Wade picked up the article as Winston continued to talk. It did not take long for him to absorb the article and move to the next.
“It took a few years to piece all of this together,” Winston stated. “Those clinics, every one of them had different owners listed, but they were all funded by this man.” He pointed to a picture of a tall, white-haired older man standing with a cane in a white lab coat, with a younger man next to him. “His name is Bradford Chambers.”
Monty and Wade glanced at each other. “Did you say Bradford Chambers Jr.?”
“No,” Winston shook his head and pointed. “That man is Bradford Chambers Sr. Before his death, he owned damn near everything in Bristol, Tennessee, a lot of land in Virginia and North Carolina. I dug as deep as I could into his life and found something interesting. He and his wife started an organization that goes by the name of The Society of Intellectual Beings. The Society’s main function was testing people’s IQ in various ways. This knocked me for a loop, because my daughter, Nannette, was tested by these same people when she was admitted to college.”
Rachel took over from there. “When Winston contacted me with this story, I did a little more research and found that during the last thirty years, the Chambers family, and it is a family business now, also have studies on … wait for it … genetic testing and in vitro fertilization.”
“They are trying to create intelligent beings,” Wade surmised.
“Yes,” Rachel stated and continued. “I know this sounds farfetched, but hear me out. I think these people are into some freaky shit. They are using the clinics to take and harvest eggs from the females identified in the IQ testing labs and pairing them with the sperm from highly intelligent men.”
“Then what?” Monty asked.
“Duh, The Society of Intellectual Beings … They are trying to create a universe of brainiacs like you and him,” she pointed to Wade.
“They would need females to implant the embryo and carry the child to term,” Wade stated. “I’m not discounting the theory, but there are so many questions that have to be explained. Where do they get the women? Who raises the children? How are they tested? Who sets the standards for success or failure?”
“What happens if the experiment fails?” Monty asked.
Wade had learned to not discount Rachel’s theories. She had proven to be right on most of them. But he still had questions. The main one being, what did all of this have to do with him and his brothers? “Okay, stop,” Wade stood. “Before we get carried away with what-ifs, let’s take a moment to break down what we know and think it through.” He looked at Winston. “I have no idea what your plans are today, but I would appreciate it if you could hang around.”
“I’ve been waiting for a break on this story for years.” Winston nodded. “That’s why I brought it to Rachel’s attention. Her mind is unlimited to possibilities. I can stay as long as you need me.”
“Good,” Monty replied. “Next steps are to dig deeper into the Chambers. Your article mentions Bradford Chambers Sr. We know there is a Jr. out there. Do you have any information on him?”
“Only that he took over the operations at the Society after old man Chambers died,” Winston stated.
“You have to have deep financial pockets to keep an operation like this going,” Monty stated. “The family may have deep pockets, but somewhere along the way, funding was needed. We’re talking a span of thirty years or more.”
“Follow the money, not just on the financing of the clinics. Check the Chambers wealth. Where did it come from, and have they sustained it over the years?” Wade nodded. “Once that is uncovered, I bet my last dollar it will lead us to the why of all of this.”
“We have the resources to dig deeper into their records. Somewhere along the way, documentation of these procedures was made,” Rachel declared.
“The question is, how do we get that documentation?” Winston asked. “I checked public records and did not get much of anything on The Society. It seems only a few privileged people even know of its existence.”
Wade smirked. “Everything is document in this age of computer systems. If it’s on a computer, it can be found.”
“You just hit the nail on the head,” Ross said from the doorway.
They all turned to see him leaning against the entrance.
“Good morning, Ross,” Wade spoke. “What do you mean?”
“The age of computerized systems is what I think may have caused Kate’s death.”
“What?” Wade asked as Ross walked into the room. “Who?”
Ross glanced at Winston.
“Winston Nadler, my brother, Ross Tyson,” Wade introduced the men. “Winston has shared some interesting information with us this morning. You were at the Department of Social Services. What did you find?”
“Very little. Due to confidentiality clauses, they were not able to share anything on the children Kate was working with, including us. However, one bit of information they shared was very interesting.”
They all looked at him expectantly.
“Well for goodness sakes, don’t keep us waiting, man, tell us what you found,” Rachel fumed.
“Patience, little woman … patience,” Ross replied.
“Do I look like a little woman to you? No, I do not. And I look less like a patient woman than little. Now what information did they give you?”
Wade reach over to take Rachel’s hand. “Give him a minute. Ross is trying to find the words to explain what he is about to tell us.”
“Are you reading his mind or something?” she asked.
“No, just his body language,” Monty replied. “But he is right.” He nodded at Ross. “Say it. We will figure it out once it’s on the table.”
Ross nodded. “On the day Kate died, the Department of Social Services had just implemented a new computer system. Kate had begun the process of entering her cases into their system when she was killed.”
Wade and Monty glanced at each other.
“A coincidence?” Winston raised an eyebrow.
Monty sat forward. “I don’t think so. Did you get access to any of her files?”
“No,” Ross replied. “Not even ours.”
“You may need a court order to get those files,” Rachel stated.
“Or hack into their computer system,” Ross stated.
“Before we go around breaking the law, Dan stated he still has the boxes from Kate’s house in the attic. He believes some of her old work files are there. We should start there.”
The front door opened. Drake and Dane walked into the house.
“Come join the discussion,” Wade sighed. “It is getting more interesting by the minute.”
“What we have to offer is nada … nothing,” Drake declared.
Dane took a seat next to Ross. “The prison officials would not budge on information or Star’s possessions.”
“Yeah, all her personal items, including her letters and journals ,are all missing.” Drake added.
“Journals?” Wade sat up. “What journals?”
“One of the guards had a list of items that was supposed to be in Star’s cell. Journals were on the list.”
“Did they say how many?”
“I don’t think so,” Dane replied to Wade. “We barely got the information on the list before another guard came in and shut down the conversation. That’s when Drake started cursing.”
Wade glanced at Monty. “We need to get those journals.”
Monty nodded as he pulled out his phone. “On it.”
“Are the journals important?” Drake asked.
“Yes. I believe they are key,” Wade replied.