His apartment overlooked a gray stretch of water.
Books occupied nearly every surface.
The man himself was thin and sharp-eyed.
He studied my face.
Then Lily’s photograph.
“Remarkable,” he murmured.
“You knew Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Did she come to you about the study?”
He nodded.
“She discovered clerical changes in the database.”
“What kind?”
“Family relationships had been reassigned.”
Stephen frowned.
“Why?”
Mercer sighed.
“Because the original database was a disaster.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Not a conspiracy. Incompetence.”
That wasn’t what I’d expected.
Mercer explained.
The study had been assembled from several incompatible employee systems. Spouses, children, former employees, and dependents were duplicated or mismatched.
A consulting company attempted to repair the database.
In doing so, they changed family identifiers.
“Claire believed the changes were intentional,” Mercer said.
“Were they?” Daniel asked.
“Some may have been.”
The room went quiet.
Mercer folded his hands.
“There was pressure.”
“From Harlow?”
