Aurelia continued, "But that's just not possible. Why on earth would someone masquerade as Raines?"
Her mind was a storm cloud of suspicion, dark and brooding, threatening to burst at any moment.
Leopold glittered his deep eyes mysteriously under the lamplight, an intense and penetrating gaze.
"Until we track down Elfreda, perhaps Lisbeth could serve as a lead."
Aurelia touched her chin contemplatively. "Maybe you should check if Chad has any other illegitimate kids out there around Skyler's age."
Leopold caught on to her drift, lifted a mug from the coffee table, and took a sip of tea, "I'll have someone look into it."
After a moment of reflection, Aurelia murmured, "You weren't born yet. Your mother might know more."
Leopold choked on his tea. He didn't relish the thought of dredging up his mother's painful memories, but confronting her directly might indeed cut the work in half.
The next day, after breakfast, he joined Jessica for a stroll in the garden.
"Leopold, are you still questioning Raines' identity? What have you found?"
"Nothing yet." Leopold briefly shared the details of the paternity test with Jessica. Then he asked, "Do you think Chad might have other bastards, the same age as our cousin?"
Jessica fell silent. After a long pause, she spoke in a low voice, "When I married into the Stirling family, I brought an assistant with me, Hailey. She was fair, clean-cut, and dimpled with every smile. Your father had a taste for that kind. I remember one Christmas, I returned to Eastwood Heights. Hailey, being sick, didn't accompany me. Imagine my shock when I came back to find her in bed with your father."
She paused, a look of disgust crossing her face, "I had her sent back to Eastwood Heights, and then she disappeared without a trace."
A cynical glint flashed in Leopold's eyes, "If she had a child, she probably wouldn't dare bring it back to the Stirling family to claim its heritage. Was Tanya around then?"
Jessica replied, "She came after that Christmas. If there's such a child, he or she would be about Skyler's age."
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