Chapter 7 - ELAINE PORTER
The nurse with red glasses had retired.
The lab found her through old collection records.
She agreed to speak with my attorney, Natalie Price.
Elaine remembered the case.
Not because of me.
Because Margaret argued with her.
“About what?” I asked.
Elaine sat across from us at a coffee shop.
“She wanted the samples released to her.”
“Why?”
“She said she was coordinating for her son.”
“Did you give them?”
“No.”
Good.
Then:
“But the doctor did.”
My stomach tightened.
Dr. Harold Whitmore.
No relation despite same surname? Better avoid confusing. Let's call Dr. Harold Benson.
Margaret’s longtime family physician.
Deceased two years earlier.
Elaine explained:
The clinic collected Daniel’s sample Monday morning.
Lily and mine Monday afternoon.
Samples placed in locked medical refrigerator for courier Tuesday.
Monday evening, Margaret returned.
Said Daniel feared chain-of-custody mix-up.
Dr. Benson let her remain while he checked labels.
Improper.
Not automatically fraud.
Then Tuesday morning Elaine noticed one specimen tube had a rewritten label.
“Which?”
“The alleged father.”
“Did you report it?”
“I asked Dr. Benson.”
“What did he say?”
“That Daniel returned for recollection.”
“Did he?”
“I didn’t see him.”
Lab accession later recorded sample collected Tuesday at 7:40 a.m.
Daniel had been at a job site eighty miles away by 6:30.
Employment records could prove it.
So somebody replaced his sample.
Who had access?
Dr. Benson.
Elaine.
Margaret while inside office.
Mark if he came.
Elaine remembered Mark entering Tuesday morning.
There.
“Why?”
“He said Margaret asked him to drop something.”
“What?”
“A specimen envelope.”
May you like
My skin went cold.
The lie was becoming physical.
