Most of the articles about the killing were textbook journalism, but some were more dramatic, like an intriguing mystery. And some reporter even speculated on rumors. Anything was news in a small town.
Folks had wondered why Angela DeSalvo had kept to herself, not socializing much with the rest of the town. Someone had her pegged as a woman on the run from an abusive husband. And another local woman swore she saw her with kids and speculated that she was running an illegal adoption scam.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she whispered.
Reading that, Jessie felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. If Angela DeSalvo had been on the wrong side of the law, that could explain how she had ended up in the hands of a serial pedophile. The thought of Angela contributing to what had happened to her made Jessie sick.
“What were you up to? And did it get you killed?”
Jessie made up her mind to spend the next day talking to some of the locals mentioned in the articles, to see who was still living in La Pointe. And something about Sophia Tanner still bothered her. The woman had appeared edgy, and she had wrung the washrag so tight in her hands, it had made Jessie nervous just watching her. And when she’d mentioned kids, the woman freaked. She had immediately looked to Chief Cook for protection, and the local LEO obliged her, right on cue.
Jessie had no doubt that Cook would arrest her if he found out she had talked to Sophia Tanner one-on-one after he had specifically told her to leave the woman alone. When Jessie thought of how adamant he’d been, she smiled to herself.
Guess what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
Jessie turned out the lights and lay in the dark, her mind still working over all that she’d seen today, but when her cell phone rang, she had to get up to answer it. She had it recharging in the motel bathroom.
“Hey, Sam. What’s up?” She’d recognized the incoming cell number and knew who it was. Her friend didn’t call at this hour unless it was important.
“Hey, Jess. Sorry to wake you.”
“Funny thing. I haven’t been able to sleep lately. Imagine that.”
“Well, don’t kill the messenger.” Detective Samantha Cooper forced a laugh, but since Jessie knew her well, she was familiar with Sam’s strained attempt at humor. “Are you sitting down?”
Jessie looked behind her. The only place to sit in the tight bathroom was the toilet seat, and she had no intention of receiving bad news sitting on the commode. When she got to the bed, she took a corner and sat.
“Yeah, I’m sitting. Shoot.”
“Remember that DNA report that I requested, the one Chief Cook claimed he got a hit with your DNA that tied you to his cold case?”
Jessie didn’t like the sounds of this already.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Chief Cook told me he got one hit on your DNA. Is that what he told you?”
“Yeah, he did. What’s this about, Sammie? ’Cause you’re shaking me up here.”
Jessie’s throat went suddenly dry. Her breathing had escalated, along with her heart rate. She had no idea where Sam was headed with her questions, but Jessie didn’t like it.
“Sorry, Jess. I don’t know why the chief wouldn’t tell you everything. Guess you can ask him when you see him.”
“Sam, spit it out. Please.”
“I had my lab boys analyze that report, so I’d be sure of the findings. That’s why I couldn’t call you sooner, but Jessie, that report had two DNA samples on it. Your DNA wasn’t the only one found at that crime scene.”
“What?”
“The Wisconsin state crime lab found a second unidentified sample of DNA. And that sample showed a 95 percent probability match to yours.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that second sample doesn’t have a match in the databases, so they can’t ID who was there, but the DNA came from someone in your immediate family, Jessie. Your real family.” Sam let that thought settle before she landed a second shocker. “And according to the crime lab and my CSI guys, that DNA has genetic markers that indicate it came from a male.”
“You mean . . . my father?”
“I don’t know, Jess. It could be your father or a brother.” Sam heaved a sigh. “I don’t know if this is good or bad news, but maybe you can ask Chief Cook why he left out that second DNA sample. He didn’t tell me about it. And apparently he never said anything to you either. I’d sure want to know why.”
Terrible thoughts crossed Jessie’s mind. And it left her reeling. She couldn’t sit anymore. She had to stand, but when she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror, she suddenly got nauseous.
With all the talk about kids being seen at Angela DeSalvo’s place prior to her murder, Jessie had to wonder. She had to have been one of those kids since her DNA was found at the crime scene. And now it appeared her brother had been there, too. The joy of knowing she might have a brother mixed with a flood of dark thoughts.
Had her brother been taken the way she had been? Did Danny Ray Millstone torture her brother, too? Had he been in that house where she was held prisoner, and she hadn’t even known it?
“No, that can’t be.” She swallowed, hard.
“What?”
“Oh, Sammie. Give me a minute here. I gotta process all this before I say anything.” Her voice cracked as she paced the floor. “Just wait a minute.”
Although Sam could check into the Millstone case, looking for names of the survivors or the names of the kids the bastard had killed, that would take time. Sam would have to pull the case files and do legwork to find out what Seth Harper would know in short order. Harper had his father’s old murder book. And he’d been making contact with the Millstone survivors. That was how and why they’d met. Harper would know what she needed.
“I’ve got to talk to Seth,” she muttered.
“What? Slow down, Jess,” Sam urged her. “Take a deep breath.”
“I know. And you’re right, but I gotta think. What did Cook tell me? I gotta remember.” As she ran through everything the chief had said, she paced the floor and searched through her mind.
Chief Cook had told her that he’d looked into the Danny Ray Millstone case and knew about what happened to her as one of his victims. Maybe he knew more than he’d let on. Or maybe he only wanted to spare her feelings. Either way, she hated that he’d kept the truth from her. And what she was thinking was far worse than if he had just told her what he knew.
Besides the possibility of having a brother who might already be dead—or a survivor of abuse like she had been—there was a darker scenario that lurked in the back of her mind, one that made her even more sick.
“Hold on, I gotta . . .” Jessie dropped her cell on the mattress and ran to the bathroom. She emptied her stomach until all she had left were dry heaves. Her face was hot, and beads of sweat clung to the skin of her arms. With trembling hands, she cleaned up. And when she could, she got back on the phone with Sam.
“Are you okay, Jessie? I’m so sorry.”
It took her a moment to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.
“Can you do me . . . a favor?”
“Yeah, anything.”
“Do you know if they have a sample of Millstone’s DNA on file? I mean, maybe after he was caught red-handed and killed, no one bothered to collect it.”
“That’s hard to say. Back then, digital DNA records were hit-and-miss, and not every case got consistent treatment. Why are you asking about this, Jessie?”
“I need to know if Millstone was . . . my father.”
It took everything she had to say those words.
She had no other explanation for how she ended up with the serial pedophile. Being related to that scumbag would be the worst she could imagine, and that was saying something. She knew it was a leap, one she didn’t want to take, but if this trip had been about uncovering her past, she had to go the distance. She had to keep an open mind about the possibilities, or she’d never find the truth.