Page 41 of Save Me
“Right.” He nodded. “We can see if my mom can watch Emma for a day and drive up there together, if you’d like.” He watched a variety of emotions cross her face as she thought about it.
“That would be wonderful. Emma likes your mom,” Crissy answered.
“My mom loves Emma. I can tell.” He pulled her back down. “Okay, so what did we find out?”
“I have no parents,” she said against his chest. “Maybe I’m a test-tube baby?” she joked. “Immaculate conception… only I have a father?”
He laughed. “No, what we found out was your father didn’t want anyone to know who your mother was.” He frowned and realized what that usually meant.
“Which means?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Which means it was either someone underage, illegal, or…” He felt his stomach twist at the last possibility.
“Or?” Crissy asked.
“Or…” He looked down at her. “You’re not his at all.”
She frowned up at him, and he watched as she realized what it was that he was saying. She sat up slowly. “You think my father kidnapped me?”
Just then Brock’s phone rang. Seeing his father’s number on his screen gave him another sinking feeling.
“Evening,” he answered.
“Evening,” his dad said in a tone that assured Brock that he had bad news.
“They’ve identified the girl found in the warehouse. It wasn’t the seventeen-year-old girl that went missing. It was a fifteen-year-old that had been reported as a runaway over a year ago,” his dad said. “Which means that there’s a good possibility that the seventeen-year-old will be our next find. I’ve sent you the file number. Son, there are some pretty bad photos in it. You’ll want to shield Crissy from them.”
“Will do,” he agreed. Crissy was watching him like a hawk. “Anything else?”
“There are a lot of similarities. Either this guy had access to the scene of the crime or… he was in on it like you and Crissy claim. There are burn marks… everywhere on the body. Ones that match the photos of Crissy.”
“Right.” He sighed, feeling sick to his stomach. “We’ve got other news,” he said and then quickly filled his dad in on the call with the judge.
“Damn, seriously?” his father said. “Okay, I know someone who might be able to help us search for Crissy’s biological parents,” his father surprised him by saying.
“How?” he asked.
“We’ve got her DNA on file. It’s as easy as putting it in the right databases. I’ll keep you posted on that.”
DNA. Of course. In a case like Crissy’s, they would have taken her DNA to compare her blood to the other blood that they’d found in that container.
Why hadn’t Brock thought of that? So many people sent their spit in tubes to different companies to see where they’d come from. He hadn’t needed to since his mother kept all their ancestry information in a large binder at home. He could trace both of his parents’ lineages clear back to Ireland and England for a few generations.
“Thanks,” Brock said and then asked about his mom watching Emma the following day so he and Crissy could head up to see her dad. Her mother happily agreed. He hung up and filled Crissy in on most of the conversation.
“Come on,” he said once he was done. He took Crissy’s hand, pulled her up, and walked her back to the bedroom. “Let’s put this all away for the night.” He kissed her.
“Oh?” She smiled up at him. “What were you thinking to take my mind off things?”
God, what was he going to do when he had to return home? Did he have to? Why? Those questions ran through his head as she fell asleep later in his arms.
When they woke the next morning, his mother arrived with fresh baked muffins and coffee. She was happily greeted by Emma, who instantly ignored both him and Crissy the entire time his mother was there.
A little over an hour later, he and Crissy left the Keys and headed up the state to where her father was living.
“What should I expect?” he asked her.
“I wish I knew,” she admitted. “The last time I was at the house…” She shook her head. “Half of it had fallen in during the last hurricane.”
