I'm your daughter
Chapter 1 – Accusation
Mac's place
"Good afternoon," Mac said to the young lady standing on her doormat. "What can I do for you?"
The woman, not more than a girl, was wrapped in a plastic raincoat and held her head low. Now she looked up to see Mac in the eye and Mac gasped. The girl had dark hazelnut eyes, an olive skin tone and long straight dark brown hair. It was as if she looked into a mirror. Into a mirror of about 20 years back, that is. She stumbled back a step.
"Can I … can I come in?" the girl stammered.
"Yes, of course," Mac stepped back and the girl entered.
"Can I take your coat?"
Mutely the girl shrugged off the wet plastic and handed it to Mac. The concealing cover now gone Mac could see they even had the same figure.
"Won't you sit down?"
Still silent the girl did as she was bid.
"Can I get you something?" Mac needed a little time to compose herself, but the girl shook her head.
Both women sat and stared at each other until finally Mac said "Who are you?" To her own irritation her voice wasn't as steady as she would have liked it.
"I'm Lacey McKinneck and I think you're my mother."
Mac gasped. Somehow she had seen this coming, but to hear it out of the mouth of a girl who could indeed be her daughter …
"Why do you think so?"
The girl got angry. "Don't you see?! Just look into the mirror!"
Slowly Mac shook her head. "I can see we look very much the same, in fact when I remember the pictures from when I was your age, nineteen, twenty?" She looked questioning at the young woman.
"Nineteen, and don't act like you don't know that!" The brown eyes in front of her spat fire.
"When I remember pictures of myself at nineteen we could have been identical twins," Mac finished her sentence. "But I'm not your mother. I never had a child."
"Don't lie to me! You know you are."
"I'm not lying," Mac repeated quietly
"I have proof." The girl dug into the large handbag she had been clutching and produced a handful of papers. Amongst it were several legal papers from a firm called Peters & Co. Unfortunately the address lines were cut off and some names were blackened out. Enough was legible though to see it was about the adoption of a baby girl by Mr and Ms McKinney in September 1984.
Mac scrutinized all the papers, but came up with little more.
"This confirms you're adopted, but nothing to prove who your birthmother is," she pointed out, giving them back to the girl.
A rap on the door and the sound of a key turning in a lock prevented the girl from answering. In came Harm.
At the sight of the girl his eyes widened.
"Who do we have here?" he asked.
"I'm Lacey McKinneck and I'm her daughter! And you are?"
"I'm Harmon Rabb and Mac and I are engaged."
"Seems your fiancée forgot to tell you something."
Non-understanding Harm looked at Mac.
"Lacey here is adopted and now looking for her birthmother. She thinks I gave birth to her 19 years ago."
"That's right," Lacey agreed angrily. "She is my birthmother and she'd better admit it."
Mac shook her head. "I am not. And I would never keep information like that from you, Harm."
"Liar," the girl hissed under her breath while al but tossing the papers she still held in her hands to Harm. "Look!"
Like his fiancée moments earlier Harm carefully read but couldn't help coming to the same conclusion. The paperwork confirmed Lacey was adopted by the McKinneck family, but there was no clue who her birth parents were.
"Lacey, I am sorry, but this doesn't proof Mac is related to you."
"Then look again. And don't play innocent for I'm not going away!"
"We are both lawyers and …" Harm started, but he was cut short.
"So now I supposed to get scared?" Lacey snorted
"No, I just want you to know we know how it works." Harm was determined not to let the young woman under his skin. He understood her confusion and realised getting angry was probably the only way she could keep it together.
"I'm sure Mac is fully willing to go with a DNA-test," he continued. "We can provide you with some addresses, but we are happy for you to find a firm yourself."
"I will do that!" The girl rose to her feet. "I'll be in touch!" She turned on her heel and strode out of the apartment, grabbing her coat in passing.
Ten days later
Ten days later there was a letter from a laboratory. Mac was expected to come in and give a sample of her DNA.
In the meantime Harm had talked to their CO and although at first Mac wasn't completely happy with it, she soon had realized it was the smartest thing to do. AJ Chegwidden kept a tight rein, but was always prepared to help if necessary. But he did like to be kept in the loop. Mac clearly remembered the time she had tried to to solve things on her own and had failed. Back then the Admiral had been more angry and disappointed that she hadn't come to him than about the way she had screwed up the situation.
The Admiral just had listened carefully. He trusted his subordinates and had only asked to be informed if any new developments occurred.
A few days later Mac dropped by the clinic and sample of saliva was taken from her. It would take about 2 weeks for the results to come in.
Two weeks later
Again there was a knock on the door and when Mac went to answer it, an almost triumphant Lacey burst into the room, waving a large envelope.
"Now I have proof, "she declared.
"Did you already read the letter?" Harm asked calmly.
"No, but that will change nothing! She is my mother!" the girl fumed. Flopping down on a chair she tore open the envelope, snatched the contents out of it and started to read aloud.
"In accordance with the valid rules we have compared the DNA-sample provided by Lacey McKinneck with that of Sarah McKenzie. It has been proven that Sarah McKenzie is not related to Lacey McKinneck."
In shock Lacey went silent. She all but swooned on her chair. "Sarah McKenzie is not related to Lacey McKinneck."
Mac and Harm watched sympathetically
Finally Lacey looked up and said "This can't be true."
Mac crouched next to her.
"I'm sorry, Lacey, but it's true. I'm not your mother."
Devastated the girl hid her face in her hands.
"It can't be," she choked out. "You have to be my mother."
Sadly Mac shook her head.
Harm went to make them a cup of tea and they waited till she had composed herself somewhat. After a while she said in a small voice "I'm so sorry. What must the two of you think of me?"
Mac placed a reassuring hand on her arm. "Nothing bad, believe me. We understand you have been under a lot of stress and you sincerely believed I was your mother."
The girl sobbed. Mac followed her instinct and when she folded the girl in her arms, Lacey started to cry softly.
Once more it took Lacey a while to calm down, but then she accepted a second cup of tea from Harm and Mac was able to ask her the question which had haunted her for some time.
"Why did you think I was your birthmother? I mean, how did you find me?"
"A friend of mine works for the Archdiocese for the Military Services. One day she had to be at JAG and she saw you. She knew of my quest and since by the looks we could be mother and daughter …" she hung her head and looked glum. "Well, anyway, she asked who you were and used some contacts of hers to find out your address."
Suddenly she looked concerned. "I'm so sorry, I know she isn't supposed to do that, but she just wanted to help me."
"It's okay," Harm said calmly. "Just remind your friend she can get into trouble when she misuses her position."
Lacey relaxed. Mac asked about her life and she was happy to share. It was almost ten when she said it was time for her to go. Harm and Mac didn't protest; they saw the girl was exhausted.
"Your car is in the parking lot?" Harm asked.
"No, I'll take the metro bus," Lacey answered.
Mac frowned and Harm wasn't happy either.
"I'll give you a ride home," he declared. Lacey looked like she wanted to protest, but then her shoulders slumped.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Harm went to get his keys and Mac gave Lacey a hug.
"Stay in touch," she prodded and the girl nodded docilely.
Same evening
They were sitting on the couch going over the day's events. Harm was talking.
"There is another possibility, you know."
Mac frowned.
"Diane," Harm said softly. "My friend who was killed."
"You mean Lacey is Diane Schonke's daughter?" Mac was quick to understand. She remembered the striking similarity between her and Harm's female friend who had been murdered several years before. Hadn't it been for her own intervention, Harm most likely would be doing time for murdering the perpetrator now.
"Yes. Or a close relative."
Mac nodded pensively. "That could well be. Do you want to tell Lacey?"
Harm thought for a moment. "No, not yet," he decided. "I think it will be too much for her now. I'd rather go and conduct a little investigation myself. I still keep in touch with Diane's parents. Not much, exchanging Christmas cards and a card on Diane's birthday. I will call them and ask whether I can come over and talk. If it turns out Diane gave birth to her, it's early enough to tell her. I don't want her to face another disappointment. After all, if it was Diane, we also will have to tell her her mother is dead, murdered."