Chapter 9: The Birth Certificate
Julian sat beside Wren in the back of the ambulance.
"Tell me exactly what you heard.""
Wren wrapped both hands around a cup of hot chocolate.
"Uncle Adrian was angry.""
"What did he say?""
"He said, 'You lied to me about Caleb.''"
"And the woman?""
"She said Caleb was safer if everyone thought he was dead.""
Julian glanced at Hayes.
"And then?""
"Uncle Adrian said, 'You already stole nineteen years from me.''"
Wren paused.
"Then she said something about you.""
"What?""
Wren looked at Julian.
"She said, 'Stop calling him your brother. Eleanor's son was never your brother.''"
Julian felt strangely hollow.
Eleanor's son.
Not your brother.
Hayes sat opposite him.
"Could Wren have misunderstood?""
Julian shook his head.
"My mother was Eleanor.""
"Then we need DNA.""
David arrived at the lake house carrying files.
"I think we need more than DNA.""
Julian stepped out of the ambulance.
"What did you find?""
"Your original birth record doesn't exist.""
Julian stared.
"Of course it exists.""
"The certificate you've used your entire life is a delayed registration filed when you were four.""
"Why?""
"No explanation.""
David opened a folder.
"Hospital listed as St. Matthew's.""
"Yes.""
"I called them.""
"And?""
"No record of your birth.""
Julian stared at him.
"That's impossible.""
David lowered his voice.
"There is a record of a male child born on your birthday.""
Julian waited.
"Different mother.""
The cold seemed to deepen around them.
"Name?""
"The infant wasn't named.""
"Mother?""
David looked directly at him.
"Margaret Vale.""
Julian recognized the surname.
"Richard Vale.""
"The attorney involved in Adrian's fake death," David said.
"His wife?""
"Sister.""
Julian turned away.
Trees surrounded the lake house.
His entire identity suddenly felt unstable.
"Where is Margaret?""
"Dead. Twenty-four years ago.""
"Then who raised her baby?""
David didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Julian looked back at him.
"Eleanor.""
Hayes joined them.
"We located the address from Caleb's photograph.""
"And?""
"It's a house registered to a shell company.""
"Who owns the company?""
"Ultimately? Ashcroft Family Holdings.""
Julian frowned.
"I've never seen it.""
"Someone buried it under six corporate layers.""
"Who lives there?""
"According to utility records, a man named Caleb Vale.""
Vale.
Julian looked at David.
"Richard's surname.""
"Exactly.""
They drove to the address.
Hayes refused to let Julian approach first.
Police surrounded the small brick house.
Hayes knocked.
"Caleb Vale?""
No answer.
She knocked again.
"We need to speak with you.""
Footsteps.
The door opened.
The young man from the photograph stood there.
Julian stopped breathing.
Caleb looked at him.
His face changed.
"You.""
Julian frowned.
"We've never met.""
Caleb laughed bitterly.
"You people really do think money erases everything.""
Hayes raised a hand.
"We're not here to arrest you.""
"Then leave.""
Julian stepped forward.
"I'm looking for Adrian.""
Caleb's expression hardened.
"So am I.""
"He's your father.""
"My father abandoned me.""
"He says you disappeared.""
"He put me in Blackwood.""
Caleb's voice cracked with anger.
"I was fifteen.""
Julian remembered the falsified age.
"Your records said nine.""
"Because they wanted me classified as a child requiring long-term guardianship.""
"Who?""
Caleb stared at him.
"Eleanor Ashcroft.""
Julian swallowed.
"My mother.""
Caleb laughed again.
"She's not your mother.""
Julian felt Hayes watching him.
"Then who is?""
Caleb looked toward David's folder.
"Margaret Vale.""
Silence.
Julian stepped inside.
"How do you know?""
"Richard Vale told me.""
"Where is Richard?""
Caleb's eyes darkened.
"Missing.""
"Since when?""
"Three days.""
The same day Caleb's photograph had been taken.
"Why were you photographed?""
Caleb stiffened.
"What photograph?""
Julian showed him.
Caleb's face drained of color.
"Where did you get that?""
"Adrian had it.""
Caleb backed away.
"No.""
"What?""
"He found me.""
"Apparently.""
"No, you don't understand.""
Caleb grabbed the photograph.
"If Adrian found me, Eleanor knows.""
"She already knows.""
Caleb looked terrified.
"We need to leave.""
Hayes stepped forward.
"Why?""
"Because this house isn't protection.""
He pointed upward.
"It's surveillance.""
Police searched the rooms.
They found six hidden cameras.
Then another.
Then another.
Every bedroom.
Every hallway.
Caleb led Julian to the basement.
"There.""
Behind shelves was an old steel door.
Caleb entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside were boxes of documents.
Photographs.
Medical files.
Ashcroft records stretching back decades.
Julian saw his own childhood pictures.
Adrian's school records.
Wren's birth certificate.
Even photographs of Wren leaving school.
Julian's stomach turned.
"How long have you known about this?""
"Two months.""
Caleb lifted a folder.
"Richard told me to come here if he disappeared.""
Julian opened it.
On top was a DNA report.
ADRIAN ASHCROFT.
ELEANOR ASHCROFT.
Probability of biological maternity: 0%.
Julian looked up.
"Eleanor wasn't Adrian's mother either.""
Caleb shook his head.
"That's what started everything.""
"Then whose mother was she?""
"Neither of yours.""
Julian stared at him.
Caleb reached into another box.
He removed an old photograph.
Two women stood outside Ashcroft Manor.
One was Eleanor.
The other was a younger woman Julian had never seen.
She was holding two babies.
On the back, handwritten:
Adrian and Julian.
Brothers by choice.
Not by blood.
Julian's hands trembled.
Then Hayes called from the other side of the vault.
"Julian.""
Something in her voice made everyone turn.
She held a yellowed envelope.
It was addressed to Julian in his father's handwriting.
DO NOT OPEN UNLESS ELEANOR RETURNS.
Julian tore it open.
Inside was one page.
He read the first line.
Then stopped.
"What does it say?"" Caleb asked.
Julian forced himself to continue.
If Eleanor has returned, she is not coming for the company.
She is coming for Wren.
His heartbeat thundered.
The next sentence was worse.
Wren carries the only evidence of what Eleanor did twenty-four years ago.
Julian looked up.
"She's ten. How can Wren carry evidence from before she was born?""
Caleb's face suddenly changed.
His eyes moved toward Wren's birth certificate on the table.
Then toward a medical file underneath it.
"Maybe it doesn't mean evidence she knows about.""
Caleb pulled out the file.
On its cover was Wren's name.
Beneath it:
UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD — PRIVATE STORAGE.
Julian stared at the page.
May you like
Caleb whispered:
"It's her DNA.""
