Chapter 5 - THE PURSE WAS HEAVIER WHEN SERENA LEFT
Security footage had no sound inside the nursery corridor.
But it showed something Serena could not explain.
When she entered, Lucia carried the purse.
When she exited, Serena carried it.
Why?
“She asked me to.”
“What went inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Then the loose bracelet.
Serena said she had never seen it.
The officer asked:
“Then why reach for the purse immediately after the scanner flashed red?”
“I panicked.”
“About what?”
“My mother.”
Still vague.
Then police searched the purse under consent? Lucia did not consent. They obtained warrant based on visible bracelet already discovered after Massimo opened purse. The loose band already seized under exigent evidence? Need plausible. Later warrant allowed full purse inventory.
Inside a zippered interior pocket:
Disposable hospital gloves.
One empty alcohol wipe packet.
A small plastic fastener similar to those used on hospital newborn bands.
Not identical enough to prove source.
A folded paper listing:
NICO — 4:14
LUCA — 4:18
MERCER — 5:03
Times.
Birth order.
Why did Lucia know the Mercer birth time?
It was visible on the bassinet card in the nursery.
A visitor should not have copied it.
Then Serena’s phone.
Police did not search immediately without authorization.
Later, a warrant obtained messages relevant to the infant identification incident.
One message from Lucia at 7:12 a.m.:
Both boys healthy. This is the only chance before discharge.
Serena:
No.
Lucia:
You keep saying you want a child.
Serena:
Not like this.
Lucia:
You don’t know what “this” is yet.
Then at 8:36:
Lucia:
Come upstairs.
Serena:
Why?
Lucia:
Do you trust me?
Serena:
That question always means no.
No answer.
That helped Serena slightly.
Then 8:47:
Serena:
What are you doing?
Lucia:
Fixing what should have been decided before birth.
Serena:
Stop.
Then no more messages.
Was Serena an accomplice?
Witness?
Coward?
Something between?
Her reaching for the purse suggested she knew there was evidence to hide.
But when did she learn?
That would matter.
Then hospital staff found something in the observation nursery.
Under the mattress liner of the unbanded infant’s bassinet:
A torn fragment from a newborn bracelet clasp.
Not the whole band.
Forensics later linked the lot number to Bellante Twin B supplies.
Luca.
Someone had opened his band there.
The rest of the band?
Possibly the one in Lucia’s purse.
May you like
Possibly a duplicate.
Testing would tell.
