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She winces, pity filling her eyes. “It’s no secret CJ has a past when it comes to girls. He’s never hid that from you, babe.”
I wipe my cheeks, wondering what all this means. “This has to mean something, right? I mean, with the murderer being related and now this, it has to.”
She nods. “I’ve looked into the name of the person who attacked Milly. He had no wife or kids that are on record, but that’s not saying they aren’t out there. He had two sisters. One died young and one died in an institution in her late thirties.”
It takes a minute for my brain to catch up. “Are you saying that the news article I found could be about one of his sisters?”
When she nods, I gasp, horror-struck. I knew that story meant something.
“Yes. Claire Forest, the lady who murdered her husband and his mistress, was originally Claire Lance. She took her dad’s last name, but Conrad Pearson, the man who raped Milly, tookhisfather’s last name.”
“Oh, my god, I need to tell CJ.”
She stops me from getting up. “Wait, there’s more.”
I feel the blood drain from my face. “More?”
She nods sadly. “Yes. It’s not in the public records, but after much digging I found hospital reports in Claire’s name. It said she gave birth to a boy in nineteen-ninety-six.”
“Does it say who?”
“No. I’ve searched everywhere for a birth certificate, but it’s sealed. To get it unsealed I’d have to be involved with the case. Alas, I’m just a middle-class student who blogs.”
“Maybe the police can.”
“It won’t matter. The results of the DNA test said it was a close relation, most likely a sibling. It couldn’t be her child who is doing this.”
“Something doesn’t add up, Jordan. It must mean something. Why would it have been bugging me ever since I found it?”
“I honestly don’t know. We could go to the police with what we have, but then, how would we explain what we found?”
She has a point.
“But we found the article online.”
“And Conrad? What about the hospital file? How do we explain that, Allie?”
I run my fingers through my hair. My stomach starts to turn. I know it’s coming, so I rush over to the bin by the counter and empty the contents of my stomach—the little bit of lunch I managed to get down.
“Allie, are you okay?”
I gag, throwing up once more. I hold my index finger up, silently asking her to give me a minute. I hear her feet move away, but I don’t look, instead throwing up once more. My stomach cramps, since there’s nothing left to get up.
Jordan walks back over to me, bending down and handing me a bottle of water and some tissue. My eyes water as I turn my attention away from the bin. “Thank you.”
“Are you okay? You look really pale. Maybe tonight wasn’t a good idea.”
I wave her off as I take a long swig of the water. It’s lukewarm, but it will have to do. “It’s fine. I’ve been getting sick for just over a week now. I think it’s the stress of everything.” She doesn’t look convinced. “I promise, I’m fine. It’s nothing you’ve said, I swear.”
“That wasn’t where I was going,” she says cryptically.
My eyebrows lower. “What are you talking about?”
“Allie, could you be pregnant?”
I laugh at her absurd question, shaking my head. “What? No—no way.” She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t need to.
There’s no way I’m pregnant. I’ve missed a few pills here and there, yes, but we’ve been careful. I think. There were a few times we’ve been careless, but… I couldn’t be.
