The Woman at Briar Haven
Chapter 07 - The Woman at Briar Haven
Briar Haven denied holding anyone named Anna Reed.
Its restricted wing listed Patient A-17 under the name Abigail Lane.
The photograph matched Anna.
Ortiz obtained an emergency warrant.
Before investigators arrived, a transport van left through the rear gate.
The vehicle belonged to Crowne Family Services.
Police stopped it near a private airfield.
Anna sat in the rear beside a nurse and two locked record cases.
She was frightened, underweight, and alert.
The guardianship order said she suffered paranoid delusions about stolen children.
Independent doctors found no basis for confinement.
Anna asked for Grace before speaking with Daniel.
Their reunion occurred in a hospital garden.
Grace stood near the gate, uncertain.
Anna opened both hands.
“You came,” Grace said.
“I kept trying.”
Grace ran to her.
Daniel watched from inside with the child advocate.
He was not invited into the first embrace.
That hurt.
It was also right.
Anna had protected Grace for years while Daniel lived inside the official story.
Fatherhood did not allow him to enter every moment simply because the truth had changed.
Later, Anna agreed to meet him.
She told Daniel that Amelia survived the first hours after the fire.
Crowne representatives moved her to a private clinic under another name.
Anna believed Amelia died there weeks later after refusing to sign away Grace’s trust rights.
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No verified grave existed.
The investigation now had to determine whether Amelia’s death had also been falsified.
