I remembered the altered file at the county office — the withdrawal of my genetic sample that I had never requested.

So I drove to the regional capital, to Meridian City, and requested a meeting with a senior forensic records specialist named Dr.

Henry Okonkwo.

I showed him the document in which I had supposedly asked to withdraw my sample.

He pulled up my record.

Then, frowning, he pulled up a second file.

Then a third.

And his whole expression changed.