Chapter 12 - the file with Julia’s childhood name
Julia’s maiden name was Julia Bennett.
Detective Brooks searched every version of it through the recovered Voss database.
Nothing.
Then Raymond provided the code.
JB-08.
A file appeared.
Creation date:
Thirty-two years earlier.
Julia was only five.
Her photograph filled the screen.
A school portrait.
Brown hair in two braids.
A missing front tooth.
Julia felt the room move around her.
“My parents never took me to Voss.”
The file was not from Voss Reproductive Institute.
It came from a predecessor organization called the Virginia Pediatric Compatibility Study.
Dr. Malcolm Voss had worked there as a young researcher.
Julia’s father had been employed by the pharmaceutical company funding it.
“What did they do to me?” Julia whispered.
The records were incomplete.
Blood draws.
Immune-response testing.
Family lineage mapping.
Nothing suggesting reproductive procedures.
But one result was marked:
EXCEPTIONAL FAMILIAL TOLERANCE PROFILE.
RETAIN GENETIC MATERIAL FOR FUTURE STUDY.
Julia stared at the sentence.
“They kept my blood from when I was five.”
Dr. Sloan nodded.
“It appears so.”
“That’s why they recognized me when I came for fertility treatment.”
“Yes.”
“So Malcolm didn’t randomly become my doctor.”
“No.”
He had been waiting for the child from the old study to become an adult.
Then Julia married Peter.
Their combined genetic profile produced embryos that displayed the compatibility traits Voss wanted.
Clara became both daughter and future research subject before anyone told Julia she was part of anything.
Peter eventually discovered the history.
He tried to retrieve Lucy.
He tried to destroy the stored material.
Malcolm stopped him.
But Malcolm was dead now.
Lydia was still missing.
Julia requested to see Lucy.
This time, the child advocate agreed.
The meeting occurred in a quiet room with no cameras visible.
Lucy sat on one side.
Julia on the other.
For several seconds, neither knew what to say.
Lucy finally spoke.
“You look like me.”
Julia smiled through tears.
“You look like your father.”
“Lydia said my dad died.”
“He did.”
“Was he nice?”
Julia’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
“Did he know about me?”
Julia nodded.
“He found you.”
“Why didn’t he come get me?”
“He tried.”
Lucy stared down.
“Did Mom stop him?”
Julia chose honesty.
“I think people around Lydia did.”
“Is Lydia evil?”
There was no simple answer.
“She did terrible things.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Julia looked at the twelve-year-old who had spent her entire life loving the woman Julia now feared.
“I think Lydia convinced herself terrible things were necessary.”
Lucy cried.
“She loved me.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you hate me because I love her?”
“No.”
Lucy looked up.
“Are you going to make me live with you?”
Julia shook her head.
“No one is going to drag you anywhere tonight. There are people whose job is to help us figure out what is safest.”
Lucy seemed surprised.
Julia continued.
“I would like to know you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my daughter.”
The word made both of them cry.
Later, Julia returned to Clara.
Clara looked nervous.
“What was she like?”
“Smart.”
“Like me?”
Julia smiled.
“Annoyingly.”
Clara laughed.
The first real laugh since entering the ER.
For several hours, the family mystery seemed less monstrous.
Then Detective Brooks called.
Lydia had surfaced.
She walked voluntarily into a police station in Richmond.
Alone.
She asked for Julia.
Brooks refused.
Lydia agreed to speak only if the interview was recorded.
“I did not kill Peter Moore,” she began.
“Malcolm did.”
Brooks listened.
“I did help hide Lucy.”
“Why?”
“Because Malcolm planned to use her as a permanent medical subject.”
“So you saved her?”
“I stole her from one kidnapper while still keeping her from her real family.”
“At least you understand that.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Megan’s procedure team?”
“I can identify them.”
“Why surrender now?”
Lydia looked directly into the camera.
“Because Benjamin is dying.”
“He’s stable.”
“No.”
“The physicians say—”
“They’re wrong.”
Brooks leaned forward.
“What do you know?”
“The therapy keeping him alive contains a biological component from M-04.”
“Embryonic material?”
“No.”
Lydia shook her head.
“Placental signaling.”
Brooks’s face hardened.
“You continued the pregnancy to treat him.”
“I did not authorize Megan’s transfer.”
“Then who did?”
Lydia stared toward the one-way glass.
“The program continued after Malcolm died because someone else took control.”
“Who?”
Lydia’s voice fell.
“Peter.”
Julia felt as if she had been struck.
Brooks stared.
“Peter Moore is dead.”
Lydia nodded.
“I know.”
“Then explain yourself.”
She looked exhausted.
“The person using his credentials is not Peter.”
“Who is it?”
Lydia whispered:
“Your husband had a brother.”
Julia stood behind the glass, frozen.
Peter had never mentioned a brother.
May you like
Not once in eighteen years.
👉 Lydia surrendered with a final revelation: someone using Peter’s identity had continued Project Kinship after his death—and Julia had never known her husband had a brother.
