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Her eyes went wide, and her hand went to her mouth. “How? I mean, where? Where is she?”
“I don’t know right now, but she’s alive.”
“I want to know how you know she’s alive.” She got up. “I’ve got to call Daddy.”
I stood and grabbed her arm, pulling her back more roughly than I meant to.
“Let me go. I have to call Daddy. Are you sure?”
I took a breath, hoping that calming myself would rub off on her. “He knows. Sit down and listen to everything first.”
“But—”
“Sit down,” I commanded.
My tone seemed to get her attention, and she returned to the couch.
“How do you know? How can you be sure?”
Her idea of listening needed serious work.
“Why didn’t she call us?”
When I didn’t say a thing, my words must have finally registered, and she shut up.
I tilted my head. “Are you done?”
She crossed her arms defiantly. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“The bank robbery we were just watching. That was her.”
“Where?”
I ignored the interruption. “Deborah was one of the robbers.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“The DNA doesn’t lie, and your brother thinks it looks like her.”
“Which brother?”
“Dennis. That’s why he was in town this week.”
“Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
I took a breath, trying to slow down the conversation she kept trying to accelerate. “Your family doesn’t want the information to get out. When we got the DNA match, it came back to a kidnapping case from Phoenix—”
“Yeah, that’s where she lived.”
“I thought you were done.” I waited a second. “Do you want to hear the rest of it or not?”
Her mouth formed a thin line. “Sorry. Yes, please.”
I waited again to see if she was really done talking this time. “I had no idea she was related to you until your brother came out. Your family doesn’t want the information released, but you’re right about the honesty between us going both ways, so I needed to tell you. But you can’t tell anyone else.”
“I won’t,” she assured me. “Thank you for trusting me.”
I took a breath. “You just said it looked like she was afraid of the man.”
