Not That That's for Sure

Not That, That's For Sure- an Alternate Ending. Part 2

So the stage is set. Research was started on everyone involved and they started to accumulate background. Patrick began discreet inquiries into Ajax Corporation and Duncan Industries. Thomas had his people start surveillance on the hospital, the Doctor, and the nurses involved in the delivery and found a connection to an adoption agency. The Doctor's personal life was opened up and dissected.

They discovered several births similar to Tina's at North Jersey Medical Center around the same time. Five, to be exact. But only one matched all the facts in evidence. Multiple children, bi-racial, one child dying, and -wallah- an adoption soon afterward of a bi-racial child.

Hmmm, how interesting.

The adoption agency, New Horizons, was partially funded and sponsored by Guess Who? That's right, one Matt Duncan, CEO of Duncan Industries. A Professor and Mrs. Charles Smythe, of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania adopted the child.

How very interesting.

So Elizabeth and Thomas, bright and early on Saturday morning, left down I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, to I-276, West to King of Prussia. A little more than two hours and they were looking for 132 Mill Road. They pulled up in front of a quaint turn-of-the-century two-story farmhouse, owned by the Smythes. Way back when it was a farmhouse, now it was a modest, old, home in a suburban neighborhood.

Charles was an assistant professor of English at the local community college, and his wife Sara was a registered nurse. They were in their early thirties and were unable to have children, because of a problem that Sara had. Didn't matter what, it was irreparable. They could not afford IVF and had scraped together every penny they had and borrowed some from relatives to adopt. $67,000, to be exact. This was what the research had found. Now the first part of 'The Plan' unfolded.

Elizabeth and Patrick walked up to the porch, climbed the stairs, and rang the bell. In a moment, Professor Smythe opened the door. At least, Elizabeth assumed it was him.

"Yes, can I help you?", he asked pleasantly.

"You are Mr. Charles Smythe?", Elizabeth said.

"Yes. And you are?".

"My name is Elizabeth Lang, Attorney. This is Thomas Kelley, a P/I licensed in New York and New Jersey, assisting me. I represent Mr. Bryan Kelley's estate. We are here to speak with you and your wife concerning your daughter."

He recoiled slightly.

"I do not know of any estate. And what does this have to do with our daughter?" He was becoming defensive, and a little pissed. "I'm calling the police and my lawyer." He was fumbling for his cell and backing up.

'Enough of this shit', thought Elizabeth.

"That is your right, Mr. Smythe. But all we want is to ask you a few questions, give you a couple of interesting forms, and get a couple of samples. If you contact anyone before we get a chance to do this, WE will contact the FBI and any hope of keeping this quiet goes out the door. Your call, sir."

Charles gulped and stopped fumbling with his cell. He stared at the two strangers, then yelled over his shoulder.

"SARA?? Get out here, right now!" His eyes never left their faces, and he clutched his cell phone like it was his life preserver.

A petite redheaded woman emerged from what appeared to be the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. The small grin on her face disappeared as she saw the two people standing in the doorway. Replaced by a look of concern, she said, 'Who is this, babe?"

"This is an attorney who wants to talk to us about something concerning Chastity."

Sara's demeanor immediately switched to guardian mode and her face contorted as she grabbed Charlie's arm and launched at us.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT? WE'VE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH! GET OUT! GET OUT!!" She started to tremble as her husband cradled her shoulder.

Thomas spoke for the first time.

"Mrs. Smythe, we just have some questions. We are not interested in causing problems for you, and I think you will be very interested in what we have to say."

Elizabeth continued. "Thomas is right. After we talk to you, you can call your lawyer if you so desire, but I don't think the police will be necessary. PLEASE!!"

Charlie thought for a moment, looked at his wife, and then back to Elizabeth and Thomas. Finally...

"Alright, we'll talk. But you better be honest in what you say." He stepped back, taking his wife's hand, and gestured towards what appeared to be their living room.

They all entered and they were motioned to two easy chairs. Charlie and Sara sat on a couch across from them, on the other side of a low coffee table. Charlie was wary. Sara was furious. So Elizabeth figured it was time to lay it out.

"What did they tell you about the baby when they told you she was available for adoption? Did they tell you anything about the child's history or prodigy?"

Charlie thought for a moment, then turned to look at his wife. She had morphed from mad to wondering. Wondering what they were getting at. Slightly fearful that it was not good. Charley turned back to the interlopers.

"Well," he started, "They told us Chastity was available. She was of mixed race, but that didn't matter. Her father was a drug dealer, but he was dead. Her mother was a drug addict, but her baby was clean, healthy, and ready. They told us how much it would cost, and what we had to do. We had already complied with the paperwork, and the money was in escrow. We jumped at it. And we took our daughter home. The mother was on board with this. She had waived her parental rights. So we had our daughter." He was tearing up.

Sara was much more composed now. She looked at her husband, took his hand in hers, and squeezed it a little. She turned and looked at them.

"So what are you going to tell us different, if anything?"

Elizabeth sighed and looked at her brother. But he had already put his attache case on the low table and opened it. He pulled several papers out and handed them to his sister. She looked at the first one and then passed it across to Charley.

"This is the child's legitimate birth certificate. Note it says 'Live birth'. The baby was born as one of two twin girls. Her sister is white. It is a very rare occurrence called "hetero-paternal super-fecundation". Basically, she had sex with a second man while carrying a newly fertilized egg from her husband. Or the other way around. We don't know which. It doesn't matter. She carried two children to term and delivered both. She was told that both babies were fine, then told that her first daughter had died from 'complications' from childbirth. This was the daughter that my brother saw delivered and drove him from the delivery room. Up until then, he had no reason to suspect anything was not as expected. He fled the hospital, went home, and hung himself in his garage. He was broken. Crushed. Shattered." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she took the second form.

"This is the 'Death Certificate' for your daughter. You'll notice no mention of her sister's existence as far as a multiple birth, nor a name for the father. Convenient, huh? You can keep that. It's a notarized copy of the original, and we brought it for you. This", and she passed the third form to them, "is the paperwork from the adoption agency, stating that the mother had waived all parental rights. You never saw this, did you? Didn't think so. All these are notarized, legitimate copies of the originals and are for you." She leaned forward, arms on her knees. "Questions?"

The young people were incredulous. Shocked. They had no clue that there was any kind of problem with the adoption. But they were more concerned with the fallout.

"How is this going to impact us?", queried Charley. He was getting anxious. Sara, not so much. She was still a little pissed.

"What is it that you want?"

"We need to get some swabs, nasal and oral, from your daughter. Then we would like to get a copy of her footprints on notarized documents, to prove she is alive. Then we have a certified document stating that there will be no recriminations against your family."

"That's it?"

"That's it. We just need them to bolster our case against the 'other' individuals involved."

Thomas had pulled out the footprint forms, the DNA kits, and the ink pad.

Elizabeth looked at Sara because she felt she was the key to getting their cooperation.

"Look", she stated, "We will not go after you or your daughter. Your co-operation will do wonders for our case, and enable us to get justice and closure for my brother. We have a signed, notarized document for you to this effect. It's not legit, because the notary is not here, but she is a close associate of mine, she knows why we're doing this, and she will swear to the fact that she was here. It is totally to your benefit. Yours to keep, get it to your lawyer. What do you say?" Thomas produced the form and slid it across to the two. Sara picked it up and read it with her husband looking over her shoulder. That was when Charley turned and looked at Thomas.

"You haven't said much. What's your stake in this?"

Thomas looked into the man's eyes and, holding his stare, said, "Bryan was my baby brother. He was a great man. Never hurt anyone, would help ANYONE. He was happy until he was destroyed by the bitch, her boss, and the son-of-a-bitch who did this. But that's between me and him."

Charley nodded and looked at Sara.

"Go get the baby. I'll get the paperwork we have." They stood and left the room. Charlie returned with their copies of what they had been given. Moments later, Sara returned from upstairs with a precious little bundle. She came and sat next to her husband.

Charlie said we could copy the forms- a copy of Chastity's birth certificate and their copy of the adoption papers. I explained to them that this would help with Federal charges of interstate kidnapping and child abduction. We swabbed the baby's cheeks and her nasal passages, just to be sure. Then we took footprints for the forms of her identity we had, a set for them and one for us. We all signed them as they had been notarized before we left New Jersey.

"Not exactly legal, but the notary is a close friend of mine and when I explained what we were doing, she was on board with it." They grinned and said they understood. I asked if I could hold the baby. Unflinching, Sara passed her daughter to me, and I held my half-niece (?) for the first time. She was adorable. So tiny. Cute. Peaceful. She had no idea the grief and horror her mother had performed. I sniffled, and Thomas chucked her chin and tickled her little fist. I passed her back, wiped my eyes, and looked at the young couple.

"You're very lucky. I can't promise anything, but if we can, we'll try to compensate you. I do promise that none of this will come back on you. The adoption will stand." Then she pulled out the signed and notarized agreement from Tina. It stated that she renounced all claims to the child, and would not attempt to contact her or her parents unless they instituted it.

"This is yours. It is notarized and has been registered in Bergen County, New Jersey, at the courthouse. It's legal and is our pledge to you. Take it to your lawyer, along with everything else, and my card. Explain what we talked about. If he has any questions, he can contact my office and talk to my paralegal Sally. We will be out of the office for a few days, but she can answer any questions or get in touch with us if necessary. Okay?"

They looked at each other and then at us. They smiled and nodded.

"Good luck," said Charley, and Sara reached across and kissed my cheek. Charley shook Thomas's hand, and we rose and left to finish the job.

One down, four to go.

We returned to Bergenfield and started the next step. Ajax Corporation. Tina's company. They formulated their plan and went to see Mrs. Carole King, CEO of the company, on Monday morning, bright and early. We showed up at 9:00 a.m. I was looking forward to ruining her day. We arrived and were seated in a reception area, waiting for the lady's schedule to grant us time. It wasn't long before we were ushered into her office.

Elizabeth started.

"Mrs. King, I am Elizabeth Lang, and I represent the estate of Mr. Bryan Kelley. We have a proposal for you that we believe you should accept."

"I don't understand. Tina is still on maternity leave/emergency leave with the death of her husband. What do I have to do with his estate?"

"Let's cut the shit, shall we? You 'persuaded' my sister-in-law to have extramarital sex with Mr. Matt Duncan. You coerced her, implying that everyone's job was at risk. Then you more or less blackmailed her to go through with it 'for the good of the company'. So this is what is going to happen." At this point Elizabeth paused and Mrs. King bowed up.

"Now look here. Tina did this of her own free will. And she signed an NDA that prohibits any of this from being discussed. So you have no...."

"Cut the crap, Carole. We both know the NDA is not worth the breath it takes to say it. You blackmailed her, coerced her, and out and out threatened her with her job, to get her to do what she did. Now, here is what is going to happen. You will give us a cashier's check, made out to 'cash', for $2 million. In return for this, we will give you a notarized statement that we will not pursue legal action. Make it out to cash. We know you have that much 'disposable income', shall we say. We know quite a bit about your nefarious dealings. Also, Tina will resign immediately that the check is cashed, and the funds are available. She will have no further dealings with you or your company. She has suffered enough."

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! IT'S BLACKMAIL!" She was foaming at the mouth, coming unhinged.

"Yes, it is. Or it would be if we took advantage of it. But compared with what you did? Lady, you have no room to talk. You blackmailed Tina, extorted her and at least four other women, not to mention the fact that you did the deed with Mr. Duncan yourself."

"Yes, I did. All for the good of the company."

"Yes, 'for the good of the company'. Except you went back to the well, so to speak, what was it? Six times? Couldn't help the company enough, could you? It's a good thing your husband doesn't know about your magnanimous gesture for the 'good of the company'. If this goes to court, all this will be made public. And the recordings? We managed to gain access to the 'cloud' and downloaded all of them. We also have sworn depositions from the women involved about how you screwed up their lives, and their marriages: two miscarriages, a stillbirth, and a divorce. Seems to me that two million is a small price to pay. You have until 3:00 p.m. Wednesday to pay the money. Once the check clears and the money is moved, you get your statement, and we will not bother you again. If we go to court, we will not be asking for money. None at all. But blood?

"Heh, heh, heh. You don't have enough."

Mrs. Carole King slumped in her chair, defeated. She was stunned that things had come to this.

"Alright, you win. You'll have the check." Tears were forming in her eyes.

We rose.

"Pleasure doing business with you, madam." We turned and left. As we got to the parking lot, Thomas said, "You know she's going to call Duncan."

"I'm counting on it," Said Elizabeth. "She thinks we'll be going after him, sooner or later. But we're not. I'll leave that to Patrick and the various government types."

Hmmm, that sounds interesting. Two down, two to go. On-wards.

As if it was foretold, Carole King was on the phone with Matt Duncan as soon as the two had left her office. She spilled everything and asked him what she should do. Matt was not impressed. No skin off his nose. He was free and clear, as they say. So he told Carol to pay and ride it out. After all, it was 'just money', right?

Our next stop was the hospital. It was early Monday afternoon. We arrived at the office of the CEO of North Jersey Medical Center. He was just about to leave for a late, extended lunch. But Elizabeth was on a roll. She was having none of that. So she told the secretary that there was an attorney and a private investigator who wanted to see him. It would be in his and the hospital's best interests to see them. And if she didn't at least deliver the message, she guaranteed that her job would vanish like a May snowstorm in the early afternoon sun. When the young lady regained her senses after the ultimatum, she went into the man's office and returned two minutes later saying that Mr. Harkness would see them, and they had ten minutes.

They walked in and sat. James Harkness was a busy man, or so he liked to think of himself. So he didn't like this incursion into his orderly existence. So Elizabeth got right to it.

"Mr. Harkness, we represent the estate of Mr. Bryan Kelley. We would like you to give us a certified cashier's check for $5 million or we will see you in court." While she was talking, Thomas was pulling out files and papers.

"You also might want to get the head of your H/R department, your chief legal person, the head of nursing, and any other people you think might be affected by our action. Because if it doesn't get resolved, you will be very, very sorry."

The look on his face was priceless. It went from shock to outrage to skepticism, in a matter of seconds. He wasn't so sure anymore.

"You have me at a disadvantage, madam. I don't know what you're talking about, and I will not be bullied like this in my......"

"I do not doubt that you are as clueless as you say. That's why you're in this position." She nodded to Thomas and he started to hand him papers.

"What we're showing you are evidence that you are complicit in the suicide death of Mr. Kelley, because of your association with one Mr. Matt Duncan." At the mention of Duncan's name, the tone and the temper of the meeting changed.

"Just a minute," he stuttered. He punched the intercom and told his secretary to get the head of H/R, the head of nursing, the head of legal, and the director of public relations in there. Immediately.

It was quiet while we sat, him reading our proffered documents and gradually losing his desire for lunch, us biding our time. His look went from pissed to stunned to scared. Just about the time the others arrived.

The head of H/R looked mad, the head of nursing was perplexed, the head lawyer was worried, and the director of public relations looked like he was going to be sick. As they sat down, Harkness was passing the files and documents to each. As they read them, their expressions changed.

The head of H/R paled and almost passed out. The head of nursing gasped and turned a baleful glare towards us. The head lawyer got more and more morose and glum, finally starting to curse under his breath. The head of public relations? He just read two pages of one file and tossed his cookies all over the floor. But no one paid him any mind.

As they read everything, Elizabeth resumed.

"What you see is the culmination of a three-month investigation. We are still looking into things, but we figured this was enough to get what we wanted. This is the result of our investigation.

"Mr. Bryan Kelley committed suicide after his wife gave birth to twins, one of which was a bi-racial child conceived with the complicity of one Mr. Matt Duncan. It was the result of what is called 'hetero-paternal super-fecundation', an extremely rare occurrence. Mr. Kelly was present for the births, and witnessed the birth of the first child, the mixed-race little girl. He was stunned, overwhelmed, and pissed. He left the delivery room, went home, and committed suicide. He hung himself.

"Subsequent investigations have revealed," and here Elizabeth lapsed into grieving sister mode, "that this hospital conspired to defraud and lie to the parents of the Kelley children. The hospital fabricated false death certificates, and false birth certificates, and conspired with New Horizons Adoption Services to remove the one child, ILLEGALLY, and have her adopted, INTERSTATE, under illegal cover, without the consent or knowledge of the mother. They, and the hospital, received financial compensation from one Mr. Matt Duncan and his company. This was done without the knowledge or consent of the mother. This violates several Federal and State statutes and could result in fines, censure, and jail or prison time."