Chương 5
Mara Quinn entered with another investigator and asked everyone except Lily, Evelyn, and medical staff to leave the room.
In the conference room down the hall, Margaret refused to speak until her attorney arrived. William refused to represent her. Detective Delgado began making calls. Nathan stood by the window while his mother sat at the table, cane between her knees, breathing through her mouth.
“You knew about the cancer,” he said to William.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
“And this?”
William looked toward Margaret.
Nathan followed his gaze. “She’s not your client.”
“She was.”
Margaret said, “Stop circling like dogs. It’s tedious.”
Nathan pulled out a chair and sat opposite her. “Did you arrange the embryo transfer?”
Her face lost what little color remained.
William said, “Do not answer.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you.”
“Margaret—”
“I paid the clinic’s former director to locate the embryos,” she said.
The words entered the room without drama. They were too clear for that.
Nathan stared at her.
She continued, perhaps because stopping would have required her to look at what she had done.
“The destruction certificate was false. Dr. Voss kept several embryos in private storage after Halcyon closed. He claimed he did it because the clinic’s records were in dispute. I suspect he did it because desperate people pay better than federal receivers.”
“You found him.”
“I had William find him.”
Nathan turned to William.
William’s jaw tightened. “I located a physician on her behalf. I did not authorize any medical procedure.”
“You knew what she wanted.”
“I knew she believed material had been improperly retained.”
“You gave her access.”
“I advised against it.”
Margaret made a quiet sound. “You invoiced against it.”
William’s face hardened.
Nathan looked back at his mother. “You used Claire’s embryo.”
“Our embryo,” Margaret said.
“Mine and Claire’s.”
“Your child.”
“You had no right.”
“I had no time.”
The sentence cracked, not loudly, but enough to expose what lay beneath her control.
She pressed one hand to the scarf at her throat.
“They told me twelve months,” she said. “Then six. Then that numbers were not useful. Everyone becomes philosophical when they have nothing useful to offer.”
Nathan felt the old cruelty in himself rise because it was easier than grief. “So you bought a grandchild.”
“I recovered one.”
“You hired a woman to carry an embryo without telling me.”
“Elena knew she was a surrogate.”
“Did she know whose child?”
Margaret looked away.
Nathan leaned forward. “Did she know the embryo had been retained without consent?”
“She knew there were irregularities.”
“That means no.”
“She needed money.”
Lily’s thin ankles above her taped shoes flashed through Nathan’s mind.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“For what?”
Margaret’s silence answered.
William spoke reluctantly. “Elena Bell was behind on rent. She had medical debt and no stable employment. Dr. Voss’s intermediary recruited her.”
“An intermediary?”
“I did not meet that person.”
“But you kept billing.”
“Nathan, I spent thirty years protecting your family from its worst decisions.”
“And when protection failed?”
“I documented my advice.”
Margaret gave a dry laugh that turned into a cough. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief. When she lowered it, a tiny red mark stained the white cloth.
Nathan looked away first.
Detective Delgado returned with a uniformed officer and informed Margaret that she was not free to leave until they completed an interview. Her attorney was on his way. Dr. Paul Voss could not be reached at his registered address.
Elena Bell remained missing.
By evening, the rain had weakened to a mist. Search teams checked the woods bordering the Carter estate, nearby roads, drainage areas, bus stops, urgent care clinics, and shelters. A bloodhound followed a scent from the green fabric behind the wall to Lake Avenue, where it disappeared near a roadside pull-off.
Police believed Elena had entered a vehicle.
Lily said she had not.
Mara interviewed her again with a child specialist present. Nathan was not allowed in the room. He watched through one-way glass only after Lily asked for him, and only because Mara decided his presence on the other side might help her speak.
Lily sat with her knees tucked under the hospital blanket. A stuffed dog donated by the pediatric floor lay untouched beside her.
“Tell me about this morning,” the specialist said.
Lily rubbed her thumb over a crack in the paper cup that had held her hot chocolate.
“Mom woke me up.”
“Where were you sleeping?”
“In the room.”
“What room?”
“The basement room.”
“Was it in a house?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were there windows?”
“One. It was high.”
“Who else was there?”
“The doctor came sometimes.”
“Do you know his name?”
“He said Uncle Paul, but he wasn’t my uncle.”
Behind the glass, Nathan felt Delgado shift beside him.
“What did Uncle Paul do?”
“He checked my mom’s stomach. Then after Blue came, he checked him.”
“Was Blue born in the basement room?”
Lily nodded.
“Was anyone else there?”
“A lady with yellow hair. She got mad because Mom bled on the sheets.”
The specialist waited.
Lily’s eyes moved toward the glass. She could not see Nathan, but she seemed to know where he stood.
“Mom got sick,” she said. “She was shaking. Uncle Paul said she was making trouble. He said we had to go before people came.”
“How did you leave?”
“Mom took his keys.”
“What kind of car?”
“White. It smelled like old french fries.”
“Did your mother drive?”
“Some. Then she stopped by the trees and threw up. She said we had to walk.”
“With the baby?”
Lily nodded.
“How long did you walk?”
“I don’t know. It got light.”
“What happened at the wall?”
“Mom used numbers. The little gate opened.”
“Where did she get the numbers?”
“The old lady gave them to her.”
“Margaret?”
Lily shrugged.
“What happened next?”
“Mom put Blue down behind the wall. She taped the letter under him. She said to ring the bell and say I found him.”
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“Why?”
“She said rich people believe things better if they find them.”
