Anna Strenger's Pact - Story Continuity (Help?)

[King Graham]

I'm looking for someone to confirm / clear this up for me. If you do the Ladies of the Woods before going through the Bloody Baron quest: Geralt, upon meeting the Crones in their true form, refers to Anna as "the lady taking care of the orphans" and doesn't connect the symbol with Anna's identity because he obviously doesn't know about her yet, or the situation, or who she even might be. She's just a random crazy woman to him.

If you do it after, he does recognize her and the Crones explain why she came to them (i.e. get rid of her unwanted child, considering her abusive relationship with the Baron).

In both scenarios, however, Geralt explains why Anna went to the Crones to the Bloody Baron when you go back to him, but how does he figure it out in the first scenario (Ladies of the Woods BEFORE Bloody Baron). Did I miss something? Did he connect the dots himself off-screen? Did the pellar hint towards it?

Seeing as how tightly woven these stories are with all the possibilities, I'm guessing I missed something before I'd call it an error. Help appreciated!