Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO NEVER CAME HOME
Ryan arrived forty minutes later.
Against Ava's wishes.
Against Thomas's.
Against common sense.
He walked into Marianne's kitchen, saw his supposedly dead father standing beside the refrigerator, and punched him.
Thomas went down hard.
Ryan stood over him.
"That was for the funeral."
Thomas wiped blood from his mouth.
"Your sister already handled that."
Ryan looked at Ava.
"You punched him too?"
"Twice."
"Good."
Then Ryan hugged her.
Not gently.
He held on as though Ava might disappear next.
"Claire messaged again."
Ava pulled back.
"What did she say?"
Ryan showed his phone.
The message contained coordinates and six words.
Don't come alone. Bring the Mercer file.
Thomas frowned.
"Trap."
Ryan glared at him.
"You don't get voting rights yet."
Marianne sat at the table, shaking.
Ava looked toward her.
"Tell Ryan."
Marianne's eyes filled with pain.
"Tell me what?"
Ava sat beside her brother.
"Mom says you were born with a twin."
Ryan stared.
"What?"
"A second boy," Marianne whispered.
Ryan laughed nervously.
"Okay. Tonight is officially insane."
"They told me he died."
Ryan's smile disappeared.
"Who?"
"The clinic."
"Did you see him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know he existed?"
Marianne opened a cabinet and removed an old recipe tin.
From beneath yellowed cards she pulled a hospital bracelet.
BABY B.
"Why did you keep this?" Ryan asked.
"Because when they took you to the nursery, there were two bassinets."
Her voice broke.
"I heard two babies crying."
Thomas looked stunned.
"You never told me."
"You were in the waiting room. The doctor came later and told us there had been an error in the chart. Only one baby."
Ryan examined the bracelet.
"Baby B."
Marianne nodded.
"You wore Baby A."
Ava felt dread gather.
"Have you tested whether Ryan has a twin genetically?"
Thomas looked at her.
"No."
Helen, who had remained near the doorway, spoke.
"We can."
Ryan turned.
"Who are you?"
"A long story."
"Apparently that's the theme."
Helen explained enough to make him angry.
Then enough to make him afraid.
At 5:26 a.m., using an independent laboratory connection, she ran a comparison between Ryan's stored genetic profile and several Northstar records Thomas had collected.
The software returned a probable sibling match.
99.97 percent.
A man named Adrian Cole.
Age thirty-seven.
Born the same day as Ryan.
Ryan stared at the photograph.
Adrian had dark hair.
Blue eyes.
A face structurally almost identical to Ryan's.
Ava whispered:
"Oh my God."
Ryan leaned closer to the screen.
"Where is he?"
Helen opened the record.
Deceased.
Ryan laughed once.
"Of course."
Thomas read further.
"Date of death six years ago."
Ava noticed the cause.
Motor vehicle accident.
No body recovered.
She looked at Thomas.
"Apparently death certificates mean very little in this family."
Ryan's phone buzzed.
Claire.
A video.
He opened it.
Claire appeared inside a dimly lit room.
No restraints.
No visible injuries beyond a bandage near her wrist.
"Ryan, I'm sorry."
Her voice shook.
"I know you hate me. You should. But Malcolm lied to me about everything."
Ryan's jaw clenched.
Claire continued.
"He said Ava knew about us. He said your marriage was over. I was stupid enough to believe him."
Ryan looked away.
"But the affair isn't why I'm hiding. Three weeks ago I found files on Malcolm's laptop. Your name was everywhere. So was Ava's."
Claire lifted a page.
On it was Adrian Cole's photograph.
Ryan moved closer.
Claire said:
"Malcolm has been searching for your twin."
The video glitched.
Then resumed.
"He thinks Adrian is alive."
Ryan whispered:
"Where?"
Claire looked off camera.
Someone spoke to her.
A woman's voice.
Evelyn.
Claire nodded and continued.
"Ryan, the hospital was a setup. Malcolm needed Ava to see us together because he knew she'd search the house afterward."
Ava frowned.
"He wanted me to find the safe."
Claire spoke as though answering her.
"He wanted Ava to find the medical report."
Thomas said softly:
"Why?"
Claire continued.
"Because Malcolm wants Ava angry enough to destroy Eleanor."
Ava stared.
The video ended.
Ryan lowered the phone.
"So Malcolm staged his own exposure?"
Helen nodded slowly.
"He sacrificed the marriage."
"And Claire?"
Ryan's voice sharpened.
Claire's final message appeared.
I didn't know about the hospital plan. Evelyn pulled me out when she realized they were going to kill me.
Ryan sat down.
Ava reread the sentence.
"They were going to kill Claire."
Thomas said, "Because she found the files."
Ryan looked up.
"Then Evelyn saved her."
"Apparently."
"Which means Evelyn isn't working for Malcolm."
"Not directly."
Ava paced.
"Malcolm wanted me to find the safe, the sterilization file, the passports, everything."
Helen nodded.
"He wanted you to pull the thread."
"Why?"
Thomas answered.
"Because he can't attack Eleanor himself."
Ava stopped.
"So he turned me into the weapon."
A sound came from the front porch.
A package dropped against the door.
Thomas drew his gun.
Ryan almost laughed.
"You people really need hobbies."
Ava opened the door carefully.
No one outside.
A brown envelope lay on the porch.
Inside was a single photograph.
A man leaving a coffee shop the previous afternoon.
Ryan's face.
Except Ryan had been at work during the time printed on the photograph.
On the back someone had written:
BABY B LIVES.
Ryan stared.
"My twin."
Ava turned the photograph over again.
There was an address.
Denver Union Station.
Locker 218.
May you like
And beneath it:
COME BEFORE NOON OR THE TRUTH LEAVES COLORADO.
