Chapter 8 - THE OLD LAB REPORT
Police found the old paternity test during execution of a search warrant connected to the restraint case and suspected trust-document interference.
Margaret kept files.
Beautifully.
Labelled folders.
Dates.
Receipts.
Control likes documentation when it believes documentation belongs to it.
Folder:
LILY / PATERNITY.
Inside:
Private DNA report.
Six years old.
Daniel Whitmore — alleged father.
Lily Whitmore — child.
Probability:
99.998%.
How was Lily’s sample obtained?
Cheek swab.
Who submitted it?
Margaret.
Without my consent.
Daniel’s sample came from a discarded razor, according to accompanying correspondence.
The lab warned that the test was informational and not legally chain-of-custody certified.
Margaret knew the result.
She kept accusing me anyway.
The folder contained a handwritten note.
Do not disclose. Better unresolved.
Better unresolved.
I read the words until my eyes hurt.
Not:
Test unreliable.
Not:
Need confirmation.
Better unresolved.
There were emails to Mark.
Margaret:
The paternity issue buys time if anyone pushes branch activation.
Mark:
I don’t want Lily dragged into this.
Margaret:
Then fix Harbor Row.
Mark:
You already tested her.
Margaret:
Private test proves nothing legally.
Mark:
It proves enough for us.
He knew.
Not only Margaret.
Mark had known for five years.
Jessica said she did not.
I believed her at first.
May you like
Later I would learn she knew more than she admitted too.
Families rarely distribute secrets evenly.
