Part 15: Daniel's Choice
The courtroom fell into stunned silence.
On the screen, the younger Daniel carefully exchanged the two hospital bracelets before placing both babies back into their cribs. His hands trembled, but he never hesitated.
Maya stepped away from him.
"You did it."
Daniel could barely breathe.
"I remember changing the bracelets," he whispered. "But I don't remember why."
Grace paused the recording.
"Keep watching."
The video resumed. A second man entered the nursery. His face remained hidden beneath the brim of a hat, but his voice was unmistakable.
Walter.
"You have one chance," he told Daniel. "Leave the bracelets where they are, and both children disappear before sunrise. Switch them, and I can only take one."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I thought I was saving a life."
"You were," Grace replied. "You just didn't know whose."
The recording continued.
Daniel picked up a pen and signed a temporary transfer order allowing one infant to leave under a false identity. Before he reached the second document, the lights in the nursery failed.
When they returned, one crib was empty.
Walter stopped the camera.
"You never finished signing."
Daniel stared at the frozen image.
"So only one child was officially transferred."
Grace nodded.
"Everything after that was forged."
Frank grabbed the adoption decree from Maya's hands.
"The signature on the second page is fake."
Walter smiled.
"It fooled every court for twenty-six years."
Nina suddenly noticed a tiny fingerprint pressed into the corner of the video frame.
"It isn't Walter's."
Grace enlarged the image.
A clear fingerprint appeared beside the incubator controls.
Helen Cross looked at it and slowly backed away.
"I've seen that print before."
She opened an evidence folder hidden beneath the judge's bench.
Inside was the original forensic report from the hospital fire.
Only one fingerprint matched the unknown mark.
Evelyn Hayes.
Every head turned toward the woman who had lived as Elaine.
Tears rolled down Evelyn's face.
"I never entered that nursery," she whispered.
Grace looked at her sadly.
"Then explain why the hospital logged your fingerprint exactly three minutes before the bracelets were switched."
Before Evelyn could answer, every monitor flickered again.
A final security clip began to play.
The nursery door opened once more.
Another woman walked inside.
She had Elaine's face.
May you like
Evelyn's face.
And Helen's voice.
