Chapter Forty-Five
Her hand flew to her mouth, and she ran to the bathroom, where her dinner emptied into the toilet. She felt Wes come up behind her. Silently, he passed her a damp washcloth and a paper cup of water. Eleanor edged to sit on the carpeted floor. When Wes sat beside her, she crawled into his lap, and his arms wrapped around her.
“Our childhood was hard. I didn’t lie about that. Lindy tried to be the good girl to avoid punishment. I fought back in my own way. At some point, she decided all our punishments were because of me.
“I brought Agent Forsyth the bullets. And he sent me home. He told me they were going to raid the compound when the deal went down. But the next morning, my father, Shaw and Sanford dragged me out of my room and whipped me. Lindy couldn’t stand it. She kept apologizing for telling my parents and finally hid. I don’t know how I was rescued,” she sniffled.
“Agent Forsyth returned to the center three days after you brought him the bullets. Mrs. Plummer, the senior center director, told him since the day you brought the bullets, you never returned.” Wes kissed the top of her head.
Eleanor nodded. “The Wests made us go to therapy. They realized quickly Lindy was struggling. She took her new freedoms to extremes. Her clothing choices…she was provocative. She shoplifted. She was hypersexual. As she got older, she seemed to calm down. I never blamed her, and as I went through school, I realized the extent of her illness.
“Then our world flipped again when the Wests were killed. That’s when I figured out she was sleeping with Starr. His wife Cindy was Phyllis West’s best friend. I felt helpless and was grieving. I couldn’t take care of her too.” Her body quaked.
“You were twenty and hurting,” Wes reassured her.
“That’s what Starr said. I missed that clue too. When Hayes told me what Starr had done, I couldn’t tell him Belinda had to be a willing participant, and she was the one who controlled their relationship. If I told him, I’d have to admit it to myself. How do I tell someone my sister, my twin sister, is a monster? She was all I had.” She leaned her head back to look into Wes’s eyes.
“Month after month, Agent Nash came at me. He kept asking me about the night I escaped and the pregnancy and miscarriage. It wasn’t until the last time that I figured out Theresa Murrow was a victim.”
“Ellie, tell me what happened at the restaurant Hibiscus, the night you were kidnapped?” Wes implored.
“I bought Lindy’s lies again. She said she was on a new med and was back in therapy. She wanted to celebrate. After appetizers, she went to the bathroom. The bartender brought two birthday drinks to the table. The next thing I remember is waking up on a dirt floor. My mother and Lindy were sitting there laughing at me.
“I was dragged and chained to a post. There were six other girls there.” Eleanor’s eyes fogged over. “It didn’t take long to figure out they weren’t selling weapons anymore; they were selling babies. The militia continued their drills, and my mother and sister created the babies. The water was drugged. We were groggy. And then the shots. Day after day. After ten days, we’d lose a day. I’d fall asleep and wake up a whole day later.
“Three weeks later, Lindy drew blood. I was dragged to a post in the yard. My father called me a failure. And crack...the whip. And again. The tail tore into my back. They left me alone until I got my period, and then the shots started again.
“One of the girls had a stroke and died. George, their henchman, took her away. Another time, a girl named Didi gave birth too early. They tried to save her baby.
“It took a while to figure out how they were getting us to conceive. One day, my father brought a cooler to my mother. Inside, there were test tubes with semen in them.
“By then I was pregnant with Reed. He was born full-term. At eight weeks old, they took him from me and started the shots again. Another failed series later and another X. I kept trying to find a way out. I did my best to make the other girls strong. I guess they had enough of me.
“George, Tripp and Crawford dragged me into a van, and when we stopped, they dragged me into a tin house. They chained me to a post and left me in the cold.” She rubbed her scarred wrists. “By the time I broke free, I was frozen. I made my way out and ran. I was about thirty-five weeks along. I ran and walked and crawled. I found a cabin loaded with guns, and there was a metal box. It was marked with a skull and crossbones and a chemical equation.”
Her hand rubbed her belly. “I’d gone into labor along the way. I opened the box. It was filled with aluminum vials. One was marked Property of US Army, Fort Detrick. There was the chemical equation again. I could hear them coming for me, so I pulled the box along the ground and found a hole. I dropped it inside and crawled back. I heard my mother ordering people around. And then…I don’t remember.
“When I woke up, the doctors at the hospital told me I miscarried. But I know my little Birdie is out there somewhere.” She wrapped her arms around her knees.
* * *
Wes pressed his lips to her head as dread pounded in his chest. “All this information is so hard on you. If I could take the pain away, I would.” His hazel eyes held her gaze. He had to tell her. Would she walk away? He didn’t want to take his eyes off her. The fear of her rejection was burning a hole in his gut.Start easy…you have to do this.
“While you were sick, we put together some things. Resa Knolls was Theresa Murrow. A year after she was kidnapped, she married your brother Conrad. PA Tara Blanchard managed to get hired. I’m so sorry. She was married to your brother Weaver. No thanks to me, she’s in custody.”
I failed you. Why would you want me?
“As you told me, Starr was having an affair with Belinda. Phyllis suspected. She planned on confronting Belinda, and Starr killed them to hide the affair. As Hayes said, after their deaths, Lance Starr deceived you. Witsec never agreed to accommodate your staying put. As far as Witsec knew, you and Belinda chose to leave the program.
“Belinda was already involved in the baby selling. Starr’s wife was having fertility issues. She conceived, but after finding out about Starr’s affair with Belinda, she lost the baby. To try to help his wife get over the loss, Belinda helped Starr buy triplets. She found out Belinda and her husband were still having an affair and set her up with the baby sellers, never realizing Belinda was part of the ring. Cindy Starr thought you were collateral damage.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. Did Eleanor hate him? He sought her eyes, his own fright blocking his ability to read her. He tried to control his racing heart.
“You said you figured out I got the measles from my accident. How?” She wiped at her nose with her sleeve.
“The night you were found bleeding out, an eight-week-old was admitted to Children’s Hospital in West Virginia. Two days later, an infant girl was admitted, and another day later, two more children under eighteen months were admitted. Measles have to be reported by law, so we joined the health departments and began our own contact tracing. And we attempted to identify the children.”
He wanted to blurt out what he’d discovered, but there was so much more to tell her. He closed his eyes, held his breath and released it. His fingers and toes were tingling from breathing too fast.
