Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT THE SAMPLE LOG
Patricia Sloan agreed to meet us at a lawyer's office in Cambridge.
She was in her late sixties, with short white hair and a nervous habit of twisting a silver ring around her finger.
She looked at Luca as if she had been expecting him for twelve years.
“Mr. Varenna,” she said.
“Do you remember me?”
“I remember the case.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Patricia glanced at her attorney.
He nodded.
She opened a folder and removed a photocopied laboratory log.
“The sample number on your final report did not belong to you.”
The room went still.
Luca's face did not move.
“Whose was it?”
“I don't know. The original patient identifiers were removed from the copy I received.”
“You processed the sample?”
“No. I was instructed to replace the label and enter the result under your case number.”
“By whom?”
She swallowed.
“Dr. Rusk.”
“And who instructed him?”
“I never heard the name directly.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Patricia.”
She looked at him.
“I was told the request came from the Varenna family office.”
“Whose signature?”
“Vittorio's.”
I felt Luca's hand tighten around the edge of the table.
“Why didn't you report it?”
“I was twenty-nine. My husband had just lost his job. I was threatened with dismissal, and someone told me that if I spoke, my family would be in danger.”
“Did you know the result was false?”
“I knew the sample wasn't yours. I didn't know what the real result would have shown.”
She pushed another page across the table.
“This is the original sample log. Your code appears here. The result was marked within the normal range. The second report was entered six weeks later using a different sample number.”
Luca stared at the paper.
“Then I was never diagnosed.”
“You were given a diagnosis. But it wasn't based on your sample.”
He closed his eyes.
For twelve years, he had lived with the belief that he could never father a child. He had turned away from relationships, avoided the possibility of a family, and accepted a future that had been chosen for him.
“Who else knew?” he asked.
“Dr. Rusk. Dr. Bell. And whoever paid us.”
“Where is Dr. Rusk now?”
Patricia shook her head.
“I heard he moved overseas. I haven't seen him in years.”
Luca stood.
“Thank you.”
Patricia looked up.
“Mr. Varenna, I am sorry.”
He paused.
“I believe you are.”
Outside, I found him standing beside the car, staring at the street.
“Luca?”
He looked at me.
“I thought I was the reason I would never have a family.”
I stepped closer.
“You weren't.”
“I believed it for twelve years.”
“You were told a lie.”
He looked down at my stomach.
“And now there's a child.”
“Yes.”
His expression shifted.
“Evelyn, if this was done to keep me from having an heir, then our baby changes everything.”
May you like
I took his hand.
“Then we'll find out who wanted you alone.”
