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The nausea passed and it was replaced by a flood of anger.
“Are you happy, Cat? You never gave up, you dug around and finally figured it out.”
His voice rang out in the night. She looked down at her feet.
“Let me ask you,” he went on. “How does this serve us? Whatgooddoes it do us?”
She looked up at him with a frown. “It’s the truth.”
“The truth is overrated.”
“You would rather live your life not knowing where you came from?”
“Actually, yes,” he said. “I’d rather not have known this, Cat. It’s toxic. It’s poison.”
He was embarrassed when angry tears trailed down his face. He thought of Piper, of Luke, of the things his father-in-law had said. He swiped at his face, turned to the water. It churned, black and deep. He should just fall into it, let it wash him away.
“I’m sorry,” said Cat. She put a tentative hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you’re right. Just forget it. You’re a good guy, Henry. Whatever dark thing lived in his DNA, it hasn’t touched you.”
That feeling, the one he’d had since he was a kid, how he wasn’t enough, that there was something deeply wrong with him. It was a tsunami inside him, rushing, swamping, raging.
“Genetics,” Cat went on when Henry stayed quiet. “As much as they know, theydon’t knoweven more. A gene for violence doesn’t mean you’ll be violent. A gene for cancer doesn’t mean you’re destined get sick. It’scomplicated.”
“Cat,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Is it you? Are you behind the deaths of our half siblings, of Marta Bennet? That guy in Fort Lauderdale.”
She leaned on the concrete railing, pushing in close to him. He didn’t shift away from her. In fact, he wanted to take her into his arms and hold her, comfort her. He loved her because they were connected. More than that. He just loved her, even though she was broken.
“A few of us are okay, you know?” she said. “Like you. You’re living an honest, hardworking life. You’re contributing something, loving people, taking care of your family.”
Low risk, that’s what West called it. You don’t drive drunk. You buckle your seat belt. You don’t lie to people or steal from them. You don’t hurt anyone. You donate to charity, volunteer for a cause.
“Some of us are not,” she continued.
A big freighter drifted toward the bridge, a marine horn sounding, announcing its arrival to port.
“Some people,” she said, shaking her head. She let go of a little laugh. “Let’s put it this way. It’s just better for everyone if they’re removed from the gene pool.”
Her voice had taken on an angry edge. Henry stared at the hard lines of her profile, her words sinking in.
“That’s eugenics, Cat,” he said.
She shrugged slowly. “I prefer to think of it as Darwinism.”
“Darwinism isorganic. It’s natural selection.” She didn’t turn to look at him, just kept her eyes on the churning water. “Eugenics is something else. It’s someone making a decision, usually a very bad one, about who should procreate or not. It’s the stuff of Nazis and mad scientists trying to create a superrace. It’s state-sanctioned sterilization of the poor, the mentally ill, the criminal. It’s dark, Cat. It’swrong.”
She turned her gaze up at the sky. He didn’t think she was going to answer him.
Then, “Sometimes nature doesn’t know what’s good for it. It needs a little help. There are a couple of us who feel this way, Henry. A couple of our half siblings.”
He stared at the hard lines of her profile, the determined set of her jaw. He could hardly believe what he was hearing.
“So—what?” he asked finally. “You’re trying to figure out which of his children are monsters? And then you’re—killingthem?”
She shook her head. “I never said that.”
“Look,” he said turning to her. He took her by the shoulders and stared right into her eyes. They were black pools, cold and swirling. “You can drop this, whatever it is you’re doing. Just walk away. Start right here, right now. Be a part of our family, build a life of your own. You’re smart. You’re beautiful. It’s all right in front of you.”
She smiled, put a hand to his cheek. For a moment, her face softened.
