In Death 21 - Origin in Death

properties, arms, connections, looking for locations that might provide him with privacy for side projects.
    She found dozens: homes, hospitals, offices, treatment and health renters, research facilities, physical, mental, emotional rehabilitation centers, and combinations thereof. Some he owned outright, some were owned by his foundation, others he had interests in, or was affiliated with, or served in some capacity.
    She separated them into her own priorities, concentrating first on locations where Icove had held full control.
    Then she rose and paced. She couldn't discount the sites that were out of the country, even off planet. Nor could she positively state she wasn't chasing the wild goose by concentrating on this single angle.
    But she wasn't, Eve thought as she stared out at the bleak November sky through her skinny window.
    The doctor had kept a secret, and secrets were what haunted. Secrets were what hurt.
    She should know.
    He'd given them labels, she thought. Denying people a name dehumanized them.
    They'd given her no name when she'd been born. Had given her none for the first eight years of her life while they had used and abused her. Dehumanizing her. Preparing her. Training her through rape and beatings and fear to make a whore of her. She'd been an investment, not a child.
    And it was that not-quite-human thing that had broken, that had finally broken and killed what had tormented and imprisoned her.
    Not the same. Roarke was right, it wasn't the same. There was no mention of rape in the notes. No physical abuse of any kind. On the contrary, care seemed to have been taken to keep them at the height of physical perfection.
    But there were other kinds of abuse, and some of it looked so benign on the surface.
    Somewhere in those notes was motive. Somewhere beyond them was more specific documentation. That's where she'd find Dolores.
    "Eve."
    She turned at Mira's voice. Mira stood in the open doorway, hollow-eyed. "I came to apologize for brushing you off this morning."
    "Not a problem."
    "Yes, it is. Mine. I'd like to come in. Close the door."
    "Sure."
    "I'd like to see what you wanted to show me this morning."
    "I consulted another medical expert. It isn't necessary for you to-"
    "Please." Mira sat, folded her hands in her lap. "May I see?"
    Saying nothing, Eve got the papers, gave them to Mira.
    "Cryptic," Mira said after a few moments of silence. "Incomplete. Wilfred was a meticulous man, in all areas of his life. Yet in their way these are meticulously cryptic."
    "Why aren't they named?"
    "To help him keep his distance, his objectivity. These are long-term treatments. I would say he didn't want to risk emotional attachment. They're being groomed."
    "For?"
    "I can't say. But they're being groomed, educated, tested, given the opportunity to explore their personal strengths and skills, improve their weaknesses. Those in the lower percentile are terminated as patients after it's deemed they're unlikely to improve. He sets the bar high. He would."
    "What would he need to pull this off?"
    "I'm not sure what this is. But he'd need medical and laboratory facilities, rooms or dormitories for the patients, food preparation areas, exercise areas, educational areas. He would want the best. He'd insist on it. If these girls were indeed his patients, he would want them comfortable, stimulated, well treated."
    She looked up at Eve. "He would not abuse a child. He would not harm. I don't say this as his friend, Eve. I say this as a criminal profiler. He was a fiercely dedicated doctor."
    "Would he conduct experiments outside the law?"
    "Yes."
    "You don't hesitate on that."
    "He would consider the science, the medicine, the benefits and the possibilities more important than law. Often, they are. And on some level, he would consider himself above the law. There was no violence or cruelty in him, but there was arrogance."
    "If he was spearheading, or even involved in a project that was grooming-as you said-young girls into what some might consider perfect women, would his son have known?"
    "Without question. Their pride in each other-their affection for each other-was genuine and deep."
    "The kind of facility you've described, long-term treatment as indicated by the data, the equipment, the security. All of that would cost big."
    "I imagine it would."
    Eve leaned forward. "Would he agree to meet with ... let's call her a graduate of his project? She was a label to him, a subject-and still he worked with her for