‘Isobel, stop!’ Malcolm’s booming voice reverberated off the walls.
She took a step back, shocked by the force of it.
He inhaled deeply, exhaled loudly. When he spoke again his voice was low.
‘What you’re saying isn’t possible.’
‘DNA doesn’t lie—’
‘Stop!’ He held up his hand. ‘I had a vasectomy when your mother was pregnant with you.’
DNA Sleuths Facebook Group
Bella Ash:Hello, I’m new to all this and feeling very confused by my DNA results. Hopefully someone here can help make sense of them for me. I was given a Heritage DNA test for Christmas and it seems to have revealed a mystery. I have a strong match. The Heritage DNA results say the ‘suggested relationship’ is half-siblings. I’ve just had a very awkward and potentially damaging conversation with my father, accusing him of infidelity with a nanny, but he says he had a vasectomy as soon as my mother became pregnant with me. According to the results, I share 23% of my DNA with this woman (1865Cm, whatever that means …) How can this be? Can someone help? Thanks so much
Top comments
Mary Louise:This is why DNA tests shouldn’t be handed out willy nilly at Christmas! Relationships can be damaged for good. My 92-year-old mother hasn’t spoken to me since I did one last year. I’m no expert so I can’t help with the results, sorry. All the bestBella Ash, I hope things work out with your dad.
Bella Ash:Thanks, tbh I’m wishing now I never did it.
Mary Louise:Me too …
Wendy Turner:Maybe it will turn out for the best. Sounds like you had reason to believe your father might have been unfaithful? If that’s the case, perhaps getting it all into the open will be a good thing.
Mary Louise:The reason she suspected him of being unfaithful was because of the DNA results, which seem to be wrong.
Karen Finn:The DNA is NEVER wrong!! It’s just that sometimes we don’t understand what it’s telling us.
Patricia Pine:Someone has liedBella, but it might not be your father. The ‘suggested relationship’ in your results is just one of the possible relationships which fall in the right DNA range.
Bella Ash:Sorry I don’t follow
Patricia Pine:It’s a bit confusing.Zelda Merlinocan you helpBella?
Zelda Merlino: Patriciais right. The amount of DNA you share with your half-sibling will be roughly the same as the amount you share with your nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. All those relationships will share somewhere in the range of 1200 -2200 Cms (which is the measurement used for DNA). Does that make sense?
Bella Ash:So this woman could be my niece?
Zelda Merlino:Correct. You need to use your knowledge of your family to work out which relationship it is from those I listed above. Based on age, it’s usually not too difficult. Do you have a brother? If so, would he have been the right age to father a child?
Chapter 53
Hartwell Entertainment Quarter was buzzing as people arrived for the launch. Meg and Pete, who had travelled down that morning, looked on from an inconspicuous spot under a large umbrella as visitors from Sydney mixed with local families, who had obviously decided to abandon whatever remaining objections they had to the development in exchange for free food and entertainment. Even Georgie and Chrissy were there, with Robbie in a wheelchair. ‘He wanted to come,’ Chrissy had said, when Meg had asked her why, ‘and I guess I’m curious to see the place myself.’ Delta Goodrem would be taking the main stage later that afternoon, after some formalities, including a speech from Mayor Skelton. People had already started staking their claim to the seats directly in front of the stage.
Meg watched Issy as she welcomed guests, taking their hands and smiling warmly, then moved on seamlessly to the next group, silk skirt shimmering behind her. They’d been spotting Ashworths, accounting for them one by one. Hugh Thorburn and Spencer sat at a table to one side of the stage, heads bent towards each other as though they were plotting their next shady deal. Heather and Malcolm stood with the mayor and a few others, councillors perhaps. The other brother—Felix?—sat with a pretty, bored-looking woman, both looking at their phones. Daisy Ashworth and her younger sister were lining up at an ice-cream van on the far side of the square.
‘I think it’s time,’ Meg said.
‘Got the tracker?’ Pete asked.
She nodded, patting her pocket.
He gave her a nod. ‘Text or call if you get in any trouble.’
The factory was deserted. Meg pulled up in the driveway in front of impenetrable steel security gates. The tall wire fence stretched out on either side. It was topped with barbed wire, which would tear her to shreds if she attempted to climb over. Red signs at regular intervals on the fence warned that trespassers would be prosecuted. She took a deep breath and reached for the wire cutters Pete had bought from Bunnings on his way down that morning.
She’d told him her idea the night before: Once the crowd had gathered for the launch, she would go to the dairy factory. Whoever was watching the tracker would be alarmed—no one was meant to know Ashworth Property’s plans for the factory, so Meg’s presence there would raise questions—and hopefully they would follow her. When they arrived at the factory, she would confront them with what she knew and film the interaction on her phone.
