Out of the frustration and despair came one new insight. What if it was Andre Palermo himself that made the call? Sloan could imagine a scenario where knowing there could be an undeniable evidence or a strong alibi, Andre Palermo could easily point to himself with the knowledge that the case would be dismissed outright. He could imagine DelPero concatenating a scenario where the police would come across as incompetent fools, and his client walks free. The phone rang again.
“What?!” Sloan screamed into the receiver with frustration.
“You won’t believe what I have here,” said David, Sloan’s contact at the Crime Lab DNA Unit.
“Tell me.”
“One of the three. It seemed to closely match her own. Not any kind of close matching. But almost like a distant relative. Pretty weird.”
“Are you sure?”
“There is definitely shared ancestry. You know what the craziest thing is? The child is almost a perfect match to this person.”
“What the fuck! Didn’t you guys say none of the three match the child’s DNA?”
“I know. We kind of dismissed it early on because we thought it was matching to the mother’s side. I mean there is no question about this. You gotta come and see it.”
Detective Sloan hated his life. He thought he was formulating a feasible case pointing at Andre Palermo, and now he was dealt with a curve ball out of nowhere.
“On my way,” he said, slamming the phone down and grabbing his jacket to head to the Crime Lab.
~~~
