## CHAPTER 9 — THE SECOND DAUGHTER
Elena’s mother had worked as a nurse at a Mercer-funded clinic.
Edmund had been married.
The affair ended when Elena’s mother became pregnant.
She accepted money, signed a confidentiality agreement, and disappeared from Edmund’s life.
Elena grew up without knowing her father’s identity.
Claire discovered the truth when they met in nursing school.
At first, neither of them believed it.
Then a private DNA test confirmed they were half-sisters.
“Claire confronted Edmund,” Elena said.
“What happened?” Logan asked.
“He denied everything publicly. Privately, he offered me money.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
Logan studied her face.
“You entered my home because Claire asked you to protect Noah.”
“Yes.”
“But you also came here because Edmund Mercer is your father.”
“I came because he may have killed my sister.”
Logan looked away.
Claire had kept the secret from him.
Or perhaps she had tried to tell him and he had been too busy to listen.
Three weeks before her death, Claire had repeatedly asked Logan to cancel a business trip.
He had refused.
He told her his father needed him in London.
Now Logan wondered whether Edmund had arranged the trip to remove him from the estate.
Detective Hale received access to Mercer Medical Research archives.
Facility Seven had officially closed twelve years earlier.
Its recorded location was a rural property in northern Vermont.
The land had been sold after a fire.
Another fire.
Logan, Hale, and Elena traveled there the next morning.
The facility appeared abandoned.
Windows were broken.
Weeds covered the access road.
Inside, the walls had been stripped.
But the basement door was new.
They found hospital beds, restraints, and monitoring equipment.
In one room, hundreds of photographs covered the wall.
Every photograph showed Noah.
Sleeping.
Playing.
Crying.
Growing older.
The most recent photograph had been taken two weeks earlier.
Someone was still using the facility.
A sound came from the corridor.
Hale drew her weapon.
They followed the sound to a locked office.
Inside, they found Dr. Samuel Keller, Noah’s former neurologist.
His hands were tied.
His face was bruised.
He looked at Logan in terror.
“You weren’t supposed to find me.”
“Who did this?”
Keller shook his head.
“He’ll kill her.”
“Kill who?”
The doctor looked at Elena.
“Your sister.”
May you like
Then every light in the basement went out.
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