Page 115 of Veil of Silence

“We need to show Luke,” he said. “Because Deputy Cross very well may be Zander Dalton.”

Chapter

Forty-Six

Dad must have overheard their conversation because he stared at the photograph on Austin’s phone, and his jaw went slack. “Zander Dalton—that’s the Daltons’ missing son? You think Deputy Cross is Zander Dalton?”

The cabin door opened, and Wren and Marlowe hurried across the yard.

“Mom called.” Wren pulled a sweater over her pajamas. “What’s going on? Did you find Christian?”

Dad shook his head. “No. Cross was with him. They haven’t come back.”

Wren looked from him to Nora. “Cross was here?”

Nora nodded, though her attention had returned to the house. Mom kept looking at the back door as if Christian might come through it at any moment.

Nora could wait. Mom was frightened enough without hearing that the boy she was waiting for might not be her son. The report still needed to be verified.

But Luke was sending deputies. Prine would be here soon, and they needed to know what Nora had found. Mom shouldn’t learn it by overhearing Nora tell someone else.

Her gut tightened. The timing wasn’t ideal. But she knew what she needed to do.

“Mom.” Nora moved closer. “The DNA results came in.”

Her mother’s eyes lifted to hers. “Did they? When?”

“I found them in Christian’s room. He’d opened the envelope and hidden it beneath his mattress.”

Dad’s face tightened. “Why would he hide them?”

Nora swallowed hard, knowing good and well that her parents weren’t ready to hear this. They’d never be ready to hear this. “I don’t know how to tell you, so I’m just going to say it. The report says he isn’t biologically related to you or Mom.”

The flashlight hung from Dad’s limp hand, its beam shining across the wet grass. For several seconds, none of them moved.

Marlowe stared at Nora. “What? What are you talking about?”

Mom’s gaze hardened, and she held out her hand. “Show me.”

Nora opened the photograph on her phone. Mom read the conclusion once, then enlarged it and read it again.

“There could be a mistake.” She swung her head back and forth. “The lab could have mixed up the samples.”

“That’s possible,” Nora said. “We’re looking into having it verified.”

“But you’ve already decided he isn’t Christian, haven’t you?” Marlowe handed back the phone, her voice growing sharp. “You went into his room, found this, and didn’t tell us?”

Guilt pounded at her. Maybe she shouldn’t have stayed silent. It was just so hard to know what to do sometimes. “I was going to tell you tonight. I only found it right before we left for the concert.”

“You should have told us right away.” Mom shook her head. “I could have told you the test was wrong. A mom knows these things! That’s our Christian. I expected more from you, Nora Jean.”

The accusation stung because Nora had asked herself the same question during the drive home.

“I didn’t know Cross was coming,” she said. “And I didn’t know whether the boy intended to hurt us. I still don’t.”

“The boy?” Mom stared at her. “He knew our family. He knew things Christian knew. I don’t believe that report.”

“I believed him too.” Nora’s voice began to break.