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“Oh, man! That’s awful.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be back. I’m not doing a post tonight if I can help it.”
“Are you on call?”
“No, not tonight.” He took my hand and kissed it again before he left.
I ate dinner alone in front of the fire, single person behavior that I’d enjoyed in the past, but now, after having eaten with Will, it lost some of its luster. I had just put my plate down when my phone beeped. It was Mark Spinoza.
“Hey, Mark. How is everything?”
“I should be asking you that. How do you feel?”
“Like a truck ran me over. I can’t remember much about what happened. I must have really pissed Emory off.”
“He’s a jerk. Really, are you any better?”
“Not really. Will said it’s second-day onset.”
“Right. He’s a doctor.”
“Yes.”
“I’m calling about the baby skeleton you told me about.”
I sat up, interested.
“You’re not going to believe this. I’ll need you to promise me you won’t repeat a word.”
“You have my word.”
“The baby’s mother is now married to the Manhattan District Attorney.”
I looked at the fire, thinking about this revelation. “Wow.”
“The detective there in Babylon used the DNA results to do a genealogy search on one of the ancestor sites and found an aunt who led us to the DA’s wife.”
“I’m not sure what to say.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. The father’s DNA is related to none other than Ryan Maddox.”
It stunned me. Good old Ryan. “How is that possible? How’d you even have his DNA?”
“Remember when Sandra Benson accused him of rape? They take a DNA sample of all suspects in a case like that, and his was a hit. But he’s not the father. The father of your baby skeleton is a brother or an uncle or cousin to Ryan.”
“Or grandfather?” I immediately thought of Jack Smith. It made sense. The cottage was close to their house, too. “How did the baby end up here?”
“Evidently, the mother lived in your cottage when she was in college. We’re talking ten years ago. They don’t know the details yet, how she came to live there or who owned the cottage.”
“Wow, what a mess.”
“It is. Anyway, I’d better let you go. I’m glad you feel okay, although you’re probably just saying that. If I find out anything more, I’ll let you know.”
“Can I ask where you got the information?”
“Sure, just promise me you won’t tell him where you got his name. He’s a detective with the Babylon force. Alan Stone.”
“He might have dated a friend of the family. I think I met him once.”
