He asked permission before placing a larger folder on the table.

“What I’m about to show you does not establish everything,” he said.

“It establishes enough that I believe an independent investigation is necessary.”

Inside were copies of documents from the adoption agency and a separate set from a hospital archive.

The dates were close, but they did not align.

Chloe’s agency file listed one woman as her birth mother, a woman who had supposedly died shortly after delivery.

The hospital information identified a different patient admitted under a temporary administrative number.