Chapter 5
"She'd been babysitting."
Corinne gave the answer immediately.
"That's all that proves."
The deputy kept the page.
"Then we'll ask him when the child went home."
Corinne reached toward the paper.
The deputy moved it out of reach.
"Etta gave me permission to copy this."
"You can tell the investigator your account."
Corinne's hand closed on empty air.
By late morning, the sleet had thinned.
Walt followed them to the sheriff's office.
Etta rode beside Wes in the patrol vehicle.
Opal sat in front.
Nobody called the trip a reunion.
At the station, a clerk found crayons for Wes.
Walt sat with him in a room nearby.
Etta chose the chair nearest the interview-room door.
Opal left the chair beside her empty.
The investigator placed the two documents apart.
The surrender paper.
The infant examination record.
"We've contacted the clinic that supplied these."
"They'll confirm the copies through the proper process."
Etta pressed her palms together.
"What about Dr. Mercer?"
"He's here voluntarily."
"Another investigator is speaking with him."
Outside the room, a cane tapped the floor.
Corinne had come separately.
They heard her voice once down the hall.
"I raised that girl."
Then a door closed.
Etta looked at the surrender paper.
"I used to keep it in my sock drawer."
"When I got mad at her, I'd read it."
Opal's fingers curled against her knees.
"Why?"
"To remind myself somebody kept me."
Opal lowered her head.
Etta watched her for a moment.
Then she asked,
"Did my dad know about me?"
"He held you before I did."
"Why didn't he come?"
"He died when you were three months old."
"A wreck outside North Platte."
Etta rubbed one sleeve across her cheek.
"She said he left, too."
Opal reached for her phone.
"Would you like to see him?"
Etta nodded.
The photograph showed a young man in work clothes.
An infant lay asleep across his forearm.
He was looking down, not at the camera.
Around his neck hung half the bronze medal.
Etta brought the phone closer.
"He looks like Wes."
Opal did not answer.
Her mouth had begun to shake.
Etta returned the phone carefully.
"She said my necklace came from him."
"It did."
"That part was true."
The investigator came back.
He placed a box of tissues on the table.
"Mercer confirms treating the same child under both names."
Etta sat straight.
"Does that mean she's my mother?"
"It supports that."
"We can arrange a consent DNA test."
"But I won't call it a result before we have one."
Opal nodded.
"We'll do it right."
The investigator pulled his chair closer.
"Mercer also confirms the surrender signature isn't yours."
Etta's eyes closed.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she pushed the paper away.
"He signed as a witness."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"He's answering that now."
Through the glass, an older man crossed the hallway.
He walked with a cane.
His coat hung from one shoulder.
Etta stood halfway.
"That's him."
The investigator stepped out to meet his colleague.
Opal stayed still.
Etta sat again.
"Did you come looking around here?"
"For years."
"Schools."
"County fairs."
"Every report about an unidentified child."
"I kept using Vance."
Etta pulled the tissue apart between her fingers.
"She told me strangers would take me."
"She told me not to give our address."
"She kept my birth certificate."
"She taught me at home."
"She called you the woman who left."
Opal's phone lay between them.
The young father still filled its screen.
The investigator returned nearly an hour later.
His notebook was closed now.
"Mercer admits creating false records."
"He says Corinne brought Etta to his house afterward."
"He treated her under Lane from then on."
Etta looked toward the hall.
"After what?"
The investigator drew a breath.
"There's something else about that evening."
"He says the transfer happened before the fire."
Opal's burned hand flattened against the table.
"He knew she wasn't in the house?"
"Yes."
The investigator opened his notebook.
According to Mercer, Corinne had taken Etta out before setting the nursery on fire.