Page 88 of Shadow of Hope
He shrugged. “We’d have to figure a way, but I know if we all put our heads together, we could find one if needed. I don’t think we’ll need it. Colin could still find something on the music connection, and I have a good feeling that this DNA will turn something up.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You really think there’s family that Holly never told Layne about?”
“I think it’s possible, but you knew her and would be a better judge of that,” Micha said. “What do you think? Could she have hidden family she didn’t want her son to know about?”
“I never considered it before because I had no reason to.” She tilted her head. “But if she wouldn’t tell him who his father is, yeah, I could see it.”
“Did she ever talk about his father with you?”
She shook her head. “I asked. One time. Got a short and to the point answer saying it was a mistake and she didn’t want to talk about it. So even though she’d seemed open about pretty much everything else, I left it alone.”
“Could mean we’re on the right track then. He could have a sibling who knows about him and is looking for him.” Micha glanced at his phone. Eleven fifty-five. He faced Colin, who sat behind his laptop. “You ready to do this?”
“After I connect my SAT phone to my computer for an internet connection.” He plugged a cord into his laptop on one end and his phone on the other, but his phone dinged. He looked at it. “Text from Toby. The ME will order Holly’s tox screen and specifically test for ricin.”
“Wonderful!” Ava said.
“That is good news.” Micha was glad something finally had gone their way. Maybe this interview would, too. He pulled out a chair next to Colin for Ava. “Go ahead and have a seat so you can see what’s going on.”
She sat, and he settled in a chair on Colin’s other side.
Dev came up behind them to look over his brother’s shoulder. “Got my eyes on you, bro.”
Colin shrugged. “Used to it. There were always agents looking over my shoulder at the Bureau, waiting for me to produce data or information they needed.” He looked back at his brother. “If they didn’t rattle me, you sure won’t.”
Micha’s phone rang at noon on the dot. He answered the video call and put it on speaker. Emory, a redhead with black-framed glasses, came on the screen and introduced herself. She had a pleasant smile and sparkling eyes.
“Nice to meet you.” Micha introduced everyone. “Thank you for making time for us.”
“Of course,” she said. “I, too, have experienced a similar problem to yours and will do whatever I can to help. Like processing your DNA. I’m stuck in court all day, but my staff knows to share the results with Sierra when the tests are complete. Now, I have about a fifteen-minute break and then have to get back. So let’s get started.”
“I have the ancestry site open,” Colin said, “and have logged into Layne Boyle’s account.”
“Perfect. You’ll want to find the section to activate the DNA.”
“On it.” Though Colin looked impatient and like he wanted to move faster, he located the section and followed Emory’s basic directions step by step.
Micha didn’t blame Colin wanting to move faster. Not only because he’d like to locate helpful information, but because each step had been straightforward so far. Even with his basic computer skills, he could’ve gotten the data input here without making a mistake.
“Okay,” she said. “This is the important part. You can’t activate your DNA without letting others see your match. You don’t have to let them see your contact information, though, and it’s the key part most people miss. See how the message says this will default to publish the information unless you choose not to? Scroll down, and you’ll find another explanation and a tiny checkbox forno.”
“That’s terrible,” Ava said. “You can hardly see it. They’re clearly driving the response that they want.”
“Exactly,” Emory said. “Which is why I wanted to do this with you. For now, clicknofor your matches to see you. We’ll change that when we finish up the activation.”
Now Micha was confused. “If we have to let them see the DNA to determine a match, then why not just do it right away?”
“Good question.” Emory pushed up her glasses. “I’ve found that it’s best to finish the activation, then after I’ve done a final review to be sure this is what I want to do, I toggle the button toyes. Record any matches and toggle back tonoas fast as possible to hide the info again if I don’t want it to be public beyond that moment. Your matches will still see the info once, but when it disappears, they might question if there was an issue and it wasn’t right. Though it will alert them to a match, it will also put doubt in their mind.”
“Which would be preferable to our suspect having a concrete match in front of him to review and question,” Micha said.
“Exactly. So chooseno,then let’s go ahead and review the choices you made and finish up.”
Colin clicked the review button, and Micha held the phone over the screen so Emory could review the information, too.
“All looks good,” she said. “You can see the edit button on the top, and that will let you change the toggle toyeswhen you’re ready to record any matches it might return.”
Micha turned the phone to face him. “Thanks for walking us through this, Emory.”
