Chapter 11 - REBECCA HALE
Noah did not believe it.
He called the payment records fake.
He accused Ortiz of lying.
He left the room.
Daniel followed him outside.
“Noah.”
“She abandoned me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“If she works for Evelyn, she did.”
Daniel caught his shoulder.
“Three days ago I thought my mother had been dead for twenty-four years.”
Noah looked at him.
“Don’t decide what this means before you hear her.”
Noah’s anger cracked.
“What if I don’t want to hear her?”
“You do.”
Noah looked away.
Ortiz found Rebecca through a rental car registered under an alias.
The vehicle had crossed into Wisconsin six hours earlier.
Destination unknown.
But another discovery changed their priorities.
Claire’s original blood sample had disappeared from St. Vincent.
So had every remaining vial of the compound used on her.
Marcus claimed Evelyn took them.
Evelyn denied nothing because no one could find her.
Samuel recovered enough to speak.
He told federal investigators the entire history of Orpheus.
Margaret slept beside him.
For the first time in decades they occupied the same room as husband and wife.
Daniel watched them from the doorway.
He felt as though he were looking at ghosts who had decided to become parents again.
Samuel noticed him.
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“You should be.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
Samuel looked at Margaret.
“Because keeping her alive required the people I was trying to expose.”
Daniel understood.
He still did not forgive.
Not yet.
Claire entered.
She handed Daniel a small notebook.
“What’s this?”
“Dad’s original trial log.”
Samuel looked surprised.
Claire smiled.
“You hid it badly.”
Daniel opened it.
Most pages contained medical observations.
Then he found Rebecca’s name.
She had not merely been a pharmacist.
Samuel had recruited her as an internal investigator after he discovered Marcus changing dosages.
Rebecca had helped him gather evidence.
She disappeared because Samuel asked her to.
Noah returned just in time to hear that.
He stood in the doorway.
Samuel looked at him.
“I sent your mother away.”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Marcus knew she had copied the files.”
“Where did she go?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Federal protection.”
Ortiz looked at him.
“That program has no record of her.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Samuel looked at Noah.
“Because she left it.”
Noah stepped closer.
“Why?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“She believed Evelyn could lead her to the buyers.”
“So she went undercover?”
“Yes.”
“For three years?”
Samuel’s expression filled with regret.
“She was supposed to return after three months.”
Noah laughed bitterly.
“That worked out.”
Claire said quietly.
“Maybe she couldn’t.”
Noah looked at her.
“Or maybe she didn’t want to.”
The answer arrived that evening.
A nurse brought Daniel an envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph of Noah taken outside the hospital that morning.
On the back were four words.
TELL HIM I’M SORRY.
Noah stared at the handwriting.
His hands shook.
“That’s hers.”
Below the message was an address.
A farmhouse near Lake Geneva.
Ortiz wanted a tactical team.
Noah refused.
“She asked for me.”
Daniel said, “You’re not going alone.”
At midnight they reached the farmhouse.
No lights.
No vehicles.
The front door stood open.
Inside they found blood.
Not much.
Enough.
Noah called out.
“Mom?”
No answer.
Upstairs, a bedroom window was broken.
A phone lay on the floor.
Still recording.
Noah pressed play.
Rebecca’s voice filled the room.
“Evelyn knows.”
A crash sounded.
Rebecca breathed heavily.
“She knows Claire survived.”
Another sound.
Footsteps.
Rebecca whispered.
“She’s going after the family again.”
The recording ended.
Daniel looked at Noah.
Then his phone rang.
Claire.
He answered.
May you like
All he heard was screaming.
Then the line went dead.
