Chapter 4 - Nora Bell
Nora Bell was thirty-six when I found her.
She worked in a veterinary clinic outside Providence.
She lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment.
Drove a thirteen-year-old Subaru.
Had no criminal record.
No secret fortune.
No connection to my businesses.
I discovered her because Elodie said something strange during our sixth meeting.
Sabine had stepped away to take a call.
Elodie and Wren were coloring at the kitchen table.
Elodie asked me:
“Are you going to marry Sabine?”
“Yes.”
“Then do I have to live here?”
The question surprised me.
“Would you want to?”
She shrugged.
“Sabine says I will.”
“We haven’t decided anything without talking to you.”
She looked at me as though I had said something impossible.
Then:
“Nora said that too.”
“Who’s Nora?”
Elodie froze.
Sabine walked back into the room.
Elodie stopped speaking.
Later I asked Sabine.
“Who is Nora?”
Her entire body tightened.
Then relaxed.
“An old family friend.”
“Elodie mentioned her.”
“She barely remembers her.”
That was lie number one I could identify.
Not because I knew the truth yet.
Because Elodie’s face had not looked like someone mentioning a vague childhood acquaintance.
I hired a licensed investigator.
Not to stalk Nora.
To verify a family history before marrying someone who intended to bring a child into my home.
The investigator found a guardianship case.
Sealed partly because it involved a minor, but enough docket information existed to identify parties.
Nora Bell.
Elodie Bell.
Sabine Hartwell.
Emergency temporary guardianship seven years earlier.
Then extensions.
Then a private custody arrangement.
May you like
No adoption decree appeared in the accessible docket.
That was the first crack.
