Bringing All the Bad, стр. 19
It was something whispered about, but it was more of an urban legend than anything they could pin down as truth. The whispers spoke of the difficulties with adoption, the mental problems of children adopted after abuse, and the need for fresh, new, and unspoiled babies for the big adoption market.
Those whispers also spoke of dealers and perverts who wanted untraceable children, made to order for their own fantasies. Children no one would miss because they didn’t exist.
“No,” Mel said, but it was denial that made her say it, not a real statement.
Mann looked again at the DNA file on the screen. “I wouldn’t have said it was possible, but it is possible. It’s not even that hard to do anymore. And can you think of a better way to run a ring like this? It explains everything about the ones who don’t seem to remember anything and don’t have any missing persons reports.”
Getting into his own explanation, the Captain turned to pace the small space and kept talking. “Think about it. If they were taking clean DNA from old people, perhaps forgotten people in the care homes, then they could make an unlimited number of babies. And using old people is brilliant. Unlike people our age, they wouldn’t likely be in any DNA database. And taking it further, what if you swiped the DNA from some old lady who just happened to have gotten away with murder a long time ago? That could be the key. That’s where these girls might be coming from. Or at least some of them.”
Stepping up to the display, Mel swiped to bring up the case file for the DNA report. It was woefully thin. The date of entry was pretty recent too, 2039, though the crime was committed in 1977. “Why is this even in here? Whoever did it would be dead or old.”
Mann pointed at the red notification at the bottom of the summary screen. “Cold Case DNA grant of 2038.” He made a face, then said, “These aren’t about solving the cases. No one cares about that anymore. What they want is the DNA. And this was passed after Baby was born, so they wouldn’t have gotten a hit on her if they checked the DNA before cloning her.”
“Why?” Paul asked, then clarified. “What I mean is, why did the 2038 DNA grant want old DNA?”
Mel understood what it meant, so she answered. “Familial matches. The more DNA they have in the databanks, the more likely they’ll get a partial match on any new DNA. It’s all about getting everyone cataloged. This victim was added to the database too, so even if they never match up the perp and identify them, they’ve still got the victim, which means they’ve also got everyone related to him to some extent.”
Paul’s mouth twisted. “Sneaky bastards.”
Mann shrugged. “It’s life now. People can Grid-Hop all they want, but eventually, they wind up in the machine with everyone else.”
This line of conversation wouldn’t answer any questions, so Mel flipped the case file displays until they got to the details. There weren’t many. Whoever had entered this case hadn’t even pretended to care about inputting the things that might help solve it.
A few off-hue images, obviously scanned in from hard copy, depicted the body of a very fat man well on the path to decomposition. He was lying in a piece of vacant land, surrounded by what looked like beach grass. One of the pictures showed a close up of his purple face and the brown belt around his neck.
His pants were open and bunched around his hips.
“Was this a sex crime?” Mel asked, surprised. Sex crimes against men were fairly unusual even now. It happened, but it wasn’t as common as those against women. And such crimes against extremely big men like this one were very rare. It was a matter of size and control. It’s hard to control someone that big.
Mann winced a little at the graphic image. “I’ve requested the complete file, so we’ll know when they dig it out. At the time, those aspects of the crime would have been glossed over. No one talked about things like this. I don’t have any more detail than what’s on that screen. And that isn’t much. I do have a name and location though. I want Paul to research what he can while you do your thing, Mel.”
Flicking the screen to close the images, Mel read what little there was. The man, Leonard Deering, was found by a motorist stopping to take a photo. His car was located abandoned in another town some time later. He died of strangulation, which was obvious.
He was found in August of 1977. The DNA in the file was found on the belt around his neck, exactly where the hands of the person pulling it taut would have been.
Baby’s DNA was the DNA on that belt. Impossible, but true.
Bad Day on the Ward
As Mel walked to the nurse’s station, the woman she was there to see stood and hurried around the desk to greet her. She was all smiles.
“Oh, Detective, I’m so glad you came by. I hated to bother you. I’m Doris, remember?”
“That’s perfectly fine, Doris. I had to come this way anyway. And anyone who will give me a cookie when I embarrass myself like that deserves a visit.”
Doris laughed a little, fluttering her hand by her chest as if to brush off the need for a cookie. “It was no trouble at all.”
“What can I do for you, Doris?”
The nurse looked over her shoulder, then touched Mel’s elbow, guiding her across the hall and out of earshot of the nurses moving to and fro near the desk. “Well, I was curious about how the girls were doing. I did try to call, but social