Chương 4
Samuel took off his glasses.
“It tells us what a private genetic analysis concluded. It does not, by itself, answer every legal question attached to parentage, your marriage, the birth certificate, Ethan’s estate, or the family trusts.”
“I asked a simple question.”
“There is no simple answer.”
Adrian looked at him.
Samuel did not flinch.
Claire liked him a little for that.
“What does the birth certificate say?” Samuel asked.
“My name.”
“Did you sign an acknowledgment at the hospital?”
“There were papers.”
Samuel sighed.
“Of course there were.”
“I had a son. I signed what they gave me.”
Victoria looked toward the carpet.
Adrian saw it.
“Don’t.”
She looked up.
“Don’t what?”
“Look sorry for me.”
“I am sorry for you.”
“Try something more useful.”
Samuel put his glasses back on.
“We verify the report. We preserve the envelope, the contents, every message connected to it, and any proof of payment to Claire. No one deletes anything. No one contacts the laboratory pretending to be somebody else. No one threatens Natalie. No one posts anything. No one calls the press.”
Adrian turned from the window.
“Why would I call the press?”
Samuel looked at him over his glasses.
“I have represented your family for twenty-seven years.”
Victoria almost smiled.
Adrian did not.
Samuel pointed at Claire.
“You have messages from Natalie?”
Claire hesitated.
“Yes.”
“About the envelope?”
“Yes.”
“About the baby?”
Claire looked at Adrian.
His attention sharpened.
Samuel noticed.
“What about the baby?”
Claire took out her phone.
She found the thread.
There were eighty-six messages from Natalie over the last three weeks.
Most were ordinary.
Please send tea.
Tell Alvarez no visitors before noon.
Did the blue blanket go to the laundry?
Then the messages changed.
April test package is being resent.
If it comes, do not let it go upstairs.
Please.
I will explain.
And from that afternoon:
Can you keep him with you for a little while?
Don’t give him to Adrian until I call.
I’m sorry.
Please Claire.
Please.
Adrian read them over her shoulder.
His face became still.
“When did she send the last one?”
“Five thirty-six.”
“She left at?”
“Five thirty-nine.”
“You watched her leave?”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“Her purse.”
“No suitcase?”
“No.”
“Driver?”
“She drove herself.”
“Which car?”
“The gray Range Rover.”
Victoria took out her phone.
Adrian looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the app.”
His expression hardened.
“You track her car?”
“We all have access to the family vehicles.”
“Does she know?”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s thumbs moved.
Then stopped.
“The vehicle is in Greenwich.”
“Where?”
“A parking garage near Greenwich Avenue.”
Samuel raised a hand.
“Before anyone goes hunting for her, we consider whether she wants space and whether she is safe.”
“She abandoned a six-day-old baby.”
Claire said, “She left him with me.”
Adrian turned.
“That is not better.”
“No.”
“Then don’t defend her.”
“I’m not.”
He stared at Claire.
She held the look.
That was something she had learned working in rich houses. People often heard disagreement as insubordination because they were not used to hearing it in rooms they owned.
Samuel cleared his throat.
“Has anyone called her physician?”
Victoria said, “Not yet.”
“Do that. Carefully. We are not diagnosing anything, but she gave birth six days ago, she is under obvious stress, and she has disappeared after leaving the infant with an employee. Her health matters independently of everything else.”
Adrian rubbed the bridge of his nose.
The baby stirred against him.
He dropped his hand.
“All right.”
Samuel looked at Claire.
“And you stay.”
Claire blinked.
Adrian said, “She’s fired.”
Samuel turned toward him.
“No, she isn’t.”
Adrian stared at him.
Samuel shrugged.
“You may fire her tomorrow. Tonight she is the person Natalie trusted with the child, she has direct evidence, and she appears to be the only person in this room who knows when the baby ate.”
Claire almost laughed again.
This time Victoria actually did, once, quietly.
Adrian looked at his sister.
She stopped.
The family physician reached Natalie at nine seventeen.
She was safe.
She was at a small hotel in Greenwich.
She refused to return home.
She also refused to tell the physician where in the hotel she was staying.
At nine thirty-two she texted Claire.
Is he okay?
Claire showed Adrian before answering.
He read the message.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then, “Tell her yes.”
Claire typed.
He’s okay.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Did Adrian open it?
Claire showed him.
His jaw moved.
“Tell her yes.”
Claire did.
The reply came almost immediately.
I can’t come back tonight.
Adrian looked at the screen.
“What does she expect to happen?”
Claire did not answer.
Another message arrived.
Please don’t let him send the baby away.
Claire read it twice.
Adrian saw.
His face changed.
“Send him where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ask her.”
Claire typed.
Where do you think he would send him?
This time the pause lasted nearly a minute.
Then:
Anywhere he doesn’t have to look at him.
Claire wished Natalie had chosen different words.
Adrian handed the phone back.
“I’m going upstairs.”
Samuel stood.
“With the baby?”
“Yes.”
“You should have someone stay in the nursery.”
“I can manage.”
Claire said, “No, you can’t.”
Everyone looked at her.
She rubbed her forehead.
“I’m sorry. But you can’t. He eats every two to three hours. He needs to be burped. He sleeps in short stretches. You have no idea where the extra swaddles are, and you put the diaper on backward when I showed you earlier.”
“I corrected it.”
“After I told you.”
“I am capable of learning.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Claire added, “You’re also in shock.”
That landed.
Samuel looked down at the papers.
Victoria studied a gold button on her sleeve.
Adrian took a slow breath.
“You.”
Claire waited.
“Stay until morning.”
May you like
She almost told him that she had already worked eleven hours.
Instead she said, “I want it in writing that I’m not being accused of taking him.”
