Chapter 13: The Truth Behind the DNA
Chapter 13: The Truth Behind the DNA
The forensic laboratory was so quiet that the hum of the computers seemed deafening.
Daniel stared at Kevin Dawson.
"...Bethany?"
Kevin nodded, sliding the DNA report across the conference table.
"The hair recovered from Emily's sweater is a mitochondrial DNA match to Bethany Hayes."
Daniel frowned.
"But Bethany was only nine years old."
"Correct," Kevin replied. "Which means she couldn't have orchestrated Emily's disappearance."
Detective Laura Mitchell folded her arms.
"But she was close enough to leave physical evidence."
The implication settled over the room.
Bethany had been there.
Within the hour, prosecutors obtained a court order to question Bethany again.
She was escorted into an interview room at the county jail, still wearing her orange jumpsuit.
She looked irritated rather than frightened.
"I already have a lawyer."
"You do," Mitchell replied. "And he's on his way."
Bethany leaned back in her chair.
"So what now?"
Mitchell placed a childhood photograph in front of her.
Bethany glanced at it.
No reaction.
Then Mitchell placed the laboratory report beside it.
"This hair belongs to you."
Bethany's expression flickered for the first time.
"You were with Emily Carter."
Silence.
"You've known about her for twenty-one years."
Bethany looked away.
"I don't remember."
Mitchell calmly opened another folder.
"You may want to think carefully before saying that."
The detective pressed a button.
A video began playing on the monitor.
It was one of Richard Hayes' recordings.
Richard laughed as he looked toward someone off-camera.
"Bethany."
A young girl's voice answered.
"Yes, Grandpa?"
"What do we do when someone tells family secrets?"
"We don't believe them."
"And if they keep talking?"
"We say they're lying."
Richard chuckled proudly.
"Good girl."
The recording ended.
Bethany stared at the blank screen.
Her hands had begun to shake.
"My grandfather taught me lots of things."
Her voice was barely audible.
Mitchell leaned forward.
"Did he teach you to lie about Emily?"
Tears welled in Bethany's eyes.
For the first time since her arrest, her confidence cracked.
"I was just a kid."
Daniel, watching through the observation window, felt conflicted.
He hated what his sister had done.
But for the first time, he saw something else.
A frightened little girl hidden beneath decades of cruelty.
Bethany slowly buried her face in her hands.
"I never touched Emily."
Mitchell remained silent.
"I swear."
"Then tell us what happened."
Another long pause.
Finally...
"I saw Grandpa bring her home."
Every person in the observation room froze.
Daniel felt his pulse race.
"...Home?"
Bethany nodded weakly.
"He said she needed a family."
The room became eerily still.
Mitchell spoke carefully.
"Richard brought a missing child into the Hayes home?"
Bethany nodded.
"He told everyone she'd been abandoned."
Daniel whispered through the glass,
"My parents knew..."
Bethany continued.
"Mom asked where she came from."
"What did Richard say?"
"He told her not to ask questions."
Mitchell kept her voice steady.
"How long was Emily there?"
Bethany closed her eyes.
"About two weeks."
Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"What happened after that?"
Bethany's breathing became uneven.
"I don't know."
Mitchell noticed the wording immediately.
"You don't know..."
"...or you don't want to say?"
Bethany looked up.
For the first time, genuine fear filled her eyes.
"I really don't know."
She explained that one night Richard woke everyone before sunrise.
He ordered the children to stay upstairs.
From her bedroom window, Bethany watched Richard loading his truck.
Emily was sitting in the passenger seat.
She looked exhausted.
But she wasn't crying.
"She waved at me."
Bethany whispered.
"I waved back."
"Was anyone else in the truck?"
Bethany nodded.
"My father."
William Hayes.
Daniel's father.
Daniel's knees nearly gave out.
His own father...
Had been in the truck.
Mitchell asked the question everyone feared.
"Did they ever come back with Emily?"
Bethany slowly shook her head.
"No."
"When Grandpa came home..."
"He burned all her clothes."
The room fell silent.
Detective Mitchell immediately requested an emergency warrant for William Hayes' arrest.
Officers were dispatched to every known address connected to him.
But when they reached his house...
It was empty.
His truck was gone.
His bank accounts had been emptied six hours earlier.
His cellphone had been switched off.
On the kitchen table sat a single handwritten note.
It contained only one sentence.
"Some secrets should stay buried."
Mitchell read the note twice before looking at Daniel.
"Your father didn't run because of Rosie's case."
She paused.
"He ran because he knows what happened to Emily."
As investigators began a statewide manhunt, Kevin's computer emitted another alert.
The old cassette tapes recovered from Uncle Thomas had finally been digitized.
The first tape contained nothing unusual.
The second included family arguments.
But the third...
The third captured a conversation recorded on the very morning Emily disappeared.
Kevin pressed play.
A man's voice filled the room.
It wasn't Richard.
It was William.
May you like
And his first words sent a chill through everyone listening.
"Dad... I think the little girl heard everything."
