Chapter 19 - The Orchard House
They escaped through an abandoned subway tunnel beneath the facility.
Lydia Crane disappeared during the evacuation, but Malcolm remained trapped in the lockdown zone.
Elise wanted to alert federal investigators.
Rebecca refused.
“Malcolm owns investigators, clerks and judges. We need the Orchard archive before we trust anyone.”
Blackwater Orchard stood four hours north of the city. The property appeared deserted, its trees twisted by winter and its farmhouse covered in vines.
Samuel’s train ticket opened the cellar door.
Inside, they found shelves of paper files, audio tapes and sealed evidence bags.
Nothing was connected to a network.
Nothing could be remotely erased.
Nora discovered her foster father’s name in one of the files. He had not abandoned her. Malcolm had imprisoned him after he refused to surrender Nora’s hospital bracelet.
Rebecca found a list of Registry supervisors.
Victor’s name appeared beside the title SUCCESSOR.
Elise confronted him in the farmhouse kitchen.
“You were supposed to inherit the Registry.”
“That was my father’s plan.”
“Was marrying me part of that inheritance?”
Victor looked toward the dark orchard.
“At first.”
Elise waited for him to claim that everything later became real.
He did not.
Instead, Victor removed his wedding ring.
“The first year of our marriage was an assignment,” he said. “The years after that were my cowardice. I loved you, but I kept choosing the life that allowed me to stay near you.”
“You kept me inside a lie.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than another excuse.
A telephone began ringing upstairs.
The farmhouse had no active telephone service.
Nora answered it.
Malcolm Hale was on the line.
May you like
He had escaped the facility.
And he was standing outside with Nora’s foster father.
