Chapter 6 - Eleanor Finally Told the Truth)
They found Eleanor before noon.
She had not gone far.
She was sitting inside a small Catholic church fifteen miles from the Connecticut property.
Alone.
David found her in the last pew.
She did not turn when he approached.
“You found the rooms.”
David stopped beside her.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew all of it.”
“Yes.”
“Who am I?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“My son.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only answer that matters.”
David sat beside her.
“No more lies.”
Eleanor stared toward the altar.
“Your name was Daniel Mercer.”
David felt the world narrow.
“Mercer.”
“Yes.”
“Was Richard my father?”
Silence.
“Mother.”
“No.”
David’s throat tightened.
“Who was?”
“A man named Jonathan Mercer.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“You told me Richard was dead.”
“I know.”
“So forgive me if I don’t trust death certificates anymore.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Jonathan is dead.”
“How?”
“He tried to expose the program.”
“What program?”
“Children were being studied.”
“For what?”
“Memory.”
David stared.
“Memory?”
“Trauma responses. Suggestibility. Identity formation. How much could be erased, redirected, reconstructed.”
“That sounds insane.”
“It was.”
“And you were involved?”
Eleanor looked ashamed.
“I was a research nurse.”
David pulled away from her.
“You worked there.”
“Yes.”
“You experimented on children.”
“I cared for them.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Tears appeared in Eleanor’s eyes.
“I told myself I was helping.”
“You kidnapped children?”
“No.”
“Then where did we come from?”
“Some were wards of the state. Some had parents connected to military programs. Some…”
She stopped.
“Some what?”
“Some were taken.”
David stood.
“Jesus Christ.”
“Not by me.”
“You stayed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
David stared at the woman who had controlled his life for decades.
For once, she admitted something without defending herself.
“Richard?”
“He was security.”
“My father?”
“No.”
“The man who raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he take us?”
“Because Jonathan discovered the children were being moved.”
“Moved where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I truly don’t.”
She wiped her eyes.
“Jonathan copied evidence. He planned to go public. Someone found out.”
“They killed him?”
“Yes.”
“And Richard helped you escape?”
“With you and Claire.”
“Chloe.”
“Her name was Claire.”
David sat again.
“Were we siblings?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Biologically?”
“Yes.”
For some reason, that mattered.
More than David expected.
“What happened to the others?”
“I don’t know.”
“You left them.”
Eleanor looked down.
“Yes.”
David remembered the names on the wall.
Samuel.
Rebecca.
Michael.
“How many?”
“Seven at the house when we escaped.”
“You took two.”
“We could only take two without being noticed.”
“That is what you told yourself?”
“Yes.”
David’s anger burned.
“And then?”
“We changed your identities.”
“How?”
“Richard had contacts.”
“Mercer Holdings?”
“A shell company Jonathan created.”
“The fake passport?”
“Emergency identification.”
“Why keep it?”
“Richard believed the program might return.”
“Did it?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“It never ended.”
David’s skin went cold.
“What do you mean?”
“People connected to it became powerful.”
“Names.”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Mark?”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened.
“I never trusted him.”
“You encouraged Chloe to marry him.”
“She loved him.”
“You control everyone but suddenly respected romantic independence?”
Eleanor flinched.
David leaned closer.
“You knew something.”
“I suspected Mark was watching us.”
“And you let him into the family?”
“I thought keeping him close would help.”
“You gambled with Chloe.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You starved my recovering wife.”
“That had nothing to do with the program.”
“No.”
David’s voice hardened.
“That was just you.”
Eleanor looked away.
He let the words sit.
Then asked, “What did Maya find?”
Eleanor frowned.
“You said she found something.”
“She found a photograph in your office.”
“What photograph?”
“Richard.”
“With who?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Another boy.”
David’s pulse shifted.
“Which boy?”
“I don’t know.”
“Samuel?”
“No.”
“Michael?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Eleanor whispered:
“Someone who looked exactly like you.”
David stopped breathing.
“Exactly?”
“He could have been your twin.”
“I don’t have a twin.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“That is what Richard told me too.”
David’s phone rang.
Hall.
He answered.
“We found Chloe.”
David stood instantly.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A motel in New Jersey.”
“Mark?”
“Gone.”
David exhaled.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s physically fine.”
“Physically?”
Hall paused.
“She says Mark never kidnapped her.”
David froze.
“What?”
“She says she went willingly.”
“Why?”
“Because Mark showed her something.”
David looked at Eleanor.
“What?”
May you like
Hall’s answer changed everything.
“A video of your father.”
