8 The Hidden Agenda

A woman parked a car outside her house and came out with few shopping bags. She noticed the presence of a man probably from the courier office due to his uniform in front of the main gate. She came in front of him to as for the purpose of his visit.

"Yes, may I know who this is?" the woman asked the man standing in front of her house gate.

"I have a delivery in your name ma'am" the man answered. The man wore a casual dress due to which the woman did not recognize him as a delivery person as they usually have a uniform. But she did not give it a deep thought and choose to ignore it as she did not think it to be a big issue.

"Okay wait a minute; I need to put these bags inside first" the woman told the delivery person making him stand outside to wait for her to return.

"Sure ma'am" the delivery person replied as the woman opened the lock of the front gate to enter her own house.

The woman went inside and while she was entering the delivery man reminded her to bring a pen along as it was needed for the signature. The woman came after a minute along with a pen to sign the receiving receipt.

"Ma'am, I was told to deliver this parcel only to Melisa Simons. So, I will need an identification card too" the delivery man told the woman. The woman found it weird. She could think of no one to specifically send something to her only as in confidentiality. Either it is surprise for her by her friend Bethany or something serious, related to work. She has quitted her job from so many years so the second option did not count so well, so, one and only option she could think belonged to her friend, Bethany.

"Okay no problem. Here, you go" the woman showed her identification card to the man and then signed the documents he brought.

"Thank you" Melisa said.

"Have a good day ma'am" the delivery man smiled and left her with that mystery parcel and Melisa locked the door behind him. When the man walked away from Melisa's house, he grabbed his cell phone from his jacket and dialed a number.

"Job is done as per your instructions" the man said on the phone and then hang up.

**********

"The other set of DNA belongs to the Jackson's father" Harry finally breaks the news. Samuel was confused at first but then realized what Harry had said. But that does not seem right.

"Mr. Parker?" Samuel asked confusingly as there was no way he could digest this newly found piece of information.

"Mr. Parker!!!" Harry confirmed the news.

"Are you sure?" Samuel asked again. He did not understand any of the developments they came across in this case.

"Absolutely" Harry confirmed it again.

"Mr. Parker is dead. He is dead. Right…." Samuel was confused at this point. He was not sure of anything now. This case had become a black hole, nothing is visible and nothing is known at this point.

"There is no lead on that crazy girl till now" Harry asked for confirmation. He had trouble in understanding the fact that their whole department had failed in finding a likely crazy girl who is wandering in the town around the streets with the possibility of hostile nature.

"She basically killed her father first… years ago and then used the same knife to attack the son… her brother" Samuel was more thinking and talking to himself than to Harry.

"What? Are you into drama and all nowadays?" Harry found the Samuel's words to be very amusing and dramatic.

"That's the obvious explanation" Samuel simply said.

"That is not at all the obvious explanation. That's the most absurd thing I have heard" Harry had a good laugh thinking about the Samuel's story and Samuel was still demented by the DNA analysis reports. "Firstly, father died years ago in a car accident and the daughter was missing in these years and secondly, you have not heard the best part yet"

"Really now… There is more…. Now I am dying here" Samuel huffed.

"The blood on the knife is not too old" Harry informed Samuel.

"What was that?" Samuel did not understand the statement Harry made.

"We are running for the match for now. Finish your food; we have a murderer to catch" Harry continued to say things Samuel did not understand.

"Wait a minute. Why are we going for match?" Samuel asked again to understand the developments of the case.

"Just for the records… I do not believe on anything I have heard till now. Besides there is no harm to double check and triple check before coming to a conclusion" Harry said to Samuel.

Harry was not sure of anything now. He could not believe on any detail given to them especially by Mrs. Julia Parker. Julia Parker had some hidden agenda behind her lies. Whatever she told them was to deceive and deviate them from the truth or the things she was hiding. But what is she hiding? Why did she attacked and then killed her own son, Jackson. From what Jared told Harry, when Mrs. Julia Parker attacked Jackson for the first time, it was not intentional. It seemed like an accident. Maybe she was attacking someone else. Maybe the struggle between Sara and Julia was responsible for gun fire which by mistake strikes to the Jackson and he was injured. But the second time was intentional; she went to the hospital for the purpose of killing. But again why? There were so many questions and the answers were not even close to find.

**********

"Found anything?" Harry asked from one of his sub-ordinate.

"Sir, we found a match but something is not right" the sub-ordinate informed to Detective Harry and Officer Samuel.

"Again… no wonder why!!!" Samuel said in a sardonic manner. He has decided to stop being amazed on each little fact this case brings because there were numerous.

"What happen?" Harry asked.

"The DNA set you found belong to Mr. John Riley. He was an owner of Riley Psychiatric hospital but died twelve years ago in a fire from the hospital. In fact many people died in that incident" the sub-ordinate informed.

"Anything else?" Harry wondered.

"Nothing much about your man but this fire was not accidental" the sub-ordinate informed Detective Harry and Officer Samuel.

"Something else mentioned" Samuel asked.

"Yes, sir. There was the suspicion of some foul play. Someone started the fire but no one was arrested in this case. This case is unsolved" the sub-ordinate again enlightened the Detective Harry and Officer Samuel.

"Okay… Thank you" Detective Harry grabbed the file of arson case from his sub-ordinate.

"So, Mrs. Parker had an illegitimate child" Officer Samuel suggested. "Maybe that's why she did not keep the child for so many years and no one had any idea about it. Let's not jump to any conclusion for now" Samuel thought.

"Let's go" Harry said to Samuel.

"Where?" Samuel asked but Harry did not reply. Samuel waited but Harry took the file and started leaving the office. On seeing this, Samuel followed Harry.

**********

"Hello, Doctor. Firstly, thank you for preparing those reports early on our request. I asked you for another favor" Harry said to the Doctor.

"Yes Detective. I remember you asked me to run a DNA test on Mrs. Parker and Jackson" Doctor said to Harry.

"You did?" Samuel asked humorously. He wondered what new could come out from this test. He had the feeling that this case is filled with mysteries and surprises.

"Yes" Doctor replied and smiled.

"How did you get her DNA sample?" Samuel wondered. He did not remember collecting it or instructing anyone to do that for any test. At that time, she was not accused or culprit, at least in their eyes.

"When she was brought to the hospital, Doctors did for running few tests" Harry informed him. He himself instructed them to do it as a protocol he follows as per standards. His actions were not driven by some doubts or anything like that.

"So, what did you found out?" Samuel asked from the Doctor.

"The DNA did not match. They do not have any parentage relation or any other kind of relation as per I can see" the Doctor informed them.

"As per you see!!!" Harry asked Doctor to clearly inform the results he obtained in a clear language.

"Officer, they were not mother and son. In fact they share no relationship at all from various generations. They are not related" the Doctor informed Detective Harry and Officer Samuel.

"If they were not related, what… what were they? Why did she say he was her son? Why would she say that? Why would he invite a complete stranger inside her house posing as her son? Why?" Harry asked Doctor.

"I am sorry Detective; I cannot say anything about that. You have to find it yourself" Doctor answered.