“Does she have any connection to Helena?”
A sharp intake of breath. “No . . .”
Alvarez’s pulse jumped. Something here. “I’m sorry, but it sounds like you are thinking of something?”
“It’s not ... I don’t . . . I don’t understand how it could.”
“Could you tell me what you mean?”
“Oh, dear. My husband ... oh, dear.” She sighed. “We learned that my husband could not father any children of his own, so we went to a clinic in Helena. It’s no longer there. But it was then, and we went there ... to find a donor.”
“A sperm donor,” Alvarez clarified carefully.
“Yes. Yes. Both of my children were fathered by the same donor.”
“Elle and Bruce.”
“We never told anyone. Bruce still doesn’t know, and Elle didn’t know. I know I should tell my son, but it never seemed like the right time and now Elle’s gone. . . .”
“This clinic. What was it called?”
“I don’t know. We always referred to it as the clinic. I can’t see that this matters.”
“It probably doesn’t. I just want to be sure. Can you tell me anything more about it?”
She exhaled and then inhaled and exhaled once more before saying, “This is ... I don’t know. Information you don’t need, I suppose, but all I know is the donor’s number, seven-twenty-seven. My husband and I always remembered because he was a pilot and that was the type of jet he flew when he worked for the airlines. We always thought it was lucky.”
“How did you pick the donor?”
“He was a medical student with dark hair and blue eyes. He was the same height as Keane, and he was athletic. We wanted our children to resemble us both.” Her tone said: “Is that so much to ask?”
“I understand.”
“This other woman ... the one who fell?”
Alvarez didn’t want to start answering questions since she didn’t know where they would lead. Needing to cut her off quickly, she said, “I don’t have all the background on Miss Wallis, but I know she was a teacher in Grizzly Falls and very well liked.”
“Like Elle.” She sighed. “I was a teacher, too. It’s all so hard, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. It is.” Alvarez meant it, and the older woman heard her unspoken sympathy.
“If Elle was killed . . . if that’s true, you’ll find them and let me know?”
“Yes. I will,” Alvarez promised.
“Thank you,” she said.
Alvarez sat perfectly still for several moments after Brenda Morris hung up.
A sperm donor.
Could it be?
Were these women truly related? It was the theory that had been circling around that no one wanted to really believe. Could Elle Alexander and Shelly Bonaventure and Jocelyn Wallis and Leanna O’Halleran and maybe Kacey Lambert, and God knew how many others, actually be related ? Have the same father? That was the connection?
As fast as she could, she grabbed up her cell phone and punched the button for Pescoli, who answered on the fifth ring, sounding pissed.
“Yeah?”