Chapter 11 - A NAME THAT WAS STOLENCamille Renard was twenty-nine years old when she disappeared.
She had no close family.
She lived in temporary shelters and received treatment for memory problems after an accident.
Dr. Delacroix knew her from a public hospital.
“She resembled Sophie in height and build,” Amélie said.
The gallery office became silent.
Adrian looked sick.
“You’re saying they used a living woman to fake Sophie’s death?”
“I am saying Camille disappeared the same night. Days later, Delacroix told the clinic director she would not return.”
“Did you see Vivian take her?”
“No.”
“Then we cannot say she died in the fire.”
Amélie nodded.
“I only know the dates.”
Police opened a new investigation into Camille’s death.
Her identity deserved more than being treated as a replacement body in someone else’s story.
Sophie sat apart from the others.
For years, she believed the name Élise Martin had been given because no one recognized her.
Now she understood it was meant to erase her.
A real woman’s life ended under Sophie’s name.
Sophie lived under a name that belonged to no one.
Vivian had stolen two identities at once.
Adrian approached.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“Someone died so everyone would stop looking for me.”
“You did not choose that.”
“I survived.”
“That is not a crime.”
Sophie looked at her scarred hand.
“Sometimes survival feels like something you have to apologize for.”
Adrian crouched in front of her.
“You do not apologize for being alive.”
The words carried more emotion than either expected.
Sophie looked away.
They had been husband and wife.
Now every gesture required permission.
Police located Dr. Delacroix in Switzerland.
He denied involvement through an attorney.
French prosecutors requested his extradition.
Vivian remained free but under investigation.
Her passport was flagged.
She continued insisting Sophie was an impostor.
A police-supervised DNA test was completed at Hôpital Saint-Louis.
Adrian, Chloe and Sophie provided samples.
Results would take forty-eight hours.
Vivian could not access the process.
At the Beaumont mansion, Chloe prepared a bedroom for Sophie.
She placed drawings on the bedside table.
Adrian tried to explain that Sophie might not move in immediately.
“Why?”
“Because she has a different home.”
“The little apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t she like us?”
“She loves you.”
“Then why can’t she sleep here?”
Adrian struggled.
Love did not erase trauma.
Returning to a family was not the same as returning to a building.
The next day, Chloe visited Sophie at the gallery.
She brought the second bird charm from her nursery.
The two charms fitted together.
One wing completed the other.
Sophie held them in her palm.
“I thought this was lost.”
“I kept it in my treasure box,” Chloe said.
“Did Vivian know?”
“No. She threw away Mommy things.”
Sophie looked at Adrian.
“What things?”
Chloe listed photographs, an old perfume bottle and letters Adrian wrote to Sophie after the fire.
Vivian told Chloe dead people could not read.
Adrian had believed the letters were stored in the family archive.
Marc checked Vivian’s former gallery office.
Behind a locked cabinet, he found a small metal box.
Inside were Adrian’s letters.
None had been opened.
Beneath them was Sophie’s original French passport.
The passport had been reported destroyed in the fire.
Vivian possessed proof of Sophie’s identity for five years.
Tucked inside it was a current train ticket.
Paris to Geneva.
May you like
Departure: the following morning.
Vivian was preparing to reach Dr. Delacroix before police did.
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