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“So what, then?”
Webb took another sip of his coffee, warm now, and got an idea. “What if we looked for familial DNA? I didn’t expect any of these kids to be in the system, not really. But what is the likelihood that one of them has somepeoplein the system? Pretty good, I think. Hell, you and me both have people in the system, right?”
“My uncle Cody. My grandmother.”
“My brother,” Webb said. “Wait, what did your grandmother do?”
Ackerman laughed. “Armed robbery. It was a whole thing.”
“See, that’s what I’m saying. They caught that serial killer in Cali, the Golden State Killer, using familial.”
“Yeah but they didn’t use CODIS, they used one of those ancestry sites.”
“I’m talking about using CODIS. It’s designed to be able to look for partial matches because—”
“Sometimes the DNA sample is degraded or mixed with the victim’s.”
“Exactly. Let me call Randy back.”
“What about Demetrius Branch?”
Webb pulled the phone from his ear. “Oh, right. Let’s get him outta there.”
Randy agreed to run a new test and get back to him soon. He said 48-72 hours, and Webb didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do. The story of his life. Hurry up and wait.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“AccordingtoCharlieBrown,Christmastime is here,” Ladonna said. She’d always found that song really depressing, but it was a favorite of Bria and Carmen.
“Haha,” Carmen said sarcastically. She’d only been home for two days and was already getting on Ladonna’s nerves. “You make that joke every year.”
“It’s on right now. Do you girls wanna watch it with me?”
“I’m good,” Bria mumbled, and Carmen shook her head.
The two seemed different this year, all secretive and sharing looks and going off on clandestine missions to God only knew where. Ladonna told herself they were Christmas shopping, but deep down, she knew there was more to it. Bria was still picking at that damn wound, and besides her doctor, Carmen seemed to be the only one she confided in these days.
The car—a light blue Honda Civic—had been purchased and was waiting in the parking garage at Coke until Bria’s birthday on the 28th. That had Marcus in a good mood, and since he was happy, Ladonna was able to let her guard down a little. Just a little. They made their usual Christmas sugar cookies together and listened to Marcus’ R&B Christmas playlist, and then they argued about which rendition of “This Christmas” was the best. And just as they had done every year for the last several years, she and Marcus picked Donny Hathaway and the girls picked Chris Brown, and then a yelling match ensued, and Marcus got mad for real and everyone had to calm him down.
But in the quiet moments, Ladonna couldn’t stop herself from thinking about Joe. They hadn’t spoken since that night at the hotel. She missed him. She wanted to know how he was doing. And she was still curious about what was going on with Bakari.
“Christmascameearlyforyou, boy."
Bakari, who was lying on the couch, deep in his thoughts, lifted his head toward his father, who was looming over him. “What do you mean?”
“I just got off the phone with Candace. The police, or the district attorney…whoever it was, they decided not to charge you.”
He sat all the way up, gripping the couch to support himself as the room spun around him. “What does that mean?”
For the first time in as long as Bakari could remember, Joe smiled at him. “It means they know you’re innocent.”
Bakari jumped to his feet and went to hug his father. Before he could even get his arms around him, Joe grabbed him in a hug so tight he could barely breathe. And Bakari didn’t care.
The two of them stayed that way, clinging desperately to each other, for several minutes. Neither made a sound, but when they finally parted, there were dark, wet spots on their both of their shirts.
“It worked out for you. This time,” Joe said pointedly.
“I know.”
