Page 34 of Protecting Silver
“Of course.”
“Then, to answer your unasked question about the, for lack of a better word, the legitimacy of their practice of gathering DNA and contacting people with family traits. From a personal standpoint, I agree with them. They are totally legit. I used them myself.”
“Really? And did you get any results?”
“I did, please keep this confidential, because I’m still trying to deal with some things about what I learned, but I’m a thirty-eight-year-old man, and for my entire life, my mother told me she was an only child. She passed three years ago, two years ago, I decided to send my DNA into that website. I have no idea why I did it, but something always felt off when Mother talked about her past. First, you must realize that my mother was a cold, bitter, mean-spirited woman. She held grudges for decades. Personally, I think that bitterness is what killed her. She had a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, following years of untreated hypertension.”
“Damn.”
“Yes, no matter how many times I told her to get herself checked out, she refused. Anyway, since her death I did that test, and found out I have several relatives I knew nothing about.”
“How close were they? My girlfriend said her father found a whole line of second cousins from a branch of his family he didn’t know existed.”
“Same with me, however, mine was closer than second cousins. I found my mother’s brother and sister, and their children.”
“Holy shit, so your mother lied to you your entire life?”
“She did, but like I said, I’m working through that with the new family I discovered.”
“Damn, I know I sound like a broken record, but this is all new to me. I never thought that I might have someone out there. I just thought I was thrown away, because I wasn’t wanted. However, I’ve started remembering things, and my girlfriend is playing devil’s advocate, and it’s making me wonder if everything I knew in the past was a lie.”
“Can you share anything?” Kevin asked, then jumped to his feet. “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.” He left his office, and returned seven minutes later with the tray the people from the lab would carry. “Please, continue, I’ll draw your blood as you talk.” Kevin had Patch roll up his sleeve. “Why do you think everything is a lie?”
Patch watched as Kevin donned a pair of gloves, and gathered the supplies to draw blood from him. “I have no memories before the age of four. None, nothing. When I try to think back, my first memory is of being with a family with the last name of Foster. There was a mom, dad, and a little girl who was older than me.”
“Okay, nothing wrong with that.”
“No there isn’t. However, I’ve hooked up with that family again over the last few years, and I’m learning things I didn’t know back then.”
“Like?”
“Like the Fosters wanted to adopt me, and when they contacted Merrick, who was my caseworker back in the day, I disappeared.”
“Okay, wow, but what did they contact your caseworker about, and what do you mean you disappeared?”
“The Fosters wanted my original birth certificate. They said they called Merrick for it, explaining how they were starting the adoption proceedings, then two days later, Merrick shows up at the school and pulls me out. We drove for hours before he dropped me off at another home, but this woman gave Merrick money before I was allowed out of the car. Oh, and when he pulled me out of school, I wasn’t allowed to even go back to the classroom for my things.”
Patch placed his finger over the gauze, and waited until Kevin put a piece of tape over it, but had to look up when nothing was being done. “Kevin? You okay?”
“What? Sorry,” he said as he ripped off the tape, and placed it over the gauze. He began labeling the vials of blood, and sat heavily in his chair, looking at Patch in shock. “Your caseworker showed up at school, and just took you out? Did he say why?”
“When we were in the car, he told me that my foster father had called him to say he lost his job, and couldn’t afford to keep me any longer. That it would be best if I didn’t return. However, since seeing, and spending time with the Fosters again, I’ve learned it was all a lie.”
“Damn, so what do you suspect? Because, I have a lot of shit going through my head right now on your behalf.”
“Personally, after listening to my girlfriend play devil’s advocate, I’m wondering if Merrick somehow didn’t have my original birth certificate, and when they asked for it, he panicked. But…” he paused, until Kevin stopped what he was doing, and looked at him before he continued. “What if I was kidnapped to begin with, and that’s why Merrick panicked. The Fosters also told me that when they contacted the police when I was taken, Merrick disappeared also.”
“Shit, so it was assumed that he took you.”
“Yes, I later realized that the day he took me from school, we drove for nine hours to arrive at that new foster home. The one where the woman gave him an envelope of money before I could leave the car. Now, in hindsight, I realize he sold me. What’s to say that he didn’t do it to other people. That’s why I hired someone to look into this shit. Oh, and in case you were wondering, all this went down in the state of Colorado. I was ten when the foster family I had moved to Montana and brought me with them. However, when I was twelve, they divorced, and because they didn’t adopt me…” He left his sentence hanging.
“Damn, so you could have been taken from anywhere to begin with, not just Colorado.”
“Exactly, that’s why I’m here getting my blood drawn. I don’t know what you have to do, but could you run everything you can. Let me know how much it’ll cost.”
“We can work that out later, and yes, I will run everything I can think of. I might even send some out to another lab. That’s why I drew several extra vials. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it’ll take weeks to get the results back.”
“That’s what I figured. Thanks, Kevin.” Patch stood and held out his hand to his colleague, and after they shook, Patch left.
