Chapter 4

Part Six:

When Edward and Stacy saw I was about to call the police, they lunged at me, ready to swing.

But the relatives and friends there clearly believed me instead, and they closed around me, so the two of them never got anywhere near.

"Calling the police is a good thing. At least we can finally get to the bottom of what happened to Daniel."

"That's right. Once the police are involved, we'll know for sure whether Bobby is Daniel's son. You can't just open your mouths, call him a bastard, and have it be true."

"There has to be some actual proof, doesn't there?"

At the words Bobby and proof, Edward and Stacy quickly remembered they still had their trump card, the paternity test. They regretted letting me lead them by the nose, so much that they'd forgotten to even mention the report.

So they changed their expressions and spoke again.

"Never mind the video and the recording for now, whether they're real or not."

"But this paternity test has an official stamp on it. You dare say this one isn't real?"

"If you're going to claim it's fake, we can go to the police and have it checked too."

Edward pulled the paternity report out of his bag.

I'd already seen this report in my last life, so this time I only gave it a glance before I owned up to it.

"This one's definitely real."

Edward and Stacy froze. They'd expected me not to dare admit it, but they never thought I'd concede it so lightly, and after the shock came delight.

"Good that you admit it!"

"You little bastard has nothing to do with the Edwards family."

"So you can't take Daniel's inheritance, and on top of that you owe us all those years of child support Daniel paid. Now that Daniel's gone, that money all comes to us..."

"But this isn't about the money at all. It's about principle."

They said it with all the righteousness in the world, but after the groundwork I'd just laid, no one there believed a word, and I cut them off, unhurried.

"You've got it wrong."

"This is a paternity test between Edward and Bobby, and it shows no blood relation. But all this proves is that Bobby isn't your grandson. It doesn't prove Bobby isn't Daniel's child."

Part Seven:

I said it lightly.

Before either of them could recover, I went on.

"What if the one who put horns on her husband wasn't me, but Stacy? Then not only is he not your grandson, your son isn't yours either. How could there be any blood relation to find?"

"After all, everyone here can see how much Bobby looks like Daniel. You, on the other hand, don't resemble Daniel in the slightest."

That nearly drove Edward and Stacy out of their minds.

But Edward didn't suspect Stacy. He jabbed a finger in my face and cursed me for having no respect for my elders.

Stacy wasn't so composed.

She launched into the thing she did best, the crying, the screaming, the threats to end it all.

"Are you so filthy yourself that everyone looks filthy to you?"

"My conscience is clear where the Edwards family is concerned. I'll do a fresh paternity test with Bobby too, to prove there's no relation between us. You dare?"

I didn't refuse. I smiled.

"Like I said, even if you do the test, all it proves is that Bobby isn't your grandchild. It doesn't prove the child isn't Daniel's."

To Edward and Stacy, I was simply being unreasonable.

"If you hadn't rushed to cremate Daniel right after the crash, would we ever have had to run a test with this bastard?"

"You have to believe us. After Daniel's accident, she didn't wait for us to arrive. She cremated Daniel on the spot, precisely to stop us from having this bastard tested against Daniel."

"We can produce a paternity test proving this bastard has nothing to do with us. Don't think one flap of your mouth can turn heaven and earth. If you've got the nerve, produce a paternity test between Daniel and this bastard to prove it."

I shook my head.

"I don't have a paternity test, and I don't have any physical evidence. But I have a witness."

A witness?

Edward and Stacy exchanged a look.

"Who could possibly testify? How could anyone testify?"

I didn't say a word, but a voice suddenly rose from the crowd.

"I can testify!"

Edward and Stacy turned toward the sound, and the instant they saw the face of the person coming, the two of them let out a shrill, ragged scream.

"How is this possible?"