Page 27 of The Half Sister

‘Oh,’ says Kate. ‘Go on.’

‘Well, it got me thinking, what with you finding yourself in this rather unsettling position, and I decided to do a bit of digging.’

Kate looks at him expectantly.

‘It’s already bringing in results in the States, on cold cases from decades ago,’ Matt goes on.

Kate shakes her head. ‘How?’

‘Because despite DNA being left at almost every crime scene, unless the suspect was already on the police database, there was no way of tracking him down. Now, with the help of these websites, the police are able to trace relatives of the suspect and track him down by working backwards through the family tree.’

‘Wow,’ says Kate. ‘So from millions of suspects, they’re now able to narrow it down to one family.’

‘Yep, and some offenders have already been charged and are awaiting trial,’ says Matt as triumphantly as if he’d made the arrests himself.

‘So that means that anyone dead, alive or otherwise has the potential to be identified,’ says Kate.

Matt nods. ‘It’s a game-changer.’

Indeed it is, thinks Kate.

‘So now that Lauren has put herself in this position, what does she make of it?’ Matt asks.

‘She seems pretty set on this girl being the real deal, but that’s because it would suit her to have Dad’s name dragged through the mud.’

Matt pulls a disbelieving face. ‘I know her and your father were never close, but still...it’s a bit of a leap. I mean, why would she want that?’

‘Because she knows that it would hurt me, and he’s no longer here to defend himself.’

‘But that just doesn’t make sense,’ says Matt through a frown. ‘I know you don’t always see eye to eye, but no more than me and my brother. That’s how siblings are; you love each other, but don’t necessarily like each other all of the time.’

‘I don’t think she has the first clue as to what she might have unleashed,’ says Kate bitterly.

‘Woah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ says Matt, holding his hands up. ‘This girl might be exactly who she says she is. And if that’s the case, it’s not exactly going to be rocket science to work out who’s child she is.’

Kate bites down on her lip. If only it were that simple.

‘But then again, maybe Lauren knows something you and I don’t?’

Kate’s hackles rise. ‘Like what?’

‘I just think she might know more than she’s letting on...about your dad, I mean.’

Kate had had a lifetime of defending her father to Lauren, but she didn’t ever envisage having to do it to Matt, who had so often teamed up with Harry whenever a family debate had ramped up unexpectedly. They had a middle-class background in common, both erred slightly to the right on the political spectrum and shared a love of football that was only eclipsed by their love for her.

As was always the case in the Alexander household, as soon as talk turned to politics, the gloves were off and it became a free-for-all. To an outsider looking in, it might have seemed stacked against Simon, but for everyone there, it was deemed good banter. Everyone that is, except Lauren, who would often end up in the kitchen crying over the Yorkshire puddings.

‘Why does Dadalwayshave to do this?’ she’d sobbed one Sunday. ‘He winds Simon up just to get to me.’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous,’ Kate had said, coming to their father’s defence. ‘Why do you always think it’s about you?’

‘Because it always has been,’ said Lauren. ‘I can do no right in his eyes and now he’s just using Simon to get to me.’

‘Listen to yourself,’ said Kate. ‘You’re almost forty years old. Whatever you have against Dad, don’t you think it’s time to let bygones be bygones?’

‘Just leave it, Kate,’ their mother had warned. ‘Now, can we all please be civil to each other? It’s surely not too much to ask.’

The sisters had sulkily picked up a bowl of vegetables each and gone into the dining room, where the talk had turned to who was going to win theX Factorfinal, with all three men agreeing with each other.

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