Free The Burden of Doubt by Angela Dracup Page A

dangerous on the surface of the pavements.
    In the car he listened to the local news and was informed that his investigation was into its third day. ‘Detectives inquiring into the murder of local doctor Moira Farrell are no further forward in providing any information about possible witnesses or suspects …’ He switched over to Radio 4 and listened to an account of British soldiers being ambushed in Basra.
    Arriving at the door of his office around 7.30, his general mood was not at a high point. In moments, however, things began to shift.
    Tanya Blake was on the line wanting to speak to him. ‘Good morning, Chief Inspector!’ Her voice was bright with her enthusiasm for her job. ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘There’s room for improvement.’
    ‘Here’s something that could be of interest,’ she said. ‘Moira Farrell’s twin foetuses don’t share the same DNA.’ There was a thread of excitement running through the announcement.
    Swift was at a loss for a few seconds. ‘So – presumably they’re not identical?’
    ‘No, most certainly not. Identical twins are the product of one egg which after fertilization splits and forms two separate embryos which inherit identical characteristics.’
    ‘Right. Of course.’ Swift began to think things through.
    ‘But one of Moira’s embryos doesn’t share Professor Patel’s DNA,’ she said, as though encouraging Swift to complete the puzzle.
    ‘So, the babies have got …’ he paused, trying to get to grips with the information she had given him, ‘different fathers,’ he finished.
    ‘You got it,’ she confirmed cheerily.
    He took a few seconds before replying. ‘I was thinking of asking if that was possible. But clearly, from you’ve just told me it is.’
    ‘Thanks for your vote of confidence. Yes, it is indeed possible. If a woman releases more than one egg during her cycle, then each one has a chance of being fertilized. For most women who have non-identical twins each separate egg has been fertilized by the same man’s sperm, usually her husband or partner. However, if a woman ovulates, produces two eggs and has two sexual partners during the time of fertility, then she can produce children who have different paternity.’
    Swift glanced towards the window looking out into the raw damp of the morning as he absorbed the information.
    ‘The phenomenon first came to light on the slave plantations in the North America,’ Tanya continued, helpfully. ‘One or two doctors noticed that black women slaves who produced twins sometimes had one baby who seemed to have different characteristics from their own ethnic group – facial bone structure which was more Caucasian than African, a lighter skin, unusual eye colour and so on.’
    Tapping his fingers against the desk-top, Swift traced the descent of a teardrop falling from an icicle clinging to the window-frame and sliding down the glass. ‘White plantation owners raping African women?’
    ‘That’s the general idea.’
    Swift clicked off the connection, wondering if there would be anything he would hear that day to top Tanya’s twin story. And then there was the issue of breaking the news to Rajesh Patel.

5
    Shaun Busfield was drinking his mug of morning tea, muttering to himself and roaming restlessly around the room, unable to settle. Freezing damp was seeping from the walls which Shaun had stripped of their paper and Tina had inadequately tried to patch up with pink emulsion the colour of Elastoplast. And because one of Shaun’s recent DIY efforts had been to pull out the old storage heaters used by the previous tenants, the only heat in the room came from a single bar electric fire which had once belonged to Shaun’s mother, and was probably a relic from the 1950s.
    ‘Sit down, will you,’ Tina nagged him. ‘You’re making me feel all on edge.’ She was standing under the single light-bulb hanging from the ceiling, putting on her mascara, staring into a tiny pocket mirror and concentrating