Page 97 of See You Again
“It’s got to be Matt.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “It’s clear he’s the focus of your show.”
“It’s a strong possibility, but since he’s already threatened us with legal action, this would be overkill.”
Cami winced when James threw her a look. “Poor word choice, but you know what I mean. Don’t forget Janelle Dixon and her husband. He’s already threatened me once.”
“You said he didn’t threaten you.”
“It wasn’t…”
“He made you fall.” James sounded furious.
The phone in her lap lit up with a FaceTime call, saving her.
“It’s Detective Barlow. Do you mind if I take it?”
James turned down the volume on the radio without a word.
The call connected, and Mark’s face appeared centered in the screen. He was clearly still at work. He let out a low whistle and then smiled. “Wow, you look beautiful! Big night out?”
She could feel James’s focus pressing in on her. “Thanks. I’m on my way to an advertiser’s event.”
“Fun. I don’t want to keep you, but I had some news I couldn’t wait to share.” His eyes twinkled. “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure we could make it happen, and then everything happened so fast.”
Cami laughed. “You’ve lost me.”
“I know how important it was to you to test for a familial result in CODIS. It wasn’t easy, but I convinced the sheriff we could use a grant the state of Georgia has set aside for cold cases. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, but…”
“Oh my god, you are killing me.” Cami laughed again. Her eyes flicked to James.
Did he just growl?
“What happened? Did you find the funding?”
Mark’s grin filled the phone’s screen. “Yup. I used to play baseball with an agent at the GBI. I owe him one, but it was worth it. The lab felt there was enough of a sample to run again, so we did.”
“And?” Cami’s skin buzzed with excitement. This was the break in the case they needed, she knew it!
“I’d hoped to tell you in person when I was in Atlanta today, but something came up, and I had to get back here.” He winked. “But I didn’t want to make you wait. We already got the results.”
“That was fast! Why were you in Atlanta?” Cami kept her eyes on the detective, but the level of intensity coming off James had ratcheted up distracting her.
“We got a first-degree familial match to a crime scene last year. They recovered Amy’s body before it was processed, so the DNA wasn't in the system when they ran the original report. The lab said that our sample has to either be a parent or a child. And given that the guy was in his late sixties when he was murdered, and we found it on the vape pen in Amy’s pocket, it’s highly likely that it was a child of the victim.
“Wow!” Her eyes darted to James, who was staring out the windshield. His face looked like it was carved from stone.
“Exactly,” Mark chuckled. “Great minds think alike.”
Another growl sounded from the seat next to her, but she ignored it. “So, who is it? Is there a connection to Amy?” Cami hated playing dumb, but she didn’t want to let on that she already had a good idea what Mark would say.
“Not that I’m aware of, but I’ll do some digging. This Elliot Keller guy only had the one son that we know of, and he’s in Atlanta, so I drove up to talk to him.”
Even knowing what was coming, the blood rushed from her head before it surged back, her ears ringing. She forced herself to keep her face neutral and not look at James to see his reaction.
Elliot Keller. The man James thought could be Matt Crawford’s biological father. The man who helped steal his inheritance.
She risked a glance. James’s eyes glittered in the dim light, but he gave her a small shake of his head. He didn’t want her to share the connection with Mark.
“What’s his name? What did he say? Did he give you a sample? Is he a suspect?”