“I should apologize. I think your husband was unaware of some aspects of your pregnancy.” He pulled a rolling stool to her bedside.
“We’ve recently reconciled. I was working up to telling him more.”
“That you were having twins.”
“Exactly.”
“One of each.”
Lilly’s heart leapt at the information. An unexpected rush of emotion caused tears to well in her eyes.
“Honey, that’s great!” Drew reached down and grabbed her hand, placing a quick peck on her cheek. Was Stone buying Drew’s acting?
Lilly swallowed over her nerves. “How are the babies doing?”
“They’re well. We did give you a course of steroids to mature their lungs in case it was necessary to deliver them because of your high blood pressure. Your husband didn’t know your due date, but based on the babies’ measurements, you’re about thirty weeks along so they could do well at this point. Does that sound about right?”
“Yes, I’m due in late May.”
“Have you been getting regular prenatal care?”
“I’m unemployed and have been traveling, looking for work. I couldn’t afford to see anyone.”
“Are you settled someplace now?”
“Not exactly.”
“Hayden, you need to have someone closely follow you and these babies. High blood pressure in pregnancy is very dangerous. Your labs are showing us that you have a condition known as eclampsia. Eclampsia is uncontrollable blood pressure in pregnancy. The only way to cure it is to deliver the babies, but at thirty weeks, we’d like them to stay tucked inside for a while longer.”
“Dr. Stone, I really need to leave. There’s some business my husband and I need to take care of.”
“Hayden, your condition is critical. I can’t impress that upon you enough. Both you and the babies are in grave danger.”
Drew fingered her hair. She tried not to back away. “We will do whatever is necessary for the babies. Right, honey?”
“Can’t you give me an oral medication I can take for my blood pressure?”
“Since we’ve stopped the magnesium, I’ve started you on some IV medication that, if it works, you can take orally. Even with that, you need to remain on complete bed rest. There will be no TV, cell phone, or visitors. You can’t be out of bed for any reason.”
“For how long?” Drew and Lilly asked in unison.
“As long as it takes. Additionally, we are not equipped to handle your care adequately here. I’ve put in for a consult in the city and we’ll be transferring you there once you’re stable. They have a top notch neonatal team. You’ll be in great hands.”
“No, I don’t want to do that. I can’t go—”
“Hayden, you must listen to me. This condition is very serious. I’m doing all I can to help but you are the only one who can determine the fate of these babies. I need to know if we are going to work together.”
Drew clenched her hand tighter. “Whatever you tell her to do, she’ll do it.”
Stone searched Lilly’s eyes. “I need to hear that from you.”
“Fine.” Her one word answer brought sudden memories of Nathan.
“Excellent. Let’s see how it goes today. Any more questions for me?”
Lilly shook her head and felt her stomach tilt.
“Good.” He stood and turned away from her. “Wow, I know you probably can’t see them clearly, but one of our volunteers is here with an unusual bouquet of flowers.” He turned back to her, rubbing her shoulder. “I’ll check on you later.”
He left. Drew took the arrangement from the older women dressed in a blue smock and signed for them. He placed them on Lilly’s bedside table.
“Are those black?” Lilly asked.
“Yeah, kind of a weird color choice.”
“The doctor is suspicious.”
“I know, but what are we going to do? Aren’t we banking on the babies proving that Drake is the father?”
Lilly swung the blankets off her body. She turned off her IV pump. “I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“What are you doing?”
She pulled the bedside table closer to her body and felt through the thorns, numb to the pricks of pain, until her fingers landed on a stick of cool plastic. She ran her fingers up and yanked the card from the twines.
“What does this say?”
Drew took the envelope clenched between her thumb and forefinger.
“Lilly, you need to chill out.” Drew tried to ease her back into bed. “Remember what the doctor said.”
She pushed his hand away and pulled the tape off her IV. “Who would know where I am to even send these?”
Drew paused at her question. Under normal circumstances, getting a delivery of flowers in the hospital was expected.
Neither of them was living under normalcy. Drew ripped open the envelope and pulled out the card.
“What does it say?” Lilly asked.
“Found you. Love, Drake.”
Chapter 42
April 2
MOMENTS AFTER THE flower arrangement and Drake’s nefarious note had arrived, Lilly had left the hospital posthaste with Drew in tow. She’d pulled her IV and disconnected the fetal heart monitor, running from the facility because she knew that within minutes the nursing staff would come to check on her. Drew stole a prescription pad, and Lilly forged a script for blood pressure medication. When they filled the labetalol, she also purchased a home blood-pressure machine.
For the past week, they’d hidden in low-rate hotels, changing locations each night to throw Drake off their trail. They checked in under new names every day, sometimes together, sometimes separately, though always staying in the same room. Drew wasn’t on board with their purchasing any weapons until Lilly showed him the one she carried and what an expert marksman she was. They were currently in the possession of four smaller-sized, semiautomatic guns.
Now they sat in a deserted parking lot at a roadside diner, awaiting the arrival of Kathy Everly, Julie Stipman’s geneticist friend who had information about Drake’s unusual DNA. The morning breakfast round was over, and a few stragglers remained inside enjoying coffee and conversation. Lilly wanted to be done with this meeting before the lunch rush started. Drew leaned over as the numbers displayed on her blood-pressure machine.
“It’s 128/82. Is that good?”
“Not great, but fine for now.” Lilly tore apart the Velcro and removed the cuff from her arm. “That’s not what’s worrying me.”
“Then what is?”
“I’m having contractions.”
“Regular?”
“How did you know to ask that?”
“My cellmate’s wife was having a baby, and she told him to read What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Bad thing was he was illiterate and was hiding it from her. I read that book to him every night and would quiz him about things to remember.”
“You probably know more than I do then.”
“You’re a doctor, right?”
“An ER doctor. We try not to deliver babies.” Lilly plopped the machine beside her on the seat. “They’re not regular, but they’re not going away. I need to get back to Colorado. I’ve made arrangements for the twins. Someone who can keep them safe while I’m working on getting Drake into jail will be taking them. I’m driving back tonight.”
“That’s twelve hours.”
“Drew, I’m not sure what your endgame is. You’ve been very helpful to me, and Drake probably would have found me by now if it hadn’t been for you. But this is not a group decision.”
“I’m sticking with you. The only way to get my life back is to prove Drake guilty of these crimes. I just don’t think it’s wise, in your condition, to travel for that long.”
“I can’t deliver here. It has to be in Colorado, and I have a feeling these two aren’t going to wait much longer. If we leave after this meeting, it will be dark when we get back. I have supplies I’ll need to pick up.”
A car pulled
in that met the description the doctor had given them. Drew placed a soft hand on Lilly’s forearm, delaying her exit from the vehicle until the woman entered the eatery and they had ensured she wasn’t being followed. They reached her table and got to business after exchanging short pleasantries. Even sitting down, Dr. Kathy Everly was several inches taller than Lilly, with fair skin, blonde hair, and tense gray eyes.
“I’m a little nervous being here,” she confessed. “I’ve been getting some strange phone calls. Hang-ups and the like.”
“We don’t have much time, so if you don’t mind, we’ll just get straight to business. What do you know about Drake Maguire?” Lilly asked.
“I know Julie told you he was a chimera. Do you know what that is?”
“I’ve been doing some research over the past week.” Lilly pulled a small notepad from her purse. “It’s a fusion of two separately fertilized embryos resulting in a single birth of a person that has two DNA fingerprints. Two people living in one body.”
“Exactly, but Drake is a whole new ball of wax. Drake’s chimerism, as far as I can tell, is undocumented. Obviously, with Drew here, you know that Drake is an identical twin.”
“Yes, but there are some physical differences between them. Drake’s eyes, of course.”
“What occurred in Drake’s case is that there were two eggs that were fertilized. Drew’s egg split, forming identical twins. Then what happened is most unusual. After Drew’s egg split, his identical twin fused with Drake’s egg, forming a chimera. These criminal tests point to Drew because Drake carries Drew’s DNA as well as his own. The nefarious part is that Drake has figured out which cell lines in his body point to Drew and which are his own. That’s why Drake is the perfect serial rapist.”
“Because his own DNA is not expressed,” Lilly said.
“No, it’s there. Let’s go back to the first crime that landed Drew in jail. Fifteen years ago, a naturally occurring human chimera was unheard of. It’s only been with the advent of widespread DNA testing that we’ve been able to identify a few rare individuals who carry this peculiar DNA pattern. Drew was convicted solely based on blood evidence.”
“Only on blood type,” Drew said.
“Right,” Kathy said, motioning to Drew. “Your blood type matched the blood type found on the victim. However, blood type is much different than a person’s DNA profile. Many people have the same blood type. However, each person has a unique DNA pattern that no one else has. This holds true for fingerprints, as well.”
“Except in the case of identical twins,” Lilly interjected. “They would have the same DNA profile but they do have unique fingerprints.”
“That’s true. When Drew was convicted, DNA testing was in a crude form and not widely used. Drew, your blood type was different from the victim’s blood type so that’s why they assumed it was from her assailant. When Julie pushed to have Drake tested, the lab couldn’t determine his blood type. The reason the lab results came up inconclusive is that in Drake’s blood there was an expression of two DNA fingerprints in his blood sample. It’s why they couldn’t type it, and they didn’t have the wherewithal to pursue it. Drake must have been expressing two blood types at the time. Unfortunately for Drew, the police had him linked to the victim, and they had his blood type on the victim. That was enough back then to get him locked up.”
“Why did you pursue it?” Lilly asked. She pressed her hand into her abdomen, her womb tight under her palm, the pain mild.
“You have to remember, I originally got involved in looking at Drake’s DNA when the family was testing the boys to see if they were a DNA match for Drake’s bone marrow transplant. It was those tests that showed Drake was not their father. This was only about three or four years ago and DNA testing had rapidly progressed. Julie was distraught. Drake was going to divorce her and leave her with nothing.”
Lilly eased back in her chair as a waitress approached. Drew waved her off. Kathy waited until she was out of earshot before continuing on.
“Julie didn’t have any skills and knew she had to prove Drake as the father to provide for her children. I’d heard about these rare cases where women had obtained maternity testing for different reasons and proved not to be the mother. They were later diagnosed as chimeras. That’s when I thought Drake might be one. Drake has some of the physical characteristics of chimerism. The fact that his eyes are different colors is one of those. I had Julie gather up specimens from every biological relative of Drake’s that she could think of. There were leftover samples taken from Drew in relation to the bone-marrow transplant. My tests showed that Drew was the boys’ father.”
“I don’t understand why it’s surprising that Drew showed up as the father of Julie’s boys if they are identical twins. Drake and Drew’s blood types are the same, and their blood has the same DNA fingerprint.”
“When the hospital began screening everyone for their DNA profiles to see if someone would match Drake for the bone-marrow transplant, these samples were all done by cheek swabs, grouped together, and sent to the lab. Drake’s cheek cells carry the second DNA fingerprint. That is why those tests showed he was not the boys’ father.”
“How were you going to prove that he was a chimera?”
“I was going to pressure the court for more tests. You see, it wasn’t possible that Drew was the father of Julie’s boys, because he was incarcerated at the time Julie conceived her second child. We knew genetically that the boys had the same father. I was going to present my chimera theory to the judge. We were going to ask the courts for a witnessed blood draw from Drake and have it tested for paternity. Since Drake and Drew have the same DNA fingerprint in their blood, this test would show that Drake was the father. The chimera theory would then be proven because two different cell lines that came from Drake, the initial cheek swab and the blood test, would show that he carried two DNA fingerprints. I mean, one test shows he is the father. The other doesn’t. This would present a problem for the court. They would need a clear explanation of why their golden standard DNA test was showing inconsistencies with Drake’s paternity. The assumption of the court is that every cell in a person’s body carries the same DNA pattern. Well, for the chimera, this isn’t true.”
“But you were never able to take your evidence to court.”
“No, because the fire happened and there were no boys to provide care for.”
Lilly’s muscles tightened again, stronger this time. “I looked through Drake’s medical record during the time of his leukemia diagnosis. It didn’t seem like they had any trouble typing his blood at that point.”
“You’re right; they didn’t. And you know by now that Drew was his donor and saved his life. So it seems that Drew’s DNA fingerprint was the only one present in Drake’s blood at the time of his transplant. Chimerism isn’t that straightforward. These individuals are often picked up during blood typing because both DNA fingerprints are often present. However, this may change over time, and one individual’s DNA may become the more prominent one in certain cell lines. Particularly those that change over rapidly like red blood cells.”
“So the children are the key.” Lilly smoothed her hand over her side, her belly softened as the contraction eased.
“Drake is more sinister than either of you give him credit for. He is a smart man, and when I raised the issue of chimerism, he obviously did his own research.”
“He did.” Lilly scooted forward. “When I was looking through Drake’s chart, I saw a DNA profile obtained from cheek cells from an anonymous DNA donor looking for a match to Drake’s blood. The profiles didn’t match. It didn’t make sense to me then because Drake had already received the bone-marrow transplant. Drake must have provided his own cheek cells for the test. He wanted to know which of his cells would match Drew and which didn’t. The paternity results gave him the hint. He used that test to verify it.”
“That’s why he’s so vile. Drake knows his blood and semen will point to Drew. He’s verified that his cheek cells are hi
s own. He can commit these rapes at will, knowing that as long as he doesn’t leave any saliva behind, the rest of the DNA evidence will point to Drew. What specimen do the police generally take to test a suspect?”
“A cheek swab,” Drew interjected.
“That’s why he bathes his victims,” Lilly said. “To make sure he doesn’t leave any saliva behind.”
“He moves to Colorado. Changes his name. Gets that crazy tattoo, and begins his crime spree.”
“Only after he knows I’m out of prison so that I’ll be a viable suspect.”
Lilly turned to Drew. “He does try to protect himself a little with the disguise and colored contacts. But what happens as soon as the heat is on him? Your mother steps in and ponies up the money so Las Vegas can get caught up in their CODIS database. Your blood from that crime fifteen years ago now is tested for a DNA profile, and lo and behold, the police in Colorado have a criminal to look for.”
“I don’t understand why he wants to kill all his offspring when the DNA swab of his cheek cells will clear him because it holds the second DNA fingerprint.” Drew waved the waitress off again.
Dr. Everly pulled a thumb drive from her pocket and set it on the table in front of Lilly. “Drake is afraid of this. These are the DNA profiles from his boys. Drew was in prison when Julie conceived her second child. I’ve already proven that genetically the boys have the same father. I’ve worked in the judicial system quite a bit. The court is not apt to repeat any testing it has already done in relation to these rape cases in Colorado. Remember, DNA testing is the standard. There is little you can do to refute it. You’re going to have to bring forth new evidence. When your children are born, you need to have their DNA tested against these boys who have already died. Those tests will show they all have the same father. Since Drew was incapable of fathering Julie’s second child, a smart judge will scrutinize Drake and hopefully order further testing. You need to have witnessed testing of his blood and cheek cells. These tests will prove he is a chimera, the father of these babies, and your rapist.”
Lilly grasped the thin stick in her hand. “I can’t thank you enough for all your help.”
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