Jennifer Vale Did Not Exist
Daniel placed a folder on my desk.
“Her name isn’t Jennifer Vale.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“At least, it wasn’t originally.”
He slid a birth certificate toward me.
Rebecca Anne Pike.
Born in Nevada.
Thirty-one years earlier.
Mother: Cynthia Pike.
Father: Aaron Mercer.
I stared at the photograph clipped beside it.
A teenage girl.
Different hair.
Same eyes.
“That’s Jennifer.”
“Yes.”
“Why did she change her name?”
“Legally? She didn’t.”
I looked up.
Daniel continued.
“There is no court record showing Rebecca Pike legally became Jennifer Vale.”
“Then the passport?”
“Likely fraudulent or obtained using supporting documents we haven’t identified yet.”
I felt cold.
He placed another paper in front of me.
It was an employment record.
Eight years earlier, Rebecca Pike had worked as an administrative contractor for a regional medical billing company.
Two years later, she worked for an insurance processing service.
Then a private healthcare data contractor.
“What does this have to do with Margaret?”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
“The contractor serviced your wife’s oncology network.”
I stopped breathing for a second.
“When?”
“Until approximately three weeks before Jennifer met Lucas.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Are you telling me she had access to Margaret’s medical records before she met my son?”
“We cannot prove access yet.”
“Could she?”
“Yes.”
I pushed my chair back.
My hands were shaking.
Daniel opened another folder.
“There’s more.”
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because I could not imagine needing more.
He slid a photograph across the desk.
Jennifer stood beside a man outside a courthouse.
She looked younger.
The man wore jeans and a black jacket.
“Who is he?”
“Evan Pike.”
“Brother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Husband.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What?”
“They married nine years ago.”
“Divorced?”
“No record of divorce.”
I stared at him.
Daniel pushed a certified marriage record toward me.
Rebecca Anne Pike.
Evan Michael Pike.
Legally married.
Still legally married.
“As far as official records indicate,” Daniel said, “the woman currently planning to marry your son already has a husband.”
I sat down slowly.
“Does Lucas know?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where is this man?”
“Currently serving a federal sentence for wire fraud.”
I closed my eyes.
For several seconds, all I could hear was the clock on my office wall.
Then one question broke through.
“Why Lucas?”
Daniel was silent.
“Why my son?”
“We’re working on that.”
“Work faster.”
