But she was alive.
"Mom!"
Emily rushed forward.
Margaret stood.
"Emily!"
They embraced.
Margaret held her daughter tightly, crying into her hair.
Daniel checked the room.
"Are you injured?"
Margaret shook her head.
"No. They didn't hurt me."
"Who brought you here?"
"Vale's people. But he wasn't here."
Daniel looked at her.
"Why?"
Margaret reached into her pocket and removed a small memory card.
"Because he was waiting for this."
She handed it to Daniel.
"This contains the names of everyone involved in the illegal medical operation."
Daniel looked at the card.
"Is that the original evidence?"
Margaret nodded.
"The final piece."
Emily held her mother's hand.
"Why didn't you destroy it?"
Margaret looked at her daughter.
"Because people died. Families lost children, parents, and loved ones. I couldn't let the truth disappear."
Daniel placed the memory card in an evidence pouch.
Then he asked the question that had been troubling him.
"How did you escape?"
Margaret looked toward the basement entrance.
"Someone helped me."
"Who?"
She hesitated.
Then she whispered:
"Thomas."
Daniel froze.
"Thomas Reed?"
Margaret nodded.
"He came to see me two nights ago. He told me he had made arrangements for my release."
"But he was arrested."
Margaret looked confused.
"What?"
Daniel explained what had happened at the records facility.
Margaret shook her head.
"No. The man you arrested wasn't Thomas."
Emily stared.
"Then who was he?"
Margaret took a shaky breath.
"His younger brother."
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
The man who had surrendered at the records facility had used Thomas's identity.
The real Thomas was still somewhere outside their reach.
And he might know more than anyone about what had happened eleven years earlier.
By sunrise, Margaret was back at the hospital.
Arthur had been moved to a private room.
When the door opened, he was sitting beside the window, looking at an old photograph.
He heard footsteps.
"Daniel?"
No one answered.
He turned.
And there she was.
Margaret.
For a moment, Arthur didn't recognize her.
Not because her face had changed beyond recognition, but because his mind had spent eleven years convincing him that he would never see her again.
He stood slowly.
"Margaret?"
She nodded.
"Hello, Arthur."
He took one step.
Then another.
His eyes filled with tears.
"I thought..."
He couldn't finish.
Margaret walked toward him.
"I know."
Arthur reached for her hands.
They were real.
Warm.
Alive.
He began crying.
"I waited for you."
Margaret touched his cheek.
"I know, my love."
"I looked everywhere."
"I'm sorry."
"I thought I had killed you."
Margaret shook her head.
"You didn't."
Arthur lowered his face.
"But I was driving."
"You were trying to get us home."
He looked at her.
"I should have slowed down."
"Yes," she whispered. "You should have."
For a moment, they both laughed through their tears.
Then Margaret placed her forehead against his.
"We lost eleven years."
Arthur closed his eyes.
"Can we get them back?"
"No."
She held him tighter.
"But we can stop losing today."
Emily stood near the doorway.
She watched her parents embrace.
For the first time since she was seventeen, the three of them were in the same room.
But she didn't feel the simple happiness she had imagined during all those lonely years.
There was too much pain.
Too many questions.
She approached her mother.
"Can I ask you something?"
Margaret turned.
"Anything."
"Did you ever try to contact me?"
Margaret nodded.
"Many times."
"Why didn't I receive anything?"
"Because Thomas intercepted the letters. He believed that keeping us separated would protect you."
Emily's expression hardened.
"Did you believe him?"
"I did at first. Then I learned that he was part of the operation. By the time I understood what was happening, I had no way to reach you safely."
Emily looked down.
"I spent years thinking you had abandoned me."
Margaret began crying.
"I know."
"I was angry at Dad. I blamed him for everything."
Arthur stepped forward.
"That wasn't your fault."
Emily looked at him.
"I said terrible things to you."
"You were a child who had lost her mother."
"But I never came back."
Arthur took her hand.
"You were trying to survive."
Emily began crying.
"I'm sorry, Dad."
Arthur pulled her into his arms.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
He held his daughter as though he were afraid she might disappear again.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Later that afternoon, Daniel visited them.
He had received news from the investigative division.
Richard Vale had agreed to cooperate.
In exchange for a reduced sentence, he was offering information about the people who had financed the illegal medical operation.
But Daniel wasn't satisfied.
"There's still one person missing," he told Margaret.
"Thomas," she replied.
Daniel nodded.
"Do you know where he might be?"
Margaret looked at Arthur.
Then she asked:
"Do you remember the old railway station?"
Arthur nodded.
"The one near the river?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Margaret took a deep breath.
"Thomas told me he would be there if the evidence was ever recovered."
Daniel checked his watch.
"When?"
"Tonight."
Daniel stood.
"Then I'll go."
Margaret shook her head.
"He won't speak to you."
"Why?"
"Because he thinks you hate him."
Daniel looked away.
"I don't know what I think about him."
Margaret touched his arm.
"Then perhaps you should hear what he has to say."
The railway station was almost deserted.
An old clock hung above the entrance.
Daniel arrived shortly before midnight.
He walked toward the platform.
A man was sitting on a bench.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
A familiar posture.
Thomas Reed.
Daniel stopped several feet away.
"You're alive."
Thomas looked up.
"Apparently."
Daniel's expression remained cold.
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I know."
"You let me believe you were a good man."
Thomas looked down.
"I was once."
"That's not an answer."