Chapter 4 - The Call Margaret Deleted.
Daniel was moving before Sarah could stop him.
He grabbed his keys from the counter.
"I'm going to the old house."
Sarah stood in front of the door.
"No."
He stared at her.
"Ward is there."
"And your mother just took the keys."
"That is exactly why I have to go."
Sarah lowered her voice so it would not carry down the hall to Lily's room.
"You are not walking into that house alone while we have no idea what your mother is trying to hide."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Call Mark."
Mark answered immediately.
He was still at his house twenty minutes away from the Hale estate.
When Daniel explained the call, Mark swore under his breath.
"I'm coming."
"Bring Jessica."
"She's already getting her shoes."
Sarah called their neighbor Amy and asked her to stay with Lily.
She did not tell Amy everything.
She only said there had been a family emergency and Lily must not be left alone.
Ten minutes later, Sarah and Daniel were driving toward the house where Daniel and Mark had grown up.
The Hale estate sat behind stone walls and old oak trees, impressive enough to look peaceful from a distance.
Up close, Sarah had always found it cold.
Mark's SUV was already at the gate.
Jessica stood beside him with her arms folded tightly against the night air.
"The front door is open," Mark said.
Daniel looked at the dark windows.
"My mother never leaves doors open."
They entered together.
The foyer smelled faintly of furniture polish and lilies.
A light glowed at the far end of the hall.
Thomas Hale's study.
Daniel reached the doorway first.
Elise Ward stood beside the desk, one hand pressed against a cut on her palm.
A shattered glass paperweight lay on the floor.
She looked frightened but otherwise unharmed.
"What happened?" Sarah asked.
Elise glanced toward the open French doors leading to the garden.
"Margaret came in while I was looking for a file."
"Did she hurt you?"
"No."
Elise looked down at her hand.
"I knocked the paperweight over when she startled me."
Daniel exhaled slowly.
"Where is she?"
"She left through the garden."
Mark stepped into the room.
"What file?"
Elise looked at him for a long moment.
"The specimen transfer log from six months ago."
Sarah took the old report from her bag.
"Did you order this test?"
Elise read the physician code.
"Yes, but not the way Margaret told you."
Daniel's face hardened.
"Explain."
Elise sat at the desk.
"Margaret contacted me privately and said Daniel had asked for a paternity screen but wanted discretion."
"I never asked you for anything."
"I know that now."
Elise folded her hands.
"She delivered two sealed samples and said one belonged to Daniel and one to Lily."
Sarah's stomach tightened.
"You did not witness collection?"
"No."
"That should have made the result unofficial."
"It did."
Elise pointed at the photocopy.
"The original report said 'non-legal informational test' across the top."
Sarah looked down.
That line was missing from Margaret's copy.
Elise continued.
"When the test excluded the submitted male specimen, I told Margaret it proved only that the submitted sample was not from Lily's biological father."
"Yet she told everyone it was Daniel."
"Yes."
Mark's voice was quieter.
"Whose sample was it?"
Elise hesitated.
"That is what the transfer log could tell us."
Daniel looked around the study.
"So where is the log?"
Elise pointed toward a built-in cabinet behind Thomas's desk.
"The archive folder was there twenty minutes ago."
Now the cabinet stood empty.
Jessica moved toward the desk.
"Margaret took it."
Elise nodded.
"Most likely."
A faint electronic chime sounded.
Everyone looked toward Margaret's old tablet charging on the bookshelf.
The screen lit automatically with a synced message notification.
Mark picked it up.
The message had already been marked deleted on Margaret's phone but remained visible on the tablet.
It was from a contact saved only as R.
I destroyed the duplicate log like you asked.
Mark scrolled upward.
Another deleted message appeared.
The boy's sample was never supposed to be used for Lily.
Jessica whispered, "The boy?"
Then another line loaded from the cloud.
Margaret's reply was only six words.
May you like
Mark will never know it was his.
The Child Outside the Glass | Page
