As she sat in the hard plastic chair in the windowless gray interrogation room she could not help but relentlessly replay the events of the past few weeks to try to understand what reason she could have been summoned here. She had been fairly certain that she hadn’t done anything wrong but somehow this environment just gave her pause to question everything. When the detective finally came into the room she had worked herself into quite the panic that she almost hadn’t understood when he had offered her a bottle of water. After repeating himself twice she finally noticed the bottle he had set on the table, gladly accepted and forced herself to calm down as she gulped down several swallows of cool water. “Sorry to have kept you waiting,” he began. “My name is Detective Burns and I just needed to ask you a few questions about your parents.” “My parents?” She was really confused now. “What have my parents done? Can you tell me what is going on, please?” Burns smiled an insincere smile that did not reach his eyes and replied, “This is just some routine questions regarding an open case in Miami that we are helping out on. There is nothing for you to worry about. You are not in any trouble.” “Miami?” She quickly replied. “I’ve never been to Miami.” “How about either of you parents." He asked. "What are their names?” “My parents are Nathan and Rhonda. And I can say that they have never been their either,” she responded confidently. The detective nodded and wrote something down in his notes. “Are you still living in their home?” She shook her head. “Not during the school year. Freshmen are required to live on campus in the dorms.” “Is it possible then that your parents could have taken a trip to Miami while you were off at school?” reasoned Burns. “No,” she replied adamantly. “Both of my parents are teachers in the local school district. They would never have been able to take time off during a semester to go on a trip like that.” “Do you generally spend your weekends on campus?” he continued. She paused. “Most weekends I try to come home. I usually try to come home at least for Sunday dinner.” “When you say that you try to come home, does that mean that you don’t always make it home every weekend?” She nodded weakly. “Does this mean that perhaps on one of these weekends that you did not make it home for Sunday dinner that your parents could have taken a weekend trip to Miami without your knowledge?” “NO!” She exclaimed. “They wouldn’t have done anything like that without letting me know first. I promise! We talk everyday, a couple times a day and they would have told me something about that for sure.” Burns sighed. “Do you know anyone by the name of Harold Reynolds?” “I do not” she answered in frustration. “Can you please let know what is going on?” The detective takes a deep breath and says, “If you will excuse me for just one minute I will be able to answer your question.” She nodded and Burns leaves the room. Her head began to ache from the brightness of the lights and she struggled to think. It seemed as though they were trying to get information about her parents about a crime committed in Miami. But they lived in Ohio and certainly did not have the time or the means to be flitting off to Florida on a whim for a weekend. This was all ridiculous. As Burns came back into the room, she stood up and asked, “Am I going to need a lawyer or anything? I still do not understand what is happening or why I was asked to be here.” “You can definitely ask to have an attorney present but I can assure you that you are in no trouble at all,” Burns said calmly. “If you like to sit down I can explain to you in more detail why we asked you to come in.” She sank slowly back into her chair. “What about my parents?” “I have just been told that they arrived at the station and are being asked about their version of events as we speak.” She nodded. Somehow knowing that her parents were safe and near just made her feel more comforted. “Have you taken many biology classes in your studies yet at the university?” “Um…Not this year,” she said. “I did take some in high school. Why?" Burns nodded. "Did you learn anything about DNA?" "Just enough to pass the class," she replied with a snort. "All I know is that it is a unique genetic code that is able to identify a person with fairly good accuracy." "Seems like enough to pass to me," Burns said in an attempt at a joke. She did not smile. He sighed and continued. "In October of this past year, Mr Harold Reynolds was found strangled to death in his home in Miami, Florida. While there had been no signs of a break-in, an attempt had been made to make it appear that the murder had been the result of a robbery gone wrong. Unfortunately, any and all leads had been exhausted and the case had gone dark until you had sent your DNA away to determine your ancestry. All of these companies run the DNA against our databases and when there are matches they call us," Burns finished as he stared intently at her. She felt her throat begin to close and could hardly speak. Was the detective trying to say that her DNA was at a crime scene? "I...I don't understand..." she began. He cut her off by saying, "Of course the match that you sent in was not a complete match. It was only a partial match. About fifty percent. Do you know what that means as it relates to DNA?" he asked quietly. She shook her head in disbelief. "No. It's wrong. They would never have done anything like this. My parents are good people!" "I know that you want to believe that but the DNA evidence does not lie. The DNA of the child is shared almost equally between the mother and the father. There is no other expl-" Burns stopped suddenly as the interrogation door is flung open . A larger, older officer stands at the open door and gestures to Detective Burns who excuses himself and leaves the room. She barely has anytime to process what has just happened before Burns returns to the room wearing a much gentler expression on his face. "I think there has been some confusion today," he began. "While I do think we may have to take an official DNA swab from you sometime in the future you are good to go for today. I apologize for any stress I may have caused you today." "What?! Are you serious right now?!" She said really starting to lose control of her emotions. "What is going on?!" Detective Burns opened the door and ushered her parents in that were waiting outside. "I think it would be best for them to explain," he said as he walked out and left them alone. She threw herself into her father's strong arms and hugged him tight and felt her mother wrap her arms around the pair of them. The tears that she hadn't realized she had been fighting to hold back had begun falling and they stayed that way from several long moments. Finally she felt her father pull away and she wiped her eyes with the tissue her mother had given her. "What was this all about?" she said with a sniff. "He said that there had been a murder in Miami and my DNA was a partial match and that one of you two were the only ones who could have done it! I told him that you guys would never hurt anyone!" She rambled out quickly. "Shhh," her father said soothing her hair. "This is not how we wanted to tell you this-" her Mother began. "I never wanted to tell her at all," her father interrupted in a mutter. "Tell me what?" She asked fearfully. "You were adopted."