{"id":30941,"date":"2026-10-05T19:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=30941"},"modified":"2026-10-05T19:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:31:22","slug":"part-24-the-nurse-who-took-baby-sophie-vanished-from-her-home-leaving-behind-a-nursery-photograph-that-revealed-a-second-infant-in-the-experiment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=30941","title":{"rendered":"PART 24 \u2013 The Nurse Who Took Baby Sophie Vanished From Her Home, Leaving Behind a Nursery Photograph That Revealed a Second Infant in the Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Margaret Vale\u2019s house stood in a quiet residential neighborhood Claire had driven through hundreds of times.<\/p>\n<p>Four miles.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven years of ordinary distance.<\/p>\n<p>Claire could have passed Margaret at a grocery store.<\/p>\n<p>A traffic light.<\/p>\n<p>A pharmacy.<\/p>\n<p>She might have stood behind her in line without knowing this woman once carried Sophie away from her hospital crib.<\/p>\n<p>Federal agents reached the house before Claire did.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret was gone.<\/p>\n<p>Bell called from the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo signs of forced entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did she leave?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeighbor saw her yesterday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith luggage?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne suitcase.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Vale was already in custody for his role in the fake Westbrook clinic.<\/p>\n<p>Until now he had denied knowing anything about Sophie\u2019s newborn intervention.<\/p>\n<p>Bell re-interviewed him.<\/p>\n<p>Vale asked for an attorney.<\/p>\n<p>That was all.<\/p>\n<p>Claire wanted to drive to the house.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel said no.<\/p>\n<p>Not because she lacked the right.<\/p>\n<p>Because Sophie had undergone neurosurgery less than twenty-four hours earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Claire knew he was right.<\/p>\n<p>She hated him for thirty seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Then apologized.<\/p>\n<p>He accepted.<\/p>\n<p>Bell sent photographs instead.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret\u2019s home looked painfully normal.<\/p>\n<p>Family photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Houseplants.<\/p>\n<p>Books.<\/p>\n<p>A blue ceramic bowl filled with keys.<\/p>\n<p>Then agents entered a locked storage room.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were boxes.<\/p>\n<p>Medical files.<\/p>\n<p>Old photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Children&#39;s drawings.<\/p>\n<p>Birthday cards.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie stared at the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose aren&#39;t mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most belonged to other children.<\/p>\n<p>The seven original subjects.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret had followed them for years.<\/p>\n<p>Not officially.<\/p>\n<p>Personally.<\/p>\n<p>There were school photographs of Maya.<\/p>\n<p>An image of Aaron at a baseball game.<\/p>\n<p>Lucas as a toddler.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie leaving kindergarten with Claire.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel saw that photograph and went still.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He appeared in the background holding Sophie&#39;s backpack.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had watched them.<\/p>\n<p>Claire reached for his hand.<\/p>\n<p>Agents opened another box.<\/p>\n<p>Hospital photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The night Sophie received Samuel\u2019s vector.<\/p>\n<p>Cross.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret.<\/p>\n<p>Then the unexplained twenty-seven-minute gap.<\/p>\n<p>One image showed Margaret carrying infant Sophie down a corridor.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed her entering a neonatal research room.<\/p>\n<p>Then a third photograph.<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared.<\/p>\n<p>Two bassinets.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie lay in one.<\/p>\n<p>Another infant lay beside her.<\/p>\n<p>Both had monitoring leads.<\/p>\n<p>Both wore hospital identification bands.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca leaned toward the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Cross claimed through investigators she had never seen the second infant.<\/p>\n<p>Bell checked the photograph metadata.<\/p>\n<p>Same night.<\/p>\n<p>Same research room.<\/p>\n<p>Claire zoomed in.<\/p>\n<p>The second baby\u2019s identification band was partly visible.<\/p>\n<p>Initials.<\/p>\n<p>E.V.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked at Bell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Investigators searched birth records from the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>No infant with matching initials officially occupied that room.<\/p>\n<p>Then Rebecca whispered, \u201cEleanor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMargaret had a daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYears before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. Nathan and Margaret had no children in public records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember Samuel mentioning a pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked away.<\/p>\n<p>Eric spoke from the doorway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone turned.<\/p>\n<p>He had joined them after another medical check.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was seventeen. Nathan called the house. Margaret had a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Eric stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told Mom the child was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel remained silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow old would she be now?\u201d Daniel asked.<\/p>\n<p>Eric calculated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout nineteen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the baby in the photograph is newborn the same night Sophie was six weeks old,\u201d Claire said.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca examined the metadata.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen that can&#39;t be the same child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unless E.V. meant someone else.<\/p>\n<p>Bell\u2019s analysts searched NorthStar records.<\/p>\n<p>One hidden identifier appeared.<\/p>\n<p>E.V.<\/p>\n<p>No full name.<\/p>\n<p>Not part of the seven-subject cohort.<\/p>\n<p>Designation:<\/p>\n<p>REFERENCE INFANT.<\/p>\n<p>Claire felt sick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel finally spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel turned toward the monitor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said you didn&#39;t know another baby was there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you know the term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was standard experimental language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBabies aren&#39;t controls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Samuel said quietly.<\/p>\n<p>The photo sequence continued.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret placed Sophie beside the second infant.<\/p>\n<p>A technician appeared.<\/p>\n<p>Face obscured.<\/p>\n<p>Blood was drawn from both.<\/p>\n<p>Then something stranger.<\/p>\n<p>A small transfusion line connected equipment between the bassinets.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Shah leaned closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s face drained of color.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCell transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the photograph shows what I think\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSay it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone may have transferred cells from the other infant into Sophie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel stood abruptly on the detention feed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould it happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel paced once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy would anyone do that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca searched the recovered files.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe to compare engraftment.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe to provide normal immune cells after Samuel\u2019s vector.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe to create a biological reference inside Sophie.<\/p>\n<p>Then Dr. Shah remembered something.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie&#39;s genetic testing occasionally showed tiny populations of cells that did not perfectly match her genome.<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou saw that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe assumed technical contamination or maternal microchimerism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot maternal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Claire\u2019s DNA was marked negative on Cross\u2019s list.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They tested.<\/p>\n<p>Stored samples were reanalyzed.<\/p>\n<p>The mismatched cell population remained tiny.<\/p>\n<p>But real.<\/p>\n<p>Someone else&#39;s cells had lived inside Sophie for ten years.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie looked disgusted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody is in me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo many people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell\u2019s agents searched Margaret\u2019s house for the identity of the second infant.<\/p>\n<p>A locked metal box contained the answer.<\/p>\n<p>Birth records.<\/p>\n<p>Not official copies.<\/p>\n<p>Private documentation.<\/p>\n<p>The child\u2019s name:<\/p>\n<p>Emily Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Parents:<\/p>\n<p>Nathan and Margaret Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Date of birth matched the night of Sophie&#39;s hospitalization.<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you said they had no children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey erased her from public records,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nobody knew.<\/p>\n<p>The private file documented a severe congenital immune disorder.<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s prognosis was poor.<\/p>\n<p>She was expected to die in infancy.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Nathan ask you for treatment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel&#39;s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore Sophie was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI refused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou refused unethical treatment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel flinched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily&#39;s condition was not related to my work. I told Nathan I couldn&#39;t help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Vale had spent years assisting Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>He watched experimental interventions performed on children for inherited cancer risk.<\/p>\n<p>Then his own daughter was born dying of an unrelated immune disorder.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel refused to use the platform on her.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca whispered, \u201cNathan did it himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret had carried Sophie into the research room.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan or another technician transferred cells.<\/p>\n<p>But in which direction?<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Shah ordered testing focused on the microchimeric population.<\/p>\n<p>If Emily\u2019s cells survived inside Sophie, then likely Emily\u2019s cells entered Sophie.<\/p>\n<p>But there might have been transfer both ways.<\/p>\n<p>Claire felt the implication.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Sophie\u2019s modified cells went into Emily\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca finished.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen Emily may have received part of Samuel\u2019s vector.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs she alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell searched.<\/p>\n<p>Officially, Emily Vale did not exist.<\/p>\n<p>No school records.<\/p>\n<p>No tax identity.<\/p>\n<p>No medical records under that name.<\/p>\n<p>Then agents found recent photographs in Margaret\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<p>A young woman.<\/p>\n<p>Dark hair.<\/p>\n<p>Pale skin.<\/p>\n<p>Approximately nineteen.<\/p>\n<p>Standing beside Margaret on a beach.<\/p>\n<p>Another at a kitchen table.<\/p>\n<p>Another wearing a graduation gown with no visible school name.<\/p>\n<p>On the back of one photograph:<\/p>\n<p>OUR MIRACLE.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie looked at it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Somehow, a baby expected to die had survived.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stared at the image.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf modified immune cells from Sophie engrafted in Emily, they could have corrected part of her immune disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Shah cautioned that this was speculation.<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked shaken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan and Margaret might have stolen Sophie&#39;s genetically modified cells to save their infant daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel asked the question nobody wanted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did they put back into Sophie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Testing answered.<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s cells carried an immune-regulatory variant absent from Sophie\u2019s natural genome.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca reviewed the sequence.<\/p>\n<p>Her expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis may be why Sophie survived the rescue treatment better than Maya.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>Maya&#39;s rescue had caused catastrophic immune complications.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie&#39;s had caused severe but shorter inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>Emily&#39;s tiny cell population might have moderated the response.<\/p>\n<p>Claire felt the moral ground shifting again.<\/p>\n<p>A criminal act.<\/p>\n<p>An unauthorized infant cell exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Something that might also have helped Sophie survive ten years later.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo they stole my cells and gave me hers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly,\u201d Dr. Shah said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it helped both of us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStill should&#39;ve asked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire smiled sadly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell had one more discovery.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret had not fled randomly.<\/p>\n<p>Her car was found at a rural bus station.<\/p>\n<p>A camera showed her boarding with the young woman from the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Emily.<\/p>\n<p>They traveled under false names.<\/p>\n<p>Destination known.<\/p>\n<p>A small town in Vermont.<\/p>\n<p>Maya, listening from her room, suddenly spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDad had a property there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same region where Maya once met Lucas.<\/p>\n<p>Bell checked.<\/p>\n<p>A NorthStar-owned house stood twelve miles from the bus stop.<\/p>\n<p>Agents moved.<\/p>\n<p>Two hours later they entered.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret was there.<\/p>\n<p>So was Emily.<\/p>\n<p>Neither resisted.<\/p>\n<p>Emily appeared healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Frightened.<\/p>\n<p>Confused by the armed agents.<\/p>\n<p>She had been told her entire life that her medical history had to remain secret because people might take her away.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret asked one question after arrest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs Sophie alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell said yes.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret cried.<\/p>\n<p>Not relief for herself.<\/p>\n<p>For Sophie.<\/p>\n<p>Claire watched remotely.<\/p>\n<p>Then requested to speak with her.<\/p>\n<p>Bell resisted.<\/p>\n<p>Claire insisted.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret appeared on secure video.<\/p>\n<p>Older than in the hospital photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Her face collapsed when she saw Claire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMrs. Morgan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy daughter was dying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat explains fear. Not what you did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou took my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou put someone else&#39;s cells inside her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou took hers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout asking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret began crying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNathan said Samuel&#39;s vector had corrected Sophie&#39;s immune surveillance. He believed those cells could help Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid they?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer immune counts improved within weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Sophie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe gave her Emily&#39;s cells because Nathan was afraid the transfer would destabilize her immune system. He thought reciprocal cells might create tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared.<\/p>\n<p>A desperate experiment layered on top of another desperate experiment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Samuel know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCross?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>That hesitation mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire felt cold.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn Cross had known.<\/p>\n<p>Cross had not merely helped Samuel administer the first vector.<\/p>\n<p>She had approved Nathan and Margaret&#39;s secret cell exchange afterward.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Margaret wiped her face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she wanted to see what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was again.<\/p>\n<p>Curiosity treated as permission.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie asked to speak.<\/p>\n<p>Claire hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>Then allowed it.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret saw Sophie.<\/p>\n<p>Her expression broke completely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, Sophie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you watch me grow up?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo make sure you were okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could&#39;ve told us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody says that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret lowered her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs Emily okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret looked surprised.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie shrugged weakly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still mad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I don&#39;t want her sick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Margaret cried harder.<\/p>\n<p>Sophie looked toward Claire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan I meet her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claire was not prepared for that.<\/p>\n<p>Neither was Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Shah intervened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie sighed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoctors ruin everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the question remained.<\/p>\n<p>Emily Vale was alive because of cells taken illegally from Sophie.<\/p>\n<p>And Sophie might have survived her rescue treatment partly because of cells taken illegally from Emily.<\/p>\n<p>Two infants had been connected without consent.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years later, their bodies still carried traces of each other.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca reviewed the newest genetic data.<\/p>\n<p>Then she went very still.<\/p>\n<p>Claire noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca enlarged one sequence found in Emily\u2019s cells.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn&#39;t from Sophie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen whose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked toward Samuel.<\/p>\n<p>His face changed when he saw it.<\/p>\n<p>Another engineered construct.<\/p>\n<p>Older than Sophie&#39;s vector.<\/p>\n<p>Older than Cascade.<\/p>\n<p>A design signature Samuel recognized immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Claire stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou made it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel whispered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho did?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked toward Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca already knew.<\/p>\n<p>Their mother.<\/p>\n<p>Claire and Rebecca&#39;s mother.<\/p>\n<p>The woman both sisters believed had died of cancer years before Rebecca disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca sank into a chair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samuel looked at Claire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cancer research didn&#39;t begin with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pointed at the sequence inside Emily Vale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt began with your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=30943\">Click here to continue reading: PART 25: The Sequence Inside Emily Connected Claire\u2019s Mother to Samuel\u2019s Earliest Work, but Rebecca Remembered a Locked Room Their Family Never Discussed<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margaret Vale\u2019s house stood in a quiet residential neighborhood Claire had driven through hundreds of times. Four miles. Eleven years of ordinary distance. Claire could have passed Margaret at a &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30941","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\/30941","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=30941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31014,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30941\/revisions\/31014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}