Chapter 14 - THE SECOND DAUGHTER
Evelyn had given birth to twins.
Daniel’s letter mentioned only Emma.
Thomas claimed only Emma.
Hale said he had been present after the birth, but he also claimed there was one child.
Everyone had hidden the second baby.
The hospital records from 1991 were sealed or destroyed. Evelyn’s notebook contained only one direct reference.
Margaret knows the second child survived.
Emma returned to Lantern’s preserved criminal archive with Maya and a court-appointed technical team. Most private records had been purged, but Evelyn’s own founder logs remained.
One file was labeled SUCCESSION.
The log showed two biological access profiles.
E.C.-A.
E.C.-B.
Emma’s blood matched profile A.
Profile B had been activated within the previous year.
“Your sister is alive,” Maya said.
“And she has accessed Lantern.”
“Or someone used her biological material.”
The access originated from Vale Meridian Tower.
Emma thought of every woman who worked near Richard, Margaret, and Hale.
Her sister could have been an executive, an assistant, a donor, a patient, or someone raised under a completely different identity.
Noah searched personnel medical screenings. Vale Meridian required senior employees to submit biometric data for security access. Most records were encrypted.
One profile showed unusual restrictions.
Claire Ward, director of strategic philanthropy.
Claire had joined Vale Meridian five years earlier. She worked closely with Margaret and administered the hospital grants.
Emma remembered her as quiet, polished, and almost invisible during meetings.
Claire had disappeared the same night Margaret fled.
Her employee photograph revealed dark hair and gray-green eyes.
Evelyn’s eyes.
Maya traced Claire’s background.
Birth records listed her mother as Elizabeth Ward, one of Margaret’s known aliases.
No father was named.
“Margaret raised her,” Emma said.
“Possibly.”
“As her daughter?”
“Or as an asset.”
Claire had authorized several Northstar payments, including the annual transfers to Evelyn’s institute. She had also accessed the Lantern succession file eight months earlier.
Emma remembered the contract.
Upon the birth of a lawful Vale-Mercer heir, all rights of access shall pass to the Vale family.
Claire was Evelyn’s daughter.
If she were also legally adopted by Margaret, the Vales might claim an inheritance route without Emma.
“Richard said he wasn’t the heir,” Emma said.
Maya looked at her.
“Maybe Claire is.”
A message arrived through Emma’s private encrypted account.
It contained no sender information.
A video loaded.
Claire Ward sat in a dim room beside Evelyn.
Margaret stood behind them.
Claire spoke first.
“Emma, by now you know who I am.”
Emma watched without breathing.
“I didn’t know about you until last year. Margaret told me my mother died when I was born. When I found Evelyn, she told me the truth.”
Evelyn turned weakly toward the camera.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Emma.”
It was the first time Emma had heard her mother speak her name.
Claire continued.
“Margaret says you destroyed the private archive. That was a mistake. Those records contained the names of every child used in Lantern’s experiments.”
Emma looked at Maya.
The purge had protected innocent people’s private data, but it may also have erased the map needed to find victims.
Claire seemed to anticipate the realization.
“You believed you were protecting them. Instead, you made them impossible to locate.”
Margaret stepped into view.
“You always were impulsive,” she said. “Just like Daniel.”
Emma’s anger rose.
Claire held up a silver storage device.
“I recovered part of the private archive before the purge. I have the names Richard tried to erase.”
“Where are you?” Emma whispered, though the recording could not answer.
Claire looked directly into the camera.
“I will exchange the records for Thomas.”
Maya immediately shook her head.
Thomas was in federal custody. Releasing him was impossible.
The recording continued.
“You have seventy-two hours. After that, Margaret will begin contacting the people in the files.”
Emma understood the threat.
The victims would be exposed, blackmailed, or killed.
Evelyn suddenly reached toward Claire’s hand.
“No,” she whispered.
Margaret gripped the wheelchair.
Claire glanced at her mother.
For one instant, fear crossed her face.
Then the recording ended.
A location code appeared.
Maya’s analysts traced it to an offshore server.
“No usable source,” she said.
Emma replayed the video.
Something had bothered her.
Claire said Margaret would contact the people in the files.
Not we.
Claire might not be working willingly.
Emma watched Evelyn’s hand.
Her fingers tapped Claire’s wrist three times, paused, then twice, then once.
A pattern.
Three-two-one.
Emma examined Evelyn’s notebook.
The same pattern appeared throughout the pages.
Beside one sequence was a word.
HARBOR.
Maya searched ports, marinas, companies, and properties linked to Margaret.
One result appeared.
Harbor 321 was the name of a decommissioned medical ship anchored off the Maine coast.
May you like
It had once been funded by the Vale Foundation.
The ship was scheduled to leave United States waters in forty-eight hours.
