Fatal Identity

“Is it safe to come in?” Lindsey asked.

“Enter at your own risk,” Sam said. “We’re down hard with the flu.”

“Yikes.”

“At least my suspension is well-timed. I’m needed here for the next few days.”

“Silver lining,” Lindsey said with a smile. She glanced at Josh, who sat on the sofa, his leg still bouncing nervously. “Are you going to tell me what this is about?”

“I can’t. Not yet anyway. But suffice to say it’s a matter of paternity, and if it turns out to be something, it’s gonna be huge.”

“Say no more.”

Sam introduced her to Josh, and Lindsey explained the process of obtaining a cheek swab to test his DNA.

“How long will it take to get results?” he asked.

“I’ll put a rush on it, but it could be four or five days.”

“How will you know if someone is a match to my DNA?”

Lindsey glanced at Sam before she replied. “The basic DNA fingerprint or profile that we use for law enforcement or human identity purposes is called the nuclear or autosomal STR profile. STR means short tandem repeat, which describes repeating segments of DNA code at particular locations on the human genome.”

Josh’s eyes glazed over as Lindsey explained the technicalities.

“We’ll be looking for a match to your biological father,” she said when she seemed to realize she’d lost him. “The Y chromosome is passed down from father to son. The Y-STR profile for a father and a son should exactly match, except in rare cases of mutation. So this wouldn’t work for identifying a daughter, because a girl wouldn’t have the Y chromosome. The lab will rely upon a combination of information from autosomal STRs and the Y-STRs to make a determination of father/son. You see?”

Judging by his baffled expression, he didn’t see. He didn’t see at all. But he said, “I think so. Thank you for explaining.”

“No problem.”

“Thanks so much for coming, Lindsey.” Sam walked her to the door. “Let me know the second you have anything.”

“You know I will. Even with a rush it’ll be a few days.” Lindsey glanced at Brant guarding the door and lowered her voice. “I don’t know what you’re up to here, Sam, but you need to be careful. I heard Forrester is seriously considering assault charges.”

“So I’ve been told. And don’t worry. I’m being careful. This isn’t an official MPD case. He asked me for a favor. That’s all it is.”

“You’ve involved me, which involves the department.”

“No one knows that but you and me.”

“Be careful.”

“I hear you.”

“I’ll get back to you as soon as I have anything.”

“Thanks again, Lindsey.”

Sam returned to the sofa and sat next to Josh. “So here’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to reach out to law enforcement in Williamson County as a professional courtesy. I’ll tell them what I know so far and that we’ve taken DNA. I’ll strongly suggest they refrain from contacting the family until we know for sure there’s a match. That way if you’re not a match, we haven’t raised their hopes for no reason.”

“What do I do in the meantime?”

“We’re going to put you in a hotel with police protection until we know what we’re dealing with.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“If I didn’t think it was, I’d never ask you to do it.” Sam chose her words wisely. “If this turns out to be true, you’re sitting on a powder keg because of who raised you. If he was complicit in this, it’ll be the biggest BFD in the history of BFDs. You got me?”

“Yeah.” Arms on knees, he dropped his head and sighed. When he looked up at her, she saw his anguish. “You don’t really think he’d harm me or anything, do you?”

“If you’d asked me this morning if Director Hamilton had possibly raised a child kidnapped from another family, I would’ve said no way. And I remain ninety-nine percent skeptical that’ll turn out to be true. But if the one percent pans out...I have no idea what’ll happen, and I want to ensure your safety.”

He ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly.

“The choice is definitely yours, Josh. If you don’t want to be under police protection, you don’t have to be. But if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t take any chances, especially since it’s only a matter of time before that photo goes viral.”

“You really think that’ll happen?”

“People are always interested in missing kids.”

“I wish I hadn’t seen it.”

Sam leaned in to put her hand on his arm. “If it turns out to be true, will you still feel that way?”

“I don’t know how to feel about any of this. Before I saw that picture, it never occurred to me that something like this was even possible. Now... Well, now I’m wondering if my whole life has been a lie. Did they just pretend to care about me when they were lying to me the whole time?”

“You’ll know soon enough, and until then, I recommend you let us keep you safe.”

“You and who else?”

“My partner, Detective Freddie Cruz. I trust him implicitly. You’ll be in very good hands with him, and as soon as we have the DNA results, we’ll get you some answers.”

“Fine. Okay. I’ll go with your partner.”

“I think that’s the wisest choice, especially since this place is overrun with the flu.”

“And you’ll let me know what’s going on?”

“I’ll be in touch with you the second we have anything concrete. I promise.”

With his face set in a grim expression, he nodded, seeming pacified for now. Sam entered his phone number into her contacts and gave him her number in case he needed her for anything. Freddie arrived a short time later, and Sam introduced him to Josh.

Josh shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I guess we’re going to be roommates for the next few days.”

“Looks that way,” Freddie said. “You like the Skins?”

“Of course I do. Born and raised right here in D.C.”