Chapter 8 - The Child Diane Erased
Emma read the message until the screen dimmed.
She did not reply.
The next morning, she showed Michael.
He stared at the words.
"Done it before?"
"That's what scares me."
Michael called the laboratory.
The results were not ready.
He changed delivery instructions.
Nothing would be mailed.
Everything would be collected in person with identification.
Then they asked Samuel to investigate whether Diane had ever been involved in another paternity dispute.
Samuel initially said no.
Two days later, he called back.
"I found something."
They met at his office.
Samuel placed a court archive on the table.
It was thirty-two years old.
A woman named Rachel Cole had filed a petition against a Bennett family company.
The case was sealed soon afterward.
"What does this have to do with us?" Michael asked.
Samuel turned a page.
Rachel had worked as a junior accountant for one of Henry's companies.
She alleged she was terminated after raising concerns about falsified medical reimbursement records.
One attachment referenced a private genetic laboratory.
Emma looked up.
"Genetic testing?"
Samuel nodded.
"I contacted the retired attorney who represented Rachel."
"And?"
"He remembered the case."
Samuel hesitated.
"Rachel claimed Diane paid a laboratory employee to alter a paternity report."
Michael became completely still.
"Whose report?"
"Rachel didn't know."
"Did Dad know?"
"Apparently not at the time."
Emma whispered, "Diane has done this before."
Samuel corrected her.
"Rachel alleged she did."
"Where is Rachel?"
"Dead."
Michael exhaled.
"Convenient."
"But she had a daughter."
Emma felt something move inside her.
"Who?"
Samuel slid a recent photograph across the desk.
The woman appeared to be in her early forties.
Brown hair.
Professional clothes.
A calm face.
Her name was Claire Cole.
Emma looked at Michael.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
Samuel said, "She works for the Bennett Foundation."
Michael stared.
"What?"
"Director of archival programs."
The room went silent.
Emma understood first.
"The anonymous packages."
Samuel nodded.
"Possibly."
Michael called Claire immediately.
She did not answer.
He left a message.
Thirty minutes later, Emma received a text.
Not safe to talk at work.
Meet me at St. Andrew's cemetery at six.
Henry's grave is there.
At six, Emma and Michael arrived together.
Claire stood near a row of old maple trees.
She looked nervous.
"You brought him."
Emma said, "He's my husband."
Claire nodded.
"I hoped you would."
Michael stepped forward.
"Did you send the photograph?"
"Yes."
"The medical form?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Claire looked toward Henry's grave.
"Because your father asked my mother for help thirty-two years ago."
Michael frowned.
Claire explained.
Rachel Cole had discovered unusual payments from Diane's personal account to a genetic laboratory.
She warned Henry.
Henry confronted Diane.
Diane denied wrongdoing.
Rachel was fired soon afterward by an executive loyal to Diane.
Henry later reinstated her privately and paid her legal fees.
But the damage had been done.
"What report was altered?" Emma asked.
Claire looked at Michael.
"Yours."
Michael stopped breathing.
Claire continued.
"Henry did order a DNA test."
Michael whispered, "His letter said he never did."
"He never saw the real result."
Claire reached into her bag.
"My mother believed Diane intercepted it and substituted another."
Michael stared.
"What did the substituted report say?"
"That Henry was your biological father."
"And the real one?"
Claire shook her head.
"My mother never saw it."
Emma asked, "Then why would Henry write that he never tested?"
"Because he believed the test had been canceled before completion."
Michael looked toward his father's grave.
Thirty-six years of truth had become a maze.
Claire opened her bag again.
"There is more."
She handed Emma an old envelope.
Inside was a copied payment receipt.
The recipient was a laboratory technician.
The date was three weeks after Michael's birth.
Emma examined it.
Then Claire said the sentence that changed the investigation completely.
"Your mother didn't alter the report because she was afraid Henry wasn't your father."
Michael looked at her.
"Then why?"
May you like
Claire's voice lowered.
"She altered it because she was afraid Henry was."
