Chapter 5 - The Dead Man in the Database.
Daniel Monroe had been dead for eight months, yet his name was suddenly everywhere Claire looked.
It was on the fake email Adrian had received.
It was embedded in the unexplained embryo code.
It had appeared on Lucy's incorrect hospital bracelet.
And according to Bellweather's archived employee directory, Monroe had been the senior embryologist on duty the morning Claire's embryos were transferred.
Claire stared at his employee photograph on Dana's tablet.
He was a thin man in his late forties with kind eyes and a tired smile.
She recognized him immediately.
"He was there."
Dana leaned closer.
"You remember him?"
"He brought the transfer dish into the procedure room."
Margaret sat beside Claire's bed, silent and rigid.
Adrian stood near the blinds with both hands in his pockets.
Claire forced herself to keep looking at the photograph.
"He told me the embryos looked strong."
Her voice cracked.
"He said we had three good chances."
Dana swiped to the next page.
"His death was ruled an accident."
"What kind of accident?"
"Single-car collision on Route Nine."
Adrian turned from the window.
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
Claire did the math.
That was four weeks after her successful pregnancy test.
A cold pressure settled behind her ribs.
"Was he ever investigated for anything at Bellweather?"
Dana shook her head.
"Not officially."
Mia entered carrying fresh blankets for the bassinets.
She closed the door with her heel.
"Unofficially, yes."
Dana looked at her sharply.
"How do you know that?"
Mia hesitated.
"My cousin worked in billing at Bellweather last year."
Claire looked at her.
"And?"
"She said there was a rumor that Dr. Elaine Bellweather accused Monroe of copying records before he died."
Adrian stepped away from the window.
"What records?"
"Embryo inventory."
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Claire looked at her three babies.
Noah made a tiny sound in his sleep.
Grace stretched one hand above her head.
Lucy remained curled beneath a white blanket.
They looked like hers.
They felt like hers.
But the existence of a fourth code had planted a question Claire hated herself for asking.
Mia moved closer.
"Mrs. Cole, the university lab marked your samples priority."
"How long?"
"They said preliminary parentage results could be ready tomorrow."
Claire nodded.
Tomorrow suddenly sounded impossibly far away.
Adrian took one step toward the bed.
"Claire, I want to help."
She looked at him.
"Then answer everything I ask without protecting yourself."
His expression tightened.
"Okay."
"When did Vanessa first mention Daniel Monroe?"
Adrian looked confused.
"She didn't."
"Never?"
"Not by name."
Claire held up the fake email screenshot.
"Then when you saw this, why didn't you ask who he was?"
Adrian looked down.
"I did."
"And?"
"Vanessa said he was probably someone from the clinic."
"How would she know that?"
"Because she had worked there."
"Did that not seem convenient?"
He exhaled.
"It does now."
Claire's voice became colder.
"Stop saying now."
He looked at her.
"Every terrible decision you made becomes obvious now."
"I know."
"You believed a forged email now."
"Claire—"
"You paid for a secret test now."
"I was scared."
"You slept with Vanessa now."
Adrian's face went still.
Claire did not raise her voice.
That made the sentence land harder.
"You were not tricked into every choice."
He nodded slowly.
"No."
Margaret looked away.
Claire felt a bitter relief.
At least he had stopped trying to turn betrayal into confusion.
"How did you meet her again?"
"At a fundraiser in May."
"Again?"
Adrian froze.
Claire caught the word immediately.
"You knew her before Bellweather?"
Margaret stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
"Adrian."
He looked at his mother.
Claire followed that look.
"You knew too?"
Margaret's face changed from anger to regret.
"Claire, I did not know they had reconnected."
"That was not my question."
Margaret swallowed.
"Vanessa dated Adrian years ago."
Claire stared at her husband.
"How many years?"
"Seven."
"Before me?"
"Yes."
"And nobody thought that mattered when she started handling my fertility records?"
Adrian rubbed the back of his neck.
"I didn't know she worked at Bellweather until the fundraiser."
Claire laughed without humor.
"And what a coincidence that must have seemed."
He said nothing.
Margaret moved closer to the bed.
"There was a reason we did not talk about Vanessa."
Claire looked at her.
"What reason?"
Margaret's lips parted, but the door opened before she could answer.
Dana stepped inside holding a sealed courier envelope.
"We received something from Daniel Monroe's attorney."
Everyone turned toward her.
"His attorney?"
"Apparently Monroe left instructions that a packet be released if Bellweather was ever investigated for embryo record irregularities."
Claire's heart began pounding.
Dana opened the outer envelope and removed a flash drive and a handwritten letter.
The first line was addressed to no one in particular.
IF THIS LETTER IS BEING READ, THEN SOMEONE FINALLY FOUND THE FOURTH CODE.
Claire gripped the blanket.
Dana continued reading.
Monroe wrote that he had discovered unauthorized changes in Bellweather's embryo database shortly before Claire's transfer.
He had copied the original logs because he feared the records would be altered.
He wrote that one employee had repeatedly accessed patient files outside her assigned responsibilities.
The employee's name was Vanessa Hart.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Claire did not look at him.
Dana reached the final paragraph.
Her voice slowed.
"Monroe believed Vanessa was not acting alone."
Margaret whispered, "Who was helping her?"
Dana unfolded a second page.
There was only one typed line on it.
ASK WHO PROFITS IF ADRIAN COLE HAS NO BIOLOGICAL HEIRS.
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