“Besides,” Trammell said, “in this day and age, who would pay blackmail without proof the kid was really his kid? A paternity test is a lot cheaper than paying someone to keep their mouth shut.”

“Blackmail is a poker game,” Vince said. “If you really didn’t want a big scandal attached to your name, would you call the woman’s bluff? Maybe she’s got pictures of you and her together in a compromising position or two. She can for sure prove to God and everybody you were having sex with her. If you don’t pay, the majority of the shit hits the fan whether the kid is yours or not.”

“Then everyone assumes the kid is yours anyway,” Mendez said.

“By the time the paternity test is done, who gives a shit?” Vince said. “All the damage to your reputation, your marriage, your career, whatever, has been done.”

“Maybe Bruce Bordain has a point,” Dixon said. “If you’re the kind of guy who’s so inclined, pay up front.”

He heaved a sigh and let his shoulders sag for a moment while he thought.

Vince sat back in his chair wondering how this was going to impact Haley’s life. She’d just lost the only mother she’d ever known. Did she have a birth mother out there somewhere looking for her, wondering where she went and what became of her; wondering if she was even alive?

“Okay,” Dixon said. “Where Haley Fordham really came from is irrelevant with regards to the theory of the crime that Marissa was blackmailing a man who believed he was Haley’s father. It doesn’t matter if he really was or not. It matters what he believes.

“We proceed as planned,” he said. “If this crime was about blackmailing a man for having an illegitimate kid, we need that man to go on thinking that’s the case—and that we’re zeroing in on him. And if that’s not what the crime was about, it doesn’t matter at the moment.”

“It matters to whoever that baby really belongs to,” Hicks pointed out.

“The murder is our first priority,” Dixon said. “We wrap that up, then we’ll start looking back at infant abductions in the summer of 1982. We know now that Gina and Marissa both came up here from LA. We’ll start with abductions in LA County, Orange County, Riverside, and Ventura. But we need to catch a killer first.”

“Or,” Mendez said, “find Gina Kemmer alive.”

Dixon grabbed up the receiver as the phone on the table rang. His eyes went immediately to Mendez.

“He’ll be right there,” he said, and hung up. “Sara Morgan is here to see you.”

Mendez went out into the hall with Dixon on his heels.