Chapter 8: What Marcus Hale Did Not Expect
Robert arrived at the hospital by four o'clock.
He came with a colleague — a woman named Grace Ellison who handled family law and, as Robert put it quietly in the hallway, "cases involving predatory paternity claims." She had a leather folder and the kind of calm that came from having seen worse.
They set up in the family consultation room at the end of the maternity corridor.
I sat across from them with June in my arms.
Eli sat beside me, eating crackers from a packet Camille had found for him, listening to everything.
"The filing is real," Grace said.
"He's named as biological father and is requesting immediate paternity testing and interim custody pending results."
"Can he get interim custody of a newborn?"
"Not easily.
But he has a lawyer who knows how to push timelines." She opened the folder.
"Here's what works in your favor.
The filing was made thirty-eight minutes after birth.
That's not unusual in legitimate cases — fathers sometimes file quickly to establish rights.
But the circumstances here are different.
We have a Code Pink event, a tampered ID band, a switched infant, and a man who used a false name to establish a relationship with you."
"Can we prove the false name?"
"Do you have anything from that time?
Messages, emails, anything with the name Daniel Marsh?"
I thought back.
Six weeks, four years ago.
I had deleted everything when it ended.
But —
"There was an email," I said slowly.
"A restaurant reservation he forwarded to me.
I may still have it.
My email archive goes back years."
Grace made a note.
"That's a start.
If we can establish that he concealed his identity, we can argue the relationship itself was obtained by deception, which affects the standing of the claim."
"He did the same thing to Dara Wills," I said.
"Room 9.
Her daughter Petra — he's the biological father.
She didn't know his real name either."
Grace and Robert exchanged a look.
"Is she willing to speak with us?" Grace asked.
"I think so.
Yes."
Grace wrote something else.
"Two women.
Two false identities.
Two paternity filings — I'll check if he's filed for Petra as well." She looked up.
"Sarah, this is a pattern.
And patterns are prosecutable."
Eli had stopped eating his crackers.
"Is he going to try to take June?" he asked.
Nobody rushed to answer him, which I appreciated.
He was six.
He had earned a real answer.
"He's going to try," I said.
"But we're not going to let him."
Eli considered this.
Then he went back to his crackers.
Robert leaned forward.
"There's one more thing.
Luke — your husband — he had information about Marcus Hale that he gathered privately.
Investigators, records.
If that documentation is solid, it could be significant."
"Luke is currently being questioned by hospital security and possibly police."
"I know.
I spoke to Okafor briefly in the hallway." Robert paused.
"Luke made serious errors today.
What he did was wrong and frightened you and another mother badly.
But the information he gathered may be the most useful thing we have."
I looked down at June.
She was awake now, her eyes unfocused the way newborn eyes are, moving slowly across the light.
"Get the documents," I said.
"Whatever Luke has.
Get all of it."
Robert nodded.
Grace closed her folder.
"One more thing," she said.
"Marcus Hale's attorney contacted the court this afternoon requesting an emergency hearing.
It's been set for Thursday."
Today was Tuesday.
"That's forty-eight hours," I said.
"Yes."
May you like
I looked at her steadily.
"Then we have forty-eight hours."
