by Matt Hilton
It turned out those two cops that Po and Pinky had first been suspicious of had turned out to be the best of their kind. As soon as Tess had an opportunity, she had dialed 911 and the duo had responded. It had been Officers Wilson and Rossiter who had taken the Moorcocks into custody, rather than a deputy from the county sheriff’s department – Tess had since learned that some of the deputies were allegedly corrupt, accepting bribes from Eldon Moorcock. State police detectives had taken over the investigation, and the FBI had also gotten involved when discovering how Caleb and his brothers had crossed state lines in pursuit of, and in the commission of kidnapping, Elspeth and Jacob. Several other members of the community had been arrested for conspiring with the Moorcocks, and more would answer justice once the extent of their crimes became known. Supposedly narcotics had been discovered behind that vault door in the bunker, with Eldon and his sons complicit with a cartel using the commune as a stepping stone for their produce this side of the Canadian border. For now Tess was unsure where the criminal allegations would end. Elspeth and Jacob were currently hidden in a witness protection program, safe from harm but also out of her and Po’s reach. There still remained a burning truth to be uncovered. One she’d resolved to discover after helping clean Jacob up and dabbing some blood from his nostrils with a handkerchief. She had taken care to protect the bloody cloth.
‘Do you want to hear the results?’ she asked.
Po sucked in his bottom lip and frowned.
Tess took out a folded sheet of paper. It was a copy of an email she’d printed off only minutes ago.
‘Elspeth swore that Jacob isn’t mine, Caleb said he isn’t, and there’s a piece of me here’ – Po tapped the side of his head – ‘that tells me he isn’t.’ He moved his hand and it hovered over his heart. ‘But then I have this feelin’ that I can’t shake right here.’
‘That’s only because you’re a good man, and you feel protective of an abused child.’
‘You’ve read the results then?’
‘I couldn’t avoid reading them.’
‘So the blood tests were negative?’
‘I’m sorry, Po, your DNA wasn’t a match.’
‘I’m not sure how I feel about that,’ he admitted.
‘You wanted Jacob to be your son, but he isn’t.’ She faced him, touched his cheek with her fingertips and then she kissed him. ‘Why don’t you go and turn off that engine and come inside. It’s not too late for us to try making a child together.’