Page 90 of The Sleeping Girls
He raised a hand. “Stop. The decision has been made. I’ve already called your parents.”
NINETY-NINE
CROOKED CREEK POLICE STATION
As Derrick skimmed the autopsy report, his pulse quickened. “Ellie, this is interesting. Anna Marie was seeing a nephrologist.”
Heath leaned forward. “What?”
“It’s a specialist who treats kidney disease. According to the autopsy, Anna Marie was in the early stages of kidney failure but would eventually require dialysis until a donor could be found.”
Ellie traded a look with him. “You didn’t know, Landrum?”
“No,” he said, his voice weak. “Are you sure she was sick?”
“Yes.” Derrick checked Anna Marie’s medical records. “She was diagnosed a few months before she died.”
“What else does it say?” Landrum asked.
“Cause of death was asphyxiation due to being smothered by a pillow. Cracked rib consistent with CPR attempt.” Derrick straightened. “Hmph. Wait a minute. This is not right.”
“What is it?” Ellie glanced at the file.
“The entire family’s DNA and blood types are in here.” Derrick leaned back in the chair. “Anna Marie was not Gil Landrum’s biological child.”
Landrum’s head jerked up. “What?”
Derrick pushed the report in front of the deputy and he paled as he looked down at it. “This makes no sense.”
“DNA doesn’t lie,” Ellie said gently.
Landrum strode across the room, his agitation palpable. “I don’t understand. Dad and Mom never told us that either.”
“Maybe your father didn’t know,” Derrick said.
Ellie snapped her fingers. “Or maybe he did and just hadn’t shared that information with you and Darnell. If he’d been in the dark, he could have just discovered the truth when he learned Anna Marie needed a kidney transplant.”
“The big argument they had the night before Mom left,” Heath murmured, as he sank back into the chair. “Good god. That’s what that was probably about.”
And the reason she left, Ellie thought. But why would a mother leave a sick child?
ONE HUNDRED
The fact that Anna Marie was not Gil Landrum’s daughter sent Ellie’s thoughts racing. The neighbor had seen a black car around the house the weeks prior to Anna Marie’s murder, the nanny said there was something off about the family. The black car and paternity issue could have created reasonable doubt for Darnell by offering another suspect.
The fact that Landrum’s mother abandoned the family raised more questions. Had she really left them, especially with her daughter’s illness? Or… could something more nefarious have happened? Something that had to do with the daughter’s birth father?
“Do you have the note your mother left?” Ellie asked.
Landrum’s pallor had gone completely gray. He was obviously contemplating the implications of the new information. “No. I never saw it. But my dad… might have kept it.”
“There’s also someone else we need to look at,” Ellie said.
“Anna Marie’s biological father,” Derrick said.
“What if the mother looked for him to see if he was a donor match?” Ellie asked. “If he didn’t know he had a daughter, and she told him…”
Derrick heaved a breath. “He may not have been happy about it.”