Chapter 5 - SOMEONE HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR MY DAUGHTER
Hope had been born early.
Not dangerously early.
But early enough that Claire worried about everything.
Breathing.
Weight.
Feeding.
Sleep.
I called her anxious.
Sometimes I joked about it.
That memory made me hate myself.
Claire’s letter explained that four days before she left, the pediatric office called to verify a records request.
Someone claimed to represent our insurance provider.
Claire had not requested anything.
Neither had the pediatrician.
The caller specifically asked for Hope’s birth certificate information and blood type.
My skin went cold.
Why would anyone want that?
Claire had filed a privacy complaint.
Then she called Natalie.
Her sister’s husband worked in hospital compliance and helped determine that the request had come through a third-party benefits service.
The account used to initiate it belonged to my employer.
My employer.
I immediately called HR.
Voicemail.
Of course.
It was after two in the morning.
I kept reading.
Claire had not told me because by then she already knew about Samantha.
And she no longer knew which parts of my life were safe.
That sentence destroyed something inside me.
My wife had been afraid to tell me someone was looking into our infant daughter because I had become part of the threat.
Claire wrote:
I don’t believe you would knowingly hurt Hope. But I also no longer believe you know who you are bringing into our lives.
I sat on the nursery floor.
For the first time since coming home, I cried.
Not loudly.
There was no one to hear.
I cried because Hope’s room smelled faintly like baby lotion and Claire’s detergent.
Because three nights earlier Claire asked me for twenty minutes.
Because I chose Samantha.
Because I had spent months describing myself as trapped while Claire was carrying almost every part of our family alone.
At the bottom of the letter, Claire included one reference number.
A report filed with corporate security at my company.
I knew the security director.
Liam Grant.
I called anyway.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Daniel?”
“Sorry.”
“What happened?”
I gave him the number.
Silence.
Keyboard sounds.
Then:
“Where did you get this?”
“Claire.”
Another pause.
“Your wife filed this?”
“Yes.”
Liam sounded suddenly alert.
“Daniel, don’t contact anyone from the office.”
“What?”
“Especially Samantha Wells.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“We’ve been investigating unauthorized employee-record access for six weeks.”
“Was Hope’s file part of it?”
“Indirectly.”
“What does that mean?”
“The same credentials were used to access your compensation records, insurance dependents, emergency contacts, and beneficiary information.”
I stood up.
“Whose credentials?”
Liam went quiet.
“Yours.”
I almost laughed.
“I didn’t do that.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because several logins happened while you were presenting at our Denver conference.”
My mind raced.
“Then who?”
“We traced one physical login.”
“To where?”
Liam exhaled.
“Communications.”
Samantha’s department.
Then he added something worse.
“She wasn’t looking only at your daughter.”
A folder connected to Claire had been accessed too.
May you like
A folder containing a company name I had never heard Claire mention.
BENNETT BIOMEDICAL HOLDINGS.
