Chapter 7: The Baby's Real Father
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything except the blood rushing through my ears.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHO THE BABY'S REAL FATHER IS.
The words had been written in thick black marker across the photograph Detective Mitchell held in her hand. Whoever had left the message hadn't simply wanted me to find it. They had wanted to make certain I understood that the secret wasn't finished destroying us.
I turned toward Ethan.
He was standing beside the kitchen island, staring at the message with an expression that made my stomach tighten.
"Who is Lily's father?"" I asked.
Ethan rubbed his mouth.
"Victor.""
"That's not what the message says.""
"Then someone is trying to confuse you.""
"Someone who knows about the baby, the missing money, the storage unit, and the night you lied about Chicago?""
He didn't answer.
Detective Mitchell stepped between us.
"Mr. Bennett, I'd advise you to answer the question.""
Ethan looked at her, then at me.
"I don't know who Lily's biological father is.""
Brooke suddenly stood.
"That's a lie.""
Daniel turned toward her.
"What did you just say?""
Brooke's hands trembled as she gripped the back of the chair.
"I didn't want to say anything because Rebecca begged me to keep quiet. She said Lily deserved a chance to grow up without everyone fighting over her.""
"Fighting over her?"" I repeated.
Brooke looked at Ethan.
"He told me Victor wasn't her biological father.""
Silence swallowed the kitchen.
Margaret lowered herself into a chair.
Detective Mitchell took a small notebook from her pocket.
"How would Mr. Bennett know that?""
Brooke swallowed.
"Because he was there when the DNA test was done.""
Ethan closed his eyes.
I felt the room tilt around me.
"Why would you be involved in a DNA test for Victor's baby?""
"Because Victor asked me to help," Ethan said.
Brooke shook her head.
"No. You told me Victor had discovered something, and you wanted to make sure the test results never reached him.""
Daniel stared at her.
"You knew about this and still kept seeing Ethan?""
"I didn't understand what it meant!""
"You understood enough to lie to me.""
Brooke flinched.
Daniel looked away, his face rigid with disappointment.
Detective Mitchell turned back to Ethan.
"Where was the test performed?""
"A private laboratory.""
"Which one?""
"I don't remember.""
"You don't remember where a DNA test was conducted involving a missing man, a disputed inheritance, and nearly half a million dollars in suspicious transfers?""
Ethan's shoulders stiffened.
"I didn't say I wouldn't cooperate.""
"You've had several opportunities to cooperate.""
He said nothing.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
"Rebecca said someone was listening when she called me. I want to call her again.""
Detective Mitchell considered this.
"If she contacts you, don't arrange a meeting without telling us. We have officers trying to locate her.""
"She's in custody, isn't she?""
"We haven't confirmed that. The photograph I showed you was taken during an earlier encounter. Rebecca was detained briefly while investigators verified her identity, but she was released.""
I looked at the photograph again.
"Then why did you show it to me as though she'd just been arrested?""
The detective's expression changed.
"I showed you evidence of an earlier detention. I did not say it happened today.""
The distinction mattered.
I was beginning to understand how easily incomplete information could be made to sound like certainty.
And Ethan had spent years relying on exactly that.
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
*You want the truth about Lily? Meet me at the Northbridge facility. Come alone. Midnight.*
I showed Detective Mitchell.
She immediately shook her head.
"No.""
"If Rebecca is there—"
"If someone is impersonating Rebecca, walking into an unknown location alone is exactly what they want.""
Ethan moved toward me.
"Don't go.""
I looked at him.
"Why? What are you afraid I'll find?""
He lowered his voice.
"You're not thinking clearly.""
"Then help me think clearly. Tell me who Lily's father is.""
His eyes flickered toward Margaret.
That tiny movement told me more than his words had.
I turned to her.
"Do you know?""
Margaret looked genuinely distressed.
"I know Victor believed Lily was his daughter. He was preparing to challenge a financial arrangement that would have transferred control of several company assets if he died or disappeared.""
"What does that have to do with paternity?""
"Victor had discovered that someone was using a child's identity to establish a trust. He believed the trust was connected to the missing money.""
I stared at her.
"Was Lily named as the beneficiary?""
Margaret nodded.
"Yes.""
"How much money?""
"At least six hundred thousand dollars, possibly more.""
Daniel let out a slow breath.
"So someone created a trust in a baby's name, transferred stolen money into it, and used Claire's signature to authorize the paperwork?""
"That's what the documents appear to show," Margaret said.
"And the DNA test?"" I asked.
Margaret looked toward Ethan.
"He was the only person who could explain that part.""
Ethan backed toward the hallway.
"I'm not discussing this anymore.""
Detective Mitchell stepped in front of him.
"You'll remain here until we've completed your statement.""
"You can't detain me without grounds.""
"I'm not detaining you. I'm asking you to cooperate with an investigation. You are free to consult a lawyer.""
He looked at me one last time.
"Claire, please. Don't let these people turn you against me.""
I almost pitied him.
Then I remembered the photograph of him carrying the duffel bag, the message about the deleted footage, and the signature he'd placed beneath my name.
"They didn't turn me against you," I said.
"You did that yourself.""
He walked into the living room and sat down.
For the next hour, Detective Mitchell questioned each of us separately.
I gave her every document I had found and explained how Ethan had described the February paperwork as a routine mortgage authorization.
Margaret provided copies of the company's audit records.
Daniel confirmed that Brooke had left their house repeatedly on Tuesday afternoons, always claiming she was meeting a friend or visiting a client.
Brooke admitted she'd been seeing Ethan privately for almost a year.
But when Detective Mitchell asked her about the DNA test, Brooke began crying so hard she couldn't finish a sentence.
Eventually, she asked to speak to me alone.
I almost refused.
Then I remembered the handwritten note.
Ask Brooke what she did with the original birth certificate.
"What do you want?"" I asked when we were alone in the dining room.
Brooke sat opposite me, twisting the sleeve of my bathrobe.
"I need you to know I didn't start this because I wanted Ethan.""
"That would be a strange thing to tell me after finding you in my pool.""
"I know.""
She looked down.
"Victor came to me last year. He said he needed help getting documents to Rebecca. He was frightened because someone had threatened his family.""
"Why you?""
"Because Daniel knew people in commercial property, and Victor thought I could arrange a safe address through one of our contacts.""
"Did you help him?""
"Yes. At first.""
"What changed?""
"Ethan told me Victor was stealing from the company. He said the police were investigating him and that Rebecca could lose custody of Lily if she helped him escape.""
I watched her carefully.
"And you believed him.""
"Yes.""
"Why?""
Brooke's eyes filled with tears.
"Because I was having an affair with him. I wanted to believe the man I was sleeping with was a good person who'd been put in an impossible situation.""
Her honesty was ugly, but at least it was honesty.
"What happened to the birth certificate?""
"I gave it to a courier. Ethan said it would be delivered to Rebecca.""
"Was it?""
"I don't know.""
She reached into the pocket of the robe and produced a small memory card.
"But I kept a copy of something else.""
I didn't take it immediately.
"What is it?""
"The DNA report.""
My breath caught.
"Where did you get that?""
"Ethan left it in his office. I photographed every page because I was afraid he was going to blame me if anything went wrong.""
I took the memory card.
"Why didn't you give this to Daniel?""
"Because the report says something that could destroy more than one marriage.""
Before I could ask what she meant, Brooke looked toward the hallway.
"Ethan isn't the only person who knew about the test.""
"Who else?""
She swallowed.
"Margaret.""
I felt a chill move across my shoulders.
"Margaret said she never saw the guardianship papers.""
"She might be telling the truth about those. But she knew the test was being conducted. She arranged the appointment.""
"Why would she do that?""
Brooke shook her head.
"I don't know.""
I looked at the memory card in my palm.
The detective had returned to the living room. Ethan was sitting beneath our wedding photograph, his hands clasped between his knees.
For the first time, he looked like a man who had run out of stories.
I went to the office, inserted the memory card into my laptop, and opened the only file.
The report was dated March 12.
Two days before Ethan's supposed return from Chicago.
I read the first page.
Then the second.
The results identified Victor Sloane as Lily's biological father with a probability exceeding 99.99 percent.
I let out a breath.
So Victor was her father.
But at the bottom of the report, beneath the official findings, was a second laboratory note.
*Additional sample comparison requested by E. Bennett.*
A second result followed.
The name of the person tested had been blacked out.
I enlarged the document.
The blacked-out name was still faintly visible beneath the digital mark.
I stared at the letters.
Then I read them again.
The additional sample belonged to Ethan Bennett.
And the conclusion beneath it changed everything.
*Subject excluded as biological father of the tested child.*
I sat motionless, trying to understand why Ethan would request a test proving he wasn't Lily's father.
Then I noticed the date of the additional test.
March 14.
The night of the garage recording.
The night he claimed to be in Chicago.
My phone rang.
Rebecca.
I answered immediately.
"Why did Ethan request a DNA test on Lily?""
There was a long silence.
Then Rebecca whispered, "Because he was trying to find out whether the child he had been paying to protect was actually Victor's.""
I gripped the edge of the desk.
"What does that mean?""
Her voice broke.
"It means the first DNA report was real. But the second test wasn't about Lily.""
May you like
She took a shaky breath.
"It was about me.""
