Chapter 10 - The Doctor Behind the Rabbit Pin)
Daniel stared at the screen.
Hale smiled into the camera.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Claire signaled to her team.
Trace transmission.
Locate source.
Hale continued.
“I’m disappointed you reached Margaret first.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You said you didn’t drug Noah.”
“I didn’t.”
“Hale did?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn helped him.”
Margaret’s answer was complicated.
“Sometimes.”
Daniel faced the monitor.
“Where are you?”
Hale laughed.
“You’ll come eventually.”
“What do you want?”
“The original archive.”
“I don’t have it.”
“But Margaret does.”
Daniel looked at her.
She said nothing.
Hale pressed the syringe closer to Evelyn’s neck.
Evelyn flinched.
“For years Margaret promised access. Then Henry convinced her to hide the records.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
Hale continued.
“You know what the great tragedy of Bellhaven was, Daniel?”
Daniel did not answer.
“They almost discovered something extraordinary.”
“By torturing children?”
“By understanding attachment.”
“You drugged my son.”
“For observation.”
Daniel’s hands shook with rage.
Hale smiled.
“Noah is remarkable.”
“Say his name again and I will find you.”
“You already are.”
The screen went dark.
Claire turned to Margaret.
“Location.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then start being useful.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“You believe I am the monster.”
“I believe you put children into experiments.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s mother.
Evelyn.
Daniel.
Countless others.
Margaret did not look away.
“I did terrible things.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Daniel was surprised.
She continued.
“But you should verify it.”
Claire asked, “What happened before Noah was born?”
Margaret looked toward Daniel.
“Melissa.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
His first wife.
Noah’s mother.
“What about her?”
“She was treated by Hale during pregnancy.”
“No.”
“Check her records.”
“She lived in California.”
“Hale consulted through a private clinic.”
Daniel remembered Melissa complaining about insomnia.
Anxiety.
She had taken supplements prescribed by a specialist.
“What did he give her?”
“A compound derived from Bellhaven’s later pharmacological work.”
Daniel looked sick.
“Why?”
“Hale wanted to know whether neurological susceptibility could be influenced prenatally.”
Claire said, “That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You knew.”
“I found out when Noah was six months old.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
“I told Henry.”
“Why not me?”
“Because Hale had already placed Evelyn near you.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“So everyone protected me by lying.”
Margaret’s eyes showed pain.
“It is a family tradition.”
Daniel hated that the words sounded like something Henry might have said.
Claire’s team reported the transmission bounced through three servers.
No location yet.
Daniel stepped closer to Margaret.
“Why did Evelyn drag Noah?”
Margaret closed her eyes briefly.
“She was looking for the key.”
“I know.”
“She believed Hale had Anna.”
Daniel frowned.
“Anna was in the house.”
“Not Anna.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Anna’s younger brother.”
Anna had never mentioned a brother.
“What?”
“Thomas Bell.”
“Who is he?”
“One of Hale’s researchers.”
Daniel stared.
“Anna’s brother works for Hale?”
“He disappeared from Anna’s family when she was twelve.”
“Why?”
“Catherine sent him away.”
Daniel’s head spun.
“Does Anna know?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“Possibly with Hale.”
Claire said, “Why would Evelyn believe Hale had him?”
“Because Hale told her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That still doesn’t explain hurting Noah.”
“No.”
Margaret looked toward the screen.
“Evelyn was conditioned at Bellhaven to respond to abandonment threats. Hale uses them.”
“Again, not an excuse.”
“I know.”
Daniel watched her carefully.
“You’re defending her.”
“I’m explaining her.”
“Why?”
“Because I created part of what she became.”
Silence.
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“She was eight. Her parents gave her to Bellhaven for money.”
Daniel looked away.
“I told her fear was love. Obedience was safety. Punishment was protection.”
Her face cracked for the first time.
“I put those ideas into a child.”
Daniel saw the regret.
He did not forgive her.
But he saw it.
“She grew up,” Margaret continued, “and learned how wrong I was. Then Hale found her again.”
“What did he want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because Henry destroyed most of the continuation research.”
“And I had access to his estate.”
“Yes.”
“The marriage.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“Did Evelyn ever love me?”
Margaret was silent too long.
“Answer.”
“I believe she did.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You believe.”
“She was supposed to observe you. She wasn’t supposed to marry you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That sounds like a very meaningful distinction.”
“It became one to her.”
“When?”
“After Noah.”
Daniel froze.
Margaret continued.
“She began refusing Hale’s instructions. She hid information. She sabotaged sessions.”
Daniel remembered Evelyn’s panic around the key.
“What happened today?”
Margaret’s expression darkened.
“Hale told her he had located the archive. He needed the key.”
“And she tortured a toddler to find it.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
“Then she is still responsible.”
“Yes.”
Margaret did not soften it.
Daniel appreciated that more than he wanted to.
Claire’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked at Daniel.
“We have a possible location.”
“Where?”
“Stanton Hotel.”
Room 707.
The hotel key card from Evelyn’s handbag.
Daniel stood.
Claire stopped him.
“You stay.”
“No.”
“You are emotionally compromised.”
“That is my wife on the screen.”
“The wife who abused your son.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Daniel looked at the dark monitor.
“And I need to know why.”
Margaret spoke.
“Hale wants you there.”
Daniel turned.
“Good.”
“That isn’t bravery.”
“No.”
He picked up the gold key.
“It’s bait.”
Margaret’s eyes dropped to it.
“Then don’t bring that.”
Daniel studied her.
“You’re afraid of this key.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Margaret looked toward Claire.
Then back at Daniel.
“The gold key does not open the archive.”
“Then what does it open?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
“Your father’s confession.”
Daniel paused.
“What confession?”
May you like
Margaret whispered:
“The one that proves Henry did not die the way you think he did.”
