Chapters (67)
My dad is asleep. Ingrid is brushing her teeth, getting ready for bed. The two are set to meet the contractor at our condo at 7:30 a.m. to sign off on all the work that was done.
“Are you excited to move home tomorrow?” I ask Lassie.
Meow.
“Yes, you can have the jingle balls the second we get back.”
Meow.
“You want to leave one for Murdock? Well, aren’t you a softy?”
Meow.
“Oh, you want to fill it with acid?” I can’t help laughing. “I thought he was your best friend.”
Meow.
“Who is Roger?”
Ingrid comes around the corner in her pajamas. She gives me a long kiss and says, “I’m gonna hit the sack. Your dad and I should be able to get everything situated and we can drive over tomorrow night when you wake up.” She gives me another kiss. “Who knows, if I drive fast enough we might even have time to re-christen the place.”
“I like the sound of that. Maybe you can put the siren on.”
She laughs, gives me one last kiss, and then heads to the bedroom. A half second later, Lassie jumps off my lap and heads the same way, no doubt to snuggle up in her cleavage.
I grab a smoothie from the refrigerator and sit down to the computer. I pull up the Google Earth image for S and Manchester.
“Where were you two going?” I ask out loud.
I take down half the smoothie as I move along the street view, pausing at the intersection, then heading down S Street.
I double back, then head down Manchester Ave. Two-thirds of the way down the street, I pass a small two-story building. The sign on the outside reads, “Overseas Private Investment Corporation.”
I continue moving down the street, but nothing else holds my interest.
I close the tab, then open up Game of Thrones. It had been nearly two weeks since I last watched and I move the cursor back five minutes — I am still on episode one of season three — and hit play.
After a minute, I realize I’m not even watching.
I’m still thinking about the building on Manchester.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
What is it about the name that is pinging in my brain?
I close the tab on Game of Thrones and do a Google search for the company.
There is no web page.
Odd.
I click on a tab for DC businesses and search Overseas Private Investment Corp. The company has been around for more than forty years, founded in 1973.
That’s all there is.
I take a deep breath.
1973.
1973.
That was the year MK-Ultra was shut down and the year the Sleep Control Program supposedly began.
Could this have been where David Sullivan and my mother were going? And if it was the headquarters of the Sleep Control Program then is it still today?
Did we get it all wrong?
Did they never move it?