Chapter 14 — The Woman Called Anna
Daniel provided the name of a private psychiatric institution overseas.
Federal investigators located a patient registered as Anna Lorne.
She had lived there for twenty-nine years.
Sophie flew to meet her.
The woman sitting in the garden was sixty-one, with silver-streaked chestnut hair and familiar hazel eyes.
Sophie knew immediately.
“Mom?”
Claire Laurent looked up.
Her face showed no recognition.
Years of forced medication had damaged her memory.
Mercer had staged the car accident, then confined Claire under a false identity. He kept her alive because he believed she had hidden copies of the research.
Sophie sat beside her every day for two weeks.
She showed her photographs, played childhood songs and read from the recovered notebook.
Some days Claire stared blankly.
Other days she whispered fragments.
On the fifteenth day, Sophie played a melody from her old music box.
Claire’s fingers began moving with the tune.
Then she looked at Sophie and said one word.
“Sunflower.”
It had been Claire’s childhood nickname for her daughter.
Sophie broke down in her arms.
Claire could not recover every memory, but she remembered enough to testify by recorded deposition.
Her evidence ensured Charles Mercer received a life sentence.
Richard Cross received a reduced sentence for his role in hiding evidence, though his testimony exposed the remaining criminal network.
Rachel was sentenced to eight years.
Daniel received thirty-two years for attempted murder, fraud, kidnapping conspiracy and corporate theft.
At sentencing, Daniel looked toward Olivia.
She did not look back.
Months later, Olivia established the Claire Laurent Foundation using the last money she personally retained.
The foundation funded medical care for Trial Seven survivors and supported whistleblowers in medical research.
Sophie joined as investigative director.
Dr. Harper became its chief medical adviser.
Evelyn volunteered with victims’ families, determined to spend the rest of her life repairing the silence she had once helped maintain.
The poisoned wedding cake had nearly ended Olivia’s life.
Instead, it destroyed a system of secrets that had survived for three decades.
But one final piece remained.
During the foundation’s opening ceremony, a courier delivered a small box addressed to Olivia.
Inside was her wedding ring.
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And beneath it was a note written in Daniel’s handwriting.
You still don’t know who switched the bottle.
