Page 117 of Mirror Image

“She wasn’t adopted, Mary.”

The tears vanish. Not wiped away—dismissed. Mary bolts upright, shoulders squaring as though someone just slammed a visor down over her face.

“What? That’s what he told Sam—”

“To throw her off the trail if she went searching,” I explain carefully. “In reality, he placed her in a facility in Minnesota. Far enough away it’d be nearly impossible for Sam to find her.”

As the emotion ebbs, what’s left is the one truth that matters.

“You found her,” she murmurs, as if she only just now heard it.

“We found her.” I pause, then offer the thing she doesn’t even know she needs. “Her name . . . is Jocelyn.”

Something feral and heartbreaking rises out of her—a sob wrapped in a scream, edged with years of grief. She slips from the chair as if her bones dissolve, collapsing onto the floor in a shaking heap.

I’m with her in an instant, holding her, rubbing her back, murmuring in her ear that it’s going to be all right.

After a long stretch, when the shaking quiets, she pulls back slightly so she can meet my eyes.

“Dr. Flores . . . my parents . . .”

She leaves the question unfinished, too horrible to speak aloud.

“They had no idea you were a twin, Mary. They had no idea Sam existed. Julian spells it all out in his notes. He saw their grief for their own lost child as an opportunity to manipulate them—and to keep doing it. For years. Right up till the day he killed himself.”

Relief moves through her in a visible wave—shoulders loosening, breath shaking out of her as if her body can finally stand down.

I’m loath to take this long-awaited moment from her, but there are pressing matters to be dealt with.

“Mary . . . there’s more we need to talk about. Come sit down,” I say. I help her up to the seat she slid out of before returning to my own.

“What is it?”

I lean forward, forearms resting on thighs, hands clasped together.

“No one has connected Julian to you,” I begin slowly. “Not to you, or your sister, or to Jocelyn. Right now the only people who understand the full scope of what happened are you, me, and David Kellogg. He and I decided we would leave it up to you how you want to proceed from here.”

“What do you mean—proceed? He’s dead . . .”

“He is,” I agree. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean the story is. The question is how much do you want to reveal? Do you want to expose him for who he really was—tell the whole world what happened to you and to Sam?”

She stares down at a tissue balled in her fist.

“I don’t . . . I hadn’t really thought about that part. I mean, I was prepared to expose him when he was alive—to do whatever I had to do to stop him and to make him tell me where Sam’s daughter was. But now that he’s gone . . . And now that she’s safe, I’m not sure.”

“Okay, well, I can tell you this much—if you do decide to come forward, the press will devour the story. It will define you. And it will define Jocelyn. And it’s probably just a matter of time before someone starts sniffing around, digging deeper. Maybe putting two and two together and unearthing the story of Julian’s experiment—and the fact that he fathered Jocelyn. Before you know it, you’re a Lifetime movie of the week. I mean, I understand if you want to tell the world what really happened—and I’ll be there to back you, but you’ll need to prepare yourself for the inevitable cost of that decision.”

She lifts her head now, eyes bloodshot and weary.

“I promised. I promised Sam I’d do whatever I had to do to find her daughter and give her a good life. Can you help me with that?”

Mary didn’t entrust her secret to me just because she wanted to take down Julian. She knew she’d need help navigating all the red tape involved in reclaiming the child snatched from her sister’s arms at birth. And since I’m the only one on the planet who knows that she is not Samantha Kinski, I’ve felt the pressure of having to work through this on my own. There are so many variables, so many unknowns. Not the least of which is the woman sitting across from me at this moment.

“I’ve actually given this a lot of thought,” I confess, not mentioning the nights I’ve lain awake sorting through all the options in my mind.

This was the big reason she trusted me with her secret in the first place.

“I know deciding to take on your sister’s identity had more to do with getting out from under your parents’ influence, but it actually puts you in a better position where Jocelyn is concerned.”