Race With a Heart
Chapter 158: Are They Really Strangers?

Chapter 158: Are They Really Strangers?

It may have been an accident, and it probably was, but some physical resemblance, some similar personality traits, and the fact that Paul Denning is an orphan made Kevin Moore suspect that the young policeman was Jack’s younger brother.

It really was a very far-fetched assumption, especially since he had no idea if little Paul Lambert was missing or dead. Jack never told him that.

There were so many people in the world who shared similarities. In smaller, more isolated communities where the supply of fresh genes has been limited, it has happened that after several generations of such isolation, entire villages looked like siblings. If such a village has grown into a city, sooner or later these genes will spread further, and after two hundred years, random men will meet people who will think those two are siblings. Anyway, isn’t this how certain types of beauty were created? The word ’type’ itself indicated that something was typical for a given group. Paul and Jack could just represent just such a similarity.

However, two cases have made Kevin question whether the two men are really strangers. Jack and Paul were orphans, and Paul had the same name as Jack’s younger brother, and he was younger too - another coincidence.

"Do you know what orphanage you were adopted from?" Moore asked, barely able to eat anything. He was more hungry for information than for food.

"Yes," admitted Denning. "My adoptive parents never hid anything from me. Anyway, I was too big. They knew someday I might want to find my parents. Unfortunately, there is really no trace of them. I was found lonely in a mall. When by the end of the day, despite the announcements, no one came to get me, I was handed over to the police. They handed me over to social workers. After a week it was clear that I was abandoned. The policeman who dealt with my case liked me very much. As his wife and he had been unsuccessfully trying for a child for fifteen years, they decided to adopt me."

"Don’t you have any memories of your biological family? Maybe you had siblings? Brother or sister? "

Paul Denning shrugged helplessly.

"I have. I have memories of my older brother who always looked after me and covered me up when my mother was throwing bottles at my father. I remember his smell, his warmth, his words so that I would not be afraid. I was not afraid. But I don’t know if it really happened or if it was just my mind once dreamed of a scene where an abandoned only child finally had an older brother looking after him. "

Denning smiled a little melancholy. He knew perfectly well that some dreams can be so realistic that they replace real events in memory. If there are no photos or people who can confirm the truthfulness of the facts, they become nothing more than a doubt bordering on fantasy.

A small, abandoned boy, coming to an orphanage, could create in his mind the image of a friend or older brother protecting him. Thus, the young mind had the right to defend itself against an unknown, terrible situation.

"Did you submit your DNA to the missing persons database?" Moore asked.

"I didn’t dare," admitted Denning. "Twenty years ago, DNA testing was known, it was used, but not on such a large scale, and even if someone tried to find me, I doubt they would have submitted a suitable sample. After all, when I find out that no one was looking for me ... You understand. "

Kevin nodded. He remembered Lambert.

"You know, I have a friend in a somewhat similar situation to yours," he announced.

"Oh really?" Paul Denning asked.

"Yes. I don’t know the details of his story, but I do know that he grew up in an orphanage and lost his younger brother. I don’t even know if the boy is alive. My friend leads a normal life but misses his little brother. He doesn’t admit it every day, but when his brother’s birthday comes, he can’t hide this longing. "

Paul smiled sadly.

"There is a sad story behind every child in the orphanage," he said. "They wouldn’t have gone there if it were otherwise. Either they were abandoned or their guardians died. In any case, there is always loneliness and a sense of loss."

Yes, Denning was right. If siblings were brought to an orphanage, it often happened that one child, usually a younger one, was adopted and thus another tragedy occurred in these young lives. The feeling of another loss, another abandonment. Was that the way it was with Jack?

The older a child becomes, the more difficult it is to adopt. Moms prefer to raise babies over diapers or such cute two or three year olds. Fathers do not want older children with a baggage of experiences and memories. Something like this could have happened to Jack and his brother. But then Lambert might have been trying to find out about his younger brother. Besides, he would have known that Paul had been adopted, and that would have been a cause for joy, not for suspecting the boy is dead.

"I haven’t discussed it with my friend," Moore repeated, "but I’ll advise him too to put his DNA in this database. I doubt if he had anything belonging to his brother, but the program should have no problem finding such a close relationship. If your older brother from your memories is real, maybe he will decide to join the program one day? But if there is no comparative sample, he can never find you. "

Denning sighed.

"You’re right," he admitted. "I will have a baby soon. It would be nice to be able to introduce them to a member of my biological family, although ... "

"You never know what you’ll find."

"Exactly," Denning smiled but not at all sad. The smile made Kevin think of Jack again. "I may find that I am your friend’s brother."

***

Jack Lambert returned to the country in the evening and immediately threw himself into Kevin’s arms. He was not as happy with the victory as it should be, and Moore knew it was because Don Alston had attacked Martin. Kevin had been listening to Jack’s complaining on the phone for nearly an hour, and he knew nothing really bad had happened, but the mere fact that the assault had happened was enough to make everyone feel a little off-balance.

Some were upset by this a little more than others. So Kevin knew that Steve held back his blows with the greatest effort of his will. He also knew that Lambert had decided not to let Alston go and did anything to throw him out of the stables. Moore had heard Jack’s long list of allegations against the character of Don Alston. Lambert seemed to have no mercy for his younger friend. Not any more.

"The little bastard should know he won’t have countless chances in life!" Jack was indignant. "Someday he will have to pay for his bad deeds, and that day has come!"

To be completely honest, it was night, not day, but who would be picking on the details?

Kevin sighed. With the mood Jack was in now, Moore couldn’t ask him about his little brother. Nor could he suggest that if there was any chance that Paul was alive, Lambert should put his DNA in the missing persons’ family database. Regardless of whether Paul Denning is little Paul Lambert, Jack’s younger brother, one day he may want to find his older brother and take just such a step, or has he already made it?

It really wasn’t a good time, however, as Jack was irritated elsewhere, and Kevin suspected Lambert was furious with Alston not for Martin, but for Don himself. In fact, Moore was sure of it.

How he just couldn’t bear the thought that such a young man, with his whole life ahead of him, could behave so badly.

"I don’t know if this will please you or disappoint you," said Moore, "but we have arrested a suspect in the Rita Evans murder case."

"That stripper? Really? You mean Don had nothing to do with it, right? "

Jack was clearly pleased. Kevin felt affection for his lover. Lambert was so eager to believe that Alston was not a completely demoralized degenerate.

"We even have a confession, but I haven’t fully dispelled my suspicions," explained Moore. "Unfortunately, no evidence points to Alston. So either he’s so clever he wiped them all out ... "

"Or he’s innocent!" Jack rejoiced. He sounded like he wanted to believe it with his whole self.

Kevin smiled at him. He loved Jack’s belief that there was more good than bad in everyone. He loved that positive thinking about him. Lambert has always been Kevin’s antidote to all the ugly things he came across while researching the victim’s and perpetrator’s psyche. Jack was marvelous in that he always tried to believe in the good and give others a chance and chose the possibility that Don Alston was innocent.

But there was also another possibility.

Either Don Alston was completely innocent, or he cleaned up well, or he had someone to do it for him.