Chapter 6: The Doctor's Last Experiment
The voice was calm.
Almost pleasant.
That made it more terrifying.
Detective Bennett immediately reached for her radio.
“This is Detective Bennett. We need additional units at the property. Possible suspect inside the underground structure.””
Static answered.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Danielle grabbed my arm.
“Don't waste your time.””
“What?””
“They control the communications down here.””
Bennett looked at her.
“Who is they?””
Danielle swallowed.
“Dr. Shaw has been preparing for this moment for years.””
I helped my wife sit on the edge of the examination table.
Her hands were trembling.
“Danielle, tell me what happened.””
She looked at me.
Then at the open door.
“I'll tell you everything. But we have to find Ava first.””
“She is outside.””
“No, Marcus.””
Her voice broke.
“She's not safe anywhere near this property.””
I stared at her.
“What are you talking about?””
Danielle reached into the pocket of her hospital gown.
She pulled out a small folded photograph.
It showed Ava as a newborn.
Beside her stood Dr. Shaw.
The doctor was holding a clipboard.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten note.
The first child was unsuccessful. The second must remain under observation.
I looked at Danielle.
“What first child?””
She closed her eyes.
“Our baby wasn't the first pregnancy.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
Danielle began crying.
“I was pregnant before Ava. I miscarried at sixteen weeks. Dr. Shaw told us there had been complications.””
I remembered that period.
Danielle had spent weeks recovering.
I had been traveling for work when it happened.
She had barely spoken about it afterward.
“What does that have to do with Ava?””
“Nothing,” she whispered.
“That's what I thought.””
She explained that several months before Ava's birth, Dr. Shaw had approached her with an unusual offer.
The doctor claimed she was conducting a confidential study involving early childhood development and inherited memory responses.
Danielle had refused.
But Dr. Shaw kept contacting her.
Then, after Ava was born, the doctor told Danielle that our daughter had a rare neurological marker.
She insisted that Ava needed specialized monitoring.
Danielle agreed to a few examinations.
Then she discovered that the records were being altered.
Some appointments had never happened.
Some medications were listed under Ava's name that she had never received.
When Danielle confronted Dr. Shaw, the doctor threatened to report her for neglect.
“She said she'd take Ava away from us,” Danielle whispered.
I clenched my fists.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“I tried.””
“What?””
“I called you that night.””
I remembered the missed call.
The night Danielle disappeared.
I had been in a business meeting.
I hadn't called back until the next morning.
Danielle looked down.
“By then, Vanessa was already inside our house.””
I turned toward the corridor.
“Vanessa?””
“She wasn't Vanessa then. She introduced herself as a hospital social worker. She said she had come to help me.””
My blood ran cold.
“She kidnapped you?””
Danielle nodded.
“She gave me something to drink. I woke up in the first room beneath the pool.””
Bennett stepped closer.
“How did you survive?””
Danielle pointed toward the wall.
“Someone helped me.””
“Who?””
Before she could answer, the speakers crackled again.
Dr. Shaw's voice returned.
“Danielle, you're making this unnecessarily difficult.””
Danielle stiffened.
The doctor continued.
“Marcus, I imagine you have many questions.””
I stepped toward the speaker.
“Where is my daughter?””
A soft laugh.
“Your daughter is the reason we're all here.””
“Leave her alone!””
“I'm afraid that's no longer possible.””
Bennett raised her flashlight toward the ceiling.
“Dr. Shaw, this is Detective Laura Bennett. You are being recorded. Come out with your hands visible.””
The doctor laughed again.
“Laura, you always did enjoy pretending you were in control.””
Bennett's expression changed.
“Do you know her?”” I asked.
The detective didn't answer.
Instead, she stared at the speaker.
Dr. Shaw continued.
“Tell Marcus what happened to your partner, Laura.””
Bennett lowered her weapon slightly.
Danielle looked at her.
“Your partner?””
The detective swallowed.
“Her name was Claire.””
The woman from the photograph.
Bennett had been investigating Claire's disappearance four years earlier.
She had never told us.
“I found evidence that Claire was being held here,” Bennett said.
“But someone closed the investigation before I could obtain a warrant.””
Dr. Shaw's voice became amused.
“You were always too emotional, Laura.””
Bennett slammed her fist against the wall.
“WHERE IS CLAIRE?””
Silence.
Then a door opened somewhere below us.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Danielle grabbed my hand.
“She's coming.””
A woman appeared at the far end.
She wore a white medical coat.
Her silver hair was perfectly styled.
Her shoes made almost no sound against the concrete.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
I recognized her from the photographs in the hospital.
She looked at Danielle first.
Then at me.
“Marcus Reed,” she said pleasantly.
“It's been a long time.””
I stepped forward.
“You destroyed my family.””
She tilted her head.
“Your family was never as simple as you believed.””
“Where is Claire?””
Dr. Shaw smiled.
“Still asking the wrong questions.””
Bennett raised her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them!””
Dr. Shaw lifted both hands.
But she wasn't looking at the detective.
She was looking at me.
“You have no idea what Vanessa has been protecting you from.””
“She's a criminal.””
“She's a necessary employee.””
Danielle stepped forward.
“Stop lying, Evelyn.””
The doctor sighed.
“Danielle, you were always difficult.””
“You stole four years of my daughter's life.””
“I kept her safe.””
“From what?””
Dr. Shaw glanced at me.
Then she said something that made the room go silent.
“From her father.””
I stared at her.
“What?””
Danielle turned toward me.
Her face had gone completely white.
Dr. Shaw opened a thin folder and removed a document.
It was a hospital genetic screening report.
My name was printed at the top.
Marcus Reed.
Underneath it was a result I couldn't understand.
*PATERNITY: EXCLUDED.*
I looked at Danielle.
“No.””
She began crying.
“Marcus, I was going to tell you.””
Dr. Shaw placed the document on the table.
“Ava is not your biological daughter.””
I stepped backward.
The room seemed to tilt.
Four years of bedtime stories.
Four years of carrying Ava on my shoulders.
Four years of believing I had lost my wife.
And now this.
“Who is her father?”” I whispered.
Danielle covered her mouth.
Dr. Shaw smiled.
“That's the question we hoped you'd never ask.””
Then a door slammed somewhere behind us.
An officer shouted through the corridor.
“DETECTIVE! WE HAVE A SECOND PERSON!””
Bennett turned.
“Who?””
A voice answered.
A familiar voice.
“Let me through. I'm here for my daughter.””
I recognized it immediately.
It belonged to my older brother.
The brother I had buried seven years ago.
Daniel.
May you like
And from somewhere above us, Ava began screaming.
“DADDY! UNCLE DANIEL IS HERE!””
