Chapter 17 - What He Didn't Tell Me
The cassette recorder in the control booth was old, but it worked. I pressed play while the levers rattled behind us.
My father's younger voice filled the room.
"My name is Jonah Mercer. On May seventeenth, I allowed Victoria Voss to move my first daughter into a restricted nursery. I was told that if I resisted, Elena and both children would die. I believed her. That does not make what I did right."
There was a pause. I heard him sob once.
"I also approved the first transfer of Elena's living tissue. I knew the research could hurt people. I told myself it would save my family. If this recording is found, I want the truth known, even if I am blamed."
I stopped the tape.
Jonah stood behind me, white-faced.
"You gave her away," I said.
"I signed a transfer under threat. I thought I could get Cora back that night. They locked the nursery, and Marcus got only you out."
"You still signed it."
"Yes."
There was no escape hatch in that word. For a moment, I wanted to hurt him with everything his choices had cost us.
"When this is over," I said, "you don't get to call yourself a hero. You testify. You tell them all of it."
He nodded. "I will."
Evelyn's voice came through the emergency line, faint but clear. "Clara, we're at the tower. Marcus has the radio on. The county rescue team is listening."
"Tell them about the creek," I said. "Tell them the judge is part of it."
"Already done. Marcus gave them the private clinic's address and a photograph of the drive he delivered yesterday."
A terrible crash interrupted her. Through the window above us I saw a bright flash from the tower.
Victoria's voice replaced Evelyn's.
May you like
"Very touching, Clara. But your rescuers will arrive after the town has been poisoned."
The lever on Jonah's side snapped free.
