Chapter 8: Two Women Named Vanessa
The passage opened into a room filled with television monitors.
Every screen showed a different part of our house.
The kitchen.
The living room.
Ava's bedroom.
The backyard.
Even the driveway.
I watched one monitor as a woman walked through the front entrance carrying a pink backpack.
She looked exactly like Vanessa.
Same blonde hair.
Same face.
Same clothes.
But something about her movements seemed different.
She walked directly toward the living room camera and stared into it.
Then she smiled.
“Marcus,” she said.
The speaker carried her voice into the underground room.
I stepped closer.
“Vanessa?””
She tilted her head.
“Hello, darling.””
I felt sick.
“Where is Ava?””
“She's safe.””
“Where?””
The woman glanced toward another screen.
Ava was sitting in the back seat of a black SUV.
Her stuffed rabbit was pressed against her chest.
I rushed toward the monitor.
“Get away from my daughter!””
Vanessa smiled.
“Calm down. She's perfectly fine.””
“Bring her back!””
“Not until we finish what Danielle started.””
I turned toward Daniel.
“You said she was the real Vanessa.””
He nodded.
“This is the woman you were supposed to marry.””
“Then who have I been living with?””
Daniel looked toward the screen.
“Her sister.””
Dr. Shaw finally spoke.
“Vanessa and Rebecca were identical twins.””
I remembered the passports.
The different names.
The photographs.
The woman who had stood in my kitchen for eighteen months.
“Rebecca was pretending to be Vanessa?””
Dr. Shaw nodded.
“Rebecca was hired to monitor your household. Vanessa handled the medical program.””
I stared at her.
“Why would you need two women?””
“Because one could maintain the family relationship while the other managed the research.””
Danielle stepped forward.
“They used me to study Ava's responses. Then they used Rebecca to replace me.””
My chest tightened.
“Replace you?””
Danielle nodded.
“Rebecca learned everything about our family. She memorized my habits, my recipes, the way I spoke to Ava. She even practiced my handwriting.””
I remembered the photographs.
The notes.
The medication bottles.
The woman I had trusted to raise my daughter had been rehearsing a role.
A role that belonged to my missing wife.
On the monitor, Vanessa opened the SUV door.
Ava climbed out.
“Where are you taking her?”” I shouted.
Vanessa looked directly at the camera.
“To the place where this all began.””
Daniel approached me.
“We need to get out of here.””
I turned.
“You're coming with me.””
“Marcus, there's something else.””
I was exhausted by secrets.
“What now?””
Daniel opened another file.
Inside were copies of laboratory reports, financial records, and a series of photographs.
One photograph showed Danielle and Daniel standing outside the clinic.
Another showed Dr. Shaw holding Ava.
The final photograph showed a man in a hospital bed.
I recognized him.
My father.
He had died when I was twenty-two.
I stared at the picture.
“What does he have to do with this?””
Daniel looked at me.
“Dad wasn't your biological father.””
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“What?””
“Neither was mine.””
I looked toward Dr. Shaw.
She was watching us with quiet satisfaction.
Daniel continued.
“Dad adopted us. Our mother was part of Evelyn's original research group. She disappeared before either of us was born.””
I shook my head.
“That's not possible.””
“Marcus, our family has been connected to this clinic for decades.””
Dr. Shaw stepped closer.
“Your mother volunteered for the original program. She believed inherited memory responses could be used to treat childhood trauma.””
Danielle interrupted.
“She discovered what Evelyn was actually doing.””
The doctor glared at her.
Danielle continued.
“They weren't treating trauma. They were deliberately creating it.””
A silence settled over the room.
I looked at the monitors.
Ava was no longer in the SUV.
The screen showed a large metal building.
A sign above the entrance read:
*SHAW CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER.*
I recognized the place.
It was the clinic where Ava had received her first examination.
Vanessa was standing beside the entrance.
And behind her stood a woman wearing a white coat.
Another woman.
Same face.
Same blonde hair.
But this one had a long scar across her neck.
Daniel pointed at the screen.
“That's Rebecca.””
I stared.
There were two identical women.
Both alive.
Both involved in our family.
Then the woman in the white coat turned toward the camera.
“Marcus,” she said.
“I know you're watching.””
I froze.
She continued.
“Bring Danielle to the clinic. Come alone. If you involve the police, your daughter will disappear.””
Detective Bennett stepped forward.
“That's a threat. We can use this.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No. She's serious.””
Bennett raised her radio.
“We have officers outside. We'll intercept the vehicle.””
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“You don't understand. The clinic has its own security team.””
Bennett pulled free.
“Then we'll bring more officers.””
Dr. Shaw laughed.
“You're all so predictable.””
She pressed a button on the control panel.
Every monitor went black.
Then one screen flickered back on.
It showed Ava sitting alone in a white room.
A small table stood in front of her.
On it was a glass of pink lemonade.
Ava was crying.
A woman's hand entered the frame and placed a small bottle beside the glass.
Then a voice spoke.
“Drink this, sweetheart. Mommy will be here soon.””
Ava looked up.
“Which mommy?””
The hand stopped moving.
Then the woman leaned into the camera.
It was Danielle.
My wife.
But Danielle was standing beside me.
The woman on the screen smiled.
“That's the question, isn't it?””
The screen went black again.
I turned toward Danielle.
May you like
She was trembling.
“Marcus,” she whispered, “I think they've found the other child.””
