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“A building full of men,” Cooper replied, his tone cynical. “Leigh worked in the financial world, which is predominantly male. There are men crawling all over Winslow Financial. It could be any one of them from back in the nineties.”

“That makes sense,” Piper replied, her voice soft. “I just…”

“I know,” Frankie said, placing her hand on Piper’s. “We thought we might have a sister. I’m disappointed, too, in a way.”

Sam wouldn’t have said he was disappointed or sad about Hannah not being their sister. The fact was, it would have been messy and complicated.

Especially as Walter didn’t want his adopted daughter to know the truth.

“I guess maybe it’s better this way,” Piper said, her lips turned down. “The universe didn’t want anyone else to have Joel Winslow as a parent.”

“What did we do to piss off the universe?” Cooper joked. “Hey, universe. I take it all back. All of it. I’m truly sorry for whatever I did.”

It was dark humor, but it made them all smile.

“Do not mock the universe,” Piper said. “That’s another way to piss it off.”

“No offense, but it sounds like the universe needs to grow a thicker skin,” Cooper replied.

“Can we focus?” Tate asked with a shake of his head. “Leigh had a baby, and we have no idea who the father was.”

“It’s none of our business,” countered Zack. “Sure, we’re curious, and we want to know. But technically, it’s none of our damn business. If she wanted others to know, she wouldn’t have kept it a secret.”

“Let’s talk about secrets,” Sam said. “The adoptive father asked that we not mention any of this to his daughter Hannah. She doesn’t know about any of it. Apparently, that was the deal between him, Leigh’s sister, and Leigh. No one was ever to know.”

“Not even the girl?” Frankie asked. “That doesn’t sound right. She has a right to know the truth.”

“That’s not our call,” Tate pointed out. “Zack is correct when he says this is none of our business. And telling the girl the truth? That’s really none of our business. Who are we to decide that for some other family?”

“I’m not saying we should tell her,” Frankie said, rolling her eyes. “I’m only saying that it doesn’t seem right. I’m not going to track her down and tell her about her parentage. I get that it’s not my secret to tell.”

“It’s not our secret at all,” Sam agreed. “Which is why, other than you all, I’m keeping this story under wraps. I’m only telling you because you thought she might be our sister. I’m certainly not going to decide I know better than Leigh.”

“If she made that deal,” Cooper said, his brows raised. “We only have that man’s word for it.”

“We shouldn’t believe him?” Sam questioned.

“I’m not saying he’s not telling the truth,” Cooper laughed. “It’s just my cynical nature to think that maybe he’s telling himself a version of what he’d like to be the truth. Did Leigh truly want her bio daughter to never know? I don’t have the answer to that. But just because they decided something thirty years ago doesn’t mean that she still agreed now. She was about to make some major changes in her life. Maybe telling this Hannah was part of that, especially after her own sister died.”

“There’s no way to know that,” Lucy pointed out. “We’ll never know.”

“No, we won’t,” Cooper conceded. “But think about this, since you and I like murder mysteries so much. It would be a hell of a motive for this guy to kill Leigh, if he thought she was going to spill the beans after all of these years.”

“I have no evidence that she was going to do that,” Sam pointed out. “Although when I asked him if she still felt that way, his answer was…a bit wishy-washy. He gave the famous ‘as far as I’m aware’ answer.”

“So, he’s a suspect?” Frankie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sam replied. “As far as I know, Walter Powell has never set foot in Winslow Heights.”

“What if he had?” Cooper challenged. “It doesn’t take long to fly in, kill someone, and then fly out. He could have been back in Boston before they found Leigh’s body.”

“You sound like you want him to be a suspect,” Sam said.

“As I said, I’m just cynical enough to think it could be a possibility.”

It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Just unlikely. But Sam could probably ask the private investigator he had working for him to check flights.

Just in case.