Chapter 6 - Richard Vale’s Sample
Richard admitted handling specimen container.
He denied providing DNA.
His explanation:
A courier delivered sealed kit to his home.
He opened outer box, saw Adrian’s name, panicked and called Claire.
Claire never mentioned that.
Why?
Because she had been trying to protect Richard from investigation.
The inner specimen tube contained epithelial cells matching Adrian’s archived medical profile.
How could Richard possess that?
He didn’t.
Courier tracking led to Vale Biomedical storage facility.
Inside old executive health archive were blood specimens collected annually from senior executives.
Adrian’s 2017 blood sample remained.
Someone could have created fresh-looking comparison specimen using stored cells.
That meant six-week “collection date” could be fabricated.
Maybe Adrian was still dead.
Claire’s claim of seeing him alive remained, but paternity specimen did not prove his current life.
Then Maya examined Claire’s hotel meeting.
Security footage existed.
Claire entered room.
Stayed forty-two minutes.
A man exited later wearing hat.
Camera never captured full face.
Height roughly Adrian’s.
Not proof.
Claire’s investigator photograph outside Hawthorne had similar problem.
Telephoto.
Partial face.
Could be Adrian.
Could be someone resembling him.
Was Claire manipulated?
Ethan asked:
“What if he never came back?”
Claire stared.
“I know my husband.”
“After eight years and one hotel room?”
“He knew things.”
“Things from emails? Diaries? Family records?”
Claire faltered.
A sophisticated impersonator could know.
Then voice analysis from Claire’s secretly recorded hotel conversation showed surprising result.
Voice strongly resembled Adrian’s archived recordings but included spectral differences suggesting possible high-quality synthesized augmentation.
Not conclusive.
Could simply be age, recording environment.
Mystery deepened.
Who wanted Claire to believe Adrian alive?
Who wanted Emma to believe DNA report?
Who wanted Ethan to find it?
Who wanted baby associated with Vale trust?
Maya revisited embryo lab.
Manual override did not simply replace Ethan sperm barcode with Adrian.
The actual embryo sample chain showed embryo created from Emma’s egg and a vial labeled:
V17-A.
Vault 17.
Who physically retrieved vial?
Security footage:
Melissa Grant.
She denied.
Footage showed her badge.
Her build.
But face obscured by mask and cap standard in lab.
Access system said Melissa.
She insisted she was home sick.
Timecards supported sick leave.
Could someone use badge?
Yes.
Melissa had reported it missing two weeks earlier.
Replacement issued.
Old badge never deactivated due admin error.
Who found it?
Security searched camera.
A male maintenance contractor entered staff locker corridor the day badge vanished.
Name:
Daniel Cross.
Not family attorney. Use unique: Aaron Pike.
Aaron Pike worked for outsourced facility maintenance.
Background revealed no criminal history.
But former employment:
Vale Biomedical.
Clinical storage technician.
Eight years earlier.
Same division Adrian supervised.
Aaron disappeared before questioning.
Then Emma remembered Claire’s words:
“Because he never died.”
Maybe Claire had been tricked.
But someone connected to Adrian’s old company was actively manipulating fertility clinic now.
Maya found Aaron’s rental car.
Inside trunk:
a second prenatal DNA report.
Same Emma.
Same unborn baby.
Different paternal name.
ETHAN MERCER.
99.99%.
Two reports.
Both apparently genuine.
Emma stared.
“How can both men be father?”
Lab director answered:
“They can’t.”
Unless one sample chain had been deliberately falsified.
May you like
Which one?
That question changed everything.
