Chapter 7 - Vanessa’s Bargain
I did not go alone.
I didn't go at all.
My attorney contacted Vanessa’s attorney.
The blue case was potentially relevant evidence.
It needed to be preserved.
Vanessa responded with fury.
Then bargaining.
She wanted me to stop pursuing certain allegations.
She wanted access to Sophie.
Absolutely not.
Most strangely, she wanted the plastic capsule and both of Rachel’s notes.
Why?
Her attorney claimed sentimental reasons.
Nobody believed that.
Eventually, the blue case was surrendered through proper channels.
Its seal had been broken.
Inside were medical correspondence, photographs, and a small digital recorder.
One envelope was missing.
The inventory referenced it.
**Original laboratory report.**
Gone.
Vanessa had taken the one document we most needed.
But the recorder survived.
Rachel’s voice filled the room.
Weak.
Breathless.
Still unmistakably Rachel.
“If Daniel is hearing this, then I ran out of time.”
I covered my mouth.
Rachel explained that she had discovered Vanessa accessing Sophie's laboratory information.
She initially assumed Vanessa wanted revenge over their broken friendship.
Then she found an old photograph.
Vanessa's adopted daughter.
The resemblance wasn't to Sophie.
It was to me.
I stopped the recording.
“No.”
Emily grabbed my arm.
I forced myself to continue.
Rachel said she confronted Vanessa years earlier about the child's father.
Vanessa refused to identify him.
Later, after Sophie was born, Vanessa became obsessed with comparing genetic information.
Rachel began wondering whether Vanessa's daughter and Sophie might share a paternal biological connection.
My vision blurred.
I had known Vanessa nine years earlier.
Not well.
One night.
Before I ever met Rachel.
A drunken weekend during a conference in Boston.
I never knew Vanessa became pregnant.
I didn't even remember her surname.
Years later, when Linda introduced Vanessa to me after Rachel’s death, I genuinely didn't recognize her.
Vanessa recognized me.
Of course she did.
My knees nearly gave out.
If Rachel’s suspicion was correct, Vanessa had given birth to my first child nine years earlier.
A daughter I never knew existed.
But that still didn't explain why Vanessa was searching Sophie.
Unless she needed something Rachel had hidden.
The original test.
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The one capable of proving who fathered Vanessa’s first daughter.
And Rachel had apparently obtained it.
