Chapter 4
I thought I had misheard him.
“What?”
“Your father was poisoned.”
My voice barely came out.
Officer Bennett stepped closer.
“Put him on speaker.”
I did.
Michael’s voice filled the entryway.
“Sarah, are you with law enforcement?”
“Yes.”
“This is Michael Grant. Attorney. I represented Thomas Bennett before his death.”
Officer Bennett immediately took out his notebook.
“What evidence do you have?”
“A private toxicology report.”
I grabbed the wall for support.
“My father had an autopsy.”
“No,” Michael said. “He had a standard postmortem examination after what doctors believed was cardiac failure. The private test was done using preserved blood samples.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas suspected someone had been slowly drugging him.”
Margaret suddenly turned toward the driveway.
Officer Bennett blocked her.
“Stay here.”
She glared.
“I’m not under arrest.”
“No. But I’m asking you not to leave while I take statements.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Sarah, I didn’t know.”
I didn’t believe anything anymore.
Michael continued.
“Thomas hired an independent toxicologist three months before his death.”
“Three months?”
“Yes.”
“So he knew?”
“He suspected.”
“What did they find?”
“A cardiac medication in his system that had never been prescribed to him.”
I felt sick.
My father had died at sixty-three.
Healthy.
Active.
A man who still jogged every morning.
Then one evening, he complained of dizziness.
The next morning, he was dead.
We had been told his heart simply stopped.
“Who had access to him?”
Michael was silent.
Then he said, “That’s what he was trying to determine.”
Margaret laughed.
“This is insane.”
Michael heard her.
“Is Margaret Carter there?”
Her expression changed.
“Michael.”
He went quiet.
Then his voice became cold.
“You shouldn’t be there.”
“Don’t threaten me.”
“I’m not.”
“You and Thomas filled Sarah’s head with paranoia.”
“You mean the paranoia that caused him to install cameras?”
Margaret froze.
Daniel turned to her.
“What cameras?”
My heart hammered.
Michael continued.
“Thomas had security equipment installed at his home six weeks before he died.”
“I cleared his house,” I said. “There were no cameras.”
“They were hidden.”
“Where are the recordings?”
“In the file.”
“What did they show?”
Michael hesitated.
“Sarah, you should come here.”
“No. Tell me.”
“I would rather not discuss—”
“Tell me.”
A long silence.
Then he said, “Margaret entered your father’s house three times without permission during the month before his death.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Michael continued.
“The recordings show her accessing the kitchen and home office.”
Margaret shouted, “I was invited!”
“My father hated you,” I said.
“He tolerated me.”
“He refused to have Christmas dinner with you.”
“He was an arrogant man.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“Mom, why were you at Thomas’s house?”
“I wasn’t.”
Michael’s voice came through the phone.
“I watched the footage myself.”
“That proves nothing.”
Officer Bennett raised his hand.
“Mrs. Carter, stop talking.”
She snapped, “You can’t silence me.”
“No, but anything you say may become relevant.”
That finally quieted her.
I looked at Daniel.
“You knew she went there?”
“No.”
“Did you know my father thought he was being poisoned?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the toxicology?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the cameras?”
“No.”
Every answer sounded desperate.
But I could no longer tell the difference between innocence and fear.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy.”
I turned.
She looked exhausted.
Too much had happened around her.
I picked her up.
Officer Bennett said, “Mrs. Carter, you and your daughter need some distance from this.”
I nodded.
Then Michael said, “There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“The blue folder Daniel took contains the identity records.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
I stared at him.
“What identity records?”
“Sarah,” Michael said, “your father discovered irregularities at the hospital where Lily was born.”
I clutched my daughter tighter.
“What kind of irregularities?”
“Her newborn identification number appears in two separate administrative files.”
I didn’t understand.
“What does that mean?”
“It may mean nothing.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It may mean a clerical error.”
“But my father didn’t think so.”
“No.”
Lily rested her head against my shoulder.
I felt her warm breath against my neck.
I kissed her hair.
“She is my daughter.”
“Yes.”
Michael’s answer came immediately.
“But?”
“There’s no but.”
“Then why did my father investigate?”
“Because Emily contacted him after she discovered a payment from Richard Carter’s private account to a former maternity nurse.”
Richard Carter.
Daniel’s father.
Margaret’s husband.
He died two years before my father.
I had never liked him.
He was charming in public and cruel in private.
But this?
“Why would Richard pay a nurse?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel spoke.
“Yes, we do.”
Everyone looked at him.
His voice shook.
“I found her.”
Margaret whispered, “Daniel.”
He ignored her.
“I found the nurse.”
I stared at him.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“You’ve known about this for six months?”
“I’ve known there was something.”
“You lied to me for six months.”
“I was trying to prove it before I destroyed our family.”
“You stole my father’s documents.”
“Because the nurse demanded proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“Sarah, not in front of her.”
I handed Lily to Officer Bennett for one second and called my neighbor Jenna.
She came immediately.
One look at my face and she asked no questions.
“Can Lily stay with you?”
“Of course.”
Lily clung to me.
“Mommy, are you coming?”
“Yes.”
I knelt in front of her.
“You’re going next door with Miss Jenna while Mommy talks.”
“Grandma won’t come?”
“No.”
I looked directly at Margaret.
“She will not come near you.”
Lily kissed my cheek.
Then she whispered, “Daddy was crying last night.”
I looked at Daniel.
“What?”
“He was crying after Grandma left.”
Daniel looked away.
Jenna carried Lily next door.
Once the door closed, I faced him.
“Talk.”
Daniel sat on the bottom stair.
He suddenly looked older.
Exhausted.
“The nurse’s name is Elaine Porter.”
Michael’s voice came from the phone.
“I know that name.”
Daniel nodded.
“She worked nights in maternity when Lily was born.”
“What did she say?”
“That my father paid her.”
“For what?”
Daniel swallowed.
“To change two wristbands.”
My body went cold.
“No.”
“Sarah.”
“No.”
“I don’t know if she’s telling the truth.”
“What wristbands?”
“Two baby identification bands.”
I covered my mouth.
Officer Bennett stared at Daniel.
“You are alleging an infant identification switch?”
“I’m saying that’s what she claimed.”
I could hear blood rushing in my ears.
“Which babies?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
“She wouldn’t tell me without the documents.”
“Why did you need my father’s documents?”
“Because Thomas had the original hospital records.”
“Why?”
“He got them from Emily.”
My sister.
Again.
Everything came back to Emily.
“What did Emily know?”
Daniel looked at me.
“She was at the hospital the night Lily was born.”
I frowned.
“No, she wasn’t.”
“Yes.”
“She was in Chicago.”
“That’s what she told you.”
My knees weakened.
“Why would my sister lie?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“Because my father asked her to.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
Officer Bennett stepped forward.
I backed away immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“No. You deserve to tell me the truth.”
He nodded.
“Emily was dating someone my father knew.”
“Who?”
“Elaine Porter’s son.”
I stared.
“What?”
“His name was Nathan.”
I remembered Nathan.
Barely.
A man Emily had dated secretly.
She called him complicated.
They broke up months before she died.
“Emily discovered his mother had received money from my father.”
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-five thousand dollars.”
“For changing Lily’s identification?”
“That’s what we think.”
I felt like I might faint.
“Why?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Margaret finally spoke.
“Because Richard was terrified.”
Daniel turned.
“Terrified of what?”
Her eyes filled with something strange.
Not guilt.
Grief.
“Of losing you.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret sat down slowly.
For the first time since I arrived, she looked weak.
“Your father believed Sarah’s pregnancy would expose something.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She looked at Daniel.
“You weren’t supposed to be able to father children.”
Silence.
Daniel actually laughed.
“What are you talking about?”
“You had surgery when you were eleven.”
“My appendix.”
“No.”
His smile vanished.
Margaret looked down.
“You were born with a condition.”
“What condition?”
“Richard never wanted you to know.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“What condition?”
She whispered, “The doctors told us you were infertile.”
Nobody moved.
Daniel’s face emptied.
“That’s impossible.”
Margaret looked at Lily’s empty spot near the doorway.
“No.”
Then she looked at me.
“It isn’t.”
My hand covered my mouth.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Margaret whispered, “When Sarah became pregnant, Richard thought she had cheated.”
Daniel stared at me.
I stared back.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
He said it immediately.
“I know you didn’t.”
Margaret continued.
“So Richard ordered a test.”
“What test?”
“A prenatal paternity test.”
My heart stopped.
“You tested my baby without telling me?”
“Richard arranged it.”
“How?”
Margaret looked ashamed now.
“Your doctor.”
My knees almost gave out.
“No.”
Daniel whispered, “What did the result say?”
Margaret looked at him.
“That you were Lily’s father.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Then this changes nothing.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“The result said you were her biological father.”
“Yes.”
“But Richard knew that should have been impossible.”
Daniel stared.
“And that’s why he paid the nurse?”
Margaret nodded slowly.
“He wanted another test after Lily was born.”
“Why switch wristbands?”
“He didn’t.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What?”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
“The nurse did.”
Before anyone could speak, a car screeched outside.
Officer Bennett moved toward the window.
A black SUV stopped at the curb.
A woman jumped out.
Late sixties.
Gray hair.
Terrified eyes.
Daniel stood.
“Elaine.”
The former maternity nurse ran toward the house.
She pounded on the door.
“Daniel!”
Officer Bennett opened it cautiously.
Elaine looked past him and saw me.
“Sarah?”
“Yes.”
She started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
My entire body went cold.
“For what?”
May you like
She looked directly at me.
“I switched the babies.”
