Page 7 of The System

“From what I saw, they were distant relations.”

“Not my birth parents?” Kieran asked.

Dylan shook her head and said, “No. They were very distant cousins, mainly. It’s possible you’ll be able to figure out who your birth parents were that way, though. That’s my plan because I need to find Marin.”

“If they dumped us in an alley, odds are, they didn’t want us and wouldn’t respond if we tried to reach out, right?”

“Who knows? Maybe it was a scared teenager, and she tried to get you to the church. One baby would be a lot. Twins would be another story. Either way, you’re free to go.”

“That’s it?” Kieran asked. “I’m just supposed to go home with this information and do what?”

“I don’t know, exactly. You can try to find her. But if you do, I need you to tell me. I need to talk to her.”

“You need to arrest her,” Kieran remarked. “But what if she didn’t do it?”

“She’s a person of interest in the crime, so I still need to talk to her,” Dylan replied. “It might end up in an arrest, and she’d have the opportunity to defend herself in court, if that’s the case.”

“Court? So, I’m supposed to help you find a sister I never knew I had and put her behind bars?”

“You wouldn’t be putting her behind bars, Kieran. But if you find her and you help her evade the authorities, you could get into trouble. There’s been a warrant out for her arrest since the crime.”

“So, that mug shot you showed me was from before it happened, then?”

“Yes,” Dylan replied. “She was arrested twice: misdemeanor pot possession and a DUI.”

“So, she’s a druggy, too?” Kieran asked. “A killer and a druggy? That’s what you’re telling me?”

“We don’t use the word ‘druggy.’ You should know that it was a misdemeanor and pot, not a harder drug with an intent to sell, which would’ve brought it up to a felony. This was before it was legal, and today, with the amount she was found with, she wouldn’t even be breaking the law.”

“And the DUI?”

“I can’t offer you much help there.” Dylan shrugged. “Her blood alcohol level was over the limit, and she was swerving, but she didn’t hurt anyone.”

“But she might have killed her husband?”

“I should let you get back to your Saturday,” Dylan dodged the question. “Before you leave, though, you’d really be helping me out if I could still get those prints. If we do find her, which I hope we do, any good defense attorney is going to say that she has a twin. And while it’s completely unbelievable to think that Marin didn’t do this but you, somehow, did it when you didn’t even know she existed, your fingerprints would ID you as you and not as Marin pretending to be you. It’s just us crossing Ts.”

“But they’d be on file then, right? Like, forever?”

“Yes, technically.” Dylan nodded.

“I don’t know… I didn’t do this, obviously, but I’ve seen a lot of people my ex-husband has represented make stupid moves that got them into trouble, and I don’t want to get into any trouble here.”

“You won’t. But I understand,” Dylan said. “Call him, if you want, and get his thoughts on it.”

“You know what? Just do it. I’m really confused and overwhelmed right now, but I don’t have anything to hide.”

Kieran knew she should call Diego. She was certain that several of his clients over the years had probably said the same thing, and they’d gotten arrested shortly after, but she’d had nothing to do with this crime or any other and didn’t plan on committing any in the future. A call with Diego would mean him coming here and making a big deal about it, so if providing her prints would get her out of this room and back at home, where she could process everything that was happening, she’d do that and hope for the best.

“Great. Thanks, Kieran. I really appreciate it. I’ll have you work with an officer and take those for me.”

“Then, I can go?”

“Of course,” Dylan said.

“Will you… I don’t know. Will you maybe keep me up to date on things, at least? Like, if you find her or if someone you talk to knows where she is?”

“It’s not exactly procedure,” Dylan said on a sigh. “But I can give you a call. I suspect, we’ll find her soon enough. We had DNA at the scene; we just didn’t have hers to compare it to and know for sure that it was hers. Now that we have yours, we can run it in the system and see if she’s been arrested again or provided her DNA under any other circumstance. When I saw your result last night, I looked you up, and at first, I thought you were her, trying to hide in plain sight. Then, I did a little more research and figured that you probably weren’t, but I had to be sure.”

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