Chapter 10 - the woman who looked like daniel)
Police protection was placed around Claire's house that evening.
Rebecca Caldwell was not contacted immediately.
Detective Hart wanted evidence before approaching a woman who might unknowingly be at the center of a decades old crime.
Daniel hated waiting.
Claire understood why.
Every photograph of Rebecca created another question.
She had Evelyn's cheekbones.
Daniel's eye shape.
Even their smiles tilted the same way.
But resemblance was not proof.
Neither was a coded file.
A DNA test would answer the question.
The problem was obtaining one ethically.
Hart approached Rebecca the following morning.
Rebecca agreed to meet.
Not because she believed the story.
Because she had spent thirty five years feeling that something about her family history did not fit.
They met at a law office downtown.
Rebecca entered wearing a dark green dress and carrying a leather portfolio.
She looked at Daniel.
Stopped.
Then laughed nervously.
"This is unsettling."
Daniel stood.
"Yeah."
Rebecca looked at Evelyn.
Her expression changed.
Evelyn did not move.
Claire had never seen someone try so hard not to hope.
Rebecca sat.
"My mother told me this morning that you are trying to ruin our family."
Daniel smiled faintly.
"My mother says that too."
Rebecca looked at him.
"Margaret?"
"Apparently my aunt."
Rebecca exhaled.
"This is insane."
"Yes."
Detective Hart explained the ledger.
The maternity home.
The transfer code.
The twin notation.
Rebecca listened without interruption.
Then she opened her portfolio.
"I brought something."
She placed a birth certificate on the table.
Rebecca Anne Caldwell.
Born October 14.
St. Matthew's Hospital.
Daniel stared.
Same hospital.
Same date.
Rebecca looked at Evelyn.
"My mother always said I was born at County General."
Hart leaned forward.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Have you ever asked?"
"Once. When I needed records for a passport. She said the certificate had been reissued after a clerical error."
Evelyn's hands shook.
Rebecca noticed.
Something softened in her face.
She looked away quickly.
"I will take the test."
Two days later, the result arrived.
Probability of full sibling relationship between Daniel Mercer and Rebecca Caldwell.
99.97 percent.
Probability of maternity between Evelyn Mercer and Rebecca Caldwell.
99.999 percent.
Evelyn did not scream.
She simply touched the page.
Then whispered, "My daughter."
Rebecca sat across from her.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
Neither woman moved toward the other.
Thirty five years could not be crossed in one dramatic embrace.
Claire respected that.
Daniel did too.
He stood beside Rebecca.
His sister.
She looked at him and gave a broken laugh.
"So what now?"
Daniel answered.
"I have no idea."
It was the most honest thing anyone had said.
Patricia Caldwell was questioned that afternoon.
At first she denied everything.
Then Hart showed her the DNA results.
Patricia asked for a lawyer.
By evening, she admitted Rebecca had been privately adopted.
She insisted she had believed the adoption legal.
"William Mercer arranged it."
"Did you know Rebecca had a twin?" Hart asked.
Patricia hesitated.
"No."
"Did Margaret?"
Patricia looked toward her lawyer.
"Answer only if you wish," he said.
Patricia closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Daniel stared through the observation window.
Claire stood beside him.
"Margaret knew where she was."
Daniel whispered.
"She sat beside Patricia at birthday dinners."
Claire said nothing.
"She watched Rebecca grow up."
His voice cracked.
"She watched Evelyn sit across from her own daughter for decades."
Claire finally understood the scale of Margaret's cruelty.
Not one lie.
A lifetime built around making sure everyone saw only the version she permitted.
Hart entered the observation room later.
"Patricia claims Margaret agreed never to reveal Rebecca's identity."
"Why?"
"To protect both families."
Daniel laughed.
"Of course."
Hart continued.
"But Patricia told us something else."
Claire looked at her.
"What?"
"Margaret visited her last week."
"Why?"
"She wanted Rebecca to sign a family foundation proxy."
Daniel frowned.
"Rebecca isn't part of the Mercer foundation."
"Margaret knew DNA results might expose Rebecca as a Mercer descendant."
Claire understood.
"She was preparing for this too."
Hart nodded.
Daniel leaned against the wall.
Every route led back to Margaret planning ahead.
Claire asked the more important question.
"Who threatened Lily?"
"We're still investigating."
"Patricia?"
"No evidence."
"Margaret?"
"No evidence."
"Michael?"
"None."
Hart paused.
"But we traced the call to a prepaid phone purchased near the St. Vincent facility."
Peter's nursing home.
Daniel straightened.
"Peter?"
Hart shook her head.
"Peter was in his room."
"Then who?"
"Security footage shows someone purchasing the phone."
Hart placed a still image on the table.
The photograph was grainy.
A man in a baseball cap.
Claire did not recognize him.
Daniel did.
His face drained.
"That's impossible."
"Who is he?"
Daniel moved closer to the photograph.
"My father."
Claire frowned.
"Michael?"
Daniel shook his head.
He pointed.
"Robert."
May you like
Claire stared at the image.
Robert Mercer had been dead for seventeen years.
