After exactly seventy two hours from Eleanor’s birthday banquet, everyone gathered in the Locke Group’s executive conference room.
The senior board members sat around the huge table looking grim. Madame Eleanor sat at the head of the table looking slightly nervous as well with Ansel sitting beside her.
Victor stood beside Dr. Harrison, the director of the city’s most prestigious medical laboratory on the opposite side.
Savannah sat quietly in a corner and across from her sat the Quinn family. Richard was sweating and his knees were shaking. Celeste sat beside him looking innocent and scared. Cooper looked furious while Diane just looked straight ahead with no emotion.
"Let’s ditch the pleasantries," Arthur said impatiently. "Dr. Harrison, the board is waiting for the DNA test result."
Dr. Harrison cleared his throat and broke the seal of the envelope he had brought with him. He took out the document and began reading.
"The genetic analysis is conclusive," he began. "The samples collected in everyone’s presence confirm a 99.9% biological match between Celeste Quinn and Richard Quinn."
A wave of relief went through the board members. Victor took his seat and smiled, satisfied.
"Oh, thank God!" Celeste gasped loudly and burst into tears.
Then she turned and hugged Richard.
"Dad! I knew it! I knew I was really your daughter."
Richard hugged her back tightly.
"My girl. My lucky girl."
Savannah watched the performance without saying a word. She glanced at Cooper who was gripping the edge of the table tightly. Then, she looked at her mother. Diane didn’t smile or say anything. She just kept sitting there with a blank expression.
"Well," Victor said. "I believe that settles the matter of the inheritance and the identity of the true Rosalind Quinn heir. Which means, Ansel, you need a new bride."
Ansel didn’t react. He reached inside his suit jacket and took out an envelope bearing the seal of a different laboratory. He then put it on the table and pushed it towards Arthur.
"What is this?" he asked, frowning.
"An independent DNA report," Ansel replied. "The tests were conducted by Apex Independent Lab and the samples were collected by an independent courier, sealed in a locked container, and transported under a notarized chain of custody. Open it."
Victor’s smug smile immediately disappeared and Dr. Harrison’s face suddenly went pale. Arthur broke the seal and took out the document. As he read the report, his expressions changed a number of times. First he looked confused, then shocked and then scared.
"This..." Arthur stammered, looking up. "This report says that Savannah Quinn is a 99.9% biological match to Richard Quinn."
The room fell silent.
"Let me see that!" Victor said and snatched the paper from Arthur’s hands.
"It seems we have a problem," Ansel said. "Two laboratories...two different results."
Before Victor could make an excuse, Madame Eleanor slammed her cane on the floor.
BANG
The sound made half of the board members jump.
"This is not a contradiction," Eleanor said and glared at Dr. Harrison. "It’s fraud."
The boardroom erupted into chaos. Several board members stood up demanding for an explanation.
"We want the truth!" One of the board members yelled and pointed at Dr. Harrison. "Explain this."
Dr. Harrison didn’t know what to say. He looked at Victor but he was already thinking about his next move, convinced that he couldn’t get away from this now. He was already pissed because of the frozen bank accounts and now this. Ansel was destroying his plans slowly and he needed to counter him soon.
Ansel stood up and walked towards Dr. Harrison. The doctor instinctively took a step back in fear.
"You have one chance to explain this, Doctor," Ansel said. "If my lawyers take this to the federal court, you won’t just lose your medical license. You will spend the rest of your life in a federal penitentiary for corporate conspiracy. So tell us...who changed the results?"
Dr. Harrison crumbled under the weight of Ansel’s gaze.
"It... it must have been a mistake!" Dr. Harrison stammered, raising his hands defensively.
"A mistake?"
Dr. Harrison nodded frantically.
"A clerical error! The samples were handled by a junior technician. He may have mixed them. I didn’t personally verify the tags, I swear! It was the technician!"
Ansel scoffed and turned towards Richard.
"Are you also going to blame a junior technician for telling you that a stranger is your biological child?"
Richard scrambled backward in his chair. He looked at Victor for help but Victor was staring furiously at the lab report.
"I... I was fooled!" Richard cried. "I didn’t know! The hospital staff lied to me! We are victims as well. I swear."
Savannah felt sick at the sight of her father’s cowardice. He was willing to say or do anything to save his own skin.
"No..." Celeste sobbed loudly and buried her face in her hands. "I didn’t know about this! Savannah, please believe me. I didn’t know about anything."
Ansel turned his head to look at Celeste and smiled coldly.
"Is that so?" Ansel asked.
Celeste nodded and gave him her most pitiful look.
"Yes! I am a victim in this too, Ansel!"
"I see," Ansel said. "Then let’s file a formal police report. We will ask the authorities to launch a full criminal investigation into you, your father, and this laboratory for trying to defraud the Locke Group."
Celeste froze, unable to answer. Ansel smirked with a victorious glint in his eye and turned back to the board members.
"I believe we have our answer."
The boardroom erupted again. Board members agreed with Ansel’s demand for an investigation and some even demanded Victor’s resignation for trying to fool everyone with forged documents and DNA results. Victor tried to defend himself but no one was listening to him anymore.
Meanwhile, in all this chaos Richard sat frozen in his chair. His mind was spinning.
The independent lab. A notarized chain of custody. How?
He knew Celeste had thoroughly cleaned their rooms. He had taken Diane and Cooper away from the city. There was no way they could give their sample to Savannah or Ansel.
It was impossible. So how? Unless someone gave it to her.
His eyes slowly moved across the room. He looked at fuming Celeste, then at happy Cooper and then at his wife.
She was looking at Savannah. She wasn’t crying or looking scared or even panicked as expected from her. She was looking at Savannah with a small, tearful smile looking relieved.
Richard curled his fingers into a fist as he understood Diane had given Savannah the sample behind his back.