Chapter 10 - The Night Daniel Morgan Became a Killer
# Chapter 10 - The Night Daniel Morgan Became a Killer
The woman Daniel Morgan had supposedly murdered was standing in a locked room, holding his daughter hostage.
And according to Olivia, that was not the most frightening part of the story.
David stood in the dining room of the white house, staring at his first wife.
"Say that again."
Olivia's face was pale.
"Daniel, please—"
"You told me I killed Margaret."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Then explain why she's alive."
Olivia looked toward the window.
Outside, darkness had swallowed the trees. The gravel driveway was empty, but David no longer believed an empty road meant nobody was watching.
"Because the woman you knew as Margaret wasn't the woman who died."
David felt a cold sensation spread through his chest.
"What?"
Olivia closed her eyes.
"Seventeen years ago, Jonathan Morgan created two identities for the same person."
David stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because he needed someone who could move between the research program and the outside world without being connected to either."
"You're telling me Margaret had two identities?"
"No."
Olivia swallowed.
"I'm telling you there were two women."
David stepped backward.
"Two women?"
"One was your sister. The other was a patient Jonathan trained to impersonate her."
For several seconds, David could not speak.
Then he laughed.
It was a terrible sound.
"You expect me to believe my father created a duplicate of my sister?"
"Not a duplicate."
Olivia shook her head.
"A woman who resembled her. Someone whose records, appearance, and personal history were manipulated until people accepted her as Margaret."
David remembered the woman from Emma's video.
The pale eyes.
The familiar jaw.
The scar near her temple.
He had recognized her immediately.
But he had also recognized Claire in the hospital footage.
He had recognized his supposedly dead father in a photograph.
Recognition, he was beginning to understand, could be manufactured.
"Which Margaret did I kill?"
Olivia's eyes filled.
"The real one."
David stopped breathing.
At 11:41 p.m., Sarah Bennett was standing outside the Morgan Neurological Research Center with a gun pointed at her chest.
Officer Daniel Mercer held the weapon steadily.
Richard Hale stood several feet away, his face twisted with fear.
"Daniel," Sarah whispered, "put it down."
Mercer shook his head.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to do this."
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
Mercer's eyes moved toward the laboratory building.
"Jonathan was going to destroy everything."
Sarah frowned.
"What?"
"The verification record. The evidence. The identities. All of it."
Richard stepped forward.
"Mercer, listen to me."
"Stay back."
Richard stopped.
Sarah watched her partner carefully.
For three years, Mercer had worked beside her.
He had helped investigate missing children, violent crimes, and suspicious deaths.
He had attended her father's retirement dinner.
He had comforted her after difficult cases.
And now he was pointing a gun at her.
"Who are you really?" she asked.
Mercer hesitated.
Then he lowered his eyes.
"My name isn't Daniel Mercer."
Sarah felt cold.
"What is it?"
He looked toward Richard.
"Ask him."
Sarah turned.
Her father had gone pale.
"No," Richard whispered.
Mercer smiled bitterly.
"You recognize me now?"
Richard stared.
"Nathan?"
Sarah stopped breathing.
The name seemed to hang between them.
Nathan Morgan.
The child Margaret had supposedly lost seventeen years earlier.
The child whose identity had been reassigned.
The child everyone believed was Ethan Reed.
Sarah looked back at Mercer.
"That's impossible."
Mercer's expression hardened.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
David gripped the edge of the dining table.
Olivia had begun explaining the events of seventeen years earlier, but every answer seemed to make the past more impossible.
"The real Margaret discovered Jonathan's experiments," she said. "She found evidence that children were being moved between facilities and assigned false identities."
David closed his eyes.
He remembered a little girl hiding beneath his bed.
A yellow blanket.
A stuffed rabbit.
His sister.
"She tried to expose him," Olivia continued.
"And he replaced her?"
"Yes."
David stared.
"With whom?"
Olivia hesitated.
"A woman named Mara Voss."
The name meant nothing.
"Who was she?"
"One of Jonathan's earliest adult subjects. She had suffered a severe neurological injury. Her records were altered, and she was gradually introduced into Margaret's life."
David felt sick.
"Why would anyone accept that?"
"Because the two women rarely appeared together. Jonathan controlled their medical records, their addresses, and much of their contact with the outside world."
David shook his head.
"Someone would have noticed."
"Some people did."
"Who?"
Olivia looked away.
"Rebecca. Richard. Claire."
David felt anger rising.
"And you."
Olivia nodded.
"Yes."
He stepped closer.
"You all knew."
"Not everything."
"But enough."
She began crying.
"Daniel, I was terrified."
He looked at her.
"Of what?"
"Of Jonathan."
David felt the familiar pressure behind his eyes.
His father.
The man who had taught him to ride a bicycle.
The man who had praised his intelligence.
The man who had supposedly died when David was nineteen.
A man who had built a system capable of erasing people.
David looked toward the photograph on his phone.
"Tell me about the night Margaret died."
Olivia swallowed.
"She came to the laboratory."
"Why?"
"To confront Jonathan."
"Was I there?"
"Yes."
David closed his eyes.
A fragment of memory surfaced.
A corridor.
White walls.
A woman screaming.
Then darkness.
He opened his eyes.
"What happened?"
Olivia's voice trembled.
"Margaret had discovered that Jonathan was planning to move several children to another facility. She wanted to stop him."
"And?"
"She threatened to release the evidence."
David stared.
"What did I do?"
Olivia began crying harder.
"You tried to protect her."
He felt a flicker of relief.
Then she continued.
"But Jonathan told you she was an impostor."
David froze.
"What?"
"He showed you records claiming the woman standing in front of you was Mara Voss."
David felt cold.
"And I believed him?"
Olivia looked down.
"You were confused. Jonathan had been giving you medication. He told you Margaret was dangerous."
David stepped backward.
"No."
"Daniel—"
"No."
Olivia's voice broke.
"You thought she was going to hurt someone."
David stared at her.
"What happened?"
She whispered, "There was a struggle."
His hands began trembling.
"Did I shoot her?"
Olivia shook her head.
"No."
"Then how?"
"She fell."
David closed his eyes.
A flash.
A metal railing.
A woman's hand reaching toward him.
A scream.
Then a terrible sound.
He opened his eyes.
"She fell down the stairs."
Olivia nodded.
"Yes."
David covered his mouth.
For fifteen years, he had believed his greatest failure was losing Leo.
Now he was being told that he had once failed to save his sister.
And perhaps caused her death.
At 11:56 p.m., Sarah stared at Mercer.
"Nathan?"
He nodded.
Richard looked as though he might collapse.
"You're supposed to be dead."
Mercer laughed bitterly.
"That's a familiar sentence in this family."
Sarah tried to steady her breathing.
"Then who is Ethan Reed?"
Mercer's expression changed.
"A replacement."
Sarah frowned.
"What?"
"Jonathan needed everyone to believe Nathan Morgan was still a child when the records were reopened. Ethan was given my old identity."
Sarah stared.
"But Ethan is seventeen."
Mercer nodded.
"Yes."
"And you're—"
"Thirty-two."
Sarah felt the pieces shifting.
The timelines had never made sense.
Margaret's supposed son had disappeared seventeen years earlier at approximately five years old.
That child would now be in his early twenties, not seventeen.
Yet Mercer was thirty-two.
The age difference was even greater.
Sarah looked toward Richard.
"He's lying."
Richard closed his eyes.
"No."
She stared.
"Dad?"
Richard's voice trembled.
"Nathan Morgan was never a single identity."
Mercer lowered the gun slightly.
Richard continued.
"The name was reused. Several times."
Sarah felt sick.
"How many?"
Richard shook his head.
"I don't know."
Mercer looked at him with hatred.
"You know exactly how many."
Richard said nothing.
Sarah stared at her partner.
"Then who are you?"
Mercer's eyes filled with tears.
"I'm the first Nathan."
The words were barely audible.
"The one they erased before Daniel ever became David Carter."
At 12:08 a.m., David received a call from Claire.
He answered immediately.
"Where is Leo?"
"He's safe."
"Where?"
Claire hesitated.
"With me."
David closed his eyes.
"Claire, I need you to stop lying."
Silence.
Then she whispered, "I know."
He looked toward Olivia.
"Did you know my father was alive?"
"Yes."
"Did you know about Margaret?"
"Yes."
"Did you know about Ethan?"
Claire began crying.
"Yes."
David felt anger rising.
"Then tell me something true."
Claire was silent for several seconds.
Then she said, "Leo is your son."
David closed his eyes.
"Biologically?"
"Yes."
He swallowed.
"And Ethan?"
"Also your son."
David felt cold.
"How?"
Claire hesitated.
"Because Jonathan used your genetic material without your consent."
David stared.
"What?"
"Daniel, he was conducting reproductive research alongside the identity experiments. He believed genetic relationships could strengthen the verification system."
David felt sick.
"You're saying he created children using my DNA?"
Claire began crying harder.
"Yes."
David gripped the table.
"How many?"
She did not answer.
"Claire."
"I don't know."
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, he thought of Emma.
Ethan.
Leo.
Children whose lives had been shaped by decisions made before they could understand them.
Then Claire spoke again.
"David, you have to come to the laboratory."
He opened his eyes.
"Why?"
"Because Jonathan left something for you."
David felt cold.
"He's dead."
Claire hesitated.
"That's what Rebecca told me."
"Is it true?"
"I don't know."
David stared at the phone.
"Then why should I go?"
Claire's voice became urgent.
"Because the verification record is there."
He frowned.
"The original?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
Claire hesitated.
"Because I helped hide it."
David felt the room tilt.
"You?"
"Yes."
"With whom?"
Claire whispered, "Margaret."
David stopped breathing.
"The real Margaret?"
A long silence.
Then Claire answered.
"No."
At 12:19 a.m., Emma sat beside Mara Voss in the locked room.
The woman had stopped pretending to be Margaret.
She looked exhausted.
For the first time, Emma noticed the faint surgical scars near her hairline.
"Are you really Dad's sister?" Emma asked.
Mara shook her head.
"No."
Emma felt cold.
"Then why did you tell me you were?"
Mara looked down.
"Because I spent so many years being called Margaret that sometimes I forgot who I was before."
Emma stared.
"Did you know my real aunt?"
Mara nodded.
"Yes."
"Was she kind?"
Mara's eyes filled.
"Very."
Emma looked toward the door.
"Did Dad hurt her?"
Mara hesitated.
"That's what Jonathan wanted everyone to believe."
Emma frowned.
"What really happened?"
Mara closed her eyes.
"I was there."
"At the laboratory?"
"Yes."
Emma leaned closer.
"Then tell me."
Mara's voice trembled.
"Margaret discovered that Jonathan had been experimenting on children. She threatened to expose him."
Emma listened silently.
"Daniel tried to help her."
"Then why did she die?"
Mara looked toward the ceiling.
"Because Jonathan locked the stairwell."
Emma frowned.
"What?"
"He trapped them inside. He wanted Daniel to believe Margaret was dangerous."
Mara's hands began trembling.
"Then he released a gas into the corridor."
Emma felt sick.
"What kind of gas?"
"I don't know. Something that made people confused and frightened."
Mara continued.
"Daniel tried to get Margaret out. She fell during the struggle."
Emma whispered, "Did she die?"
Mara shook her head.
"Not immediately."
Emma stared.
"What happened?"
Mara's eyes filled.
"Jonathan took her away."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Emma felt cold.
"Then she might still be alive."
Mara looked at her.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, "That's what I've spent seventeen years trying to find out."
At 12:37 a.m., David arrived at the Morgan Neurological Research Center.
The building stood silent behind its metal fence.
Several windows glowed faintly.
He parked near the entrance.
Olivia had begged him not to go.
He had refused.
For fifteen years, other people had decided what he was allowed to know.
He was finished letting them choose.
He stepped through the gate.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the air smelled of disinfectant and old machinery.
A long corridor stretched ahead.
White walls.
Fluorescent lights.
A red line painted along the floor.
David stopped.
Something stirred in his memory.
He had walked this corridor before.
Not once.
Many times.
He remembered carrying a folder.
A woman laughing behind him.
A little boy running toward him.
Then the memory vanished.
He followed the red line.
At the end of the corridor stood a metal door.
A sign above it read:
MEMORY RECONSTRUCTION UNIT
David pushed it open.
Inside was a large laboratory.
Computer monitors lined the walls.
A medical chair stood beneath a ceiling-mounted camera.
On the far side of the room, a man lay motionless on the floor.
Jonathan Morgan.
David approached slowly.
His father's eyes were closed.
There was blood on his shirt.
David knelt beside him.
"Jonathan?"
No response.
He checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
His father was dead.
For real this time.
David sat back on his heels.
He had imagined confronting Jonathan.
Demanding answers.
Forcing him to explain every lie.
Now the man who had destroyed his life was lying motionless in front of him.
And David felt nothing.
Not grief.
Not relief.
Only emptiness.
Then a voice spoke behind him.
"Daniel."
He turned.
Rebecca Hale stood in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
She held a small metal case.
David rose.
"Where is Ethan?"
Rebecca looked toward Jonathan's body.
"He's gone."
"Who took him?"
She hesitated.
"Mara."
David stared.
"The woman pretending to be Margaret?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did you tell me Jonathan was dead?"
Rebecca looked down.
"Because he is."
David stepped closer.
"Who killed him?"
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"I did."
At 12:51 a.m., Sarah finally managed to persuade Mercer to lower his weapon.
Richard stood nearby, trembling.
Mercer looked exhausted.
"Sarah, you have to understand something."
She kept her hands visible.
"I'm listening."
He swallowed.
"Jonathan didn't just create false identities. He created a hierarchy."
Sarah frowned.
"What kind of hierarchy?"
"Some people were subjects. Others were handlers. Some were assigned to watch the subjects without knowing the full program."
Sarah felt cold.
"And you?"
Mercer looked away.
"I was both."
Richard closed his eyes.
Sarah stared.
"You were watching me?"
Mercer nodded.
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Since I joined the department."
She felt betrayed.
"Three years."
"Yes."
Sarah swallowed.
"Did you report everything I did?"
Mercer hesitated.
"At first."
"And later?"
He looked at her.
"I stopped."
"Why?"
His eyes filled.
"Because I fell in love with you."
Sarah froze.
For several seconds, she could not speak.
Mercer looked down.
"I know you won't believe me."
She stared.
"Daniel—"
"That's not my name."
Sarah felt tears rising.
"Then what is?"
He hesitated.
"My original name was Michael."
Richard looked sharply toward him.
Mercer continued.
"Michael Morgan."
Sarah stopped breathing.
"Morgan?"
He nodded.
"Jonathan's son."
Sarah stared.
"Then you're David's brother."
Mercer's eyes filled.
"Yes."
Richard whispered, "Michael."
Mercer turned toward him.
"You knew."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Sarah felt the world spinning.
Her partner.
The man she had trusted.
The man who had been secretly watching her.
Was David's brother.
And had been living under a false identity for years.
Then Mercer said something that made Sarah's blood run cold.
"Jonathan didn't erase Daniel because he wanted to punish him."
Sarah looked up.
"Then why?"
Mercer swallowed.
"Because Daniel discovered the truth about the children."
Sarah stared.
"What truth?"
Mercer's voice dropped.
"That none of them were supposed to exist."
Inside the laboratory, Rebecca placed the metal case on a table.
David stared at her.
"You killed my father."
Rebecca nodded.
"He was going to use Ethan."
"Use him how?"
"To activate the original verification record."
David frowned.
"Why would that kill him?"
Rebecca looked away.
"It wouldn't necessarily kill him. But Jonathan was willing to put him through an experimental procedure without his consent."
David felt sick.
"Then you stopped him."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
"Because the police have been part of this for years."
David thought of Richard.
Mercer.
Sarah.
Every person connected to the investigation.
He looked toward the case.
"What's inside?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"The original verification record."
David felt his pulse quicken.
"You found it."
Rebecca nodded.
"Yes."
"Then open it."
She shook her head.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because it requires your authorization."
David stared.
"My DNA?"
"Partly."
"What else?"
Rebecca looked toward the medical chair.
"Your memory."
David felt cold.
"Explain."
Rebecca swallowed.
"Jonathan designed the final verification process around a sequence of information only you knew before your injury."
David frowned.
"Then how am I supposed to unlock it?"
Rebecca looked at him sadly.
"By remembering."
David stared at the chair.
The camera.
The monitors.
The red line on the floor.
Something about the room felt familiar.
Terribly familiar.
He stepped toward the chair.
Rebecca moved quickly.
"Daniel, don't."
He turned.
"Why?"
"Because the last time you sat in that chair, you almost died."
David felt cold.
"What happened?"
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"Jonathan tried to reconstruct your memories after the accident. But he discovered something he hadn't expected."
David stared.
"What?"
Rebecca whispered, "You had already hidden the verification record from him."
David frowned.
"Where?"
She shook her head.
"We never found out."
David looked toward the case.
"Then what's inside?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"A copy."
He stared.
"You said it was the original."
"I lied."
David stepped backward.
Rebecca's expression changed.