“The decree was entered through fraud, Your Honor,” Arthur said, opening our blue folder.

“The paper filed eleven years ago was a complete fabrication.”

He took out the yellowed adoption certificate Rebecca had shown me across the table at the Oakmont Diner five weeks earlier.

“The county registry confirmed this morning that the seal on this certificate belongs to a deceased notary from Erie,” Arthur said.

The judge picked up his red pen and drew a single diagonal line across the docket sheet in front of him.

“The adoption of record is vacated as null and void from the start,” Judge Vance said.