Chapter 12 - THE DEAD MAN’S VOICE
The clinic’s security system had supposedly been offline for nine years.
That was another lie.
Federal technicians found hidden cameras still transmitting.
Not to Carter Biomedical headquarters.
To a private server in Switzerland.
Whoever controlled the server had watched Emma enter.
Had watched police find Anna.
Had watched Marcus Dale surrender.
The server went dark minutes later.
Morales contacted federal investigators.
The case expanded beyond the local district attorney overnight.
Emma and Anna were moved to a protected residence.
Vivian remained in custody.
Richard entered a formal cooperation agreement.
Peter refused to speak.
Daniel was released under monitoring after evidence supported his account.
The first time Emma and Anna were alone, neither knew what to say.
They sat across from each other at a kitchen table.
Anna had showered.
Emma had changed into a sweatshirt.
Without hospital gowns and chaos, the resemblance was even stranger.
Anna touched the edge of her mug.
“Do you like coffee?”
Emma laughed.
“Too much.”
“Me too.”
“Cats?”
“Love them.”
“Spicy food?”
“Hate it.”
Emma pointed.
“Me too.”
Anna smiled.
Then both smiles faded.
Emma asked, “Did Margaret love you?”
Anna thought for a long time.
“In her way.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was afraid all the time.”
“Of Vivian?”
“Of everyone.”
Anna stared into her coffee.
“She told me my mother died giving birth.”
Emma’s eyes lowered.
“I was told she died in a car accident.”
“Creative family.”
Emma almost laughed.
Anna continued.
“Margaret never hit me.”
“Vivian did.”
Anna looked up.
Emma shrugged.
“Not constantly. Enough.”
“I’m sorry.”
Emma felt something strange hearing it.
Not pity.
Recognition.
“She controlled everything. Clothes. Friends. Grades. College.”
“Why Georgetown?”
“She wanted me near Washington.”
Anna’s expression changed.
“Maybe that wasn’t about school.”
Emma understood.
“Federal agencies.”
“Or lobbyists.”
The door opened.
Caleb entered with Morales.
Morales carried a digital recorder.
“We recovered audio from Anna’s phone cloud backup.”
Anna sat straighter.
“What audio?”
“You activated emergency recording before you entered the garage.”
Anna frowned.
“I forgot.”
Morales placed the device on the table.
“You should hear this.”
The recording began with footsteps.
Anna’s breathing.
Then a male voice.
“You should have stayed ignorant.”
Emma looked at Anna.
Anna whispered, “Vale.”
The voice continued.
“Your mother made the same mistake.”
Anna on the recording said, “Samuel Vale is dead.”
The man laughed.
“Samuel Vale was a name.”
Emma’s skin prickled.
“What does that mean?” Caleb asked.
Morales said nothing.
The recording continued.
Anna: “Who are you?”
Man: “Someone who remembers the night you were born.”
Emma stopped breathing.
Anna’s recorded voice shook.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“I don’t have it.”
“You have half.”
Silence.
Then struggle.
Marcus Dale’s voice shouted.
The recording became chaotic.
A car door slammed.
The file ended.
Emma looked at Anna.
“Where is your locket?”
Anna touched her chest.
“They took it.”
“Then they have half.”
“Yes.”
Morales placed Emma’s locket on the table inside a clear evidence container.
“And we have the other.”
Caleb frowned.
“What does the combined key open?”
Richard provided the answer.
A vault.
Not a bank vault.
A private archive built beneath Carter Biomedical’s original headquarters.
Laura had transferred evidence there before her disappearance.
The archive required two physical components and two biometric profiles.
Emma.
Anna.
Twins.
Neither could open it alone.
Vivian had spent twenty-two years trying to control both halves.
Emma suddenly understood the separation.
“They never wanted us to meet.”
Morales nodded.
“Because together, you could access the archive.”
Anna looked at Emma.
“And if we did?”
Morales’s expression was serious.
“Depending on what Laura stored there, Carter Biomedical could collapse.”
Emma leaned back.
“Good.”
Caleb looked at her.
Emma continued.
“If children died and people covered it up, good.”
Anna nodded.
Morales said, “There’s a complication.”
Emma sighed.
“There’s always a complication.”
“The original headquarters is scheduled for demolition.”
“When?”
Morales paused.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Emma stared.
“That isn’t a coincidence.”
“No.”
“Can you stop it?”
“Federal investigators are trying.”
Anna shook her head.
“They won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever called himself Vale already knows we’re alive.”
Emma looked at her sister.
Anna’s fear had returned.
“What are you thinking?”
Anna whispered, “He doesn’t need to stop us forever.”
May you like
She looked at Emma’s locket.
“He only needs to destroy what our mother left behind.”
