Chapter 5 - The First Forgery
Martin Keene’s sworn statement arrived three days later.
It was worse than Claire expected.
Eleanor had contacted him two months before Lily was born.
She asked whether a future kinship test could distinguish Nathan’s child from another maternal Ashford relative.
Martin initially thought the request concerned estate planning.
Then Nathan died.
Eleanor returned.
This time she offered money.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Martin refused.
She increased it to fifty.
He accepted.
Maya read the statement aloud.
Claire felt nauseated.
Martin admitted replacing Nathan’s reference specimen identification with Thomas’s archived specimen.
Then, when Lily’s results still showed a strong family relationship, he altered the statistical conclusion to read no biological relationship supported.
“Why?” Claire whispered.
Maya continued.
Martin stated Eleanor told him the child was the product of Claire’s affair and that the inheritance needed to be “protected from fraud.”
“He believed her?”
“He says he wanted to.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
Fifty thousand reasons.
But another paragraph mattered more.
Martin had worked at Sterling twelve years earlier.
Not as senior technician.
As an accession clerk.
He remembered Eleanor.
He remembered the Ashford family testing.
And he remembered irregularities.
The old Charles/Nathan paternity result had been valid.
Charles was excluded.
The Nathan/Thomas sibling result had also been valid.
They shared a mother.
But the Jonathan Reed confirmation?
Martin could not find evidence it ever happened.
There was no chain-of-custody record for Jonathan’s sample.
No accession entry.
No raw data.
Only a final PDF uploaded manually into Nathan’s confidential file.
Uploader:
Dr. Paul Serrano.
Former laboratory director.
Retired.
Living in Florida.
Maya contacted him.
Serrano refused to speak.
Then his attorney called.
Serrano wanted immunity from civil action before discussing historical records.
Claire stared.
“Another one?”
“Secrets create employment opportunities for lawyers,” Maya said.
The laboratory itself launched an internal investigation.
Sterling’s current management was horrified.
Or performed horror convincingly.
Either way, they produced archived server logs.
Nathan’s old “Jonathan Reed confirmed” report had indeed been uploaded without corresponding raw genetic data.
Which meant it could not be verified as authentic.
Claire sat in silence.
Nathan spent twelve years believing a dead physician was his father based on a report that might have been manufactured.
Why?
What truth had Eleanor needed to hide?
Claire’s first instinct was Victor.
But Victor’s stored DNA still existed.
A new test could compare him to Nathan’s archived medical specimen if lawful access was obtained.
Claire hesitated.
Nathan was dead.
Did she have the right to investigate his paternity?
Maya surprised her.
“You don’t have to.”
“But it affects Lily.”
“Maybe.”
“And inheritance.”
“Possibly.”
“But?”
“But Nathan’s dignity matters too. He cannot consent.”
Claire looked down.
That night she read his encrypted emails again.
One message changed her mind.
Sent to Beatrice eleven years ago:
If Mom lied about Reed, I want someone to find out eventually. Not now. Dad is sick and Thomas wants peace. But one day, if this comes back, don’t protect me from the truth.
Claire cried.
Nathan had answered for himself.
She forwarded the email to Maya.
“Do it.”
Proper authorization took time.
Charles’s archived specimen.
Nathan’s archived specimen.
Victor voluntarily provided a fresh sample.
Thomas’s stored sample required Thomas’s consent if they wanted new testing.
First they had to find him.
Beatrice had not heard from Thomas in five years.
Victor claimed he had no contact.
Eleanor refused to answer.
Nathan’s files contained an old Seattle address.
Vacant.
A private investigator found a more recent trail.
Thomas Ashford had changed his name.
Thomas Mercer.
Claire froze when she heard it.
“My mother’s maiden name is Mercer.”
Maya looked at her.
“Coincidence?”
“Probably.”
Claire hated the word now.
Thomas Mercer lived in Portland, Oregon.
He owned a small architectural restoration company.
No public connection to Ashford Biologics.
No marriage.
No children listed.
Claire wrote him a letter rather than appearing at his door.
She explained Nathan’s death.
Lily.
The falsified test.
Nothing about money until the final paragraph.
I am not asking you to become part of the Ashford family. I am asking whether you are willing to help me understand what Nathan knew and what Eleanor changed.
Thomas called two days later.
His voice startled Claire.
It sounded slightly like Nathan’s.
“You married my brother.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“He loved you.”
“You knew about me?”
“Nathan told me.”
“Why didn’t he tell me about you?”
“Because I asked him not to.”
Claire swallowed.
“Why?”
“Because every time the Ashfords discovered a truth, they turned it into property.”
The sentence was so sharp it felt inherited.
Claire asked:
“Will you help?”
Silence.
Then Thomas said:
“If this is about taking money from Eleanor, no.”
“It’s about Lily.”
“That’s still money.”
“No.”
Claire surprised herself with the force of it.
“It’s about my daughter growing up with someone else deciding what her blood means before she can even speak.”
Thomas was quiet.
Then:
“That sounds like Eleanor.”
Claire almost laughed.
He agreed to speak through attorneys.
He also agreed to a new DNA comparison.
But he had a condition.
“I want no ownership claim.”
Claire frowned.
“You may have rights.”
“I don’t want them.”
“You should understand them before waiving anything.”
Thomas went silent.
Then laughed once.
“You sound like Nathan.”
The compliment hurt.
Testing began.
Meanwhile Serrano finally agreed to an interview under protected terms.
His account added another layer.
Twelve years earlier, Eleanor had asked him to create the Jonathan Reed report.
Not from a test.
From an assumption.
She told him Reed was Nathan’s father and said Charles wanted documentation “for private family peace.”
Serrano created a false confirmation.
He had never received Jonathan’s DNA.
Claire stared at the interview transcript.
Eleanor had manufactured Nathan’s paternity history.
Not to exclude him.
Charles already protected Nathan legally.
So why?
The answer could only be that the actual father was someone Eleanor needed hidden.
The new genetic tests returned on a Thursday morning.
Nathan and Thomas: maternal half siblings.
Confirmed.
Nathan and Charles: no biological paternity.
Confirmed.
Nathan and Victor:
Maya looked at the report twice.
Then at Claire.
“What?”
Maya slid it across the table.
Claire read.
Probability of paternity: 99.9987%.
Her breath stopped.
Victor Hale was Nathan’s biological father.
Not only Thomas’s.
Both of Eleanor’s sons had been fathered by the same man.
Victor.
Claire sat perfectly still.
Then another implication hit.
Victor had claimed he tested against Nathan twelve years ago and was excluded.
Which meant either Eleanor had lied to him too—
May you like
Or Victor had just lied to Claire.
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