The Girl from Platform Nine
Chapter 02 - The Girl from Platform Nine
Maisie was taken to a quiet hotel suite with a child advocate, a pediatric nurse, and Detective Lena Ortiz, who had been attending the ceremony as Adrian’s guest.
Adrian waited outside until Maisie asked for him.
Vivienne remained in another room with her attorneys.
She claimed Maisie had been coached by someone trying to extort the Hale family.
The camera contradicted her.
Its serial number belonged to Claire Cole.
Adrian had purchased it for her twenty-fifth birthday.
The device contained hundreds of encrypted photographs taken during the past seven years.
Maisie said she lived with Claire in three different cities under several surnames.
Claire taught photography classes and worked nights processing medical records.
Six months earlier, she discovered that Hale Children’s Renewal Center was using the identities of missing children to collect donations and government funding.
After Claire began copying files, two men came to their apartment.
She took Maisie to a railway station and gave her the camera.
“Mom told me to wait at Platform Nine for a woman named Rosa.”
Rosa Martinez, a former nurse, arrived and hid Maisie inside a church shelter.
Claire did not return.
Three days before the wedding, Rosa received a message containing the hotel address.
The message said:
GET MAISIE TO ADRIAN BEFORE THE HALE-COLE MERGER IS SIGNED.
Rosa brought Maisie by bus.
Near the hotel, two private security officers recognized the camera.
Rosa distracted them while Maisie entered through the catering dock.
Adrian asked where Rosa was now.
Maisie pointed toward the ballroom.
“She was working in the kitchen so I could get inside.”
Ortiz found Rosa still in the service corridor.
She carried a folder containing medical-transfer logs.
One entry listed Claire Cole under a false name.
May you like
Patient C-17.
Transfer destination: Hale House.
