Showdown in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #3)(79)

“I’m not sure, either. But let’s go over what we know. Someone helped these parents conceive babies that were not biologically their own, and Spencer was present on the base when every one of those babies was conceived.”

“You think he gave them in vitro—without them even knowing?”

“Could be. The actual insertion of the egg wouldn’t require much more than an extensive exam. Spencer could have said their Pap was irregular in order to do more ‘tests,’ ” Raissa answered. “So, continuing with what we have so far, someone was keeping tabs on the kids and arranged an abduction around the time the girls started showing symptoms of a stomachache.”

“A possible precursor to cancer,” Zach chimed in.

“Right. The girls are taken for a week, then returned—perfectly healthy and with no memory of what happened.”

“Okay, even if I buy that Spencer impregnated these women against their will, where did the eggs come from? They had to be the same person, right? There’s no way they’d develop the same disease at the same age otherwise. Wouldn’t that imply a genetic similarity?”

Raissa nodded. “I think so.”

“But that doesn’t explain Melissa Franco. Why start all this again after nine years had passed?”

“My best guess is that when Susannah Franco couldn’t get pregnant, she talked about it with her family. I’m certain Monk Marsella is the one who kidnapped those other girls, and he must have known enough about what was going on to convince whoever he was working for to do it for Susannah.”

“You think Monk Marsella strong-armed Dr. Spencer into impregnating Susannah with a bionic baby?”

“Monk could’ve threatened to expose the other girls, so he agreed to the procedure.”

“Then why wait almost six years after creating Melissa to kill him?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it looks like someone’s eliminating all liability associated with this mess. That would also explain why Dr. Spencer’s car has a bullet hole, likely from my gun, in his trunk. He must have seen Melissa going into my shop after the appointments. He knew I could expose his relationship with Melissa and her mother.”

“And on the day of the kidnapping, you went to the police station. It must have been Spencer who pushed you in front of the bus.” Zach was beginning to think that in a bizarre, out-of-this-world sort of way, things were starting to make sense. “That would explain why Susannah lied about Melissa’s medical condition, and why I got the feeling she wasn’t as worried as her husband. She already knew where Melissa was and why. She knew they were going to do something that would kill off the cancer. She knew Melissa would return to her, the perfect child.”

“Exactly. And I think that treatment involved a blood transfusion from Hank Henry.”

“Whoa, you lost me here.” Zach shook his head. So much for things making sense. “Why Hank? Because he was abducted?”

“Because he was abducted by an alien, like the others, and because he had a needle mark in his arm and was anemic when he was brought into the hospital. They were giving him iron pills, remember?”

“Okay, I’ll bite—why Hank Henry?”

“We know Hank couldn’t have been Helena’s biological son,” Raissa explained. “But he’s obviously tied up in this mess, because Monk mentioned his name to Sonny in connection with the kidnapping—Sonny just didn’t know why. And from everything Maryse told me, the man’s never been sick a day in his life. I think Hank is the original version of the bionic baby, and a successful one. He supposedly had periodic problems with anemia, but what if it was because they were harvesting blood from him? Doing a transfusion to save the other girls?”

“But Hank’s never been kidnapped before.”

“No. Because he’s always been available, and I think that’s why Helena was impregnated. So they could keep an eye on their work. Until the last couple of years, at least, when Hank pulled a disappearing act.”

“But the only person who could have gotten that much blood from him without anyone suspecting something is—”

“Yes,” a voice sounded behind them. Raissa and Zach whirled around to find Dr. Breaux standing in the doorway, a 9-millimeter in his hand.





“I’m really sorry you had to push the issue,” Dr. Breaux said. “We’d stopped our work here because it was too dangerous, but then Monk insisted we start again. I knew impregnating Susannah would be a mistake, but we couldn’t afford to kill her. We weren’t sure how much her cousin had told her, and with her husband’s connections…”

He motioned to both of them with his gun. “Put your hands up and step out from behind that desk.”

Raissa glanced at Zach, who barely shook his head. There was no way to get to their weapons in time. They stepped out from behind the desk and walked toward the doctor until he told them to stop, about ten feet in front of him. “You”—Dr. Breaux waved his gun at Zach—“take out your gun. Slowly, or I shoot her right now. Slide it across the floor to me.”

Zach slid his pistol out of his hip holster and pushed it across the floor toward the doctor.

“Now you,” Dr. Breaux said, and motioned to Raissa.

Raissa removed her pistol from the back of her jeans and slid it across the floor. She made no move at all for her ankle holster and hoped the doctor had no idea she always doubled up on weapons.