Page 60 of Her Final Hours
“Her parents’ DNA was in GEDMatch?”
“Not exactly. Her grandparents are.”
“And…?” He could hear the hesitation in her voice. “Callie?”
“Her grandmother is Esther Scott.”
Noah’s brow furrowed as he looked back at the girl. Alicia looked over at him. He turned away, grappling with what that meant. “Payton Scott’s mother?”
“Yes.”
He knew Payton had a brother. No other siblings. “Hold on a second; you’re telling me that Jane Doe is Payton Scott’s daughter?”
“It appears so. There’s no match of her being Payton’s brother’s daughter.”
Payton Scott. Her name echoed in his mind, a haunting reminder.
“Are you sure?”
“The genealogist was positive. Twenty-five percent, on average, is the amount of shared DNA between us and our grandparents based on how DNA is inherited. The range of shared DNA with grandparents can be roughly anywhere from 1300 to 2300. Higher or lower. Hers clocked in at 1860. I also phoned Esther to find out if she’d ever done one of those DNA tests, and she said she had through Ancestry. She then uploaded that raw DNA data file to GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA to see if Payton was out there. Back then, she never got any results.”
Noah was astonished. He turned and looked back at the girl, trying to see the resemblance. Of course, she would be a mix of her mother and father. Even though they didn’t have a name for her, they now knew who she was connected to. It was a huge breakthrough.
Callie continued, “I figure we couldn’t find her in any system because she’s been kept out of the system on purpose.”
“But Payton went missing twenty-five years ago. Let’s say the girl is sixteen; Payton must have lived long enough to have her,” he said.
“Or more. Noah. Payton could still be alive. Do you remember that ’90s case from California of a woman taken when she was eleven, only to be found eighteen years later? She had two children with the man that took her captive.”
A spark of hope rose in him. The chances of survival after an abduction were astronomically slim, but it wasn’t out of the question. Where was she if she had been kept alive all this time?”
Callie continued. “I assume that whoever took Payton was responsible for the abductions of the other women; that’s why her daughter has their names on her. Why they are on her body is unknown, but it would make sense, right?” Callie asked.
“Yeah. I mean. Possibly.” His mind was ticking over, gradually speeding up at the possibility of finding Payton and maybe the others.
“Oh, and not to throw too much at you, but… we’ve made progress on the Eduardo Felipe situation. The owner of those missing goods — the one that went with one of our deputies today — identified them at the Fish and Game Club. So, Patrick was telling the truth regarding the van being used. And as for Eduardo, he’s all but closed up shop. His defense attorney showed up this evening. I’ve been trying to get him to convince Eduardo to cooperate based on our intel on his potential involvement in the abduction of our girl from the hospital. One guess who his defender is.”
“What?”
“The attorney.”
His mind was still distracted, staring at the girl. It was likeseeing her through new eyes, or at least seeing Payton in her. Noah put Callie on speaker for a moment, brought up the internet on his phone, and swiped to a photo that had been used back in the day, the most up-to-date school photo, as a form of comparison. Payton would have been almost the same age as the girl when she went missing.
“Noah?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” He shook his head. “You were saying…?”
“Eduardo Felipe’s defense attorney. It’s Doug Grayson.”
“Lena’s father?”
“I told him there won’t be a lot of wiggle room for the D.A. unless he can get Eduardo to cooperate.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He would take it under advisement.”
“What an asshole.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe he took him on as a client.”
