Chapter 7 - THE SECOND BLOOD SAMPLE
Sterling Prenatal Analytics specialized in private genetic testing.
Not illegal.
Expensive.
Fast.
The sample submitted in my name requested only:
Fetal sex confirmation.
Result:
Female.
Again.
Mark had two reports now.
One fake PDF based on my real clinic test.
One genuine laboratory report based on somebody else’s blood.
That was worse.
Because someone had physically submitted a specimen.
The lab collected at:
Whitmore Family Medical Suite.
What was that?
Not a hospital.
A concierge health office funded by Elaine’s family foundation.
One examination room inside a private office building.
No regular staff.
Contract nurses came by appointment.
Who collected sample?
Initials:
E.W.
Elaine Whitmore?
She was not medically licensed.
Lab said initials belonged to collector name entered as:
Erin Walsh, RN.
No nurse by that name worked with the concierge service.
Credential number belonged to a retired nurse in Arizona.
Identity misuse.
Then DNA.
Sterling still had residual material.
With a court order and consent from me, comparison showed:
The maternal DNA was not mine.
The sample came from another woman.
Pregnant with a female fetus.
Who?
The lab could not identify because it had only the false patient name.
But investigators could compare DNA databases if lawfully appropriate.
For now:
Unknown pregnant female.
My stomach turned.
Rachel whispered:
“Where did they get a pregnant woman’s blood?”
Detective Mills did not speculate.
Good.
Then Lauren remembered the yellow pad.
“New sample.”
Maybe Mark planned it.
Maybe Elaine already had it.
Then police searched the concierge suite.
Appointment records were mostly digital.
Three days before attack:
2:00 p.m. EMILY W.
No ID scanned.
Payment:
Elaine Whitmore Family Foundation card.
Security camera?
Deleted automatically after seventy two hours.
But building lobby camera retained.
A woman entered with Elaine at 1:51.
Fair skinned.
Blonde.
Late twenties or early thirties.
Face partly obscured by sunglasses.
Pregnant?
Hard to tell beneath coat.
They left seventeen minutes later.
Who was she?
Elaine refused to answer.
Her lawyer intervened.
Then Mark’s messages to his mother:
MARK:
Did she agree?
ELAINE:
She owes me.
MARK:
Make sure Sterling uses Emily’s DOB.
ELAINE:
Stop texting details.
There.
Mark knew.
He did not know identity?
Maybe.
Then:
MARK:
If the result comes back female, Halcyon gets it Friday.
Elaine:
And the trustees.
The second sample was designed to manufacture a legitimate looking female report.
Not just Photoshop.
Biological substitution.
Then why attack me after they successfully got female result?
Because Lauren discovered the conflict.
Official clinic:
Male.
Private Sterling:
Female.
The trustee requested reconciliation.
Lauren’s home visit threatened the entire scheme.
Mark drafted medical emergency emails.
Elaine said:
“Fix it.”
Then I became the problem.
But who was the woman?
The building garage logs offered a vehicle.
Registered to:
Rebecca Dale.
Age thirty one.
Address in Aurora.
Police contacted her.
She denied knowing us.
Then officers showed her Elaine’s photograph.
Rebecca went silent.
“She paid me.”
“For what?”
Rebecca’s attorney later gave a statement.
Elaine approached her through a private pregnancy support group.
Rebecca was struggling financially.
Elaine offered $5,000 for “a noninvasive family genetics research sample.”
Rebecca signed a consent form.
It never said my name.
She did not know her blood would be submitted as mine.
She believed she was participating in private ancestry research.
Elaine had bought access to a pregnant woman’s blood.
May you like
Then used her female fetal result as mine.
Continue to the next part: Elaine paid a pregnant stranger for a blood sample and secretly submitted it under Emily’s identity to create a real laboratory report showing a female fetus.
