Chapter 9 - THE FIRST DANIEL
Claire watched the chapel recording twice.
The second time, she noticed details hidden by the shock.
Daniel’s left hand was bruised.
His collar was torn.
A man stood behind Evelyn wearing a white medical coat and a serpent ring.
When Claire’s younger self began struggling, Daniel looked toward the man, not Evelyn.
He appeared terrified.
Dr. Patel paused the footage.
“Does this change how you interpret his role?”
“He still held me down.”
“Yes.”
“He still married me again years later without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Claire touched the screen near Daniel’s face.
“But someone may have controlled him too.”
The police transferred Daniel to a secure medical unit for testing.
His blood contained traces of the same compound found in Claire, although at a lower level.
He also showed abnormalities in long-term memory retrieval.
Detective Ortiz returned from St. Orison the next afternoon.
She carried a sealed box.
“We found this in the nursery.”
Inside was a stack of letters addressed to Claire.
All were written by Amelia.
The first letter was dated one month after the supposed car accident.
Lily,
I am alive. Your father knows. He has agreed to tell you I died because Evelyn threatened to take you. I do not know whether Daniel survived the procedure. I am trying to reach him.
The second letter was dated two years later.
Lily,
There are others who resemble you. Do not trust photographs unless you know when they were taken. Bellwether created records to hide which child carries the successful alteration.
Claire looked up.
“Others who resemble me.”
Ortiz nodded.
“We recovered photographs of several girls.”
“Are they alive?”
“We don’t know.”
The third letter contained only one paragraph.
Daniel is not the first Daniel. Names are recycled when memories are removed.
Claire’s fingers tightened around the paper.
“What does that mean?”
Ortiz opened another evidence envelope.
“Daniel’s birth records are inconsistent.”
“How?”
“His hospital certificate was filed six years after his listed birth. His childhood medical files use three different identification numbers.”
“Is Daniel Hale his real name?”
“We don’t know.”
Claire remembered the donor.
The pure Hale line.
“Could there be another Daniel?”
Ortiz did not answer directly.
“At St. Orison, one patient repeatedly asked for someone named D-4.”
Dr. Patel looked at the fetal designation.
“F-05.”
Claire turned toward her.
“They label everyone.”
Dr. Patel nodded.
“Possibly by generation or experiment.”
A knock sounded.
An officer entered with news from the medical unit.
Daniel had regained a suppressed memory during neurological testing.
He was asking for Claire.
This time, she agreed to meet him in person.
They sat on opposite sides of a reinforced glass partition.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“What do you remember?” Claire asked.
He stared at her for a long time.
“The lake.”
“What lake?”
“Bellwether had a property near Lake Ardon. We were children.”
“We?”
“You and me.”
Claire shook her head.
“We didn’t know each other as children.”
“We did.”
“How old?”
“I was ten. You were eight.”
“Why were we there?”
“Testing.”
“Who else?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“A boy who looked like me.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Your brother?”
“They called him David.”
“Is David F-05’s father?”
Daniel’s eyes opened.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened to him?”
“He escaped with your mother.”
“When?”
“The night Bellwether burned.”
“My mother supposedly died in a car accident the same night.”
Daniel nodded.
“She took David and tried to take you.”
“Why didn’t she?”
“Your father stopped her.”
Claire felt anger rise.
“My father told me she was dead.”
“Your father worked for Evelyn.”
“He funded Bellwether.”
“He did more than fund it.”
Daniel looked toward the guard.
Then he spoke quickly.
“Your father designed the family placement program. He put altered children into selected homes and monitored them.”
“What children?”
“You. Me. David. Others.”
“Why would Amelia marry him?”
“She didn’t know until after you were born.”
Claire struggled to breathe steadily.
“Who was the man in the chapel?”
Daniel’s face lost color.
“Dr. Gideon Vale.”
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel looked directly at her stomach.
“He is the biological father of your baby.”
Before Claire could respond, the fire alarm sounded.
Sprinklers activated in the corridor.
The lights went out.
When emergency power returned, Daniel’s chair was empty.
A circle had been cut through the reinforced glass from the other side.
May you like
On the wall behind him, someone had written:
D-4 HAS BEEN RECALLED.
