"Routine. You'll need to be identified and questioned separately at this time." She tapped one of the two remaining on the shoulder. "If you'll come with me."
"We're here to cooperate. But we want to stay together."
"This won't take long." She took her Avril out and into a small parlor where she'd placed an ID kit. "I can't question you until I verify your identification. I'm going to ask you to submit to print scan, and to give me a DNA sample."
"You know who we are. You know what we are."
"For the record. Do you agree?"
"Yes."
"Are you the Avril Icove I spoke with after Wilfred Icove Jr.’s murder?"
"We're the same. We're one."
"Right. But one of you was there. One was at the beach. Where was the third?"
"We can't be together physically often. But we're always together ~
"That's starting to sound like Free-Ager pap. Prints verified is Icove, Avril. DNA. Hair or spit?" she asked.
"Wait." Avril closed her eyes, drew a breath. When she opened her eyes again there were tears. She picked up a swab, coated it with her own tears, handed it to Eve.
"Neat trick." Eve inserted the swab into her portable scanner. "Art all your emotions manufactured?"
"We feel. We love and hate, laugh and cry. But we're well trained."
"I bet. We broke Icove's code on his personal logs. This is going to take a few minutes." She let the scanner hum, studied Avril. "What about your children? Did he create them?"
"No. They're only children." Everything about her softened. "Conceived in our body. They're innocent, and have to be protected. If you give us your word you'll protect our children, we'll believe you."
"I'll do everything I can to protect the children." She read the scanner. "Avril."
All three were tested. According to scanners and readouts, all three were the same person.
Eve joined the observation team, which included Reo. Once again, she had Peabody remain in the room with the reunited women.
"DNA matches. No question to the ID. What we've got in there are all legally, biologically Avril Icove."
"It should be unbelievable," Tibble commented.
"What it is, is fraught with legal minefields," Reo put in. "How do you question a witness and/or suspect when you have three who are the same ?"
"By using the fact they're coming here as a single unit," Eve said to Reo. "That's their stand, so we use it."
"Physiologically that may be true. But emotionally . . ." Mira shook her head. "They haven't had the same experiences, they haven't lived the same lives. There will be differences between them."
"DNA samples. One gave me a tear. Rolled it out on command. The other two went with saliva. Number one was showing off. But all three made identical requests that the children be protected."
"The relationship between mother and child is one of the most primal. While only one gave birth . . ."
"Two kids," Eve interrupted. "We don't know, unless they agree to an exam, if two of the three gave birth."
A fresh flicker of horror ran over Mira's face. "Yes, you're right. If. . . in any case, with the intimate connection between these women, their primal instinct toward the children could very well be just as intimate."
"Could they communicate telepathically?"
"I can't say." Mira lifted her hands. "Genetically, they're identical. It's likely their early environment was as well. But at some point they were separated. Identical siblings are known to have a unique bond, to sense each other's thoughts. Even those separated by years of time or miles of distance have proved to have this connection. It's also possible they might be sensitives. That this quality was either inherent in the cell used to create them or evolved due to their extraordinary circumstance."