Chapter 6 - The Mark on Dad’s Neck
There had been no full autopsy.
My goal was to prove whether Dad’s death was connected to Caleb’s birth.
The medical examiner said the mark could be an injection site.
Dad died at home.
Nathan arrived before the ambulance.
The original toxicology never tested for clonidine.
A retained blood sample did.
Clonidine was present.
The same drug found in Caleb.
In a child, sedation.
In an older man with heart disease, potentially fatal collapse.
Amber had used the drug that may have killed Dad on my son.
Then police searched Dad’s old office.
Behind a false panel was a recorder.
Dad had recorded a meeting with Nathan.
Nathan:
“You don’t understand what Caleb changes.”
Dad:
“He changes nothing. He’s Sarah’s child.”
Nathan:
“He carries what I need.”
Dad:
“You’re not putting another child through this.”
Another child.
Dad knew Nathan had done something similar before.
The recording skipped.
Then Dad said:
“If Sarah learns who Caleb’s father is, this family is finished.”
My ex-husband, Mark, had died before Caleb turned one.
But Mom finally told me Mark had been diagnosed as infertile before our wedding.
“Then who is Caleb’s father?”
She said she never knew.
I remembered the final fertility procedure at Vale Fertility Center.
Nathan’s clinic.
It supposedly failed.
Two weeks later, I tested positive.
The donor code in my sealed file did not belong to Mark.
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It belonged to someone Nathan had chosen.
The donor’s surname was Carter.
