First Family (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 4)

Gathering her courage, Wohl moved forward slightly. “If I do will you let me go?” Her voice was pleading, her eyes filling with tears. It was as though she desperately wanted to hear something from him that would allow for her eventual freedom.

“Well, I’m not going to keep you here much longer, that’s for sure.”

“Why did you bring me here? And Willa?”

“I needed you both,” Quarry said simply. “None of what I need to do was gonna happen without you.” He held up the papers. “I sent the blood I took from you in to a place that ran a bunch of tests on it. DNA tests. I could’ve just done a swab from inside your cheek but my reading on the subject made me believe working with the blood was just as good if not better. I didn’t want any mistakes.”

“DNA?”

“Yeah. Like fingerprints, only better. They use it all the time to get folks off Death Row that’re innocent.”

“I’ve committed no crimes.”

“Never said you did.” He looked at the pieces of paper, silently reading off the results again. “But you did give birth to a little girl twelve years ago. Gave birth but then you gave her up. Did you enjoy seeing her again today?”

The blood drained from Diane’s face. “What are you talking about?”

“Willa is your daughter. Willa Dutton she’s called now. She just celebrated her twelfth birthday. Her mom’s name is Pam Dutton. Her adoptive mom, I mean. I had Mrs. Dutton’s blood checked too just in case yours didn’t match. But it did. And so did Willa’s. You are, without no doubt at all, her ma.”

“That’s impossible,” she said dully, her voice barely able to form the words.

“You got pregnant, had the baby, and then the Duttons adopted it.” He waved the papers in the air. “DNA don’t lie, lady.”

“Why are you doing this?” she said, her voice low, but panicky.

“I got my reasons.” He stood. “Would you like to see your daughter again?”

Wohl put a hand against the tabletop to steady herself. “What?” she gasped.

“I know you two just got acquainted, but I thought you might want to see her again now that you know.”

She glanced at the papers. “I don’t believe you.”

He handed the pages across to her. “I had them put it in language folks like me could understand. The top batch test is Willa’s. The one under that is yours. Read the result line.”

She took the papers and read them slowly. “Ninety-nine point nine percent match for mother and child,” she said dully.

She threw the papers down and screamed, “Who are you!”

“It’s a long story and not one I’m willing to share with you. Do you want to see the girl or not?”

Wohl was already shaking her head, whipping it back and forth.

Quarry looked down at her with a curious mixture of sympathy and disgust. “You coulda kept the child. Guess I kind of understand why you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean I agree with it. Children are precious. Got to hang on to’em. I learned that lesson the hard damn way.”

Wohl straightened up. “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you have no right to judge me.”

“If I were the judgmental type, maybe you’d already be dead.”

This remark caused Wohl to drop to he

r knees, curl into a tight ball, and start sobbing.

Quarry bent down, picked up the DNA reports where she’d dropped them, and stood there watching her. “Last chance to see the girl,” he finally said.

A minute passed. Finally, Wohl said, “Does… does she have to see me?”

“Ma’am, you two already met.”