Chapter 9 - The Other Anna
Security escorted a second woman into the chapel wearing the same brick-red blouse and charcoal pinafore as Anna.
From a distance, they looked like sisters.
Up close, the resemblance was nearly perfect.
The woman identified herself as Clara Reed, Anna’s older twin.
Anna laughed because the claim was impossible.
She had no memory of a sister.
Marcus, however, lowered his eyes.
Lorraine had given birth to twins, but Clara was taken from the hospital by a private adoption agency funded by Henry’s father.
The agency supplied infants to wealthy families and pressured low-income mothers into signing documents they did not understand.
Clara had been raised by a Whitmore executive who told her that Lorraine abandoned her while keeping Anna.
For years, Clara believed her twin had received the mother and childhood stolen from her.
The Whitmores later recruited her to impersonate Anna when signatures, security footage or witness testimony were required.
Anna’s identity had become another asset the family could use without payment or permission.
Clara admitted collecting the pharmacy order and planting Anna’s luggage tag inside the casket.
She said she wanted Anna blamed for Henry’s disappearance so the family would finally understand what it felt like to have a life assigned by strangers.
Anna saw anger in her sister, but also the same humiliation that had shaped her own life.
They had been taught to hate each other while the people who separated them remained protected.
Henry named his father’s former attorney, Governor Richard Hale, as the man who operated the adoption network and employee blacklist.
Hale was attending the funeral through a live video link and had been monitoring every revelation.
The chapel screen activated.
The governor congratulated Henry for surviving and announced that state police were coming to arrest Anna, Clara, Marcus, Lorraine and Samuel for conspiracy.
He presented signed confessions from each of them.
All appeared genuine.
Clara smiled bitterly.
“He does not need us to confess.”
“He owns the laboratory that verifies the signatures.”
Outside, sirens surrounded the chapel.
Inside, Mrs. Whitmore raised Lorraine’s wedding ring and revealed a tiny storage chip hidden beneath the stone.
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It contained one recording the governor had spent twelve years trying to destroy.
Before she could play it, Julian took the ring from her hand and placed it in his pocket.
