Chapter 3 — The Record With Two Dates

The privacy officer joined them in a small consultation room. She confirmed that the caller had supplied Mara's full name and date of birth, but the receptionist had not confirmed an appointment or released medical details. The clinic would review the call log and tighten the account restrictions.

"I want a copy of what you can provide about the call," Mara said. "My attorney is helping me document this."

"We'll explain the process to her as well," the officer said.

Mara phoned Nina from the sidewalk. Then she called the hospital's employee office and asked what personal details an outside caller might have obtained. The answer did not tell her who had the information, but it gave her a second trail to follow.

She kept her appointment. On the examination table, listening to the rapid heartbeat, she felt the first clean minute of the week. There was a child here, with a life that did not belong to Adrian or to whoever was searching for her.

The clinician smiled. "Everything we're seeing today looks reassuring."

Mara asked for a printed copy of the visit summary. She put it in her bag herself.

Across town, Adrian sat in a private medical records office with two folders open before him. One held the report he had been given after the attack at twenty-two. The other contained copies his new specialist had obtained with his authorization.

The physician reviewing them tapped a date with her pen.

"This final diagnosis was entered on June eighteenth," she said. "The test it cites is marked June twenty-first. I can't tell you why from these copies. But I can tell you the report could not have relied on a result that wasn't available yet."

Adrian stared at the page. For fourteen years, he had treated that diagnosis as an immutable fact. He had used it to call Mara a liar.

"Could somebody have changed the date later?"

"It's possible. There could also be an administrative explanation. You need the original audit history, if it still exists."

He thanked her and took the folders. In the hallway he called Damon.

"Find out who had access to my records after the attack. Start with the people my uncle brought to the hospital."

Damon did not answer at once. "Your uncle handled a lot of things that month."

"I remember. That's why I'm asking."

At the hospital, Mara found Jules in the break room and told her about the call to the clinic. Jules set down her lunch.

"Does Nina think it was Adrian's family?"

"Nina thinks we need evidence before we decide."

"And you?"

"I think whoever took that photograph expected Adrian and me to meet."

Mara opened the image again. It showed a fragment of the hospital entrance, two faces, and the shape of a camera in glass. She enlarged the corner behind the photographer. The delivery man from the restaurant stood there too, barely visible beside a newspaper box.

"He didn't start following me after dinner," she said. "He was there before Adrian spoke to me."

Jules leaned closer. "Send that to Nina."

Mara did. She also sent the car plate and asked Nina whether they should make a report about the repeated following. Then she wrote down the exact words the man had used. She could not make him disappear, but she could stop treating each appearance as an isolated fright.

Her phone buzzed. Adrian had sent a photograph of the two conflicting medical dates.

"I found a problem with the original diagnosis," he wrote. "It doesn't excuse what I did to you. I'm having the record checked."

Mara read the message twice. She had wondered whether he'd been lied to. Seeing an inconsistency on paper made the possibility feel less abstract. It did nothing to soften the memory of him tearing the photograph.

"I want copies of the complete records before you tell me what they mean," she replied. "Send them through Nina."

"I will."

An hour later, Damon entered Adrian's office carrying a slim folder. He shut the door before setting it down.

"The plate Mara photographed is registered to a rental company," he said. "The man used a false name. I haven't found who hired him."

"Keep looking."

"There's something else. My team collected this from a courier in the lobby. It was addressed to your uncle's office, but the courier had the wrong suite number."

Adrian opened the folder. On the first page was a photograph of Mara leaving work. Beneath it were her home address, shift pattern, and a note recording the date of her prenatal appointment.

He turned to the final page. A handwritten instruction had been clipped to the report.

Confirm access to the mother before Vale confirms paternity.

Adrian looked up at Damon. "Who gave this order?"

Damon's face remained still. "That's what we need to find out."