The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (22 page)

“
What you
think
she can do,” said
Binny cautiously.

“
Yes. Of course.” Huitre
allowed Zach and Binny to continue to deny the existence of
Cassie’s powers.

“
But you admit that Luce
Laboratories is interested in Cassie?” Zach kept up the
interrogation.

“
Yes. That is true. They
are interested. But I am not entirely sure why.”

“
It’s because of that
experimental drug you gave my mom!” Binny accused.

Huitre sighed. “You may be right about
that.”

Binny could hardly believe that Huitre
was confirming everything she had suspected. She had known there
was something fishy about him, and here was proof that she was
right.

Huitre continued. “I am your mother’s
doctor. And by extension I am your doctor. I would never knowingly
recommend or administer any medicine that I thought would harm
her.”

“
Knowingly? Knowingly? So
you admit that the drug did something?” Binny’s voice was
raised.

“
No no. Of course not. I
thought at the time, and still do, since I have no evidence to the
contrary, that your mother participated in a clinical trial of a
fertility drug which happily resulted in the three of you.
But…”

“
But you’re not 100% sure
whether this fertility drug had other effects,” Zach said quietly.
It was more of a statement than a question.

“
No. I am not sure.
Because the people at Luce Laboratories have asked all the doctors
who participated in the study for updates on any children born as a
result of this drug trial. To report back on any
‘abnormalities’.”

“
Abnormalities?
Abnormalities? They think the drug might result in something being
wrong with Cassie?”

“
Not just Cassie. All of
you. But the only subject who has exhibited anything out of the
ordinary has been Cassie. Unless either of you can do something you
have not told me about.”

“
Of course not.” Binny
immediately chimed in. Zach didn’t say anything until Binny glanced
sideways at him, prompting him to agree.

“
Of course not. No.” Zach
concurred.

“
It is normal for drug
companies like Luce to follow up on clinical trials many years
later. But usually they will articulate specific issues that might
come up. Things the doctor should look for. They haven’t done that.
So that is a bit worrisome.”

“
So tell them that there
are no abnormalities and we can all move on with our lives.” Binny
seemed satisfied with her suggestion.

Huitre thought for a second, “The
people at Luce seem determined to bring Cassie in for an
examination regardless of what I say. I think we should agree to
bring Cassie in for the exam under my supervision. I will be there
the whole time. When they do not find anything, Cassie will be free
to go and then you can move on with your lives.”

“
Your ‘supervision’ is
what got us into this situation in the first place.” Binny
responded sharply.

“
The abnormality they’re
looking for is the ‘special power’ you think you saw Cassie
perform,” noted Zach. You think the ‘fertility’ treatment is
responsible for this power. You think they did it on purpose. You
believe that Luce Laboratories gave our mom this drug in the hope
that Cassie would develop a super power.”

Huitre’s face said everything Binny
needed to know. Binny stood up, “You did this to all of us! You
were in on it! And now you want to put Cassie in
danger!”

“
Binny, I am so sorry
about my involvement. But I truly believe…”

Binny cut him off, getting even
angrier, “You know what? I don’t really care what you believe. You
expect me to let you take my sister over to Luce Laboratories to
poke and prod her? I don’t trust them. And I don’t trust you. I
think you’re hiding something.” Zach was standing now too. He put
his hand on Binny’s shoulder to try and calm her down. She didn’t
seem to notice.

“
What if they do find
something? Or what if they
pretend
to find something? If they weren’t honest about
the drug you gave our mom, then what makes you think they’d be
honest about this? Everyone told me it was nothing. But it’s
not
nothing. Something’s
not right here!” Binny was yelling loudly. Her hands were
shaking.

“
Binny, calm down. I
promise I will supervise. Nobody will get hurt. I do not believe
Luce Laboratories intended or intends to hurt anyone. This is about
making sure that all you kids are safe. Not to mention, I do not
think we have a choice. I will call the lab. You will see. It will
be fine.”

While Dr. Huitre’s house had multiple
floors, the area in which a yelling match was currently taking
place was one tall room, with skylights up in the ceiling and a
large modern chandelier made of metal on a large chain that snaked
through a loop in the that ceiling and then was connected to a spot
on the wall nearby. The chandelier could be raised or lowered by
pulling on the chain.

Binny and Zach wouldn’t have noticed
the chandelier except that just as Dr. Huitre said he was going to
call the lab, it came flying down, landing directly on his head.
Huitre hit the floor, then his body was still. Everything seemed to
freeze for a second. When Binny and Zach looked up, standing by the
wall where the chain holding up the chandelier had been attached,
stood Penny.

They looked back down at Dr. Huitre
lying on the floor, a small crimson pool forming around his
head.

17

“
Oh no. I’m so sorry. I
thought he was going to send Cassie away. Is he ok?” Penny looked
scared.

Cassie had finally looked up from her
intense coloring session to see what was happening.

“
Did you do that?” Binny
wondered aloud, sounding more calm than she felt.

Zach knelt down by Huitre to inspect
the damage.

“
I felt bad about leaving
you guys. I knew you were coming here, and I wanted to make sure
you were ok. I went through the backyard, and snuck in through the
broken back door. Things started getting out of hand, and you
looked so upset, and he said he was gonna call Luce Laboratories,
and I just stood up and I must have accidentally unlocked the
chain.” Penny was in tears now. “Is he dead?” she
wailed.

“
He’s alive.” Zach had two
fingers pressed to Dr. Huitre’s neck, carefully avoiding the blood
that was slowing to a trickle from the small gash on the doctor’s
head. “I think he’s what they call ‘out cold’.”

“
Will he be alright?”
Cassie was now peering down at the doctor too. Finally something
was more interesting than her coloring.

“
That cut looks bad.”
Penny was still sniffling and the look of worry hadn’t left her
face.

“
I think it looks worse
than it is.”

As the children pondered his condition
Dr. Huitre started to stir.

“
He’ll be fine. See? He’s
waking up. We need to leave.” Binny’s tone left no room for
argument. “Now!”

§

Binny led them out the door, but not
towards the Jordan house. Cassie was clutching the coloring she’d
managed to grab before her the older kids had shooed her out of the
house.

“
Why are we going to the
woods?” Zach asked softly, not wanting to agitate his sister
further.

“
I need to
think.”

The foursome followed the winding path
that Binny had walked on her own so many times before.

“
Ooh. Cool.” Penny
stretched out the words when they arrived at the abandoned car that
had been Binny’s secret hideout for so long.

“
Is this where you always
run off to?” Zach had a smile on his face.

Binny looked up a little sheepishly,
finally letting go of a little of the tension that had built up.
“Caleb calls it my ‘fortress of solitude’.”

“
Your fortress is a little
rusty.” Zach teased.

Everyone laughed.

Cassie headed towards the space where
the car door had been.

“
Don’t go in there!” Binny
stopped Cassie in her tracks. “There’s dog poop. I haven’t had a
chance to clean it out yet.”

“
Ewww.” Cassie thought
better of her original plan.

The kids sat down on a pair of logs
near the car. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I swear.” Penny was still
pretty shaken about the chandelier dropping on Huitre’s
head.

“
I don’t know that you had
anything to do with it. The chandelier could just be a coincidence.
And besides, he was up to no good. He knew that Luce Labs was up to
something, and this is the proof.” Binny brandished the cellphone
in her hands.

“
Right. You recorded him!”
Penny looked a little bit relieved.

“
Why does it only say 18
seconds?” Binny was starting to sound nervous.

“
What do you mean?” Zach
asked.

“
The recording. The phone
says the recording is only 18 seconds long.”

Binny hit the play button. The
recording ended when Huitre let them in the door. “Argh! I was
holding it, I must have accidentally turned it off.” Binny looked
utterly dejected. All that for nothing!

Penny and Zach tried hard to stay
quiet and not catch Binny’s eye. She was looking absolutely
miserable. Penny looked up at the branches overhead. Zach chose to
stay focused on Cassie to make sure his eyes didn’t wander. That’s
when it caught his eye. A symbol he’d seen before.

“
Cassie, what is that?”
Zach pointed at the papers Cassie was holding.

“
My coloring. Wanna
see?”

Zach eagerly took possession of the
papers.

“
You’re looking at the
wrong side.”

Zach was holding the first sheet, but
Cassie’s drawing of a pink limousine was facing the
ground.

“
I think you guys are
gonna want to see this.”

“
You’re still looking at
the wrong
side
.”
Cassie whined.

Binny and Penny gathered behind Zach,
looking at the back of Cassie’s drawing. The Luce Laboratories logo
was at the top. As were the names Julie Jordan and Cassie Jordan
listed as “TRIAL PARTICIPANT” and “TRIAL PARTICIPANT OFFSPRING”. In
one corner of the page was a symbol that looked familiar to Binny,
but she couldn’t quite place it. “What is this?” she finally asked
Zach.

“
I think it might be the
proof you’ve been looking for.” Zach examined the papers further.
“It looks like records of Mom’s participation in that trial. They
don’t reveal anything about the purpose of the trial, but they do
prove what Huitre said – that Luce Labs is interested in
Cassie.”

“
I see you children have
made some progress.” The children looked up over their shoulders to
see Caleb towering over them, inspecting the papers Zach was
holding.

Binny jumped a bit when she realized
he was there. “Caleb, you scared us!”

“
I wasn’t scared.” Zach
joked.

“
Shush!”

“
Sorry Miss Jordan. I do
pride myself on keeping my noise pollution to a minimum. Next time
I’ll rustle a few more leaves.”

“
Thank you.”

“
Now let’s see what you
have there.”

“
It’s a pink limousine. My
limousine.” Cassie tried to be helpful.

Caleb smiled, as Zach offered up the
papers. He reviewed them in earnest while the children waited for
his verdict.

“
Well, it is a pink
limousine. And a sparkly and expensive one at that.” Caleb
addressed his comment directly to Cassie, and then to the others,
“But it looks like little Miss Jordan chose just the right scrap
paper to draw on. Did you get this at Luce
Laboratories?”

“
No. We got mango there.”
Penny offered helpfully.

“
Then you got this at Dr.
Huitre’s house I assume?”

They all nodded.