BENEATH ALL THE LIES

Unveiled

Andrew and I were sitting in silence as he drove us to the local precinct, which was the longest 15 minutes in my life. As soon as we reached the precinct, he led me to his office, sat me down and asked if I wanted to drink anything as if I didn't just found out that I might had been kidnapped as a baby. I refused his drink offer. He then dialled a number on the phone on his desk. He asked for a man named Jude to come to his office.

"Jude is one of the forensic team members. He's gonna collect DNA sample from you," he let me know. I just nodded.

Not long after, a guy who looked like he was in his late thirties came in, carrying something that looked like a white coloured suitcase. He then put that suitcase on Andrew's desk. Andrew told me that he was Jude, the one who was going to collect my DNA sample. He smiled at me and told me that the process wouldn't take long and Andrew could get the result by tomorrow. Jude then asked me to sit on the couch in the corner of Andrew's office and he took a seat right across from me. He then got something that looked like a very long cotton bud.

"I need to put this in your mouth and swab the side of your mouth. It won't hurt, don't worry. Now, can you please open your mouth wide?"

I did as Jude told me, opened my mouth wide enough for him to swab the side of my mouth. When he was done, he put the stick on a zip lock plastic. After taking a strand of my hair and keep it in another zip lock plastic, he then excused himself and left me with Andrew, who then took a seat right next to me.

"So tomorrow I'll find out if my mother really kidnapped me or not, won't I?" That was my first word since we left my house.

"Yes, you will." He confirmed.

"How likely is it that my DNA will match the Thatcher's baby?"

"I would say, I'm certain of it, like 90%."

"So that means you're certain that my mother kidnapped me. Just based on the image of the age progression by police?" I asked.

"Not just that. There are several other things that tied Zasha to the Thatchers. The age progression image is just an evidence and the DNA result is what gonna seal her fate, " he said.

"Have you told Mrs. Deevan about this?"

"Not yet. I thought I would let her know after the DNA result came back positive."

I was glad that he hadn't told Deena about any of this yet. I still couldn't believe what was going on and I needed sometime to be able to process the entire thing before I could accept the truth.

"Do you wanna see her?" Andrew asked me after a long silence.

I didn't have to guess who he referred to. I didn't think I could see my mother right now with doubts clouding my head. So I told Andrew that I would see her once the DNA result was out.

"Did she ask for me?" I asked him, wanting to know if she was looking for me.

"Many times since last night."

I felt guilty to be a coward not to meet her when she was looking for me. But first, I had to find out what really happened. Did she really kidnap me or not. Only then I could decide on how I should face her.

"Andrew, please tell me more about the case. Tell me why my mother is sitting in that jail right now." I thought at least I should have an inkling of what happened.

"Fine. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

And he started telling me about my story. He opened up his laptop and took it to where I was sitting and while taking a seat next to me, he played a video. Judging from the time lapse on the corner of the video, this was a CCTV recording from 23 years ago. In that video, I could see a man exiting a luxurious house towards a car parked in front of the house while holding a car seat with a baby in it. The man then put the car seat in the car, closed the door and went to the driver side of the car. Before getting in, he stopped midway with the door still opened and looked towards the house for a while and smiled before finally got in the car and getting out of the house. That was how the video ended.