Chapter 7 - THE PAPER CATHERINE SHOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNEDNora Keene obtained court copies.
Some pages were routine.
Others were not.
A temporary care authorization signed by Catherine before treatment.
Valid.
A supplementary family care memorandum signed by Jonathan but not Catherine.
Then a draft petition seeking temporary guardianship by Beatrice.
Never filed.
Why draft?
Harold Venn.
Dates:
one day before Lucy vanished.
Lacey stared.
“Does this prove plan?”
Nora said:
“It proves someone considered formal guardianship.”
“Not disappearance.”
“What would happen if filed?”
“Court review.”
“Notice to Catherine likely.”
“Medical evidence.”
“Due process.”
“Instead child vanished.”
“Yes.”
A handwritten margin note by Harold:
B. insists no court unless necessary. Concern C will create spectacle. Alternative temporary residential arrangement?
Lacey’s stomach turned.
Alternative.
Private home.
“Could that mean daycare?”
“Could mean temporary caregiving.”
“We don’t speculate beyond.”
Good lawyer.
Another billing entry:
Consult R. Whitcomb re residential placement PA.
R. Whitcomb.
Search found Rebecca Whitcomb, director of a private convalescent family residence in Bucks County in 2000, later associated with St. Brigid.
Connection.
The story widened.
Catherine saw documents separately.
She called Margaret:
“I want Beatrice confronted.”
“Not yet.”
“She was planning placement.”
“Possibly.”
“She took Lucy.”
“Likely is not proven.”
Catherine slammed hand table.
Twenty-six years of restraint cracking.
Margaret:
“If you contact now, she can destroy records.”
Catherine froze.
“Right.”
Evidence preservation.
Subpoenas? In civil investigation? Lacey could initiate declaratory/adoption record actions, perhaps authorities after new evidence.
Nora recommended reporting new documents to original law enforcement cold case unit.
Lacey hesitated.
“Will it become public?”
“Possibly eventually.”
“We can request privacy.”
Catherine said:
“Your decision.”
Lacey reported.
Detective Aaron Patel, Mercer County? Disappearance near Princeton NJ. Let's say Princeton Police cold case liaison with county prosecutor. He treated Lacey not as solved child.
“We need verify identity first.”
“DNA.”
“Yes.”
Lacey sighed.
Everyone returned.
She agreed conditionally.
But before test, one more issue.
Catherine’s signature on care authorization.
Lacey confronted.
“You signed Beatrice could make medical decisions.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was going hospital.”
“You didn’t trust her.”
“I did then enough.”
“Your later story makes sound enemy always.”
Catherine looked stung.
“You’re right.”
This mattered.
Catherine had rewritten.
In grief, Beatrice became always villain.
Reality:
Before disappearance, relationship tense but functional.
Beatrice brought meals.
Paid for night nurse.
Held Lucy.
Catherine sometimes appreciated.
“I trusted her with daughter for a week.”
“Yes.”
“That makes what happened worse.”
“Yes.”
“But don’t erase that I chose.”
Catherine nodded.
“I won’t.”
“What did she think about your illness?”
“That I was dangerous.”
“She may have genuinely believed.”
“Was she wrong?”
“Yes about permanent.”
“But I did need help.”
Nuance.
Lacey asked:
“If she had gone to court, could she get custody?”
“Maybe temporary.”
“I don’t know.”
Catherine looked down.
“That possibility terrified me then.”
“I was afraid medical treatment would be weapon.”
“So I sometimes hid symptoms.”
“That was unsafe too.”
Lacey stared.
Catherine did not sanitize.
Trust increased a fraction.
Meanwhile, Ruth delivered first pediatric record.
Doctor noted:
Child wary of loud male voices.
Comforted by bell charm.
No signs physical injury.
Normal development.
There was no evidence abuse after disappearance.
Who cared for her between Alder home and Norwoods?
Missing months.
St. Brigid records might answer.
Lacey’s identity had a gap of maybe three to four months.
That became key.
The temporary residential arrangement likely.
Nora requested Bucks County archived licensing files for Whitcomb residence.
Name:
Maple Glen Recovery Home.
Not adoption agency.
A private home for mothers/children needing temporary support.
But Lucy might have been there without Catherine.
Records later transferred/mostly destroyed.
One ledger survived.
August 2000:
Child L.B., approx 14 mos, private family placement, sponsor H.V.
H.V.
Harold Venn.
Lacey stared.
No surname.
No photograph.
September:
L.B. transferred — St. Brigid.
Why?
Sponsor ended.
This was huge.
Catherine began crying when told.
“If L.B. is Lucy…”
Lacey interrupted:
“If.”
“Yes.”
“If.”
She appreciated.
Police reopened formal cold case pending DNA.
Media not notified.
Beatrice still not.
At eighty-six, she lived in assisted luxury residence in Connecticut, cognitively intact per recent records.
No rush? Could die. But evidence first.
Lacey scheduled DNA.
One week.
She told Catherine:
“I’m doing.”
Catherine’s face froze.
“Okay.”
“I receive first.”
“Yes.”
“If positive, you don’t come over.”
“Yes.”
“If negative, we both accept.”
“Yes.”
“No press.”
“Yes.”
“Stop saying yes so fast.”
Catherine almost smiled.
“I’m practicing.”
Lacey laughed unexpectedly.
First shared laugh.
It frightened her more than pendant.
Because laughter creates relationship before proof.
She ended call quickly.
The night before test, she held pendant.
What name belongs to sample?
Lab form:
Lacey Norwood.
She wrote firmly.
May you like
That was her name.
Whatever biology said tomorrow, it would remain.
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