A Face to Die For (Forensic Instincts 6)

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Two painfully silent minutes later, Casey and Marc found themselves on the front doorstep, the door slammed in their faces.

“So much for not antagonizing him,”

Marc muttered as they headed to the van. “Although I don’t know how Claire could expect a different outcome. There’s no way Brando was going to greet our announcement with grace. Any way you slice it, we just implied he’s a liar and possibly a criminal.”

“We handled it as diplomatically as we could,” Casey said, sliding behind the wheel and putting on her sunglasses. “We gave him more than enough outs and more than enough chances to straighten this out amicably. He wasn’t about to make that happen.” She turned on the ignition. “On the flip side, the one thing I’m sure of is that he was blown away by our revelation. He had no idea that Gia and Dani exist. To my way of thinking, that exonerates him of orchestrating the violence against them.”

“Okay, I’ll buy that.” Marc shut the passenger door and buckled up. “But he’s sure as hell guilty of something. He shut down like a clam as soon as he got over the initial shock. And the DNA test was a no-go. He won’t admit Lina’s not their natural child, but he knows he can’t prove that she is. That smacks of guilt in a situation already rife with illegalities.”

“I know.” Casey backed up, then shifted into drive and headed up the winding driveway. She flashed her headlights as she pulled away. A short distance down the road, Ryan flashed back. Ensconced in his gardener’s truck, he was all plugged in and ready to go. They’d communicate by phone as soon as there was something to say.

“I hope Brando chooses to talk to his wife in the office and not another part of the house,” Casey said to Marc, voicing yet another concern that had kept her up last night.

“The odds are in our favor.”

A quick sidelong glance. “How can you be so sure?”

“Human nature. Brando is in shock. He’ll retreat straight to his sanctuary. Donna isn’t home. He’s probably calling her right now, telling her to get back ASAP and to come straight to his office. He’ll pace around the room, probably chuck his coffee and pour himself a drink. His office is private, away from the servants and the flow of traffic. The only other room that has that advantage is the bedroom. And he won’t take the time to drag Donna upstairs. No, they’ll have their talk right where I planted Ryan’s bug.”

Casey digested that with a nod. Marc still thought like an FBI agent with the BAU. Given that she was a behaviorist, she had to respect that. His reasoning here was solid.

“Then we’ll have our answer soon enough,” she said. “Ryan will call us as soon as he hears their voices. Now it’s time to check in with Claire and Emma.”

Claire picked up on the first ring.

“Are you finished?” she asked quietly.

“Heading back to the office,” Casey replied.

“Then I’ll call you back. We need a few more minutes.”

“Done.” Casey disconnected the call and glanced over at Marc. “That was Claire’s intense voice. Gia and Dani have been slammed with one shocker after another. Given their depleted emotional states, I guess this hit them harder than even Claire expected.”

“Not really a surprise,” Marc replied.

“I’m hoping that once the news settles in and they realize they have another sister, the joy will trump the shock.” Casey sighed. “But we’ll have to wait and see.”

CHAPTER 32

Gia’s townhouse

Rye, New York

10:25 a.m.

Gia and Dani were sitting on Gia’s sofa, still wearing the exact same expressions as they had a half hour ago, when Claire and Emma broke the news to them about Lina. They’d finally started blurting out questions, most of which Claire and Emma had to carefully field.

“What else can we say to make this easier?” Claire asked gently.

“You can tell us why this is happening and who’s masterminding it.” Gia ran both hands through her hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I just… Another sister. Triplets. We’ve all been kept apart for twenty-seven years. Why? Why? I can’t seem to process this.”

“Nor can I,” Dani said, her eyes glittering with tears and her voice trembling with emotion. “And not to sound rude, you’re being very stingy with your explanations. Is there something you don’t want us to know?”

This was the hard part—the part that both Emma and Claire had dreaded. No matter how many scenarios they’d reviewed before coming here, there was no way the girls wouldn’t feel they were being kept in the dark.

Because in so many ways they were.