The Card in Her Bag

Chapter 3 The Invasion

At Northwood, the only sound in my temporary office came from the HEPA filters and the incubator alarms down the hall. The facility was sterile, controlled, and far enough from the penthouse for me to work without Julian watching over my shoulder.

After calibrating the primary cell incubator, I opened the secure camera feed. The high-definition image showed the full living room, including the sofa and the hall outside my study.

Chloe lounged on my velvet sofa in my favorite silk nightgown, the one I had bought in Italy. She opened my $1,000 jar of La Mer, scooped out a thick handful, and rubbed it into the soles of her feet. Then she left the jar open on the table.

Margaret carried in a tray and set a bowl of soup in front of her. “You need to keep your strength up. Unlike some barren hen who only knows how to work.”

I wrote down the time and kept watching.

When Julian came home, Chloe ran to him, pouting. “Julian, darling, I’m so bored. Can I look around Evelyn’s study? I need some inspiration for the company gala.”

Julian had not entered that study in years. It held my father’s books, my first research awards, and the few photographs I had kept after his death.

“Of course, baby. Make yourself at home.”

Chloe went into the study and picked up the silver letter opener my father had given me. She used it to cut through the tape on a package. The blade slipped across her fingertip before she could pull it away.

She yelped. A drop of blood landed on the glass over my face in our wedding photo.

Margaret rushed in and grabbed Chloe’s hand. “Oh, you poor thing!” She pressed her bare thumb against the cut.

I leaned closer to the screen and paused the image. Margaret had a split beside her thumbnail. Chloe’s cut was still open, and neither woman wore gloves. Their blood touched with no barrier between them.

Then Margaret used the same thumb to wipe the blood from the photo, dragging the smear across the glass before cleaning it with her sleeve.

I closed the laptop.

The contact had happened. Replaying it would change nothing, so I saved the footage with the date and time attached. Then I returned to the incubator and recorded the next set of trial readings.