Chapter 6 - Forty-Seven MothersThe police found the missing baby before they found Vanessa.
Pain ripped across my incision.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“Claire!”
“Grace.”
“She’s guarded.”
“He is her doctor.”
Daniel moved toward me.
“I’ll go.”
I slapped his hand away.
“You are the last person I trust.”
Detective Ruiz was already calling hospital security.
Within minutes, St. Matthew’s locked down the NICU.
Dr. Stephen Vale was nowhere inside.
Grace was safe.
But the security footage showed him entering the unit at 3:08 a.m.
He had remained beside her incubator for eleven minutes.
No documented exam.
No nurse order.
No medication entry.
Just eleven unexplained minutes with my daughter.
I wanted to tear the hospital apart with my bare hands.
Ruiz obtained surveillance footage.
At 3:19, Vale walked out.
At 4:03, he helped Vanessa escape.
Why?
That became the central question.
The hospital CEO arrived personally.
So did an attorney.
Everyone suddenly spoke in careful sentences.
I refused sedation.
I refused to sleep.
By noon, Ruiz returned with more information.
“Patrick Mercer had a storage unit.”
“What was inside?”
“Medical files.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
My mother stared.
“From the fertility clinic?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz sat.
“Some are patient copies. Some appear to be original lab records.”
“Mine?”
“We found your name.”
I felt Daniel stiffen.
“And?”
“We need forensic review.”
Ruiz looked at me.
“But there is evidence that Patrick suspected embryo manipulation at the clinic.”
I froze.
“Suspected?”
“Meaning he may not have been responsible.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“You said he claimed he switched the sample.”
“He claimed many things.”
Ruiz opened his notebook.
“There are recordings.”
“Of whom?”
“Patrick and Dr. Vale.”
The detective hesitated before continuing.
“Patrick accused Vale of falsifying fertilization records.”
My head spun.
“So Patrick might have been trying to expose him?”
“Possibly.”
“Then why tell Daniel Grace was his?”
“To manipulate him.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Why?”
“Money.”
Ruiz’s answer was simple.
“Patrick had debts.”
Vanessa entered the equation again.
Where had she gone?
By that evening, police found the vehicle used to remove her from the hospital.
Abandoned.
Blood on the passenger seat.
No bodies.
No phones.
Dr. Vale’s home was empty.
Passport gone.
Vanessa’s passport was also missing from her apartment.
The story looked obvious.
They were fleeing together.
But Ruiz did not believe obvious stories.
Neither did I anymore.
That night, Michael came to visit.
He brought something unexpected.
A laptop.
“Daniel’s company server.”
Daniel looked furious.
“You stole company property?”
“I copied company emails.”
“You had no right.”
Michael ignored him.
He turned the screen toward me.
“I searched Vanessa’s email.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“That is privileged corporate data.”
Michael laughed.
“You’re worried about corporate policy now?”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Michael opened an email thread.
Vanessa and Patrick.
But the messages were not romantic.
They were hostile.
Patrick had written:
Stop contacting Bennett. You have no idea what Vale is capable of.
Vanessa replied:
Daniel deserves to know what happened at the clinic. Claire deserves to know more.
Patrick:
If Vale realizes you copied those files, he will come after all of us.
Vanessa:
He already has.
My skin prickled.
“What files?”
Michael scrolled.
There was an attachment.
Encrypted.
Filename:
ST_MATTHEWS_47_PATIENTS
Forty-seven.
Ruiz took over.
The police cybercrime unit cracked the file three hours later.
Forty-seven women.
All former fertility patients.
All treated by Stephen Vale.
Seven had pregnancies resulting from embryos with unexplained genetic discrepancies.
Two children had rare hereditary conditions incompatible with their documented fathers.
One mother had filed a complaint.
She died in a car accident six weeks later.
Ruiz stared at me.
“We may be looking at a pattern.”
Daniel went pale.
“How long?”
“Twelve years.”
My daughter’s tiny body suddenly seemed part of something enormous and horrifying.
Vale had not just treated us.
He may have been running an illegal reproductive scheme.
Why?
Money?
Research?
Power?
Then the lab results came.
The hospital had expedited Grace’s paternity test under court order.
The genetic counselor entered my room carrying the report.
Daniel stood beside the window.
I sat with Mom.
The counselor closed the door.
“Mrs. Bennett, we have preliminary results.”
My heart pounded.
“Just tell me.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Mr. Bennett is not Grace’s biological father.”
Daniel stumbled backward as if struck.
I stopped breathing.
The counselor continued.
“And Patrick Cole is also not her biological father.”
For one second, nobody moved.
Then I whispered:
“Then who is?”
The counselor looked down at the report.
“We don’t know yet.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
My mother wrapped an arm around me.
The counselor continued cautiously.
“There is one additional finding.”
“What?”
“Grace’s genetic profile matches another infant currently receiving care in this hospital.”
I frowned.
“How?”
“They appear to share a biological father.”
“Another baby?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
The counselor hesitated.
“A boy born three days ago.”
My heart began racing.
“To whom?”
She answered.
“Vanessa Cole.”
The room went dead silent.
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
Vanessa had been pregnant?
No.
Impossible.
I had seen her body.
There had been no pregnancy.
The counselor clarified.
“The child was delivered by surrogate.”
Another secret.
Another layer.
Another life tied to mine.
I looked at Ruiz.
“Where is the baby?”
His face changed.
“No one told us there was a baby.”
The counselor turned pale.
“He was transferred yesterday.”
“Transferred where?”
She checked the electronic chart.
Then her eyes widened.
“No receiving hospital is listed.”
Ruiz was already on his phone.
And suddenly we understood why Vanessa had allowed herself to be taken from St. Matthew’s.
May you like
She was not escaping.
She was going after her child.
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