Chapter 10: The Test That Predated My Daughter
I read Richard Rochefort’s name until the letters seemed to blur.
The laboratory report lay open on my desk, Elena’s paternity results printed in black and white. Beneath them sat the administrative note about the reference sample requested for my father, dated two months before Elena had even been conceived.
It made no sense.
Unless the document wasn't what it appeared to be.
I called Jonathan.
“Get to my office. Bring Rebecca if you can.””
“What happened?””
“I found something in the laboratory records. Richard Rochefort commissioned a reference test involving my father before Claire was pregnant.””
There was a pause.
“Don't contact Rochefort,” Jonathan said.
“Preserve the report exactly as it arrived. I'll be there in twenty minutes.””
I hung up and photographed every page.
Then I called the laboratory's administrative department using the number on the report. After confirming my identity and the case reference, I asked to speak with the records supervisor.
A woman named Ms. Patel answered.
“Mr. Cross, I can confirm that the document you received is authentic to our current records system,” she said.
“However, the reference to your father appears to have been imported from an older case file.””
“An older case file?””
“Yes. The report number associated with that reference sample belongs to an investigation conducted several years ago.””
“Who was being investigated?””
“I can't release another client's information without appropriate authorization.””
“I understand. I'm not asking you to violate anyone's privacy. I need to know whether this reference sample was ever used to establish a biological relationship involving my family.””
“I can submit a request to our legal department.””
“How long?””
“I can't promise a timeline.””
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
“Someone has been using false documents and threatening my family for five years. A record associated with my daughter has now been linked to a test commissioned by Richard Rochefort. Please flag the file for preservation and confirm that no records will be altered or destroyed.””
“I can do that.””
“And please provide the appropriate procedure for a formal legal request.””
“I'll send it to your attorney.””
When I ended the call, Claire was standing outside the office.
She had heard enough to understand that something was wrong.
“Does this mean someone tested your father?””
“I don't know yet.””
“Could he have known about Elena before she was born?””
“No. Not unless somebody told him about the pregnancy before I knew about it myself.””
Claire looked toward the hallway, where Elena was playing with Marcus's daughter during a supervised visit.
“What if your father knew something about Elisa that we don't?””
“Then we'll find it.””
She folded her arms tightly.
“Damon, I spent five years believing I had destroyed your life by loving you. Elisa told me your family would never accept me. She said I would always be a threat to your future.””
I stepped closer.
“You didn't destroy anything.””
“But what if she was telling the truth about something else? What if your father had reasons to fear the Rocheforts?””
“Then those reasons should have been brought into the light. Not used to steal five years from us.””
Claire looked at me for a long moment.
“I want to believe that.””
“You don't have to believe it today. Just let me keep looking.””
Jonathan arrived with Rebecca shortly afterward.
I placed the report in front of them.
Rebecca examined it carefully.
“The reference sample may be legitimate, but the note doesn't prove your father knew about Elena,” she said.
“It could be a database migration error, an unrelated case, or a deliberately planted reference. We need the original file.””
“Can you trace the request?””
“Not independently. We'll need the laboratory's cooperation or a lawful records demand.””
Jonathan nodded.
“I'll prepare the necessary requests. We should also ask the law firm that administered your father's estate whether it retained correspondence concerning Richard Rochefort.””
“Do that.””
Rebecca turned another page.
“There is something else. The hospital records and the adoption agency records suggest a coordinated effort, but we still need to establish who authorized each action. We cannot assume every document came from the same person.””
I looked at the photograph of Elena attached to the laboratory report.
“I don't care whether Elisa or her father wrote the first letter. They all knew enough to keep me away.””
“That's why we need evidence that can withstand scrutiny,” Rebecca replied.
“If you confront them before we have it, they'll know precisely what to destroy or deny.””
My phone vibrated.
An email had arrived from an address I didn't recognize.
The subject line read: *Your father's last instruction.*
There was no message, only a scanned document.
I opened it.
The page bore my father's signature and the seal of the law firm that had administered his estate. The date was three months before his death.
Should Claire Bennett ever contact Damon Cross regarding a child, the family must first establish whether the child is connected to the Rochefort inheritance dispute. Under no circumstances should the matter be entrusted to Richard Rochefort without independent legal review.
Below that was a handwritten addition.
I have reason to believe someone within the Rochefort family has been manipulating information presented to Damon. If I am no longer here, he must not be allowed to make decisions based on their version of events.
I read the paragraph twice.
My father hadn't simply expressed concern about an inheritance.
He had warned someone that the Rocheforts might be manipulating me.
“Who sent this?”” Jonathan asked.
“I don't know.””
Rebecca examined the document on the screen.
“We should authenticate it before treating it as genuine. The wording is consistent with a legal instruction, but that isn't enough.””
I forwarded the email to her through the secure channel she provided.
Then I noticed the attachment's metadata.
The document had been scanned six days earlier.
Someone had recently accessed my father's old records.
Someone knew what we were investigating.
Someone wanted me to find this.
“Can we trace the sender?”” I asked.
“We can preserve the email headers and ask the appropriate authorities to investigate,” Rebecca said.
“But the sender may have used an anonymizing service.””
Jonathan leaned forward.
“There's another issue. If this instruction is authentic, the law firm may have been aware of concerns about the Rocheforts years before Claire disappeared.””
“Then they should have told me.””
“Perhaps they believed the matter was unrelated to your father's estate. Or perhaps someone prevented the correspondence from reaching you.””
I stared at him.
“Find out which.””
For the next hour, Jonathan drafted preservation notices while Rebecca organized the records into a timeline. The picture was becoming clearer, but the motive remained elusive.
Why had Richard Rochefort been so concerned about my future children?
Why had my father apparently warned against trusting him?
And why had Elisa gone to such extraordinary lengths to keep Claire and me apart?
At six o'clock, Claire joined me in the kitchen.
Elena had fallen asleep on the sofa, her rabbit tucked under her chin.
Claire placed a small envelope on the table.
“I found this in my old handbag,” she said.
“I kept it because I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.””
Inside was a photograph of Claire and me taken during our first summer together. We were sitting on a beach, laughing at something outside the frame.
On the back, my younger self had written a message.
Whatever happens, I'll always come looking for you.
My chest tightened.
“I remember this day.””
“I do too.””
Claire traced the handwriting with one finger.
“Elisa told me you had changed your mind about me. She said you had agreed to marry someone else and that I needed to disappear before I embarrassed you.””
“I never agreed to marry anyone.””
“I know that now.””
She looked toward Elena.
“I kept telling myself that if I could give her a quiet life, the pain would eventually stop. But every time she asked about her father, I felt like I was lying to her.””
I reached across the table.
“You were trying to protect her.””
“I was trying to survive.””
“You did both.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
Before I could say more, Marcus entered the kitchen.
“Mr. Cross, we have a problem.””
I stood.
“What is it?””
“Someone has accessed the building's external security system.””
“How?””
“We're still investigating. The access came through a contractor credential that should have been revoked months ago.””
“Did they enter the house?””
“No. But they accessed the camera feeds.””
My gaze shifted toward Elena.
“Can you determine what they viewed?””
Marcus hesitated.
“They downloaded footage from the nursery hallway, the kitchen, and your office.””
Claire went pale.
“Why the nursery?””
Marcus didn't answer.
My phone rang.
An unknown number.
I answered without speaking.
A man's voice came through, distorted but unmistakably calm.
“You've been looking in the wrong place, Mr. Cross.””
“Who is this?””
“Ask your father why he tried to have his own son removed from the inheritance.””
My blood ran cold.
“What are you talking about?””
“You think the Rocheforts stole your daughter. But your father started this long before she was born.””
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph of a sealed envelope bearing my father's handwriting.
Across the front were six words.
*For Damon. Open only after my death.*
The sender added one final line.
Your brother has the original.
I turned toward the conference room.
May you like
Nathan was still there.
And if the message was true, my brother had been hiding one last secret.
