Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

"Julia Stanford?" They looked at each other, at a loss. "Is that her?" Woody growled. Taylor made a decisive decision: "I suggest that we go to the library and talk again." He said to Clark: "Please invite that lady here." "Yes, sir." She stood in the doorway and glanced at everyone present, obviously a little nervous. "I... I probably shouldn't be here," she said. "You're so right!" Woody said. "Where did you come from?" "My name is Julia Stanford." She almost stammered nervously. "No. I mean your real identity."

She wanted to say something, but shook her head again. "I am... my mother's name is Rosemary Nelson. Harry Stanford is my father." Everyone looked at each other. "Do you have any proof of your identity?" Taylor asked. She moistened her throat. "I don't think I have any real proof." "Of course you didn't," Woody said loudly. "How dare you be so bold...?" Kendall interrupted Woody, saying: "As you can imagine, this has shocked us all. If what you said is true, then you...you are our half-sister." Julia nodded. "You're Kendall," she said to Taylor. "You're Taylor."

She turned to Woody again and said, "You're Woodrow, and they call you Woody." "It's probably all in Celebrity Magazine," Woody sneered. Taylor spoke up. "I'm sure you can put yourself in our shoes, Miss.... Without sufficient evidence, we cannot accept..." "I can understand that." She looked around nervously. "I don't even know why I'm here." "Oh, I think I know," Woody said. "Come here for the money." "I'm not interested in money," she said angrily. "The truth is I'm here ... to see my family."

Kendall studied her. "Where is your mother?" "She died. When I read about our father's death in the papers..." "You decided to come to us." Woody said sarcastically. "Are you saying you don't have any legal proof of your identity?" Taylor said. "Legal? I... I don't think I have. I don't even think about it. But there are things I wouldn't have known if my mother hadn't told me." "Like?" Mark said. She thought about it. "I remember my mother talking about the greenhouse in the backyard. She loved the plants and flowers, and she would always be there for hours at a time..."

Woody spoke again. "The picture of that greenhouse has been in many newspapers." "What else did your mother say to you?" Taylor asked. "Oh, so much! She's always talking about you and the good times you had." She thought for a moment. "One day, when she took you to a boat, one of you fell into the water. I can't remember who it was." Both Woody and Kendall looked at Tyler. "That's me," he said. "She took you to Vannayon Mall to shop once, and one of you got lost, and everyone was terrified." Kendall said slowly, "I lost it that day."

"Yes. What else?" Taylor asked. "She took you to the oyster restaurant. It was the first time you ate such delicious oysters, and you broke your stomach." "I remember, there was such a thing." They looked at each other and were silent. She looks at Woody. "You and my mother went to the Charles City Naval Base to visit the American fleet, and you refused to leave, and your mother had to drag you away." She said to Kendall, "One day in the botanical garden, you picked some flowers and almost got caught. stand up." Kendall still has lingering fears. "good."

At this moment, everyone is quietly listening to her talking about their childhood memories. "One day mother took you to the Sharan Museum of Witchcraft and terrified you all." Kendall said slowly, "None of us dared to sleep that night." She turned to Woody. "One Christmas, she took you to go ice skating in the public health park. You fell and knocked out a front tooth. When you were seven years old, you fell from a tree and had several stitches on your leg. leaving a big scar." "It's still clearly visible," Woody said reluctantly. She turned to the other two and said, "One of you was bitten by a dog once, I forget who. It was my mother who took you to the emergency room at Boston Hospital."

Taylor nodded. "I had several injections to prevent rabies." She is talking now, without a trace of tension on her expression. "Woody, you ran away from home when you were eight years old. You wanted to become a star in Hollywood. Your father was furious. He locked you in the room and didn't give you food. My mother secretly brought you food." Woody nodded, but said nothing. "I...I don't know what else I can tell you. I..." She suddenly remembered something. "I have a photo in my wallet." She opened the wallet, pulled out a photo, and handed it to Kendall.

They were all gathered together, and here was a picture of them as children, standing next to a charming woman in a governess costume. "My mother gave it to me." Taylor asked, "What else did she leave you?" She shook her head. "No, unfortunately, she doesn't want to have anything around her that reminds her of Harry Stanford." "Except you, of course," Woody said. She gave Woody a contemptuous look. "I don't care if you believe me or not. You don't understand...how I...wish..." She broke off. Taylor spoke. "As my sister said, we were surprised by your presence. I mean...someone who came out of nowhere and said he was part of the family...you can understand our struggle. I think we need time."

"Of course, I can understand." "Where do you live now?" "The Tremont Hotel." "Why don't you go back to the hotel? We'll take you in the car. We'll get back to you right away." She nodded. "That's good." She looked at everyone present, and then said softly, "No matter what you think...you are my relatives." "I'll walk you to the door," Kendall said. She smiled. "No, I can find my way out. I know every corner of this house very well." They watched her turn and leave the restaurant. Kendall said, "Okay! Look... it looks like we have a sister."

"She's talking bullshit, I don't believe it," Woody retorted. "It seems to me..." Mark began. Everyone, immediately let me talk about what you said.Tyler held up a hand for everyone to stop. "You're doing nothing. Let's look at it sensibly. In a sense, this person is the accused at trial and we are her jurors. It's up to us to decide whether she's innocent or guilty. The jury makes the ultimate decision. When you decide, you have to agree. We have to agree." Woody nodded. "right." "Then I'll vote first. I think this lady is a liar," Taylor said. "Liar? How?" Kendall asked. "If she is a fake, it is impossible for her to know so much about our affairs." Taylor said to her, "Kendall, how many servants worked here when we were kids?" Kendall looked at him suspiciously. "What's wrong?" "There were dozens of them, didn't they? Some of them knew everything this woman said. Over the years, there have been maids, drivers, housekeepers, cooks - none of them knew these domestic details. .That photo might have been given to her by one of them." "You mean... which servant she might have colluded with?" "Probably more than one," Taylor said. "Let's not forget, there's a lot of money involved." "She said she didn't want money," Mark reminded everyone. Woody nodded. "Of course she's just talking." He looked at Taylor. "But how can I prove that she is a liar? No way..." "There's a way," Taylor said thoughtfully. "How?" Mark asked. "I'll tell you tomorrow." ※※※ Simon Fitzgerald said slowly, "You mean Julia Stanford has reappeared after being gone for so many years?" "It was a woman who called herself Julia Stanford," Taylor corrected. "So you don't trust her?" Steve asked. "Absolutely not. The only so-called evidence she provided was something that happened in our childhood, which was known by at least a few dozen people. That old photo doesn't actually prove anything, she can be in collusion with the servants. I want to confirm Find out if she's a liar." Steve frowned. "How can you prove that?" "It's very simple, I want her to do a DNA test." Steve was taken aback. "That would mean exhuming your father's body." "Yes." Taylor turned to face Simon Fitzgerald. "Will that be a problem?" "In that case, I want to get a certificate of permission to exhume. Will she agree to this kind of identification?" "I haven't asked her yet. If she refuses, then it's clear that she's afraid of the test results. That way, we can at least get rid of her." He hesitated for a moment. "Honestly, I don't like doing it. But I think it's the only way we'll get to the truth." Fitzgerald thought for a moment, then said, "That's good." He said to Steve, "You handle this, okay?" "Of course." He looked at Taylor. "You're probably familiar with the procedure. Immediate family members, in this case the deceased's children, have to apply to the coroner's office for a permit to exhume. You explain why to them. If they agree, the coroner's office will call the funeral home .Someone from the coroner's office had to be present during the exhumation." "How long will this take?" Taylor asked. "I think it will take three or four days to get their consent. Today is Wednesday, and next Monday we can dig the grave." "Okay." Taylor paused for a moment. "We need a DNA expert. The guy has to convince the jury in court. I was thinking you might know someone like that." Steve said, "I happen to know a guy. His name is Weinger, and he's in Boston. He's done expert identification in cases all over the country. I'll call him." "I am very grateful. The faster this can be done, the better it will be for all of us." ※※※ At ten o'clock the next morning, Tyler came to the library.Woody and Paige, Kendall and Mark are already waiting here.Beside Taylor stands a stranger. "Introduction to you, this is Pere Weinger," Taylor said. "Who is he?" Woody asked. "He's our DNA expert." Kendall looks at Taylor. "What do we need DNA experts for?" "Proving that stranger out of nowhere is an imposter, I can't let her get away with that," Taylor said. "You're going to dig the old man out of his grave?" Woody asked. "That's right. I've asked a lawyer to go through the formalities of exhuming the grave. If this woman is really our sister, DNA may prove everything. If she is not, it can be proved." "I don't quite understand what DNA is," Mark said. Pere Weinger cleared his throat. "Simply put, it is deoxyribonucleic acid, also known as DNA, which is a genetic gene. Everyone has their own unique molecular formula of genetic genes. This gene can be extracted from human blood, semen, hair roots and even bones. .These genes can remain unchanged for fifty years in a corpse." "I see, it's really simple," Mark said. Pere Weinger frowned. "Trust me, it's not easy. There are two methods of DNA testing. One is called PCR testing, which takes three days. There is another called RFLP testing, which takes six to eight weeks. But depending on your requirements, a simple identification method is sufficient." "How do you do the identification?" Kendall asked. "There are several steps. First you take the sample, divide the DNA into fractions, put them on a gel plate, run an electric current through them, and sort them by their length. The DNA becomes negatively charged and moves towards the positive electrode. After a few hours, these fragments of DNA will be arranged according to length." The more he talked, the more energetic he became. "The DNA fragments were then isolated using alkaline substances, transferred to a soaked nylon slide, and radioactive probes were used..." The eyes of his audience gradually glazed over. "How accurate is this identification method?" Woody interjected. "If the identification result shows that the identified object is not the father, then the accuracy rate is 100%. Conversely, if the result is positive, the accuracy rate is 99%." Woody said to his brother, "Tyler, you are the judge, we assume this woman is really the daughter of Harry Stanford, and her mother and our father are not officially married, so why is she still entitled to inheritance?" "Legally," Taylor explained, "if our father is related to her by blood, she is entitled to the same inheritance as us..." "So we're going to do this bloody DNA test to reveal her!" ※※※ Taylor, Woody, Kendall and Julia sit around a table in the dining room of the Tremont Hotel. Peggy stayed at Rose Hill. "You keep talking about digging up dead bodies, it really gives me goosebumps," she said. Now everyone sat facing a woman who identified herself as Julia Stanford. "I don't understand what you want me to do?" "It's really easy," Taylor told her. "The doctor will take a small skin sample from you and compare it with our father's skin. If the DNA molecules match, it will prove that you are really his daughter. But if you are not willing to accept the test..." "I... I don't want to do that." Woody asked, "Why?" "I don't know." She shrugged. "Just the thought of digging my father out of his grave..." "It will prove who you are." She looked at the faces and said, "I hope you can..." "what?" "Can I still not convince you?" "Yes," Taylor said, "unless you agree to the identification." There was a long silence. "Okay, I agree to do it." Unexpectedly, it was so difficult to obtain the court's permission to exhume the body.Simon Fitzgerald could only speak to the coroner himself. "No! For God's sake, it won't work, Simon! I can't do it! You know it's going to cause an uproar. I mean... We're obviously not digging John Dee's grave, we're Dig Harry Stanford's grave. If it gets out, the press will laugh and make a big fuss!" "Weinger, this is a big deal, and millions of dollars are at stake, so you can be sure it won't be aired." "Don't you have any other way..." "I'm afraid not. This woman can speak convincingly." "It didn't convince the family." "yes." "Do you think she's a liar, Simon?" "Honestly, I don't know either. But my opinion doesn't matter; in fact, none of our views matter. Courts are about evidence, and only a DNA test can prove it." The coroner shook his head. "I knew old Harry Stanford. He must be cursing us down there. I shouldn't have..." "But you will." The coroner sighed. "That's all. Can you do me a favor?" "certainly." "Don't make a fuss about it. We can't afford to mess with the press." "I'll keep it secret, it's a top secret, and I'll only let that family know." "When do you plan to open the coffin?" "We want to arrange it on Monday." The coroner sighed again. "Fine then. I'll call the undertaker right now. You owe me a favor, Simon." "I'll keep that in mind." At 9:00 a.m. Monday, a sign saying "Temporarily closed for internal maintenance" was posted in front of the Auburn Hills Cemetery where Harry Stanford is buried.No one is allowed to take half a step.Woody, Paige, Kendall, Mark, Julia, Simon Fitzgerald, Steve Sloan and Dr. Collins, the coroner's representative, stand by Harry Stanford's grave as cemetery wardens will The coffin is lifted.Pere Weinger stood by and waited. The coffin was lifted to the ground, and the director of the cemetery asked everyone: "What do you want us to do now?" "Open the coffin, please," said Fitzgerald.Then he turned to Pere Weinger and said, "How long is this going to take?" "In no more than a minute, I'll just take a skin sample." "Very well," Fitzgerald said.He said to the grave-digger: "You begin." He and his assistants began to pry the coffin. "I don't want to watch it," Kendall said. "Should we have to watch it?" "Yes!" Woody said. "We must see." The coffin lid was slowly removed and pushed aside, and everyone watched silently.They stood there looking down intently. "Oh my God!" Kendall exclaimed. The coffin was empty, with nothing in it.