Chapter 8 - the children remembered together)
Eli moved into the Mercer estate temporarily with Rebecca.
Daniel wanted the boy protected.
More importantly, Lila wanted him near.
Their memories seemed connected.
Each remembered pieces the other had forgotten.
Dr. Cole called it shared trauma retrieval.
Daniel called it the first real chance they had.
One afternoon, Eli and Lila sat at the kitchen table drawing.
Daniel watched from the doorway.
Eli drew a house.
Lila added trees.
Eli drew a black car.
Lila suddenly stopped.
"Not black."
Eli looked at her.
"It was."
"No."
"What color?"
"Blue."
Eli frowned.
Daniel stepped closer.
"What car?"
Neither child answered immediately.
Then Eli whispered.
"The car at the second house."
"What second house?"
"The one near the fire."
Daniel sat.
"Was it Victor's?"
Eli shook his head.
Lila drew a symbol on the car door.
A circle with three lines through it.
Daniel photographed it.
Marcus recognized the symbol.
"Mercer Medical Logistics."
Daniel stared.
The company had belonged to his father.
It was sold twelve years earlier.
Except it apparently still operated vehicles privately.
Alvarez traced the symbol to a shell corporation.
Hollow Creek Holdings.
Again.
Every path returned there.
Daniel asked Lila if she remembered who drove.
She whispered.
"Mommy."
Daniel froze.
"Mara drove the blue car?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Lila looked frustrated.
"The other Mommy."
Evelyn.
The twins.
Eli added something.
"The lady was angry."
"At Victor?"
"At everyone."
"Did they fight?"
"Yes."
"What about?"
Eli struggled.
"She said he lied."
Lila suddenly whispered.
"Wrong girl."
Daniel remembered Victor's text.
You are asking the wrong girl.
"Who said wrong girl?"
Lila pointed at the drawing of Evelyn.
"What exactly did she say?"
Lila closed her eyes.
"She said, 'You took the wrong girl.'"
Daniel's pulse raced.
"What girl?"
Lila touched her own chest.
Daniel leaned back.
Eli remembered more.
"Mr. Victor said it didn't matter."
"Why?"
"He said both girls had the same blood."
Daniel felt sick.
Both girls.
Could refer to twins.
Could refer to Lila and another child.
Alvarez ordered a deeper review of Project Juniper.
The clinic records were incomplete, but one document showed two female embryos created under Mara's patient number.
Daniel did not understand.
"We only had one child."
The doctor reviewing the file shook his head.
"According to this, two embryos were transferred."
"Twins?"
"Potentially."
Daniel remembered Mara's early ultrasound.
One heartbeat.
Only one.
"Could one embryo fail?"
"Yes."
But another document indicated two live births at the clinic on Lila's birth date under restricted records.
Daniel stared at it.
"Are you telling me Mara gave birth to twins?"
"We don't know."
"Wouldn't I remember two babies?"
"Obviously."
"Then explain it."
The doctor could not.
Alvarez searched birth certificates.
Only Lila's existed.
But an anonymous medical transport record documented an infant female removed from the clinic twelve hours after Lila's birth.
Destination hidden.
Project Juniper.
Claire sat silently.
Daniel felt physically ill.
Could Mara have known?
Had she hidden another daughter from him?
It seemed impossible.
Then he remembered Mara's fear.
The secret passport.
The surveillance photographs.
The message.
Keep them together.
Daniel had assumed it meant Lila and Eli.
What if it did not?
He retrieved the original photograph.
Mara.
Rebecca.
Lila.
Eli.
He examined the background.
A window reflected part of the room.
Another small figure stood behind the camera.
A child.
Daniel enlarged the image.
Only half the face was visible.
A little girl.
Same age as Lila.
Same dark eyes.
Daniel called Rebecca.
"Who took this photograph?"
Rebecca stared at the enlarged reflection.
Her face turned white.
"I thought you knew."
Daniel's voice dropped.
"Knew what?"
Rebecca covered her mouth.
"Daniel, Mara made me promise."
"Promise what?"
"That I wouldn't tell you until she was ready."
"Tell me what?"
May you like
Rebecca began crying.
"There was another girl."
