Chapter 13 - Nora Bell
Nora stared at the photograph for a long time.
Then she sat down.
Daniel placed it in front of her.
“Tell me.”
She looked older suddenly.
More tired.
“I wanted to.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Tell me now.”
Nora looked at Lily, who was upstairs with Claire.
“Not in front of her.”
Daniel agreed.
They moved to the library.
Nora folded her hands.
“My name is not Nora Bell.”
Daniel stared.
“My name is Eleanor Blackwood.”
Michael stopped breathing.
“Blackwood?”
Nora nodded.
“My father founded Blackwood Therapeutics with Charles Mercer and Samuel Hart.”
Daniel felt the floor vanish again.
“Your father?”
“Jonathan Blackwood.”
The company’s namesake.
Nora continued.
“I was sixteen when the company collapsed publicly.”
“What happened?”
“My father wanted out.”
“Why?”
“He discovered Samuel had expanded the research.”
“Without consent.”
“Yes.”
“What did Charles do?”
“He tried to protect the company.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Of course.”
“But later he tried to shut it down.”
“Too late.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to your father?”
“He disappeared.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared at her.
“And you changed your identity.”
“My mother did.”
“Why become a housekeeper in my home?”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“Rebecca found me.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“At a hospice center.”
“Why?”
“She had already uncovered Blackwood.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“How long ago?”
“Nine years.”
Before Lily was born.
Before Rebecca’s death.
“She asked me to work here.”
“Why?”
“To watch Charles.”
Daniel whispered, “Rebecca was investigating my father for nine years?”
“Yes.”
“And she never told me.”
“She loved you.”
“That apparently made everyone lie to me.”
Nora looked hurt.
“She believed telling you would put you in danger.”
Daniel was tired of that explanation.
“What did she learn about you?”
“That my father preserved copies of the original research.”
“And did he?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did she circle you?”
Nora looked at the photograph.
“She didn’t.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“The handwriting is hers.”
“Yes.”
“But the circle isn’t.”
Daniel looked closer.
“How can you know?”
“Rebecca never used red ink.”
It sounded absurdly simple.
Then Daniel remembered her notebooks.
Black.
Blue.
Never red.
Nora continued.
“She hated red pens.”
Thomas nodded.
“She did.”
Daniel’s anger turned into something colder.
“So somebody planted the photograph.”
“To make you distrust me.”
“Who had access to the apartment?”
Thomas answered.
“The foundation.”
Claire managed it.
But so had Richard.
Thomas.
Evan.
Maintenance staff.
Owen.
Daniel asked Nora, “What haven’t you told me?”
Nora looked away.
He almost shouted.
“What else?”
“I know why Lily was connected to Blackwood.”
Daniel stopped.
Nora’s voice trembled.
“When Rebecca was pregnant, there were complications.”
“I know.”
“She received treatment.”
“Yes.”
“From Mercer Medical.”
Daniel nodded.
“It was one of our hospitals.”
“The specialist overseeing her case was Dr. Samuel Hart.”
Owen’s father.
Daniel turned toward Owen.
“He was supposed to be retired by then.”
“He consulted.”
Nora continued.
“Rebecca later discovered unauthorized samples had been taken from Lily after birth.”
Daniel’s hands shook.
“For research.”
“Yes.”
“Did they give her anything?”
“No evidence suggests that.”
Daniel exhaled slightly.
“But they were studying her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nora looked at him.
“Because of you.”
Daniel froze.
“Because you were exposed to Blackwood’s memory treatment as a child.”
Michael whispered, “They wanted to see if anything carried genetically?”
Nora nodded.
Daniel felt sick.
“They used my daughter as data.”
“Yes.”
He turned toward Owen.
“You knew.”
Owen nodded.
“My father’s files contained her name.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“When did you find them?”
“After he died.”
“Twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Lily is six.”
Owen hesitated.
Daniel understood.
“You were watching Rebecca.”
Owen didn’t deny it.
“You knew she was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your father’s old network was interested.”
“Yes.”
“And when she died, you took the case.”
“To find who killed her.”
“Did you?”
Owen looked ashamed.
“No.”
Daniel turned away.
Then Nora said, “There is one thing Rebecca believed.”
Daniel looked back.
“She believed Samuel Hart wasn’t the final person running Blackwood.”
“Who was?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Then what did she know?”
“The leader used the codename Shepherd.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because they believed they were ‘guiding’ families.”
Michael muttered, “That’s sick.”
Nora nodded.
“Rebecca traced payments to Shepherd.”
“To who?”
“Not a person.”
Daniel waited.
“A household account.”
“Whose household?”
Nora looked directly at him.
“Yours.”
Daniel stared.
“My account?”
“The Mercer residence operating account.”
Claire whispered, “That means anyone authorized could hide payments.”
Daniel began listing names mentally.
Himself.
Rebecca once.
Claire.
House manager.
Financial controller.
Thomas’s firm.
And—
Nora looked toward the doorway.
Lily stood there.
Nobody had heard her come down.
She held her stuffed rabbit.
And a phone.
Daniel walked toward her.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing?”
Lily looked confused.
“This phone was ringing in my toy box.”
Every adult froze.
Daniel took it.
A burner phone.
Unknown to him.
The screen displayed one message.
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SHEPHERD: YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HIM DRINK THE TEA.
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