Mariah Stewart - Cry Mercy

“No one did,” Emme told her.

Trula frowned. “Where are all these kids?”

“I've been wondering that myself,” Emme admitted.

“Maybe they decided they don't like outsiders interfering with their lives,” Mallory suggested. “Right now, the important thing is that we have the DNA profile.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Susanna asked.

“We're going to do what this sixteen-year-old, Aaron, did,” Emme told her. “We're going to send it to every one of the online genealogy services until we find one that can give us a match.”

“What are these genealogy services?” Trula asked.

“They're online search services,” Emme explained. “You can search for relatives-living ones or your ancestors-in a number of ways. You could have them search by surname, or you can have them search for DNA matches. You provide your DNA, and they compare it to DNA that's been submitted by other people.”

“The world is becoming a complicated place.” Trula shook her head. “Imagine finding your relatives that way.”

“A lot of people are doing it, apparently. There are several of these services available. We're going to hit all of them at the same time. Then if we're lucky, we'll find matches, and we'll try to locate those persons using the Internet.”

“To what end?” Susanna persisted.

“To locate Donor 1735,” Emme told her. “Who may or may not be involved in Belinda's disappearance.”

“You mean, maybe she figured out who he was, and he was someone who didn't want to be found and maybe…” Trula left the thought unfinished.

“That's certainly a very real possibility.” Emme nodded.

“Have you considered that if he didn't want her to find him, he isn't going to want you to find him, either?”

“It's possible, Trula, but I'm not a starry-eyed nineteen-year-old girl looking for her daddy,” Emme replied. “I think I can take care of myself.”

“So it's a matter of running those”-Robert pointed to the papers on the table in front of Emme-“through some databases?”

“Databases on specific websites that contain DNA profiles.”

“Oh, I can do that,” Robert said.

Five pairs of eyes stared at him. Robert stared back.

“Excuse me,” he said, with no small amount of sarcasm, “you're talking to the man who developed the most sophisticated search engine on the planet. I think I can handle this part.”

“Seriously?” Emme asked. “How would you?”

“I still have some pretty mad computer skills,” he said, as if amused. “Besides, my former partner designed a computer that will never see the retail market. That sucker can… well, never mind what it can do. I'm going to fax your report to Colin and see what he can do for us. If the database exists that has a match to that profile, he'll find it. Then we'll see what we can do about tracking down the matches.” He waved a hand impatiently in Emme's direction for the papers.

“Okay, then, Robert's on the DNA.” She passed him the report.

He looked it over. “Was there anything else for today?”

“No,” Emme said. “That should do it for now.”

“I'll be in my office.” Smiling, Robert left the room.

“Well, he looked happy,” Mallory said.

“He has a project.” Susanna's eyes were still on the door Robert had just exited. “He hasn't had work to do in a long time. I think he's missed it.”

“I didn't want to appear rude, but this partner of his-”

“Colin Bressler.” Susanna stood and pushed in her chair. “He's the ultimate computer geek. He'll have that DNA traced through every database that exists.”

“How can he do that?” Emme frowned. “Without subscribing, that is?”

“I trust he'll find a way.” Susannah appeared amused.

“Is he going to hack his way in?”

“Emme, ‘hack’ is such a harsh word.” Susanna drained her coffee cup. “And besides, hacking is for amateurs.”

“Robert did seem pretty confident,” Nick noted.

“Seriously. If there is a database out there that contains those sequences, believe me, Colin will find it,” Susanna said as she left the room. “And way faster than anyone else could.”

Childish giggles echoed from the hall.

“That sounds like Chloe,” Trula said. “I'll take her down for a snack while you fill Kevin in. I know he'll want to be kept up-to-date.”

By noon the following day, Emme was a believer.

“Robert wants you to go straight to his office as soon as you get your coffee,” Trula told her when she entered the house.

“Good news or bad news?” Emme frowned as she read through the selection of coffee mugs. She'd had practically no sleep the night before, having relived and rethought and reconsidered her relationship with Nick-did they even have a relationship or had they just had sex?-and wasn't in the mood for any of what Susanna called Trula's smart-ass mugs. She settled on Never judge a book by its movie .

“What's the difference? He's the boss and he wants to see you pronto,” Trula reminded her.

“Good point.”

Emme fixed her coffee and went directly to Robert's office. She tapped lightly on the half-opened door.

“You wanted to see me?” she said.

“Come on in.” He had his back to the door, his attention focused on a very large screen that sat on the sideboard next to his desk.

“Is that a TV or a computer?” she asked.

“Yes.” He looked up and smiled. “Both. Either. Whichever I need it to be.”

“I never saw one like that.”

“And it will be awhile before you do. This is one of Colin's toys,” he explained. “Now, here's your list of names. Note that the spelling of…”

Her jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

“Sure. I told you, Colin is quite brilliant when it comes to finding things. He apologized for not having it to us sooner but he was out last night.”

“I'm stunned. I thought it would take a few days.”

“Get unstunned, ye of little faith.” Robert was clearly enjoying this. “We have quite a few names. Where do we go from here to narrow them down?”

She stared over his shoulder at the screen.

“All of those men share the same Y chromosome as Donor 1735?”

“So say the databases.”

“Gardner. Gardener. Gartnor. Gartner.” She read the long list of surnames aloud. “I guess we'll start with those who were born in Philadelphia.”

He hit a few keys, then looked up. “It wants to know which Philadelphia. I'm assuming you mean the one in Pennsylvania and not the one in Mississippi?”

Emme nodded and he selected the entry.

“That took out quite a few. Next?”

“Birth date. August first, 1961.”

He entered the date and sat back and waited. After a moment, he leaned back, smiled broadly, and said, “I believe this could be your man.”

Emme exhaled, barely believing it. Donor 1735 had a name.

John Jennings Gardner.

“Now, we'll see where our Mr. Gardner is these days…” Robert tapped into the search engine that bore his name. Data flickered onto the screen. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Emme drew closer. “Couldn't you find him?”

“Oh, we found him all right.” Robert moved away from the screen so she could read for herself.

John Jennings Gardner, state congressman from the state of Maryland.

“Wait, didn't he just-” Wide-eyed, Emme pointed at the screen.

“Announce that he was running for the U.S. Senate?” Robert nodded. “Yeah. That would be him.”

“Let's see what else we can find out about him.” A few more strokes of the keys and Robert had pulled up Gardner's bio.

“He went to Mount Penn law school,” Emme read over her boss's shoulder. “That fits like a glove.”