PART 36: THE SISTER I WAS NEVER TOLD ABOUT
For several long seconds…
Nobody spoke.
I simply stared at Sheriff Collins.
“I don’t have a younger sister.”
He didn’t argue.
Instead, he slowly placed a thin manila folder on Harold’s old desk.
“I didn’t believe it either.”
Linda opened the folder.
Inside was a certified copy of a birth record.
My mother’s name.
My father’s name.
The same hospital where I had been born.
Then another line.
Female child.
Born three years after me.
I felt the room begin to spin.
“This…”
I whispered.
“This has to be someone else.”
Linda compared the parents’ names again.
“It isn’t.”
“They’re your parents.”
Paula looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Mom…”
“You never knew?”
I slowly shook my head.
“My mother only ever spoke about one baby.”
She used to tell me—
“You were all the miracle I ever needed.”
Janice quietly closed the folder.
“Sometimes people don’t hide children from the world.”
“They hide them from the family.”
The sheriff pointed to another document.
“There was an adoption petition.”
My pulse quickened.
“Was she adopted?”
“No.”
“The petition was withdrawn.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
Thomas carefully unfolded the final page.
It wasn’t legal paperwork.
It was a handwritten note.
The handwriting wasn’t Harold’s.
It belonged to my mother.
The ink had faded, but every word was still readable.
No one must ever tell Maggie.
If they discover there were two girls, they will come back.
The room fell silent.
“They?”
I whispered.
“Who are ‘they’?”
No one answered.
Father Donnelly looked more troubled than anyone.
“I’ve seen that sentence before.”
Linda turned sharply.
“Where?”
“In one of Harold’s journals.”
“He copied it.”
“He wrote underneath…”
The old priest squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to remember.
Then he whispered,
‘Maggie thinks she’s the one they chose.’
‘She never realized she was the one they couldn’t reach.’
My heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
Before Father Donnelly could answer…
The office door burst open.
A deputy hurried inside, breathing hard.
“Sheriff!”
“What happened?”
“We identified the woman in the green scarf.”
“I know.”
“No, sir.”
“You don’t.”
The deputy swallowed.
“We spoke to her this morning.”
My knees weakened.
“You found her?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
The deputy looked directly at me.
“She refused protective custody.”
“Why?”
“Because she said she’d spent thirty years hiding.”
“And she was done running.”
Linda stepped forward.
“Did she leave a message?”
The deputy nodded.
“She said…”
He unfolded a small piece of paper.
“‘Tell Marguerite…’”
He stopped and looked at me.
“‘…I’m sorry I obeyed Mom.’”
Tears filled my eyes.
He continued.
“‘And tell her Harold kept his promise.’”
The room fell silent once more.
“Is there anything else?” Linda asked.
“Yes.”
The deputy’s face grew pale.
“She also said…”
“‘If William Ashcroft learns you’ve found me…’”
“‘…he’ll skip Target Twenty-One…’”
My stomach tightened.
“…and go straight to Target Twenty-Two.”
Linda frowned.
“Who’s Target Twenty-Two?”
The deputy slowly lowered the note.
His voice was barely audible.
“We don’t know.”
“But according to Harold’s notebook…”
“…Target Twenty-Two was never assigned a name.”
“It was assigned only one word.”
He turned the page so all of us could see.
Written in Harold’s unmistakable handwriting…
was a single word inside a red circle.
PAULA.
