“Because she discovered the trusts were connected. On Rosie’s thirtieth birthday, control of Evelyn’s Hale Medical shares would transfer fully to her. At the same time, previously sealed records about Claire’s Vale inheritance would become accessible to both sisters.”
“That’s why he was afraid,” I said.
“He feared prosecution. But more than that, he feared the records would lead Graham to you.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why has Richard been paying Graham?”
“Blackmail. Graham threatened to reveal Claire’s identity and the location of Samuel’s remaining research.”
“Samuel died in prison.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No, he didn’t.”
Another silence.
“The man who died in prison was an inmate named Peter Lorne,” she said. “Samuel switched identities during a hospital transfer.”
I felt the cold floor through my shoes.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
A red light began flashing on the security console.
Evelyn turned.
One monitor showed a dark SUV stopping near the cottage.
Three men emerged.
One was Graham Voss.
The second carried a rifle.
The third man was tall and silver-haired.
Even after decades, I recognized the delicate metal frames of his glasses.
Samuel Vale looked directly into the camera.
Then he smiled.
“My father,” I whispered.
Evelyn grabbed the shotgun.
“No,” she said. “Your father is the man sitting in jail because he spent seventeen years keeping Samuel away from you.”
The lights went out.
Daniel pushed us behind the concrete wall as the first shot shattered the boathouse window above.
Evelyn opened a metal cabinet and handed Ben a flare gun.
“There’s a tunnel behind the food shelves.”
“Where does it lead?” Daniel asked.
“To the north shore.”
“You take Claire and Ben.”
“I’m staying.”
“So am I,” Ben said.
“You have a wife and two children in the hospital,” I snapped.
“That is exactly why I’m not letting these men follow us back.”
Another shot cracked overhead.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Daniel checked his phone.
“No signal.”
“They’re jamming it,” Evelyn said.
“How many exits?”
“Two.”
“Weapons?”
“One shotgun. The flare gun. A revolver in the tunnel.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You go first.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“I am done being moved around like evidence.”
Samuel’s voice came through a speaker in the ceiling.
“Evelyn, you cannot stay underground forever.”
She went pale.
He continued.
“Send Claire out, and I will allow the others to leave.”
Ben raised the flare gun toward the speaker.
Samuel laughed.
“Benjamin Carter. The loyal husband. Did Rosie tell you what she promised me?”
Ben’s face changed.
“What?”
“She offered me the twins.”
I lunged toward the speaker.
“You’re lying!”
“Am I? Ask Evelyn why Rosie contacted me.”
Evelyn looked stricken.
Ben turned to her.
“What did Rosie do?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Samuel’s voice softened.
“Rosie wanted evidence. She agreed to provide blood samples from both children in exchange.”
“Why?” I shouted.
“Because the twins carry something valuable.”
Ben looked as though he might tear the walls apart.
“What do they carry?”
“Resistance.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Samuel continued.
“The compound damaged Evelyn. It killed Laura. It destroyed memories in dozens of test subjects. But Rosie was exposed in utero during an earlier laboratory leak.”
I stared at Evelyn.
“Rosie was exposed?”
“A tiny amount,” she whispered. “I didn’t know until later.”
“And she survived,” Samuel said. “More than survived. Her cells developed a protein response that neutralizes the compound. Her children may carry it.”
Ben stepped toward the speaker.
“You will never get near them.”
“That depends on whether Rosie wakes up.”
His certainty chilled me.
“How did you know she was in surgery?” I asked.
No answer.
Then I understood.
“The placental abruption.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Samuel caused it.”
Ben went rigid.
“How?”
Samuel answered calmly.
“A modified anticoagulant introduced through her prenatal vitamins.”
Ben’s face emptied.
I remembered my father asking whether Ben had been filling Rosie’s head with nonsense. I remembered him claiming he had not touched her medication.
Perhaps he had told the truth.
