“Lucas forgot this at home.”
He looked startled.
“What is it?”
“You left it on the kitchen table.”
Lucas took it.
His face drained of color.
“What?”
Elena frowned.
“I thought it was part of the hospital paperwork.”
Lucas stared at Douglas.
“What is it?” I asked again.
He opened the envelope carefully.
Inside was a photocopy of an old ledger page.
“Lucas?”
“I requested this months ago.”
“From where?”
“The county archive.”
Douglas pushed himself slightly higher.
“You said they couldn’t find anything.”
“They couldn’t. Until yesterday.”
I stepped closer.
The page contained handwritten entries.
Dates.
Names.
File numbers.
At the top:
PIERCE & ASSOCIATES — PRIVATE PLACEMENTS
My pulse began pounding.
Lucas traced a line with his finger.
“There.”
September 1987.
Male infant.
The placement number matched the number on Lucas’s adoption paperwork.
Then I saw another column.
Referring party.
The name written there was:
Eleanor Bennett.
