No one considered taking me to the clinic.<\/p>\n
At least not aloud.<\/p>\n
The message sat on Price\u2019s screen.<\/p>\n
Rainer clinic. Midnight.<\/p>\n
Bring Anna.<\/p>\n
Clare read it twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re asking police?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever has Keene\u2019s phone,\u201d Shaw said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould be Bellweather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLikely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy use a compromised phone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo ensure we see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s an invitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr bait.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSame thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw ignored that.<\/p>\n
Federal agents secured the old Rainer clinic before dusk.<\/p>\n
Or tried to.<\/p>\n
The property had been abandoned officially for eighteen years, but records showed recent electrical consumption.<\/p>\n
A holding company paid the taxes.<\/p>\n
That company traced through three corporate layers to Bellweather.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan they enter?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re obtaining warrants and surveying first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDererick said the archive is underneath it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Julian and Elaine may already be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Rainer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n
I paced the protected room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does \u2018bring Anna\u2019 accomplish?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare said, \u201cThey still need you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor my assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr for leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst who?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer arrived from an unexpected source.<\/p>\n
My father.<\/p>\n
Shaw had arranged another protected call after federal agents moved my parents.<\/p>\n
He had been searching through old papers.<\/p>\n
Evelyn\u2019s old letters.<\/p>\n
Birthday cards.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
Anything that might explain E-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found something,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA letter Evelyn sent before she disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout six weeks before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you keep it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly ordinary things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything about the pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wrote that she was seeing someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t name him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she say she was pregnant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wrote that she\u2019d made a decision and was afraid I would judge her.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s voice trembled.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she was going to have a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell police?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they investigate the father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know who he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else in the letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paper rustled.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said the father worked in medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone in the room went still.<\/p>\n
I looked at Shaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cRainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she ever mention Samuel Rainer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Rainer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClinic?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she\u2019d been seeing a specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw motioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk about a location.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, where was Evelyn living then?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNear Pine Lake.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow near?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe twenty miles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rainer\u2019s clinic was west of Pine Lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she work there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. She worked for a bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened before she disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe became frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe changed phone numbers twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said someone was bothering her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you visit?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree months before she vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything strange?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat man?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to her apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe introduced him as Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he look like?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOlder than Evelyn. Doctor type.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does doctor type mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClean-cut. Expensive coat. Calm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she seem afraid of him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did she seem?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father took a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samuel Rainer may not merely have conditioned Evelyn.<\/p>\n
He may have been the father of her child.<\/p>\n
Shaw wrote the possibility down without treating it as fact.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Sam know you?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked about the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat questions?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cParents. You girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was ten.<\/p>\n
Rainer might have learned my name from Evelyn herself.<\/p>\n
Not through surveillance.<\/p>\n
At a kitchen table.<\/p>\n
Through family conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Evelyn say about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father laughed faintly, painfully.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe bragged.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour drawings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
At ten I drew constantly.<\/p>\n
Evelyn used to send me sketchbooks.<\/p>\n
Maybe the first information Bellweather ever collected about me came from love, not surveillance.<\/p>\n
That made it worse.<\/p>\n
After the call, Price began cross-referencing Rainer\u2019s personal history.<\/p>\n
No acknowledged children.<\/p>\n
Never married.<\/p>\n
But financial records showed regular payments beginning twenty-one years earlier to a trust.<\/p>\n
Beneficiary hidden.<\/p>\n
\u201cE-1,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you trace it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw received an update from the clinic survey.<\/p>\n
The building had two visible floors and a basement.<\/p>\n
Thermal imaging showed heat sources underground.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many people?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnclear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than five?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not raid it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the underground structure extends beyond original plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTunnels again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellweather loved buildings with hidden exits.<\/p>\n
Or perhaps hidden exits were why Bellweather bought them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are they waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFull tactical map.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil midnight?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
Police were not playing Bellweather\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n
Then a forensic analyst called.<\/p>\n
They had examined the message sent from Keene\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
The phrase \u201cBring Anna\u201d contained an anomaly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpacing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at Shaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpacing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message was typed, deleted and retyped several times. Phone recovery preserved fragments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price displayed them.<\/p>\n
First version:<\/p>\n
Bring Anna to finish what Evelyn started.<\/p>\n
Second:<\/p>\n
Bring Anna. Evelyn requests her.<\/p>\n
Final:<\/p>\n
Bring Anna.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho typed it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why shorten it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe someone interrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr they realized the longer version revealed too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Evelyn started.<\/p>\n
That phrase mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Evelyn start?\u201d<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
Price\u2019s computer chimed.<\/p>\n
The trust beneficiary had been partially identified.<\/p>\n
Birth year matched Evelyn\u2019s pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Initials: S.R.<\/p>\n
Clare whispered, \u201cSamuel Rainer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Too young.\u201d<\/p>\n
A child.<\/p>\n
S.R.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStill sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan federal investigators unseal it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The waiting became unbearable.<\/p>\n
I ate because Clare made me.<\/p>\n
Half a sandwich.<\/p>\n
Two bites of fruit.<\/p>\n
Every swallow felt mechanical.<\/p>\n
At 6:12, Shaw received a message through the secure federal channel.<\/p>\n
A package had been found inside the abandoned transport van.<\/p>\n
Not noticed initially because it had been taped beneath Evelyn\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat package?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnvelope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn left it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore she was taken.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLikely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The envelope was photographed before being opened.<\/p>\n
My name appeared in handwriting my father recognized as Evelyn\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Inside was the silver charm bracelet.<\/p>\n
The one she gave me when I was nine.<\/p>\n
I stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bracelet disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d Shaw asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. Years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould your parents have had it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I kept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJewelry box.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
Dererick.<\/p>\n
He knew about the bracelet because I told him.<\/p>\n
Had he taken it?<\/p>\n
Or had Evelyn?<\/p>\n
A folded note accompanied it.<\/p>\n
Only six words.<\/p>\n
Anna, the child is not mine.<\/p>\n
I read it repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Clare whispered, \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she was pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe she means something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another line was written inside the fold.<\/p>\n
He made me believe she was.<\/p>\n
She.<\/p>\n
The child was female.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made me believe she was mine,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Shaw looked disturbed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat could that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of Bellweather.<\/p>\n
Identity replacement.<\/p>\n
Manipulated records.<\/p>\n
Drugs.<\/p>\n
Controlled information.<\/p>\n
Evelyn could have given birth and then been deceived about which baby was hers.<\/p>\n
Or she could have been made to believe someone else\u2019s child belonged to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cE-1 may not be Evelyn\u2019s biological daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price began searching.<\/p>\n
The sample collection suddenly mattered differently.<\/p>\n
Bellweather obsessed over biological verification.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because identities and relationships were deliberately falsified.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else is in the note?\u201d<\/p>\n
A final sentence.<\/p>\n
If they ask for Anna, they need Rachel.<\/p>\n
My heartbeat stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dererick\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n
Clare frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does asking for you mean they need Rachel?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the words.<\/p>\n
Maybe Bellweather\u2019s current objective was not me.<\/p>\n
Maybe I was leverage against Dererick.<\/p>\n
And Dererick was leverage toward Rachel.<\/p>\n
A chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Rachel?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one knew.<\/p>\n
Price searched the archive using the name.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then Rowe.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then handler-family records.<\/p>\n
A sealed dependent file appeared.<\/p>\n
R-17.<\/p>\n
Status: graduated.<\/p>\n
Biological identity: disputed.<\/p>\n
I leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does disputed mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Price opened the metadata.<\/p>\n
The record had been altered repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Birth date changed.<\/p>\n
Surname changed.<\/p>\n
Parentage field locked.<\/p>\n
Then one cross-reference appeared.<\/p>\n
W-04 dependent.<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare said it first.<\/p>\n
Rachel Rowe and Evelyn\u2019s E-1 were connected.<\/p>\n
Same underlying file.<\/p>\n
I felt the pieces collide.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel is the child Evelyn thought was hers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Rachel is Dererick\u2019s sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to what Dererick was told.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she isn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one answered.<\/p>\n
Bellweather had controlled Rachel\u2019s identity from birth.<\/p>\n
They could tell Evelyn the girl was her daughter.<\/p>\n
Tell Dererick she was his sister.<\/p>\n
Use the same person as leverage against both.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw whispered the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo control them.\u201d<\/p>\n
A child became a human lock.<\/p>\n
Two people could be chained to Bellweather by different stories about the same girl.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Dererick know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn does now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may be what she discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what she started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price searched recent W-04 activity.<\/p>\n
One encrypted file had been accessed five months earlier.<\/p>\n
Genetic comparison request.<\/p>\n
Subjects W-04 and R-17.<\/p>\n
Result withheld.<\/p>\n
Evelyn had tried to learn whether Rachel was biologically hers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat result?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLocked under A17.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rainer.<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
The man who may have fathered Evelyn\u2019s pregnancy controlled the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you break it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw received another tactical update.<\/p>\n
Federal teams had discovered a secondary entrance to the Rainer clinic\u2019s underground level.<\/p>\n
Fresh tire tracks.<\/p>\n
Recent activity.<\/p>\n
They planned entry before 8:00.<\/p>\n
Not midnight.<\/p>\n
I felt relief.<\/p>\n
Then Price\u2019s computer emitted a sharp alert.<\/p>\n
The server mirror was being deleted remotely.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you stop it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n
He traced the connection.<\/p>\n
Not the clinic.<\/p>\n
Not Julian\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Not Northstar.<\/p>\n
The deletion request originated from an address inside the city.<\/p>\n
Clare leaned toward the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat address?\u201d<\/p>\n
Price read it.<\/p>\n
I recognized it.<\/p>\n
So did Shaw.<\/p>\n
The protected interview building.<\/p>\n
Our building.<\/p>\n
Someone inside the secure location was deleting Bellweather\u2019s archive.<\/p>\n
No one considered taking me to the clinic. At least not aloud. The message sat on Price\u2019s screen. Rainer clinic. Midnight. Bring Anna. Clare read it twice. \u201cThey\u2019re asking police?\u201d … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13682,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13658\/revisions\/13682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}