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“So it’s drug money he’s laundering.”
“That’s what the convictions claim.”
“Nice. And now I know about it. How do I keep this from Sam?”
“That’s the warning I issued when you asked me to find him.” Bayli had the good grace not to hammer her point in further. But she did say, “There’s a bit more to the story. Think you can handle it?”
Scarlet’s eyes rolled. “Of course there is. On a scale of one to ten, how much worse does it get?”
“Solid ten. Maybe an eleven, depending on whose shoes you’re standing in.”
With a groan, Scarlet said, “Better lay it on me. You know I can’t stand being left in the dark.”
“I’d prefer this one wasn’t something I’d uncovered. But the truth is, I didn’t dig for it. It fell in my lap.”
“That’s ominous.”
“Oh, sweetie, it’s worse than that.”
Scarlet dropped into her chair behind her desk. “I’m all ears. Go ahead … ruin my day.”
“Year is more like.” Bayli took a deep breath, then blurted, “So Sam Reed has a brother! Biological. And … his twin.”
“Oh, fuck, no!” Scarlet’s palm slammed onto the blotter before her.
“Fuck, yes. Here’s what happened.” A hint of excitement tinged Bayli’s tone, because she was an intrigue junkie as much as Scarlet was. “I called the hospital in Camden, Colorado, where Sam was born. Told the clerk we were getting married and needed a copy of his birth certificate because he’d lost it in our last move. She enthusiastically declared that they now have the capability to scan the certificates and send via e-mail.”
“How very new millennium,” Scarlet said in a dry tone.
“Be nice. She was quite proud. In a town of three thousand and one, it’s apparently a big deal to connect to the digital world.”
“You got me on that one.”
“Okay, well, as thrilled as she was, she clearly lacked attention to detail. She sent me the wrong birth certificate. It was for a Reed … Just not the one we were searching for.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“I checked all the facts. Dylan Reed was born on the same day as Sam, about five minutes afterward. Mother: Karina Reed. No father listed.”
Scarlet stared up at the ceiling, her head spinning. She asked, “Is there a more holy shit I can’t believe it word in the English dictionary than fuck?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Now,” Bayli continued, all conspiratorial-like, “I contacted Karina’s landlady in good ole Camden, Colorado, and told her the same story I told the clerk, but that I was also interested in secretly getting in touch with Sam’s long-lost brother, Dylan, as a surprise for my betrothed and she informed me that Dylan had been put up for adoption just a few days after he was born.”
“Sam has no idea he exists?” Scarlet’s stomach plummeted. “He has no idea he has a twin brother?”
“It’s entirely possible that, metaphysically, he knows. I’ve read some crazy stuff about how twins separated at birth lived for years or decades with that sense of missing something until they’re reunited. Or living with that feeling forever if they never meet up with each other.”
“Difference is that now I really know. No speculation or metaphysical sense of the ambiguous, but actual fact.”
“Set in stone. Not a great position for you to be in,” Bayli agreed. “I do not envy you.”
“I don’t envy me.”
“So,” Bayli tentatively ventured, “what are you going to do?”
“Tell Sam?” Scarlet let out a long breath. “I mean, what the hell else am I going to do? It’s not like I can keep it a secret now that I’m in on it. But … Goddamn. How much is this going to send him over the edge?”
“Not just because you’re the one to drop the bomb on him, but because you went snooping in the first place. Well, technically, I went snooping,” Bayli amended. “But it was your directive.”
