Chapter 5 - The Woman in Maine

The drive to Maine began before sunrise.

Marcus drove.

Charles sat in front beside him.

Evelyn, Noah, and Eli occupied the back of the large SUV, though the boys chose opposite sides at first.

For the first hour, no one spoke.

Then Noah said, “Do you like basketball?”

Eli looked out the window.

“Sometimes.”

“What team?”

“Knicks.”

Noah frowned.

“Same.”

“That’s not surprising. We live in New York.”

“I like the Mets.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Noah stared at him.

Then laughed.

Eli tried not to.

Failed.

It was the first sound from him that felt twelve years old.

Evelyn turned toward the window so they would not see her smile.

Later, they compared schools.

Noah attended Harrington Academy.

Eli had not attended regularly in almost a year.

“Rose taught me when we moved shelters,” he said.

“What grade are you in?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I know the work. I don’t know the paperwork.”

Noah was silent.

Then he said, “You’re probably smarter than me.”

Eli looked suspicious.

“Why?”

“You read legal documents faster.”

“That’s because people who have less money have to understand more paperwork.”

Charles looked back at him.

“That is unfortunately true.”

Eli ignored him.

At a rest stop in Massachusetts, Evelyn bought Eli shoes.

He refused three pairs before choosing plain black sneakers.

“You don’t have to buy expensive ones,” he said.

“They’re not expensive.”

He checked the tag.

“They cost more than Rose’s weekly grocery budget.”

Evelyn put them back.

They found a cheaper pair at a nearby store.

Eli looked surprised.

“You’re not going to argue?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because you told me what matters to you.”

He studied her.

“Rich people usually pretend price doesn’t matter.”

“It matters if it matters to you.”

He nodded once.

Trust, Evelyn realized, would be built from things that small.

They reached Rockport near evening.

Helen Ward’s house stood on a wooded road overlooking the ocean.

No gate.

No security.

Marcus parked two houses away.

“Stay in the car.”

Eli opened his door.

“No.”

Marcus sighed.

“I knew you were going to say that.”

Evelyn said, “We go together.”

Charles stayed behind with Noah for the first approach.

Evelyn, Eli, and Marcus walked to the house.

Eli knocked.

Nothing.

Then footsteps.

The door opened.

A woman in her early fifties stared at them.

She had dark hair streaked with gray and a thin scar across one eyebrow.

Evelyn had seen her in the old laboratory video.

“Lena Pike?”

The woman went white.

“Who are you?”

“You know who I am.”

Lena’s eyes moved to Eli.

The cup in her hand fell.

It shattered.

“Oh.”

Eli did not blink.

“Rose is dead.”

Lena covered her mouth.

“When?”

“Last month.”

“I didn’t know.”

“You stole her trunk.”

Lena looked toward the road.

“Come inside.”

Marcus checked the rooms first.

Then signaled.

The house contained books, medical journals, and packed boxes.

On the dining table sat the blue trunk.

Eli stared at it.

“You took it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Rose contacted me two weeks before she died.”

Eli stopped.

“She told you she was sick?”

“She told me someone was watching her.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

Lena opened the trunk.

Inside were files.

Photographs.

Medical records.

A sealed envelope.

Eli’s eyes filled with fury.

“You let me think it was stolen.”

“I didn’t know you were there.”

“You knew someone would come.”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you find me?”

Lena’s face twisted.

“Because I was afraid.”

Eli laughed sharply.

“That’s everybody’s answer.”

Evelyn stepped in.

“Then give us a different one.”

Lena looked at her.

“I tried to expose Jonathan twelve years ago.”

“You used my pregnancy to do it.”

“Yes.”

“You transferred Adrian Vale’s embryo into me without consent.”

Lena did not deny it.

Evelyn crossed the room and slapped her.

The sound cracked through the house.

Marcus did not move.

Lena touched her cheek.

“I deserved that.”

“You deserved prison.”

“Yes.”

“My body was not your evidence.”

“I know.”

“My son was not your weapon.”

“I know.”

“You knew twelve years ago.”

Lena’s voice broke.

“I thought if Jonathan had a child carrying Adrian’s genome, he could not erase the research.”

“He erased the child.”

“Yes.”

Lena sat down.

“I made the worst calculation of my life.”

Eli stared at her.

“Was Adrian my father?”

“Yes.”

“What was he like?”

Lena looked at the boy for a long time.

“Brilliant. Arrogant. Kind when no one was looking. Terrible with money. He sang badly.”

Eli swallowed.

“Did he know me?”

“He saw you once.”

“When?”

“Two weeks after you were born.”

Eli’s face changed.

Lena opened the trunk and removed a photograph.

Adrian Vale held an infant wrapped in a green blanket.

He was crying.

So was the baby.

Eli took the photograph.

“He held me.”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

Lena’s eyes filled.

“He said, ‘I didn’t choose how you came into this world, but I choose you now.’”

Eli lowered his head.

Noah and Charles entered quietly.

Noah saw the photograph.

“Is that him?”

Eli nodded.

Noah stood beside him without speaking.

Evelyn asked, “Why was Adrian killed?”

Lena’s expression hardened.

“Because he found the client list.”

“Who were the clients?”

“People who believed wealth should buy biological advantage.”

Charles muttered, “Donors.”

“Politicians. CEOs. Foreign royals. Hedge-fund families. A senator.”

“Judge Pike?”

“My father invested.”

Charles looked away.

Lena continued.

“Jonathan promised genetic screening. But his research team went further. They were testing embryo selection based on predicted cognition, temperament, even behavioral markers.”

Miriam, who had joined them by speakerphone, interrupted.

“Those predictions would have been scientifically weak.”

“They were,” Lena said. “Jonathan sold certainty where none existed.”

Evelyn asked, “And the children?”

“Nine unauthorized transfers that we know of. Some women thought they were receiving their own embryos.”

Noah whispered, “Like Mom.”

“Yes.”

“What happened to them?”

“Most never knew.”

Eli looked at the trunk.

“Does this prove it?”

“Yes.”

Charles exhaled.

“Then we go federal.”

Lena shook her head.

“Not yet.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“Because one person on the client list is now the Deputy Attorney General.”

Silence.

Marcus swore.

Charles said, “Which one?”

Lena looked at him.

“Richard Sloan.”

Charles’s face changed.

“He oversaw Jonathan’s plane crash investigation.”

Evelyn froze.

“What are you saying?”

Lena stood.

“I’m saying Jonathan may not have died by accident.”

Noah stared.

“You mean someone killed Dad?”

Lena looked at him.

“I think Jonathan was preparing to cooperate.”

Charles shook his head.

“No. He never told me.”

“He didn’t trust you anymore.”

That struck.

Charles looked down.

Lena removed a second envelope from the trunk.

“Three days before his death, Jonathan mailed this to me.”

Evelyn opened it.

Inside was a handwritten note.

If anything happens to me, the Mercer B archive must survive. Evelyn cannot know until the boys are old enough to understand what I did.

Noah stared.

“He knew he might die.”

Evelyn read the next line.

I was wrong about Gabriel.

Eli’s breath stopped.

She continued silently.

I was wrong about all of it.

At the bottom was another sentence.

But Sloan will kill to protect the children he purchased.

Evelyn looked at Lena.

“Purchased?”

Lena nodded.

“Some clients didn’t just pay for procedures.”

She opened a file.

“They paid for custody.”

Eli went still.

Lena’s next words were quiet.

“Babies who were judged undesirable to one family were reassigned to another.”

Noah whispered, “Sold.”

Lena did not correct him.

Evelyn’s anger turned cold.

“Where are those children now?”

“I don’t know all of them.”

“Then we find them.”

Charles said, “First we protect the boys.”

Lena looked at Eli.

“There’s something else.”

He braced himself.

“Of course there is.”

“Rose was not the only person monitoring you.”

“Who?”

Lena opened a surveillance file.

Photographs of Eli at six.

Eight.

Ten.

Eleven.

Different cities.

Different shelters.

Same photographer mark.

CROWN SECURITY.

Marcus stared.

“That company works federal contracts.”

Lena nodded.

“Owned by Sloan’s brother.”

Evelyn’s phone rang.

Unknown number.

Marcus said, “Don’t answer.”

She did.

A man’s voice spoke.

“Mrs. Mercer.”

“Who is this?”

“You have something that belongs to us.”

Evelyn looked at the boys.

“No.”

The voice remained calm.

“The boy is not your son.”

She stared at Eli.

Then at Noah.

“Yes,” she said.

“He is.”

A pause.

“You will regret making this personal.”

Evelyn’s voice dropped.

“You made it personal twelve years ago.”

She ended the call.

Marcus locked the doors.

Charles looked at Lena.

“They know we’re here.”

Lena nodded.

“Then we’re out of time.”

Noah picked up the blue trunk.

“Good.”

Everyone looked at him.

He swallowed.

“Because I’m tired of adults hiding things.”

Eli took the other handle.

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Together, the boys lifted it.

And carried the evidence out.