Page 47 of The Stolen Child

‘Hey,’ Zach said as he approached her. He leaned in as if he were about to kiss her cheek, but Lily panicked and pulled back, almost tripping over her own feet. His kiss landed between her ear and the back of her head.

‘Sorry. Awkward,’ he apologised, his cheeks flushing pink.

‘No, I’m sorry,’ Lily quickly interjected, feeling bad for making him feel bad. ‘It’s that I’m not sure what the protocol is for greeting a client, who may or may not be my missing brother.’

‘I’ve heard a kiss on the ear is the preferred method of greeting. So nailed it,’ Zach said with a lopsided grin.

Lily smiled back. It felt less awkward all at once. ‘Will we go in and get this over with?’

Zach pulled open the double doors, and she walked before him.

They checked in with the receptionist, and within a few moments they were ushered down a hall into an office.

‘Come in – don’t be shy,’ a woman said, standing up to greet them both. Hands were shaken, and then Lily and Zach took a seat side by side.

‘I’m Ciara Shanahan, your technician for today. I see you are booked in for a family DNA test, to confirm if you are siblings. Any questions before we begin?’

Zach and Lily both leaned forward to speak. Zach gestured to Lily to go ahead.

‘Erm, I suppose I’d like to understand how accurate the results are?’ Lily asked.

‘Our DNA tests are conducted in a laboratory with a team of fully qualified scientists. Oh, and naturally we meet the ISO 17025 requirements for testing.’ Ciara smiled warmly, saying almost conspiratorially, ‘We’ve done over one million tests since we opened our doors in 2004. They are a hundred per cent accurate. You can trust us.’

Lily exhaled deeply. Ciara had managed to allay her concerns with her speech. She wondered how often she’d rattled that sale pattern off each day.

‘You believe you share the same mother, but your mother is not here?’ Ciara asked, glancing down at her notes.

‘Yes, that’s right. And, no, Mum isn’t here today. It’s just us two. Does that matter?’ Lily asked, her stomach lurching. Had they messed up by not bringing her mother with them? But that would have meant introducing Zach to her mum, and it was too early for that.

‘We do prefer the mother’s sample for the most conclusive result, but it’s not mandatory. We should be able to calculate a sibling DNA index with likelihood ratio with your samples.’ Again, Ciara flashed her most reassuring smile.

‘How long do the results take?’ Zach asked.

‘Five to seven working days,’ Ciara replied.

Lily shifted in her chair before asking, ‘And what if we need the results for legal purposes?’ Lily flushed as she felt Zach’s eyes on her, his body stiffening at the word ‘legal’.

‘We offer a legal test service. It’s slightly different than the family testing service. We can do both today if you like.’

Lily looked at Zach, who fidgeted uneasily in his seat.

‘Zach?’ Lily asked.

‘I’d prefer to do the family testing, and if we need the legal validation later on for any reason we can come back.’

‘Okay’ Lily said, although she didn’t agree. Zach was still in denial about the consequences of him being Robert, for his mother in particular. But he would have to catch up to that soon.

Ciara nodded solemnly, then scribbled a note on her pad. Lily guessed she’d seen all sorts of complex family dynamics in this room. Then she handed them a document and pen each.

‘You’ll need to fill in a form giving permission for us to use your DNA samples.’

They both took a few moments to fill in their details and sign their permission.

‘The test is straightforward. I’ll collect cheek cells from your mouth using the cotton swabs. Who’d like to go first?’ Ciara said, putting gloves on.

‘Ladies first,’ Zach said, nudging Lily with a cheeky grin.

‘Wimp!’ Lily teased back.