Page 63 of Counting Backwards

“And you won’t tell anyone you heard it from me?” He could have made a dig then about how practiced I was at keeping secrets. I was relieved he didn’t.

“No, of course not,” I assured him. “But wait.” My mind was running on overdrive, new thoughts bombarding me. “Do youthink this means everything is coming from the top at DeMarke? That it’s not just some underground scheme at Hydeford? It’s starting to look like company policy, unofficially sanctioned.” I felt faint at the very notion.

“Well, DeMarke is headquartered in Atlanta,” Vance said. “If it were company-sanctioned, it wouldn’t make sense that among so many detention centers, only one would be engaging in fraud.”

“It’s not just coming from the doctor though,” I said. “Now we know that at least.”

“Right,” he said, glancing down at my laptop as if he wanted to start doing more research, together.

“I’ve looked into how these facilities are structured,” I said, thinking back to all the information I’d been able to find online. “They have a local company for on-site management. There’s a facility manager, and his compensation is tied to the profitability of the center. The better the center does, the more the manager gets paid. The sterilizations may not be company-sanctioned, but they definitely appear to be facility-sanctioned. Encouraged even. So this isn’t just about controlling these women’s bodies,” I said, still mentally parsing through the information. “It’s also insurance fraud.”

“It backs up everything you’ve been saying,” Vance said, squeezing my hand. He was suddenly so very present for me. “They’re preying on people, doing some sort of eugenics or whatever you want to call it. And then they’re profiting from it to boot. The math proves it,” he said again, his voice thick with admiration. He looked at me with a light in his eyes I hadn’t seen in weeks, and I wanted to bask in it.

I grinned back at him, so relieved to have finally convinced him of what I’d known all along. I allowed myself another moment to absorb that Vance finally believed me, believedinme. He had seen hard evidence, which had restored his confidence in me. But thenI felt the familiar clench of annoyance creeping back into my chest as I wished he hadn’t needed outside evidence—that he’d simply believed in me from the start.

I couldn’t think about that now though, because I finally understood the true enormity of what I’d uncovered at Hydeford. Vance had been right about one thing all along—I’d bitten off way more than I could chew on my own.

“Vance.” I let myself collapse back against the couch. “With all these new possible defendants, this is too big a job for one person. It’s too big a job for two people or five people.”

“Let me help you,” he said. “I’ve stood in your way long enough. Let me help clear the path.”

Suddenly he was the Vance I’d been hoping for ever since my first trip to Hydeford. Of course I wanted his help. Needed his help. But it wouldn’t be enough.

“But what about us? You left me.”

Vance released a long breath.

“I didn’t reallyleaveyou,” he said. “Let’s not call it that. I just needed some time. I was angry. I mean, you did keep a huge secret about your identity from me. Even if you’d only known the truth for a few weeks, you still hid it.”

I didn’t interrupt to tell him that by saying the secret was tied up with my identity, he’d just validated my deepest worries: that he wouldn’t be able to separate me from my ancestral lineage.

“I mean, it’s not surprising that I would need a minute to process, right?” he continued, at least having the decency to offer an abashed smile. “Here I thought I’d married a straight arrow. Always coloring inside the lines, not breaking the rules, never straying from a certain narrow path. And then it turns out you have this nefarious family history that’s inspired you to go rogue, running into the craziest legal scenario you’ve ever dealt with, headfirst and all alone.”

It was true. Ihadalways been a rule follower, white-knuckling my way through life, single-mindedly pursuing my limited list of life goals. But the way I’d been living of late, trying to stand up for what was right instead of focusing on some grand master plan, felt so much better.

“You’re my wife,” Vance said, knocking his leg into mine in an affectionate gesture. “You’re carrying my child. And I love you. We’re going to be our own little family soon.”

I felt the tears that had been pooling in my eyes spill over at his words.

“Hey,” he said, moving next to me on the sofa. “Come here.” He wrapped his arms around me, and I relaxed into his hold. We stayed like that, clinging to each other. As I took comfort in our closeness, an image of Dustin flashed into my mind, unbidden. I pushed it away, unwilling to consider what it might mean.

After a while, I pulled back, wiping the sleeve of my hoodie against my cheek.

“Thank you for bringing this information to me, for trusting me with it and finally believing me,” I said, my voice wet. “But, Vance, I can’t take myself off the case.”

“Well, yeah, no. You can’t.” Now he was all matter-of-fact, like he’d never suggested otherwise. “I’ve been trying to think of a way for you to handle it. There has to be something in between working too hard and not at all. Right?”

It seemed he had more to say, but I held up my hand. I didn’t need him making a plan of action for me yet again. Whatever he was about to say would only fuel the resentment I was still feeling for the way he’d abandoned me, physically and emotionally. Besides, I had already hatched an idea on my own. Something I’d begun contemplating after my run-in with the cop. And now I knew what I would do.

“Vance,” I said, the word an instruction for him to stop talking. “I’ve got this. I know what I’m going to do.”

“You do?”

I tried not to be offended by the surprise on my husband’s face, and instead of laying into him for being condescending, I said, “I know this case should have a huge team of people working on it. I mean, we should be pushing for a congressional investigation and bringing down every last person and agency who is complicit in this situation.”

Vance nodded in agreement.

“We need people to help. And I know who to ask. I’m starting with Will Carbone.”