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“We all know it. She obviously died years ago, or maybe there’s a one-in-a-million chance that she’s living somewhere, oblivious to the fact that she’s a Danvers.”
“Or maybe she just found out who she is,” Zach drawled, narrowing his eyes on his family.
“It’s all just a pain in the ass,” Trisha said as she climbed off the couch. “You know, I hate it when this happens, when someone comes in with all that crap about being London—Witt Danvers’s little princess. That’s what he called her, you know.” She turned her shadowed eyes on Zach. “You remember, don’t you? She was all he cared about. The rest of us could have dropped off the face of the earth and he wouldn’t have blinked an eye. But because it was London—it was a really big deal!”
“She’s got to be dead,” Jason said.
Zach couldn’t help rising to the bait. “Maybe one of us killed her.”
“Jesus, Zach, listen to you. Don’t even think about it.” Nelson shoved the sleeves of his sweater to his elbows as he looked from one of his siblings to the other. “Look, arguing among ourselves isn’t doing any of us any good. What we’ve got to do is find a way to discredit her. She assured me that if we found out the truth and proved to her that she wasn’t London, she’d take a hike.”
“And you believe that?” Trisha asked with a low-throated chuckle. “Jesus, Nels, you really are a dumb shit, aren’t you? The more I think about it, the more I think you’re the perfect public servant.”
“Knock it off,” Jason ordered. “I’ve got Sweeny checking her story and he’s got a man following her. If she’s got an accomplice, we’ll hear of i
t.”
“Sweeny?” Zach said, disgusted. He’d suspected that Jason would have Adria followed, but Oswald Sweeny was lowlife trash who would sell his own mother if the price were right.
“He’ll get the job done.”
“He’s a fucking creep,” Trisha said.
For once Zach agreed with his sister, but he didn’t have time to argue with Jason’s choice of private investigators.
Zach turned his attention to his younger brother. Nelson seemed incredibly nervous—like he was on speed. “Are the notes legitimate threats?” he asked, forcing himself to think logically. On one level he wanted to tear his siblings limb from limb for all their disparaging remarks about Adria, and yet, he was a fool to think he could trust her one little bit.
Nelson eyed him curiously. “What’re you getting at?”
“Could she have written them herself?”
“What for?” Nelson asked.
Zach peeled the label off his beer. “Public sympathy.”
“You are perverted, aren’t you?” Trisha said.
“Wait a minute. Why not?” Jason asked, warming to the subject. “She’s clever enough to have written the threats herself. Shit, yes, that’s probably just what she did.” There was genuine admiration in his eyes.
“Or else she might be in serious danger,” Zach said aloud and that thought chilled him to the bone. “Why don’t you tell me where she is?”
“She’s got a room at the Orion,” Nelson supplied. “Don’t know the room number.”
The Orion. He hadn’t been in that hotel since the night of the kidnapping, had never been able to drive past its cold concrete exterior without feeling a time warp that dragged him back to the horrid night when he’d been beaten, left for dead, and ended up a suspect in his kid sister’s abduction. “Who knows she’s there?”
Nelson bit his lower lip. “Probably half the people in Portland by now. Hell, Zach, didn’t you hear me? She’s talking about going to the police and the press! Do you know what will happen? It’ll be a circus—”
“Why do you care?” Trisha asked Zach as she reached for another cigarette. “As I said, you’ve never given a good goddamn about the family.”
“Still don’t.”
“But you’ve got a bug up your butt, don’t you?” She flicked her lighter to the end of her filter tip. “You know, Zach, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were interested in Adria. Romantically speaking.”
He didn’t bother answering.
“Just like Kat. Couldn’t keep your hands off her, even though you knew it was suicide.” Trisha studied the glowing tip of her cigarette as if it held all the answers to the universe. “I’d hate to think this copy-Kat’s got her claws into you already.”
Zach forced a cold smile. “Hell, Trisha, and here I thought you were the only one with claws.”
