Chapter 5 - The Witness Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Claire spent fourteen hours in an interrogation room.
Detectives claimed a neighbor had seen her outside Dr. Warren’s house the previous night.
Claire had been at the hospital until evening and then at Jordan’s home, but the detectives dismissed her explanation.
They showed her security footage from a gas station near Dr. Warren’s neighborhood.
The image was grainy.
A woman with Claire’s height and dark hair stood beside a car matching Claire’s vehicle.
The timestamp showed 11:43 p.m.
At 11:43 p.m., Claire had been asleep on Jordan’s couch.
Jordan confirmed it.
His sister confirmed it.
The detectives continued questioning her.
Then they showed Claire a photograph of blood found in the trunk of her car.
Dr. Warren’s blood.
Claire stared at the image.
“My car was in the hospital parking garage.”
“Who had access to it?”
“Anyone who could break in.”
One detective leaned forward.
“Where is Dr. Warren?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did he write your daughter’s name on his wall?”
“He didn’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because the message said she is not the third generation. It didn’t use her name.”
The detectives exchanged a look.
Claire realized her mistake.
They had never mentioned the refrigerator message.
The door opened.
A woman in a navy suit entered and placed a leather case on the table.
“My name is Elena Shaw. I represent Ms. Mercer.”
“I didn’t call a lawyer,” Claire said.
“No,” Elena replied. “Your mother did.”
The room became silent.
Claire stared at her.
“My mother died eighteen years ago.”
Elena turned to the detectives.
“My client is finished answering questions.”
Within an hour, Claire was released.
The evidence against her had suddenly been classified as contaminated. No one explained how.
Outside the station, Elena opened the rear door of a waiting car.
Claire did not move.
“Who hired you?”
“Anna Mercer.”
“When?”
“Eighteen years ago.”
“Why?”
“To protect you when Meridian moved against your family.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Is my mother alive?”
Elena’s expression did not change.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“It is the truth.”
“Then what did she pay you to do?”
Elena handed Claire a sealed envelope.
“Deliver this after Daniel Mercer attempted to frame you for a serious crime.”
Claire opened it.
Inside was a bank card, a handwritten letter, and a small photograph.
The photograph showed Anna standing outside a cabin with a little girl.
The girl was not Claire or Melissa.
On the back, Anna had written:
Rebecca’s daughter survived.
Her name is Rose.
Find her before Meridian does.
Claire read the letter.
My dearest Claire,
If you are reading this, then your father has chosen Meridian over his family again.
You will be told that I created the illness affecting Lily. I did not.
I helped design a treatment for children born with a rare metabolic disorder. Meridian altered that treatment into something else. When I objected, they used you to force my silence.
You were not the first child exposed.
Rebecca Vale was.
Her daughter may possess the natural resistance needed to reverse what Meridian has done.
Do not trust Daniel.
Do not trust Evelyn.
And do not assume Melissa is innocent merely because she is afraid.
Claire stopped reading.
Elena watched her.
“What does that last sentence mean?”
“I was not told.”
“Where is Rose?”
“Hollow Creek was the last known location.”
Claire remembered the address behind the photograph from Dr. Warren’s house.
“Why didn’t you contact me sooner?”
“Because Anna instructed me to wait until Daniel exposed himself.”
“He exposed himself years ago.”
“Not legally.”
Claire folded the letter.
“Can you prove Meridian exists?”
“Not yet.”
“Can you prove they targeted Lily?”
“Not without a living witness.”
“What about Dr. Warren?”
Elena looked toward the police station.
“If he is alive, Daniel will find him before we do.”
Claire thought of the stranger saying her mother had made the same mistake.
“Who controls Meridian?”
Elena opened the car door again.
“Publicly, it is a pediatric research partnership funded through St. Catherine’s Medical Foundation.”
“My father was just appointed to its board.”
“Yes.”
“And privately?”
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“Privately, Meridian is controlled by families who believe their bloodlines are more valuable than other people’s lives.”
Claire got into the car.
When she returned to Jordan’s house, Lily was sitting at the kitchen table drawing.
She had drawn a woman in a green coat standing beneath a black tree.
“Who is that?” Claire asked.
Lily continued coloring.
“The lady from the hospital.”
“What lady?”
“She comes when they put me to sleep.”
Claire crouched beside her.
“What does she do?”
“She takes blood from the tube in my chest.”
“Did you tell Dr. Warren?”
Lily nodded.
“He told her to stop.”
Claire showed Lily the photograph of Anna, Rebecca, and Dr. Warren.
“Is this the woman?”
Lily pointed immediately.
Not to Anna.
Not to Rebecca.
To a blurred figure standing behind the laboratory window.
Claire had not noticed the figure before.
A woman in a green coat.
Jordan enlarged the image on his computer.
The woman’s face slowly became visible.
Claire stopped breathing.
May you like
It was Melissa.
But the photograph had been taken twenty-four years ago, when Melissa was only two years old.
