Chapter 4: The Letter Beneath the Headstone
Chapter 4: The Letter Beneath the Headstone
Six months after the trial began, I thought there were no more secrets left to uncover.
I was wrong.
The morning was cold when I visited Emma's grave.
The cemetery was empty except for a groundskeeper trimming hedges near the entrance.
I knelt beside the white marble headstone and placed fresh lilies against the stone.
"Good morning, sweetheart," I whispered.
As I stood to leave, something caught my eye.
A small metal box protruded from the soil behind the headstone.
At first, I assumed it belonged to the cemetery staff.
But my name was engraved on the lid.
Margaret.
My hands trembled.
The box was locked, but a tiny key had been taped underneath.
Inside sat a folded letter.
Emma's handwriting.
For several seconds I couldn't breathe.
She had written it three weeks before her death.
If you're reading this, Mom, then everything happened exactly the way I feared.
Tears blurred the page.
I sat on the damp grass and continued reading.
There is something I never told anyone.
Not even you.
My stomach tightened.
The words that followed changed everything.
The baby might not have died.
The world stopped.
Emma explained that during her final hospital visit, a nurse had quietly warned her that some medical records had been altered.
The nurse believed there had been confusion surrounding the emergency delivery.
Confusion—or intentional deception.
Emma wrote that she feared Evan was hiding something.
And if that happened, there would only be one person she could trust.
You.
My hands shook so violently the paper rattled.
At the bottom of the page was a single name.
May you like
Nurse Abigail Rhodes.
Find her.
