## CHAPTER 8 — SUBJECT C
Detective Hale searched the recovered database for SUBJECT C.
Most of the files had been corrupted.
One remained.
It contained no name.
Only medical readings, medication schedules, and behavior reports.
The subject was female.
Age thirty-one when monitoring began.
The timeline started six years earlier.
The same week Claire supposedly died.
“This could be anyone,” Logan said.
Elena pointed to a line in the report.
Subject responds negatively to separation from infant N.
Logan stopped breathing.
“Noah,” he said.
Elena nodded.
Subject N was Noah.
Subject C was almost certainly Claire.
The records continued for nine months.
Then the location changed from Mercer Estate to Facility Seven.
Hale searched state records.
There was no registered hospital or clinic by that name.
But one financial code appeared repeatedly in the recovered files.
MMR-17.
Logan recognized it.
“Mercer Medical Research.”
His father had funded private neurological research for decades.
Most of the projects were legitimate.
At least, Logan had believed they were.
Edmund Mercer had suffered a stroke four years earlier. He now lived in a private residence in Switzerland under constant medical supervision.
Or so Logan had been told.
“I want my father’s travel records,” Logan said.
Hale gave him a warning look.
“If Edmund Mercer is involved, this investigation will move beyond local jurisdiction.”
“Then move it.”
That afternoon, Vanessa appeared remotely at the custody hearing.
She wore a plain jail uniform.
Her face was calm.
Her attorney argued that the accusations were part of a conspiracy led by Elena Marquez, an emotionally unstable former nurse with a history of identity fraud.
Elena admitted using a false name.
She admitted entering the Mercer estate under false pretenses.
She admitted taking Noah from the property three years earlier.
The judge’s expression hardened.
Then Noah stood up.
No one had expected him to speak.
He looked at the screen showing Vanessa.
“She said Marina would disappear if I called her Mommy.”
Vanessa’s calm expression cracked.
Noah continued.
“She said my first mommy disappeared because she asked questions.”
Vanessa rose from her chair.
Her attorney tried to stop her.
She pointed directly at Elena.
“You should have stayed buried with your sister.”
The courtroom fell silent.
Elena went pale.
Vanessa seemed to realize what she had said.
But it was too late.
Outside the courtroom, Elena finally told Logan the truth.
Claire had not merely been her friend.
They had shared the same biological father.
May you like
And that father’s name had been Edmund Mercer.
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