The Woman Behind the Glass
Chapter 15 - The Woman Behind the Glass
Hannah traveled to Vermont with Arthur, Nora, and two federal agents.
Dr. Hale objected because she was thirty-five weeks pregnant. Hannah agreed to travel in a medical transport vehicle with monitoring equipment and Naomi beside her.
The clinic stood among pine trees, quiet and expensive.
Claire Rowan lived in a secure memory-care wing.
Through a glass panel, Hannah saw a woman in her late fifties arranging folded paper birds along a windowsill. Her hair was almost entirely silver. Her movements were careful and repetitive.
Arthur pressed one hand against the glass.
“Catherine.”
The woman did not turn.
A physician explained that Claire experienced fragmented memory, especially under stress. She reacted badly to unfamiliar men and official questions. Her legal guardian, a shell company connected to Bright Tomorrow, had prohibited genetic testing.
The federal order changed that.
Hannah entered alone.
She sat several feet away and placed the silver bracelet on the table between them.
Claire continued folding paper.
Then she saw it.
Her fingers stopped.
“Where did you find that?” she asked.
Hannah’s voice nearly failed.
“You gave it to me.”
Claire looked at her face.
For a long moment, nothing happened.
Then she whispered, “The baby in the yellow blanket.”
Hannah began to cry.
Claire moved closer but did not touch her.
“I told them you died,” Claire said. “They said the car— They said I lost you.”
“No. You kept me. We escaped.”
Fragments returned slowly.
Catherine remembered Linda helping her leave, then handing her to Julian’s men. She remembered running with Hannah, reaching a motel, and leaving the baby with her own former college roommate before trying to collect evidence.
The car crash happened afterward.
The roommate raised Hannah as a niece while Catherine disappeared into private care.
“Did you know who my father was?” Hannah asked.
Catherine nodded.
“He was a resident named Daniel Reed. He died before you were born. He wanted to expose Julian too.”
The story matched old employment files.
Arthur entered only after Catherine agreed.
She stared at him with fear, then anger.
“You signed the paper.”
Arthur knelt.
“I didn’t. But I believed it.”
Catherine’s eyes filled.
“That was enough.”
He did not defend himself.
“I know.”
Hannah watched them and understood that reunion was not repair. It was only the first honest moment after years of lies.
Then pain tightened across her abdomen.
Naomi checked the monitor.
The baby’s heartbeat changed.
May you like
They had found Catherine.
Now they had to reach St. Catherine’s before Hannah’s child arrived.
