CHAPTER 3 THE WOMAN WHO SIGNED THE ORDERS
Judge Amelia Voss requested to speak with Claire that afternoon.
The former judge had been transferred to a federal medical prison after suffering heart complications. Her cooperation had helped authorities locate eleven victims, but she had never mentioned children identified by numbers.
Until now.
Claire entered the visitation room alone.
Amelia appeared older than Claire remembered. Her silver hair was thinner. Her shoulders had curved forward. A correctional officer removed her handcuffs and secured one wrist to the table.
“You look like your mother,” Amelia said.
Claire sat across from her.
“You didn’t ask me here to discuss my family resemblance.”
“No.”
“Where is Miriam Hale?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Amelia’s honesty felt rehearsed.
Claire placed the Polaroid on the table.
Amelia stared at the photograph.
Her breathing changed.
“Who gave you this?”
“It was left in Miriam’s room.”
Amelia looked toward the observation window.
“End this meeting.”
Claire did not move.
“You requested it.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Who is the boy?”
“I can’t help you.”
“You already helped erase eleven people.”
Amelia’s eyes hardened.
“I admitted what I did.”
“Admission is not the same as repair.”
“I know that.”
“Then start repairing it.”
Amelia lowered her voice.
“Project Lighthouse was not designed to imprison political enemies.”
“Not originally?”
“No.”
“What was it designed to do?”
Amelia looked at the photograph again.
“To create people who did not legally exist.”
Claire waited.
“The land operation was only one part,” Amelia continued. “Nathaniel’s company purchased remote properties. Daniel Cross supplied private contractors. Gideon Vale controlled court orders and government access.”
“And you supplied legal authority.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the children?”
“Some came from families considered vulnerable. Women escaping violent homes. Undocumented families. Parents facing criminal charges. Children in temporary custody.”
“You stole them.”
“I signed emergency guardianship orders. The records were altered afterward.”
“Where were they taken?”
“Different facilities.”
“How many?”
“I never saw a complete number.”
“Give me an estimate.”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“More than forty.”
Claire thought of Noah’s bracelet.
“N-17.”
Amelia’s eyes opened.
“Where did you hear that?”
“My son wore that number.”
For the first time, Amelia lost control of her expression.
“No.”
“You recognize it.”
“Claire, listen to me carefully. Do not discuss that number on a monitored line.”
“We’re being recorded right now.”
“I know.”
“Then say what you came to say.”
Amelia leaned forward as far as the restraint allowed.
“Lighthouse was a detention system. Harbor was an identity system.”
“What is Harbor?”
“The next phase.”
“Gideon Vale is in federal prison.”
“Harbor was never Gideon’s.”
“Whose was it?”
Amelia looked toward the camera in the corner.
A red light blinked.
She spoke louder.
“I take full responsibility for every order I signed.”
Claire recognized the change. Amelia was no longer speaking to her. She was creating a harmless recording.
Then the former judge dragged one fingernail across the tabletop.
Four letters appeared in the dust.
H-A-R-T
Claire kept her face still.
Amelia wiped away the name.
“The trials gave the public what it needed,” she continued. “Visible defendants. Convictions. Sentences. A conclusion.”
“But it wasn’t the conclusion.”
“No.”
“Who is Hart?”
Amelia’s hand trembled.
“A dead man.”
“Then why are you afraid of him?”
“Because powerful people are often more useful after they die.”
A correctional officer entered.
“Time.”
Amelia stood slowly.
Before she turned away, she whispered one final sentence.
“Ask Nathaniel where his father sent him after the inland facility.”
Claire returned to Open Door House after dark.
Nathaniel was waiting in the courtyard.
She showed him the word she had written in her notebook.
Hart.
Nathaniel stared at it.
“Do you know the name?”
“Yes.”
“Who was he?”
“Dr. Elias Hart. He managed private medical research for my father.”
“You told investigators you had never met the medical director.”
“I didn’t know his full role.”
“Where did your father send you after you saw those children?”
Nathaniel’s face became pale.
“To Hart’s clinic.”
“Why?”
May you like
Nathaniel looked toward the upper windows where Noah slept.
“To make sure I forgot what I had seen.”
