Chapter 7: The Lawyer's Morning
Julian called his attorney at seven the next morning.
Daniel Reeves had been Julian's personal lawyer for twelve years.
He was not a warm man but he was a precise one, and precision was what the morning required.
"I need you here by nine," Julian said.
"Bring whoever you need."
"Can you give me a category?"
"Fraud.
Identity.
Possibly wrongful d*ath documentation.
And custody — preemptive."
A pause.
"I'll bring two people."
By eight-thirty, Elara was seated at the dining table with a cup of tea she hadn't touched, the envelope of documents spread before her in careful order.
Julian had spent the night in the chair in the sitting room.
He hadn't slept.
He didn't think Elara had either, though she had gone to the boys' room twice — once at midnight, once at three — and both times he had heard, very faintly, the sound of humming.
The boys had slept through the night for the first time in six weeks.
Daniel arrived at nine with a younger associate named Claire, who said very little and wrote down everything.
Julian laid out the sequence.
Elara added detail where he left gaps.
The documents went across the table one by one — the wristband, the discharge papers under the false name, the prenatal program intake form, the social worker's missing persons letter.
Daniel read each one without expression.
When he finished, he looked up at Elara.
"You said a Dr.
Harmon was the attending physician."
"Yes."
"And his license transferred to Connecticut."
"The practice closed two years ago.
I couldn't find him after that."
Daniel glanced at Claire.
Something passed between them.
"We can find him," Claire said.
It wasn't a boast.
It was a note.
"The bigger issue," Daniel said, "is the d*ath certificate.
Someone filed it.
Someone signed it.
That's a document with a named physician and a named witness.
If we can establish that the signature was falsified or that the physician was acting under instruction, that becomes the center of the case." He paused.
"Do you know who signed it?"
"No," Elara said.
"I was never able to get a copy.
It's sealed under my name and I couldn't access it without triggering a legal process I couldn't afford."
"We can access it," Daniel said.
"With Julian's standing as the named next of kin on the original hospital file, we can petition for a copy within forty-eight hours." He turned to Julian.
"You'll need to be prepared for what it says."
"I know."
"If Victoria's name appears anywhere on that document — as a witness, as an authorizing party, as anything — this becomes a criminal matter.
Not just civil."
Julian nodded.
"And the boys," Daniel continued.
"Biologically, if Elara is the mother—"
"She is," Julian said.
"We'll need a DNA confirmation for the legal process.
That's not a challenge to your word," Daniel said to Elara.
"It's a requirement.
Without it, Victoria's lawyers will contest every step."
"I understand," Elara said.
"Whatever it takes."
"Julian." Daniel folded his hands on the table.
"Victoria will have called her own attorney last night.
They will be preparing a counter-narrative.
The most likely approach is to argue that Elara is a disturbed individual who fabricated a history to gain access to your household and your children.
They will use the six weeks of the maid arrangement as evidence of deception.
They will argue that whatever documents she has are either forged or misrepresented."
"Can they make that stick?"
"Without the d*ath certificate and without Dr.
Harmon, they have a reasonable chance of creating enough doubt to delay proceedings significantly." Daniel paused.
"With both — no.
With both, the question stops being whether Victoria was involved and starts being how involved she was."
The room was quiet.
Then Elara said, "There's one more thing I haven't told you."
Julian looked at her.
"The social worker.
The one who filed the missing persons report four years ago.
Her name is Patricia Osei.
She still works for the county." Elara looked at her hands.
"She remembered me.
When I came back to restore my identity, she was the one who helped me navigate the process.
She kept a personal file — outside the official system — because she said the case had always troubled her.
She said the report was closed too quickly.
That someone had called the county office and told them the missing person had been located and the family had been notified."
"Who called?"
"The call was logged as coming from Sterling Enterprises."
The silence in the room changed quality entirely.
Claire's pen stopped moving.
Daniel said, very carefully, "Do you have Patricia Osei's contact information?"
"Yes."
"Is she willing to speak?"
Elara looked up.
"She's been waiting for someone to ask."
Daniel closed his folder.
He looked at Julian with the expression of a man who has just seen the shape of a case clearly for the first time.
"I'll need the rest of today," he said.
"By tomorrow morning, I'll have a filing ready."
Julian stood.
"File it."
He walked to the window.
Below, the city was moving through its ordinary morning — taxis, pedestrians, the indifferent machinery of a Tuesday.
He had stood at this window a hundred times and felt nothing but the weight of the company, the schedule, the next meeting.
May you like
He pressed his palm flat against the glass.
The cold came through like a second skin.
