Page 69 of Lorenzo

Alessio looks from one photograph to the other. “How?”

“They were given up for adoption right after they were born,” Donna says. “I'm willing to bet Genevieve didn't even know she had a sister, let alone a twin.”

Edoardo’s anger has faded into concentration. “How did you figure this out?”

I realized then that we're still standing on the stoop outside.

I glance toward the open doorway behind us.

“We are not having this conversation on the front steps. Come inside.”

Donna looks toward her car.

“You can bring Mocha,” I add. “As long as he does not eat anyone.”

“He won’t.” She starts down the steps, then looks back at us. “Unless I tell him to.”

“That’s not funny,” Alessio says.

“I had a feeling I knew how you were all going to react. That’s why I left him in the car.”

She walks back to the vehicle and opens the rear door.

Mocha steps out before she has the door fully open.

He is large enough that his head reaches Donna’s hip. His attention goes first to her, then to the three of us standing near the entrance. The hair along his back has settled, but his body remains alert.

Donna walks back to us, and he walks beside her as if he didn’t try to break the window to tear us apart moments ago.

Edoardo watches the dog approach warily.

“He tried to come through the window.”

“He thought I was in danger,” Donna says.

“You were,” Edoardo says.

She quirks an eyebrow at him. “If you think Mocha is the only protection I have, you're not as smart as I thought you were.”

Edoardo’s eyes narrow, but he says nothing.

I hold the door open wider. “Inside.”

Donna walks past me with Mocha at her side.

As the dog crosses the threshold, he turns his head toward Edoardo and watches him for a second too long.

Donna snaps her fingers once.

Mocha faces forward again and continues into the house.

Alessio looks at her. “What other protection?”

She just smiles and keeps walking. “One way to find out.”

Alessio still has both photographs in his hands. He looks down at them again as we walk back toward the dining room. Now that he knows the dead woman is not the woman he spent the night with, it's a lot easier for him to look at.

It's not as if he's never seen a dead body before, but seeing the body of a woman he felt strong emotions for is different.