Chapter 10 - the lighthouse)
There were thirty seven registered lighthouses along the relevant stretch of the Great Lakes.
Nathan had no idea which one Anna meant.
Detective Bennett reduced the possibilities using Anna's financial records.
One stood out.
Westmere Lighthouse.
Closed to tourists.
Privately owned.
Purchased five years earlier through a company linked to Brighton Pediatric Research Center.
Nathan wanted to leave immediately.
Bennett refused to let him go alone.
By afternoon, three unmarked police vehicles approached the abandoned property.
The lighthouse stood against a gray sky beside violent water.
Nathan had never been there.
Yet something about it felt familiar.
Maybe Anna had once shown him a photograph.
Maybe grief was inventing memories.
Police entered first.
The lighthouse appeared empty.
Dust covered the stairs.
Furniture remained in a small keeper's cottage attached to the tower.
Nathan entered after officers cleared it.
A child's drawing hung on one wall.
Yellow sun.
Blue house.
Three stick figures holding hands.
Nathan stopped.
He recognized Lily's drawings.
At the bottom, in childish letters, was her name.
LILY.
"She was here."
Bennett photographed it.
Nathan searched the room.
A cabinet contained children's clothing sized for a three year old.
A stuffed rabbit Lily had once owned.
Nathan picked it up.
Anna had told him the toy was lost during a trip.
She had lied.
Why bring Lily here?
An officer called from upstairs.
"We found something."
Nathan followed.
Inside the lighthouse tower was a hidden room.
Computers had been removed, but wires remained.
Shelves held medical files.
Most had been shredded.
One folder survived.
L.C.
Nathan opened it.
Photographs of Lily.
Hospital records.
Blood test summaries.
Pages filled with codes he did not understand.
One phrase appeared repeatedly.
JUNE SUBJECT 14.
Nathan felt nauseated.
"My daughter was a subject."
Bennett took the file.
"We need experts to interpret this."
Nathan found another photograph.
Anna stood beside Dr. Miriam Kessler.
They were arguing.
Behind them was Harrison Vale.
Caleb Rourke stood near the door.
The image had been captured from surveillance footage.
Date.
April seventeenth.
Nathan turned it over.
Someone had handwritten a note.
ANNA REFUSED PHASE TWO.
He read it twice.
"What is phase two?"
Nobody answered.
Then an officer shouted from outside.
"Movement."
Nathan ran toward the window.
A figure crossed behind the keeper's cottage.
Police pursued.
Seconds later there was shouting.
Nathan hurried downstairs.
An older woman had been detained near the shoreline.
Gray white hair.
Thin face.
Nathan recognized her.
Dr. Miriam Kessler.
She stared at him.
"You're Nathan."
He stopped.
"Where is Anna?"
Kessler's expression softened.
"You have her eyes."
Nathan stepped closer.
"Where is my wife?"
"You shouldn't have come."
"Answer me."
Kessler looked toward the officers.
"Harrison watches this place."
"He's in Switzerland."
Kessler laughed quietly.
"You think geography matters to Harrison?"
Nathan grabbed the fence between them.
"What did you do to Lily?"
Kessler's face changed.
"Nothing."
"Her name is on your files."
"We protected her."
"From what?"
Kessler looked directly into his eyes.
"From Harrison."
Nathan stared.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Anna didn't at first either."
"What was Project June?"
Kessler closed her eyes.
"It started as legitimate research. Children with a rare inherited immune marker."
Nathan's stomach tightened.
"Lily has it?"
"Yes."
"What does that mean?"
"It means her biological profile had enormous research value."
"Biological profile?"
Nathan's anger rose.
"She's a child."
"I know."
"Harrison didn't."
Nathan moved closer.
"What did Harrison want?"
"Ownership."
The word was so absurd Nathan almost laughed.
"Ownership of what?"
"Patents. Therapies. Data. Anything derived from the children."
Nathan stared at her.
"You experimented on children for money."
"I helped create the program."
Kessler's voice broke.
"Then I tried to stop it."
"Anna found out."
"Yes."
"How?"
"She was auditing foundation payments."
Nathan finally understood.
Anna's financial investigation led her to Brighton.
To Project June.
To Lily.
"But why Lily specifically?"
Kessler hesitated.
Nathan saw it.
"Tell me."
"Because Anna discovered your daughter had been enrolled before she was born."
Nathan's face went blank.
"That's impossible."
Kessler said nothing.
"Anna didn't know."
"No."
"I didn't know."
"No."
"Then who enrolled her?"
Kessler looked away.
Nathan stepped forward.
"Who?"
Before she could answer, a gunshot cracked across the shoreline.
Police pulled Nathan down.
Another shot struck the lighthouse wall.
Kessler screamed.
Officers returned fire toward a distant tree line.
Nathan looked up.
Kessler had fallen.
Blood spread across her coat.
He crawled toward her.
"Who enrolled Lily?"
Kessler struggled to breathe.
"Ask Anna."
"Where is she?"
Kessler grabbed his wrist.
"She came back."
"When?"
"Last week."
Nathan's heart stopped.
"Where?"
Kessler whispered something.
Nathan leaned closer.
"What?"
May you like
"The wedding."
Then her hand went limp.
