Chapter 14 - THE REPLICA DINING ROOM
The business card led investigators to a warehouse.
Inside was a complete replica of Alana’s dining room.
Same table.
Same chandelier.
Same navy gown.
Same yellow gown.
Same plastic plate.
Actors and trained family doubles rehearsed humiliation scenes for inheritance disputes and custody cases.
The Parker dinner had become a template sold by the continuity company.
A system called TABLEKEEPER used emotional reactions to recommend who should control family assets.
The original video had trained it.
TABLEKEEPER generated new versions in which Dustin obeyed, I apologized, and Alana remained head of the family.
Dustin watched once.
“That didn’t happen.”
“No.”
“Could they make people believe it?”
“Only if the real evidence disappears.”
Independent archives preserved every record.
The server branches were disconnected separately.
No one person gained control.
Then a final live feed appeared.
Alana’s old dining room.
She sat at the head of the table.
Young again.
Free.
A seven-year-old Dustin stood beside her holding a plastic plate.
The real Dustin was twenty-one and beside me.
The younger boy looked into the camera.
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“Mom... she said I have to eat it.”
Read Chapter 15 to discover why two Dustins returned to the same table.
