Tuesday Tales: From the Word BLUE

Welcome to the first week of March. Has much changed in your world? I’m pleased to say I got my first COVID 19 vaccine. It doesn’t change my life in any way yet, but once enough of us are vaccinated, maybe things will get back to normal–or as normal as they can be.

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. This week, our scenes include the word BLUE and are 400 words long. Please take the time to comment. i love hearing from my readers as do all of the other authors. I’m continuing with The White Dahlia. Enjoy!

Beth sat at the table, tears dribbling down her cheeks, staring into the cold dark liquid, unable to bring herself to do anything else. They were back. She was sure of it.

“How did the call to Mitch go?” She jumped, his voice startling her out of her trance.

“I got some answers—answers I didn’t want,” she admitted, her voice husky. “What about you?” She forced her fear away, grabbing at the professionalism she prized. “I’ve contacted a friend at the FBI who may be able to help. I had to leave a message, but hopefully he’ll call back soon. Was Ted helpful?”

“Definitely. I believe we may have another couple of links between Rachel and Sylvia.”

“Go on.” She listened rapt as Al shared the details of his conversation with Ted Harrison, adding more and more pieces to the puzzle. It was amazing what one could learn if they asked the right questions.

“So we need to know where all the karaoke bars are in Manhattan. As well, since all of her medical data would’ve been archived at the hospital and records are centralized, that may be where the perp searches for them. Maybe he works for Blue Cross Blue Shield or some other insurance company agency. We’ll need to track down that cold vaccine study, too, but one thing is certain, if Rachel delivered a child, it had to be within the last year.”

“That fits with what Mitch has said,” she admitted, knowing she was going to have to share more with Al than she’d planned. “She’s running a test for fetal microchimerism.”

“Fetal what?”

“Fetal Microchimerism. Essentially, low levels of fetal cells make their way into the mother’s blood stream through the umbilical cord and end up in her blood and tissues during the pregnancy. Fetal DNA can be detected in the mother’s blood as early as five weeks after conception. There’s evidence the doctors refer to as ‘pregnancy brain’ which indicates that male DNA left in the mother’s blood after delivery can be found in her brain throughout her lifetime. We used a test like that to determine the paternity of the children in the first Harvester case, the one involving the kidnappings.”

“You’re kidding me. You mean to say part of me is still kicking around inside my mother’s head? That sounds more like something from science fiction than science.”

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales