Chapter 10 - What Sophie Could Do
“Can do” sounded impossible.
Sophie was fifteen months old.
She could walk badly.
Say a few words.
Stack blocks.
Throw food.
What could she “do” that frightened adults?
Daniel began observing.
Not testing.
Observing.
He refused to turn his daughter into another Sable subject.
One pattern appeared.
Sophie rarely became sick.
That alone meant nothing.
Then Rachel remembered an incident.
Three months earlier, Sophie accidentally swallowed a small amount of household cleaner before Rachel stopped her.
Emergency department.
Observation.
No symptoms.
Doctors called it luck and low dose.
Another:
Sophie had developed almost no reaction to a medication dose error at nine months.
Again, explained as good fortune.
Then Daniel found lab values from that episode.
Abnormal.
Her body cleared the compound unusually fast.
Could be genetics.
Could be meaningless.
He consulted independent pediatric geneticists.
They refused dramatic conclusions.
Good.
Science required evidence.
But one doctor said:
“If the underlying enzyme pathway is real, someone might believe this child metabolizes certain toxins differently.”
Believe.
Not proven.
That distinction mattered.
Then the silver key from the box led somewhere.
Caroline’s letters contained a storage number.
Unit 417.
A facility outside Cincinnati.
Inside:
Sable files.
Michael’s later research.
And a refrigerated case.
Empty.
The temperature monitor showed it had been accessed recently.
By whom?
Security footage.
Vanessa.
Daniel stared at her.
“You were there two weeks ago.”
She went pale.
“Yes.”
“What was in the case?”
“Blood.”
Whose?
“Sophie’s.”
Silence.
Vanessa had collected Sophie’s blood during a pediatric appointment.
Without Daniel’s knowledge.
Why?
“I wanted to know whether Michael was right.”
Daniel exploded.
“You experimented on our daughter?”
“No!”
“You took her blood!”
“I sent it to an independent lab.”
“That is still testing her behind my back.”
Vanessa cried.
“I was terrified.”
Again.
Not enough.
“What did the results show?”
She hesitated.
Then:
“She has the marker.”
Full H-pattern.
H-22.
But Vanessa claimed she destroyed the sample afterward.
Then why was the refrigerated case empty only recently?
Because someone stole the remaining vial before she arrived.
She went to retrieve it after receiving anonymous threats.
The sample was gone.
Meaning somebody else had Sophie’s blood.
Benjamin?
Caroline?
Michael’s former associates?
Unknown.
Then Mara found a transaction.
$500,000 transferred from Aurora Adaptive Medicine’s old account.
Recipient:
Vanessa Carter.
Daniel looked at her.
“When?”
Three weeks before Michael’s death.
Vanessa said she had never seen the money.
Account in her maiden name.
Opened using her identity.
Someone had framed her.
Or paid her.
Daniel couldn’t tell anymore.
Then an email surfaced.
From Michael to Vanessa.
Subject:
IF I DON’T MAKE IT.
Vanessa claimed never to have received it.
Message:
Do not let Daniel know what Sophie is until Caroline contacts you.
Daniel felt a surge of anger.
Even Michael had decided Daniel could not handle the truth.
Then the final line:
If Caroline is already dead, you must find Sophie before Benjamin does.
Not protect.
Find.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
That was exactly what she had been doing when he came home.
“Speak. Where is your sister?”
She had not merely been looking for a child to punish.
She believed someone else might be coming.
But why beat Ethan?
Vanessa looked at him through tears.
“Because I thought he had given Sophie to Caroline.”
“And that justified it?”
“No.”
At least she finally said it.
Then Daniel asked:
“Why were you laughing when Sophie came out?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“I wasn’t.”
Daniel remembered the scene.
Maybe what he read as a cruel laugh had been panic.
Or relief.
Perspective had begun rewriting his memories.
But one fact did not change.
Ethan had been hurt.
Daniel would not let mystery erase that.
Then the house alarm triggered.
Not their current location.
Their original home.
Motion detected in Daniel’s office.
Camera feed restored.
A woman stood inside.
Caroline.
Alive.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then held up a sign.
May you like
BENJAMIN DOESN’T WANT SOPHIE.
VANESSA DOES.
