Chapter 16 - The Man at the Door
The front-door handle stopped moving.
Detective Reed raised one hand, signaling Mia and Nora to remain behind him. Two officers moved silently along the wall while a third checked the security feed.
The porch appeared empty except for one man standing directly beneath the camera.
He was tall, gray-haired, and dressed in a dark coat. He made no attempt to hide his face.
“Mia,” he called again. “Kyle has already wasted enough time.”
Reed spoke through the closed door.
“Step away from the entrance.”
The man obeyed.
“Place your hands where we can see them.”
He lifted both hands.
Mia stared at the monitor. The shape of his eyes matched hers so closely that she could not dismiss it as imagination.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Jonathan Morrow.”
The second signature.
Jonathan M.
Nora stepped closer to the screen.
“Where is Thomas Hayes?”
Jonathan looked directly into the camera.
“Trying to correct the mistake your mother made twenty-six years ago.”
Nora’s face hardened.
“My mother died when I was six.”
“No,” Jonathan said. “The woman who raised you disappeared when you were six. That is not the same thing.”
Reed opened the door only after four officers surrounded the porch. Jonathan was searched before being brought inside.
He carried no weapon.
Only a sealed folder, an old photograph, and a small medical container.
Jonathan placed the photograph on Mia’s table.
It showed Evelyn standing beside Thomas Hayes at a private airfield. Evelyn appeared several months pregnant. Thomas looked younger, but there was no doubt it was him.
A woman stood beside Thomas.
Nora recognized her immediately.
“My mother.”
Jonathan nodded.
Rachel Hayes.
Jonathan himself stood beside Evelyn, one hand resting protectively near her shoulder.
“You knew all of them,” Mia said.
“I helped create Northbridge.”
Reed moved the medical container away from him.
“What’s inside?”
“A DNA sample.”
“You expect us to believe you walked here carrying proof that you’re Mia’s father?”
“I expect nothing,” Jonathan said. “Test it.”
Mia pointed at the frozen image on the hidden phone.
“Who was the woman with Kyle?”
Jonathan studied the screen.
For the first time, his confidence weakened.
“Her name is Eva Vale.”
“Why does she look like my mother?”
“Because that was what Rachel trained her to become.”
Mia felt the room grow smaller.
Jonathan looked from the silver bracelet on the table to Mia.
“Eva is not another version of Evelyn.”
May you like
He paused.
“She is your sister.”
