The Third Twin Page 0,157

her confidence and find out exactly what's on her mind."

Berrington felt anger rise inside him. "I know what you're thinking - "

"Here he comes now," Jim said.

There was a footstep in the hall, and Berrington's son came in.

"Hi, Dad!" he said. "Hey, Uncle Jim, Uncle Preston, how are you?"

Berrington looked at him with a mixture of pride and sorrow. The boy looked adorable in navy blue corduroy pants and a sky blue cotton sweater. He picked up my dress sense, anyway, Berrington thought. He said: "We have to talk, Harvey."

Jim stood up. "Want a beer, kid?"

"Sure," Harvey said.

Jim had an annoying tendency to encourage Harvey in bad habits. "Forget the beer," Berrington snapped. "Jim, why don't you and Preston go into the drawing room and let us two talk." The drawing room was a stiffly formal space that Berrington never used.

Preston and Jim left. Berrington got up and hugged Harvey. "I love you, son," he said. "Even though you're wicked."

"Am I wicked?"

"What you did to that poor girl in the basement of the gym was one of the most wicked things a man can do."

Harvey shrugged.

Dear God, I failed to instill in him any sense of right and wrong, Berrington thought. But it was too late now for such regrets. "Sit down and listen for a minute," he said.

Harvey sat.

"Your mother and I tried for years to have a baby, but there were problems," he said "At the time, Preston was working on in vitro fertilization, where the sperm and the egg are brought together in the laboratory and then the embryo is implanted in the womb."

"Are you saying I was a test-tube baby?"

"This is secret. You must never tell anyone, all your life. Not even your mother."

"She doesn't know?" Harvey said in astonishment.

"There's more to it than that. Preston took one live embryo and split it, forming twins."

"That's the guy who's been arrested for the rape?'

"He split it more than once."

Harvey nodded. All of them had the same quick intelligence. "How many?" he said.

"Eight."

"Wow. And I guess the sperm didn't come from you."

"No."

"Who?"

"An army lieutenant from Fort Bragg: tall, strong, fit, intelligent, aggressive, and good-looking."

"And the mother?"

"A civilian typist from West Point, similarly well favored."

A wounded grin twisted the boy's handsome face. "My real parents."

Berrington winced. "No, they're not," he said. "You grew in your mother's belly. She gave birth to you, and believe me it hurt. We watched you take your first unsteady steps, and struggle to maneuver a spoonful of mashed potato into your mouth, and lisp your first words."

Watching his son's face, Berrington could not tell whether Harvey believed him or not.

"Hell, we loved you more and more as you became less lovable. Every damn year the same reports from school: 'He is very aggressive, he has not yet learned to share, he hits other children, he has difficulty with team games, he disrupts the class, he must learn to respect members of the opposite sex.' Every time you got expelled from a school we trudged around begging and pleading to get you into another one. We tried cajoling you, beating you, withdrawing privileges. We took you to three different child psychologists. You made our lives miserable."

"Are you saying I ruined the marriage?"

"No, son, I did that all on my own. What I'm trying to tell you is that I love you whatever you do, just like any other parent."

Harvey was still troubled. "Why are you telling me now?"

"Steve Logan, one of your doubles, was a subject for study in my department. I had a hell of a shock when I saw him, as you may imagine. Then the police arrested him for the rape of Lisa Hoxton. But one of the professors, Jeannie Ferrami, got suspicious. To cut a long story short, she's tracked you down. She wants to prove Steve Logan's innocence. And she probably wants to expose the whole story of the clones and ruin me."

"She's the woman I met in Philadelphia."

Berrington was mystified. "You've met her?"

"Uncle Jim called me and told me to give her a scare."

Berrington was enraged. "The son of a bitch, I'm going to tear his fucking head off his shoulders - "

"Calm down, Dad, nothing happened. I went for a ride in her car. She's cute, in her way."

Berrington controlled himself with an effort. "Your uncle Jim has always been irresponsible in his attitude to you. He likes your wildness, no doubt because he's such an uptight asshole himself."

"I like him."

"Let's talk about what we have to do.