Part 23 (1/2)

”I'm saying that a person's DNA sample is always going to be a perfect match of itself. No extra markers. No differences. A perfect match. My lab guy found other markers.”

”Then they were Phoebe's cells,” she said.

Ben shook his head. ”No. My guy checked for that. It was not Nelson who was in league with Lazarus. It was not Nelson who killed Phoebe,” Ben said. ”It wasn't. That's not speculation. It's fact.”

”NO,” Tess wailed in protest. ”How could the sample be mistaken for Nelson's? What are the chances of that happening? Are you saying that the guy at the state lab lied deliberately? Why would he do that? It makes no sense.”

”No. I'm not saying that he lied. There were markers that matched.”

Tess shook her head. ”I'm utterly confused. What the h.e.l.l are you saying? Some markers matched by coincidence?”

”Not at all,” said Ben. ”Not coincidence. It wasn't Nelson who killed Phoebe. But it was someone related to him.”

Tess stared at his grave face and felt her heart flip over like an acrobat on a trapeze. She was not exactly sure of the implications, but she understood the central point. ”Related to him?”

Ben nodded. ”I was with Nelson when the report came in. It wasn't until I explained the science to him that the light dawned. I could see it in his eyes. Something suddenly made sense to him that had never made sense to him before. I tried to get him to tell me, but he absolutely refused. But he'd realized the truth. And I think it got him killed,” said Ben.

Tess was s.h.i.+vering as she considered what he had just told her. Then she had another thought. ”Nelson had no children,” Tess said, looking into Ben's intelligent crystalline eyes.

Ben glanced at the front door of the inn, which was still tightly shut. Then he looked back into Tess's eyes. ”He has a nephew,” Ben said.

CHAPTER 24.

Tess's heart lurched in her chest. ”Chief Bosworth?” she whispered.

”Rusty Bosworth is the son of Nelson's sister.”

”He's the chief of police,” said Tess.

Ben gazed at her somberly. ”That's why I wanted to talk to you out here, where we wouldn't be overheard,” he said.

Tess clutched the sleeve of his jacket as if to steady herself. ”Are you saying you think he could have done these things...?” she whispered.

”I don't know, Tess. What I do know is that we can't go to the local police with our suspicions.”

”Who can we go to?”

Ben frowned. ”Well, the state police or the FBI. I have to tread carefully, though. We need proof. Not conjecture.”

Tess shook her head as if she could not take it in. ”Are there any other siblings. Cousins?”

”Well, we need to find out before we start accusing the police chief,” said Ben.

Tess looked at him with keen, troubled eyes. ”I don't get it. Why are you helping me now? Why did you come here and tell me this?” she asked.

Tess saw the blush which moved up his neck to his cheeks.

”Because it's you,” he said. ”It's your son.” He turned and looked her directly in the eyes. ”Because it seems like you are all I think about these days.”

Tess looked at him in amazement. Before she could form a reply, a white truck came rumbling down the gravel driveway and pulled up in front of the inn. Jake jumped out of the driver's seat. He opened the van doors, pulled out a long stick, and came walking toward Tess and Ben.

”Hey, Tess,” Jake said with a forced heartiness. ”Are you speaking to me yet? Tell Erny I'm here. I brought back his fis.h.i.+ng pole.” Jake looked fondly, and with a certain pride, at the pole he was holding. ”He did a good job. Clever little guy. Look how he made it. He used a garden stake, a piece of twine. He even put a lure on it,” said Jake, plinking his thumb and forefinger against the piece of metal tied to the end of the line.

Tess stood up and stared at her brother. All her anger at him melted away at the sight of his familiar face. ”Jake, where have you been? You don't know what happened?” she asked.

Jake stood the pole up carefully against the lattice behind the bench and looked at Tess warily. ”No. After I picked up the fis.h.i.+ng pole I had to drive to North Conway for supplies. Why? What happened?”

Ben stood up also and put a protective hand on Tess's shoulder. ”Erny has...disappeared,” he said. ”We think he was abducted by Nelson Abbott's killer.”

”What?” Jake yelped. ”Killer...? Wait a minute. Nelson was killed? Who did it? How did they get ahold of Erny?”

Tess saw the genuine bewilderment in her brother's eyes. She needed to back up and explain. ”This morning, we took a canoe ride to the beach at the campground. Erny and me. Someone had dumped Nelson's body there. He was getting ready to bury it, we think. Anyway, Erny went into the woods, looking for twigs...and he must have seen...” Tess dissolved into tears. She shook her head, unable to continue.

”Jesus, Tess...” Jake rushed to his sister, wrapping his arms around her. Tess huddled against her brother's broad familiar shoulder. She felt his empathy, his support, as he enfolded her. He only wanted to comfort her. Not, she thought ruefully, to berate her for letting Erny out of her sight, the way she had berated him for the same sin only a day earlier. It would never have occurred to him to do that, she realized, as a sob escaped from her throat.

Before Tess could regain her composure and tell him she was sorry, there was the sound of a siren's wail and the roar of a car engine. A black-and-white police car, its roof light flas.h.i.+ng, rounded the curve of the driveway and sped into the circle in front of the inn. It squealed to a stop behind Jake's truck, spraying gravel to the sides of its wheels. Another siren could already be heard coming toward them down the driveway. The front door of the inn opened and the plainclothes officers who had been in the hallway came outside, with Dawn following hard on their heels.

Two officers jumped from the first car, guns drawn and approaching cautiously.

”Jake DeGraff?” said the first uniformed officer who had emerged from the car.

Jake let go of Tess and looked at the police, perplexed. ”Yeah,” he said. ”I'm Jake DeGraff.”

A second police car roared up beside the first and stopped short. Two more policemen got out and waited by their car.

”What the h.e.l.l?” said Jake.

”Your truck was spotted on the road into town heading in this direction. Do you have the boy?” the second cop from the squad car asked.

”What boy?” Jake asked, incredulous.

”Your nephew. Erny.”

”Of course I don't have him. I just found out he's been kidnapped!”

”We have orders to bring you in for questioning, sir, in the murder of Nelson Abbott,” said the first uniformed officer.

”I didn't kill that son of a b.i.t.c.h,” Jake protested.

Chuck Virgilio, the plainclothes cop with the mustache, said, ”You'll have to go with them, Mr. DeGraff.”

Jake looked at Tess. ”Tess, tell them. I didn't even know Abbott was dead...”

Tess appealed to Officer Virgilio. ”My brother couldn't have done this. He wouldn't have taken Erny. It's Erny you should be looking for. Every minute that goes by, my son's life is in danger.”