Chapter 11 - The Woman Who Died Twice
Robert refused the photograph.
Not emotionally.
Forensically.
“Fake.”
Michael expected that.
He supplied negatives.
Medical records.
Fingerprints.
DNA.
The woman photographed three months after Miriam's funeral was genetically Miriam Whitmore.
But Robert had identified Miriam's body after the fire.
How could both be true?
Michael answered:
twins.
Miriam had an identical twin sister.
Robert stared.
“No.”
Miriam never mentioned one.
Because she did not know.
Their mother had given birth to twins.
One was raised as Miriam.
The other entered an early developmental research program run by the Whitmore family.
Her name:
Marianne.
Robert felt sick.
The family's habit of hiding children had begun before his generation.
Marianne grew up knowing Miriam existed.
Miriam did not know Marianne existed until adulthood.
When they finally met, Miriam was horrified.
She tried to expose the family records.
Marianne felt differently.
She believed W-17 had given her purpose.
Thomas recruited her.
The woman photographed after Miriam's funeral was not Miriam.
Marianne.
Then whose body had Robert buried?
Miriam.
That remained true.
Robert felt strange relief inside grief.
His wife had not survived while abandoning Emma.
But her identical sister had used the resemblance.
Marianne stole Miriam's seal.
Copied her handwriting.
Accessed her legal records.
For twenty-six years, she became the invisible authority behind W-17.
Thomas believed he ran the science.
Marianne controlled the trust.
Michael whispered:
“Thomas isn't Daniel Crane.”
Everyone froze.
“Who is?”
“Marianne.”
Claire remembered the calls.
The voice sounded male.
Voice modulation.
Emma remembered the message:
Claire already belongs to us.
Marianne knew exactly who Claire was.
Because she helped Miriam create her.
The mystery tightened.
Marianne wanted both biological daughters to activate W-17.
She manipulated Victor's debt.
Claire's longing for family.
Thomas's obsession.
Even Robert's guilt.
But why now?
Emma's baby.
Michael nodded.
Marianne had waited for Victor to reproduce.
The first successful fetal subject producing a child with a Whitmore heir.
This was the combination W-17 had been designed to observe.
Emma held her belly.
“No one is touching my baby.”
Michael looked at her with sorrow.
“They already have.”
Emma went still.
“What?”
He pointed toward her prenatal vitamin bottle.
Police tested it.
One capsule contained a microdose of an experimental compound.
Emma's blood turned cold.
May you like
She had taken those vitamins for five months.
Someone had already begun the trial before the baby was born.
