[Raleigh home, 2:10 PM]

>>"Three days ago, some people turned up at my door. One of them was a nurse and the other said he was from the FBI. They had a warrant and they took blood samples from me and from the baby, but they wouldn't tell me why. I mean, I had heard from my doctor that there was going to be a federal investigation of the rape, but I don't understand why they wanted blood samples. What's going on?"

Three days ago, Kate thought. That was the same day Paul got the case. "Did you get the agent's name," she asked.

"May, I think. William May, something like that."

"Well, we've never heard of him," Kate said. "And we don't know why those tests were ordered. But we would like to ask you a few questions."<<

Kate and September thoroughly interviewed Christine. The M.O. was the same. Christine was attacked in her house. No one else, not even the other children or the dog, were at home.

"Christine, I need to ask you the same question that we've asked all of the other victims. Are you sure that the attacker is the father of your child? Could the father be someone else?" September delicately asked Christine.

"No, it's his. I haven't been with a man in awhile . . . so it's his. I almost had an abortion. Not that I believe in that sort of thing, but you just don't know what's gonna run through your head when something like this happens to you."

"I am sorry. But we have to ask these questions. We want to catch this guy before he attacks again."

[2:30 PM - In the car]

The door closed as September and Kate left Christine's home and walked to their car that was parked at the curb.

"We're getting nowhere with the victims. How is it that no one can give a positive i.d. except that he's in his late twenties, possibly thirty, dark hair, dark eyes", September asked Kate. "You think we should try to find Agent May?"

"It probably would be a waste of time. Whoever that was probably used a fake name."

Once in the car, September pulled out the case file and started to flip through it. She pulled out the notes with all of the victims listed on it and the photograph of Mrs. Lewandowski's son.

"Kate, this is gonna sound really bizarre, but I think we should get Mrs. Lewandowski's medical records from the birth of her son."

"Forty years ago!?! Even if the records are still around, which I doubt, it would take days to get a copy"

"What if Mrs. Lewandowski had twins?"

"Twins?"

"Yeah, hear me out. What if she had twins but didn't know she had twins. Maybe the doctor was part of the project", September proceeded. "Or . . . maybe she knows about the other twin. Maybe he's in a home or was adopted."

Kate scrunched up her forehead. Before she could respond to the twin theory that September had presented, her cell phone rang.

"Calloway".

"Agent Calloway, this is Detective Narrin. I just wanted to let you know that we may have a suspect on the rape case. We're holding him now. Do you want us to question him?"

"Has Agent Moran been told about the suspect?"

"No, ma'am. Agent Moran has left the office and I can't seem to reach him on his cell phone or at the hotel, so I decided to call you for further instructions."

"Ok, we'll be there shortly. In the meantime, I'll try to locate Agent Moran", Kate said as she pressed the End button on her cell phone. "Well, we may not need to get those records after all. It's look like the APB was answered."

"They found him? . . . Already?", September answered, surprised.

"They found a suspect. No one's questioned him yet. Moran doesn't even know about him. Okay, it's 2:30. Let's go back to Mrs. Lewandowski just as a precaution, and that should leave us just enough time to meet the others", Kate said putting the car in gear and driving off.

"What about the suspect?", September asked.

"Let's see what the others have found out and we can talk to the suspect later. Right now I need you to try to get a hold of Paul for me."

September called Agent Moran's cell phone several times, but either he wasn't answering his phone or he had turned it off.

[3:00 PM Mrs. Lewandowski's home]

It took several rings and a few raps on the door before Mrs. Lewandowski would acknowledge the two agents at the door. Mrs. Lewandowski finally opened the door.

"Mrs. Lewandowski, we need to ask you a few more questions", Kate started.

Mrs. Lewandowski let out an audible heavy sigh. "I told you and that other agent everything the last time you were here."

"Yes, but we need to know about your pregnancy?", Kate said.

Mrs. Lewandowski opened the door wider and hesitantly invited the two agents inside. Kate and September both sat down on the couch while Mrs. Lewandowski chose one of the armed chairs in front of the coffee table.

"What about my pregnancy?"

"Was it a normal pregnancy?", Kate asked.

"Normal? I guess so. I had the best of care."

"How so?", September asked, leaning in closer.

"I had my regular family doctor and a gynecologist. The only odd thing was that my gynecologist's office had someone come out and take weekly blood samples from me".

"Why did you need weekly blood samples? Were you a high risk pregnancy?", September asked.

"I don't think so. If I was, they never told me. I just assumed that it had something to do with the rape."

"Did your doctor also give you the results from the blood tests?", September asked.

"No. They told me that after they sent the blood work off to the lab, they would only contact me if there was a problem, and they never contacted me so I assumed everything was okay. But, once a month someone from the lab would come out to the house and check on me."

"From the lab?", Kate asked.

"Yeah, it was a little strange at the time because none of my other pregnant friends were getting the same treatment."

"Do you remember the name of the lab?", September asked hoping this was finally a lead.

"No, I sure don't. That was 40 years ago and my memory isn't as good as it used to be. But, there was only one laboratory in the entire Miami area at that time."

"Mrs. Lewandowski, this is going to sound like an odd question, but was that your only child?", September asked.

"Of course. Why would you . . . what do you . . ."

"We're just checking out all leads that's all, it's okay.", Kate said getting up and sitting next to Mrs. Lewandowski trying to reassure her. Kate had picked up her hand and was gently patting it.

"I know this is difficult, but we really need you to remember", September asked, "We just want to get the facts straight. One last question . . . where did you deliver your child at?"

"At Dadeland Memorial, why?"

"Thank you."

September and Kate thanked Mrs. Lewandowski for her time and left.

[In the car 3:00PM]

"What do you think?", Kate asked, getting into the car.

"I think there's more going on here than we thought. You wanna know what I really think?"

"Shoot."

"I think she had a twin. I also think that somehow the lab that took those tests every week has something to do with the project. What was the name of the project that was in that picture?"

"The Immaculate Conception Project."

"I think these women were carefully studied, chosen, and categorized. Maybe, the lab found these women, made sure they were healthy enough for the project, which they could easily have done if they had access to the doctor's medical records back at the office . . ."

"Then set them up for the rape. That's sick", Kate said suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

"Still, how is it possible that a man can have a fertilized cell in his body and pass it along to the woman without his body rejecting it?"

At that point, Kate could have sworn that she saw a lightbulb appear over September's head, just like in those cartoons that she used to watch when she was a child.

"Wait a minute, what if the woman was given a sedative to knock her out, then the procedure was done. Maybe it wasn't a rape after all. Maybe they just made it look like a rape had occurred."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe this Lewandowski boy was the original test subject for the project. The answers lie with that boy."

"But he's dead."

"I know, that's the only problem."

"That's a lot of work in one night . . . but the victims did say that no one was at home. They obviously had been carefully watched and they did strike when the timing was right.", Kate said pondering if this was feasible.

"We still would need a warrant to look at those records at Dadeland. That might be difficult without Agent Moran finding out. And if we tell him, he might get suspicious. If he is involved with this project and subsequently with these rapes, he'll fight us tooth and nail on the warrant", September said.

"We can discuss it when we meet the others at the marina. Maybe they got some leads for us to follow up on", Kate said turning the key in the ignition and driving off, heading toward the marina.


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