Chapter 18 - The Children From the Database
The investigation eventually located every surviving child from Leonard’s program.
Some chose contact with biological relatives.
Others did not.
Courts preserved the families that had acted in good faith while prosecuting those who knowingly participated.
A compensation fund was created from the Morgan estate.
I surrendered my claim to most of the inherited fortune.
The money had been used to create the program.
It would now fund therapy, legal representation, genetic counseling, and medical care for the children harmed by it.
We established the Open Door Foundation.
Lily chose the name.
“No locked rooms,” she said.
The foundation’s symbol was a doorway with morning light beyond it.
Rachel managed survivor services.
Detective Cole joined the advisory board after retirement.
Ava helped design spaces for children who feared hospitals.
Sam volunteered in the technology room.
Lily painted a mural.
It showed three children standing beside a broken freezer.
Behind them, the garage door was wide open.
At the bottom she wrote:
FOUND IS NOT THE SAME AS SAVED.
STAYING IS WHAT SAVES US.
I cried when I read it.
She rolled her eyes.
May you like
“Dad, it’s just paint.”
“No,” I said. “It’s the truth.”
