Chapter 12 - the sister no one mentioned
Eleanor had been adopted.
She had always known.
Her adoptive parents, Margaret and Thomas Hayes, never hid it.
They told her she was born in Vermont.
They told her her biological mother was young and unable to care for a child.
They told her no sibling records existed.
Eleanor never searched.
She had a good childhood.
She did not feel abandoned.
Until now.
Daniel looked at her.
"Could you have a sister?"
"Not that I know of."
"A twin?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
But the word had no confidence behind it.
Samuel accessed Eleanor’s old adoption paperwork.
Most records were sealed.
The agency, Northwood Family Services, had closed twenty-eight years earlier after financial fraud allegations.
Its founder had died.
Several original records were missing.
Eleanor’s birth certificate listed one child.
Female.
No twin.
But Mara sent them a photograph.
It showed Richard Whitmore at a medical conference nearly thirty years ago.
Beside him stood a young Dr. Celia Voss.
And two pregnant women.
One woman was Vivian Whitmore.
The other was Eleanor’s biological mother.
Her name was Catherine Bell.
Eleanor stared at the photograph.
"This is impossible."
Daniel pointed to the date.
Eight months before Eleanor was born.
Samuel searched Catherine Bell.
She had died when Eleanor was five.
Car accident.
No surviving family listed.
Then Samuel found a newspaper archive.
An article about the accident mentioned two daughters.
Eleanor.
And Elise.
Eleanor’s heart stopped.
"I had a sister."
Daniel leaned closer.
"Not just a sister."
Samuel found school registration records from a Vermont kindergarten.
Two girls.
Eleanor Bell.
Elise Bell.
Same date of birth.
Twins.
Eleanor stood.
"I don’t remember her."
Daniel looked concerned.
"You were five when your mother died."
"I would remember a twin."
Samuel continued digging.
After Catherine’s death, Eleanor entered foster care in Massachusetts.
Elise disappeared from the public record.
No adoption.
No death certificate.
No school registration.
Nothing.
It was as if she had ceased to exist.
Mara called.
This time Eleanor demanded everything.
Mara explained what she had discovered while protecting Owen.
Celia Voss had been studying twins for decades.
Especially twins separated during childhood.
Different environments.
Same genetics.
Perfect research subjects.
Eleanor’s family had been part of an early version of the program.
Eleanor and Elise were R-04.
Daniel had been R-11.
Their children became R-17.
The entire marriage might have attracted attention long before Eleanor became pregnant.
"Are you saying Daniel and I were matched?"
"No," Mara said. "I can’t prove that."
"But someone knew what our children might inherit."
"Yes."
Eleanor felt sick.
"Where is Elise?"
"I don’t know."
"You saw her at the hospital."
"I saw someone who looked exactly like you."
"Did she see you?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"She tried to kill me."
Daniel took the phone.
"Where are you now?"
Mara ignored him.
"Eleanor, listen to me. If Elise is alive, she has spent decades inside the network."
"Why would she take Owen?"
"Maybe she was ordered to."
"Or maybe she believed she was protecting him."
Mara went silent.
Eleanor noticed.
"What aren’t you telling me?"
Mara’s voice dropped.
"When I took Owen from the transfer corridor, Elise could have stopped me."
"But she attacked you."
"Yes."
"Then what?"
"She let me escape."
Eleanor stared at the wall.
"Why?"
"She whispered something."
"What?"
May you like
Mara began crying.
"She said, ‘Take my nephew somewhere they can’t turn him into us.’"
