Chapter 5

Ronan let the silence sit. The courtyard was cold now, the sun having passed behind the roofline, and the shadows were long and gray. The cellar door stood open, a dark mouth at the edge of the patio, and Karel stood beside it with a look on his face that had gone beyond fear.

Dorsey had pulled out his phone and was typing something without looking at it. He handed it to Ronan without a word.

On the screen was a scanned document — a hospital intake form, dated ten years and four months ago, with a name highlighted at the top. Ronan read it. He read it twice. Then he read it a third time, because the words refused to arrange themselves into a shape he understood.

The name on the form was Catherine Vale. His own surname. And the date matched the date on the second birth certificate.

Catherine. He didn't know anyone named Catherine. He had never known a Catherine. He had married Lisa, divorced Lisa, lost Emory — but Catherine had never been part of any story he remembered.

"This came from a database," Dorsey said quietly. "I ran the name from the certificate through the county records. It goes back eleven years. There was a woman with this name who had a child at the county medical center."

"A child named Emory," Ronan said.

"Emory Corbin, until the correction was filed. Then Emory Vale." Dorsey looked at Mireille. "Then Emory Corbin again when you got the custody order. Different records. Different names. Just enough confusion to keep anyone from untangling them."

Ronan looked at the form again. The name. The date. The cross-reference to his own name.

"Where is this woman?" he asked Dorsey.

Dorsey's face was unreadable. "The database doesn't say. It only says she had a child. And then she stopped existing in the system."

The words weren't dramatic, but they landed like a blow. Ronan felt the impact in his chest.