zuri's photograph, Maria began crying.

"Oh, thank God."

Naomi's knees nearly gave out.

"You know her?"

Maria nodded.

"I wondered every day."

Damon asked, "Who is she?"

Maria looked at him.

"I don't know her parents."

Naomi exhaled shakily.

"Then what happened?"

Maria clasped her hands.

"That night, the hospital was chaos. Mrs. Ashford came in after the crash. Security arrived before police."

"Victor's men," Damon said.

"I didn't know that then."

Maria explained that another patient, a young woman with no identification, had arrived in labor shortly before Elena.

She delivered a healthy girl.

Then disappeared from her room.

"Disappeared how?" Shaw asked.

"Walked out or was taken. We never knew."

"And the baby?"

"Someone changed the electronic chart. The infant became listed under Elena Ashford's emergency file for twenty-three minutes."

Damon stared at her.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But two men in suits came asking for 'Elena's child.'"

Naomi's arms tightened around herself.

Maria continued.

"I thought they meant Mrs. Ashford. Then I realized they were following the infant tag."

"So you gave the baby to Isaiah."

"He was in the corridor. He was wearing Ashford security credentials. Mrs. Ashford had spoken to him earlier. I trusted him."

Damon asked, "Did Elena see the baby?"

Maria nodded.

"Briefly."

His chest tightened.

"What happened?"

"She was conscious for maybe three minutes."

Damon had been told she never regained consciousness.

Maria's voice shook.

"She heard the baby crying. She asked me if it was hers."

Damon closed his eyes.

"I told her no. She smiled anyway and said, 'Then make sure somebody comes back for her.'"

Naomi began sobbing.

Maria reached for her hand.

"Isaiah came back the next day, but by then my supervisor said no child had ever been admitted. I panicked. I resigned."

Shaw asked, "Why didn't you report it?"

"I tried. The hospital attorney told me I was confused after a traumatic shift."

Damon already knew whose firm represented the hospital.

Vale & Mercer.

Maria looked at Naomi.

"Isaiah didn't steal your daughter. He saved her from something I still don't understand."

Damon thought of Zuri's strange certainty.

Elena had seen her for only seconds.

Yet perhaps seconds were enough to make a promise.

Make sure somebody comes back for her.

Damon looked at Naomi.

"Elena wasn't Zuri's mother."

Naomi nodded through tears.

"No."

"But she may have been the last person in that hospital who tried to protect her."

From the hallway came Zuri's small voice.

"Mama?"

Naomi went to her immediately.

Zuri looked past her at Damon.

Then at Maria.

The child smiled.

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"The singing lady says thank you."

Maria collapsed into a chair.