Chapter 6 - The Impossible Father
Ethan snatched Caleb's second report off the table and tore it straight down the middle.
Caleb didn't flinch.
"Tearing paper won't change DNA."
"Get out."
"Ethan—"
"Get out of this house."
"This isn't your house," Vivian said sharply.
Ethan spun toward her. "That is what you heard?"
Vivian closed her mouth.
Rachel bent and picked up the two torn halves of the report. The laboratory seal was still visible. So was the date.
"Caleb," she said. "You said you were overseas when Noah was conceived. Prove it."
Ethan stared at her.
Rachel held his stare. "If there was no physical opportunity, we stop arguing about an affair and start asking how his sample got into Brighton."
Caleb unlocked his phone.
"I have passport scans. Contract records. Payroll. Security logs if the company kept them."
"Send everything."
Vivian stepped forward. "Rachel, don't turn this into some amateur investigation."
Rachel looked at her. "Then give me a professional explanation."
No answer.
Caleb sent the files.
Rachel opened the first attachment.
Entry stamp: Kabul.
Departure stamp almost eleven months later.
The period covered the entire fertility cycle.
The second attachment showed weekly payroll deposits from the same overseas employer.
The third was a medical evacuation insurance record with his foreign worksite listed.
Ethan sank onto the arm of a chair.
"You could have flown back."
Caleb nodded. "Sure. So check."
"I will."
"Do it."
The directness seemed to hit Ethan harder than defensiveness would have.
Rachel's phone vibrated.
Her sister: NOAH ATE. HE KEEPS ASKING WHEN YOU'RE COMING.
Rachel turned the screen facedown.
"Northstar," she said. "We call them now."
Caleb shook his head. "I've already called six times. They say the archived authorization is unavailable."
"Unavailable or missing?"
"Depends which employee answers."
Rachel took the number from his phone and dialed.
A recorded menu answered.
She pressed options until a live person picked up.
"Northstar Cryogenic Services, records division."
Rachel gave Caleb's account number from the audit sheet.
The woman stopped her. "I need the account holder."
Caleb took the phone.
He confirmed his identity, birth date, old address, last four digits of a number Rachel pretended not to hear.
"I need the release authorization for specimen C-17," he said.
Rachel saw Vivian's eyes sharpen.
The woman typed.
"That record is from our legacy platform."
"I know."
"It shows a withdrawal."
"Authorized by whom?"
"By you, according to the account."
Caleb's face hardened. "I did not authorize it."
Silence.
"Sir, I can submit a fraud review."
"Read me the date."
"April fourteenth."
Rachel's fingertips went numb.
Caleb looked at her.
"Destination?"
More typing.
"Brighton Reproductive Medicine laboratory."
Ethan stood.
Vivian walked toward the bar and poured water she did not drink.
"Who witnessed the authorization?" Caleb asked.
"One moment."
Rachel heard paper shuffle on the other end.
"There's a scanned index entry. It references a notarized release."
"Name?"
"Malcolm R. Keene."
Rachel pulled up the photograph of her own questionable consent form.
Same notary.
"I need a copy," Caleb said.
"The image itself isn't in the active archive."
"Then where is it?"
"The physical archive may have been transferred during the merger."
Rachel leaned toward the phone. "Was there a flood?"
The records employee hesitated.
"Some Westlake records were affected, yes."
Ethan laughed under his breath.
One dry sound.
"Of course."
Caleb requested the fraud review and ended the call.
Rachel was already searching Malcolm Keene.
A retired notary listing appeared with a home number.
She called.
No answer.
Called again.
On the third attempt, an older man picked up.
"Who is this?"
Rachel gave her name. "Mr. Keene, I'm calling about documents you notarized for Brighton Fertility six years ago."
A chair creaked on the other end.
"I don't notarize anymore."
"I know. One document has my signature. Another supposedly has Caleb Mercer's."
Silence.
"Mr. Keene?"
"What date?"
"April fourteenth."
His breathing changed.
Rachel pressed speaker.
"Do you remember it?"
"No."
Too quick.
"The documents use your seal."
"Lots of documents did."
"Both involve Brighton. Both involve signatures we say are forged."
Ethan came closer.
Vivian set the untouched glass down.
Keene spoke quietly. "My notary stamp was stolen."
Rachel's heart thudded once.
"When?"
"Around then."
"Did you report it?"
"Yes."
"To whom?"
"County clerk. Police. My insurer."
Rachel looked at Ethan. "Did anyone ever use it fraudulently?"
Keene didn't answer.
A floorboard creaked faintly through the phone.
Rachel sat straighter.
"Mr. Keene, are you alone?"
He inhaled.
"Who gave you my number?"
"It was public."
Another creak.
Closer.
"Listen to me," Keene whispered. "I reported a woman after I saw what had been filed."
Rachel's pulse climbed into her throat.
"What woman?"
"She worked through a—"
A second voice sounded in the room with him.
Female.
Low.
"Malcolm?"
Keene sucked in a breath.
Rachel stood. "Mr. Keene?"
The line clicked dead.
She called back.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Caleb reached for his coat. "Give me the address."
Vivian stepped between him and the door.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
She realized it a second too late.
Rachel said, "You know where he lives?"
Vivian's eyes shifted to her.
"I know nothing about that man."
Caleb's phone buzzed.
He looked down.
A new email from Northstar.
FRAUD REVIEW INITIATED.
Attached was one surviving metadata field from the missing authorization.
Rachel leaned over his shoulder.
Requested by: V. MERCER FAMILY OFFICE.
Ethan read it too.
May you like
Then slowly turned toward his mother.
