Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Security Clip
By 7:00 PM, the party had cleared out. The empty paper plates, pink napkins, and half-eaten slices of cake lay scattered across the outdoor tables.
Spencer had insisted on taking Chloe home early, claiming she needed "total bed rest." I watched his sleek black SUV pull out of my driveway, my heart aching as Chloe looked back at me through the passenger window, her hand pressed against the glass.
The moment the red taillights vanished around the corner, I called my long-time friend, Detective Marcus Vance.
Marcus had spent twenty-five years with the state police before starting his own private investigation firm in the city. He was sharp, relentless, and owed me a massive favor from when I helped his youngest son finish high school after a troubled youth.
Twenty minutes later, Marcus arrived at my house. He sat at my kitchen table, a steaming mug of black coffee in front of him, as he inserted the thumb drive into his encrypted laptop.
We watched the nanny-cam video together in silence.
When the clip ended, Marcus leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stubbled jaw.
"That dark-haired woman in the video," Marcus said, pointing at the screen. "That’s Dr. Evelyn Reed. She used to be the lead embryologist at the Lakeside Fertility Center."
"Used to be?" I asked.
"She had her medical license suspended in Illinois three years ago for illegal genetic tampering and falsifying trial data," Marcus explained, pulling up a public registry on his screen. "She went completely off the grid. If she’s working out of a private clinic now, she’s doing it off the books, taking under-the-table cash from high-net-worth clients like Spencer."
"And the woman at the bakery?" I asked. "The one who gave Spencer the fake envelope and taped the drive to the cake board?"
Marcus zoomed in on the bakery security footage, enhancing the woman's profile.
"That’s the same woman," Marcus said, his eyes widening slightly. "Dr. Reed herself. But why would Dr. Reed give Spencer the fake envelope at the bakery, and then secretly leave you a drive exposing Spencer's medical crimes?"
"Because Spencer didn't pay her," I realized suddenly.
"Or he threatened her," Marcus added, clicking through a series of financial records. "Look at this. Dr. Reed’s private research facility was raided by federal investigators two days ago for tax fraud. She’s facing twenty years in prison. Spencer probably promised to cover her legal defense fees or get her out of the country in exchange for swapping the clinic records, but he burned her."
"So she gave us the weapon to destroy him," I murmured.
Marcus looked up at me, his expression grave. "Evelyn, this goes way beyond a family feud over a gender reveal. If Spencer deliberately instructed a doctor to implant genetically compromised embryos into your daughter, that’s not just medical malpractice—that’s felony assault and attempted murder of a fetal life under state law."
"Can we prove it in court with this video?"
"The video shows intent, but we need the original medical files from Lakeside Fertility," Marcus said. "We need the hard evidence that proves Spencer altered the IVF batch orders. And we need to get Chloe out of that house before Spencer realizes we have the drive."
My phone rang on the table.
It was Chloe.
I picked it up on the first ring, putting it on speaker. "Chloe? Are you okay?"
"Mom..." Chloe’s voice was trembling, muffled, as if she were hiding in a closet. "Spencer went down to his study in the basement. He... he left his laptop open on the kitchen island."
"Chloe, listen to me," I said, standing up. "Where is Spencer now?"
"He’s on a conference call with his father and their corporate lawyers," she whispered, weeping quietly. "Mom, I looked at his open browser history. He didn't just order a pink cake. He... he bought a one-way ticket for me to a private wellness clinic in Switzerland for next week. He told his father I’m having severe pregnancy complications and need to be hospitalized overseas!"
My stomach dropped into a abyss. "He’s trying to isolate you, Chloe. He wants to put you on a plane before Dr. Kendra’s official test results are released on Monday!"
"What do I do, Mom? I'm scared."
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I looked at Marcus, who was already reaching for his car keys.
"Lock your bedroom door, pack a small bag, and open your bedroom window," I told my daughter, my voice turning to pure steel. "Your mother is coming to get you."
