Chapter 15 - A Visitor from the Prison
Two days later, Lorraine’s prison attorney contacted Detective Bennett.
Someone had mailed Lorraine a photograph.
It showed Grace playing in Jake and Megan’s backyard during her birthday party.
The photograph had been taken from outside the fence.
Written beneath the image were six words:
THE WRONG SULLIVAN CHILD CAME HOME.
Lorraine demanded protective custody.
Jake felt no sympathy for the fear she now experienced. But the photograph proved someone had been close enough to watch Grace.
The family temporarily moved into Megan’s parents’ home. Emma stayed with them, helping care for Grace while Detective Bennett investigated.
The photographer had chosen a position beyond the range of Jake’s security cameras. No usable fingerprints were found on the envelope.
Martin Voss denied sending it.
He admitted that Lorraine had contacted him, but claimed she only wanted general information about grandparents’ rights.
“Then why did your document code appear on her petition?” Bennett asked.
Voss smiled calmly.
“Templates are copied every day.”
The police could not hold him.
That night, an unexpected visitor arrived at Megan’s parents’ house.
Dr. Samuel Reed stood on the porch holding a sealed folder.
“I received this at the hospital,” he said.
Inside was a copy of Grace’s newborn blood-screening request.
The form appeared official, but Dr. Reed immediately recognized that the authorization signature had been forged.
Someone had attempted to obtain Grace’s genetic sample three weeks after her birth.
The requesting organization was called the North Lake Family Reunification Project.
Detective Bennett searched its registration history.
The project had closed twelve years earlier.
Its final director had been Andrew Sullivan.
Jake stared at his father’s name.
“My father ran an organization that reunited families?”
Dr. Reed pointed to the date on the form.
“It was submitted last month.”
May you like
Someone was using Andrew Sullivan’s dead organization.
And they wanted Grace’s DNA.
