Page 67 of Best Laid Plans

“What?” Havoc asks, leaning over.

“They all look like me, don’t they? I don’t mean in the same way that Lilian and I did. I’m talking hair color, body type, skin color.”

They both nod.

“So he has a type. Did you find out anything about his childhood?”

“I didn’t really look that far back. It didn’t seem relevant to the current issues. Am I looking for anything specific?” G asks, already typing.

“Complaints filed, arrest reports, that kind of thing.”

We all watch as he does his thing. The man is part machine. I’m convinced of it.

“One complaint of SA in med school was dismissed. The victim was discredited because she was intoxicated. There were another two in college. One of the girls dropped out and went home. The other was a known party girl. She OD’d a few months later.” He flips the laptop around again, and I’m faced with a young girl who looks similar to me.

I nod as he pulls it back and then frowns.

“I have some sealed records here. Hold on. Okay, not what I expected. Turns out James Taylor wasn’t born into wealth. He was adopted by the Taylors when he was ten years old. Dad worked in finance; mom worked as a makeup artist and costume designer.”

“I guess that explains how he was always so adept at changing up his appearance.”

G nods but carries on reading. “Before they adopted him, he was James Dawkins. A boy who was in and out of foster care, returning to his mother over and over until a john killed her. James found her body.”

“A john? His birth mom was a prostitute?”

“Looks that way. Not sure why this was sealed, though. Oh.” He grimaces.

“What?”

“There is a report here that suspected the mother was sexually abusing her son.”

“If they suspected that, how come he kept ending up with her?”

“I’m not sure what happened with CPS. I’ll have to do more digging, but it says in this report that semen was found inside the mother, and it was a DNA match to James. The file was sealed to protect him.”

“God, I’m going to be sick.” Citi gets up and heads to the restrooms.

“I’ll go,” Havoc said, following her.

I stare at G, knowing there’s more. “G?”

He turns the laptop so I can see the woman, a carbon copy of me.

“I was never wearing Lilian’s face. We were both wearing hers.” I point to the screen, trying to find her name. “What was she called?”

He leans over and taps something in, and the answer is right there. “Claire Marie Dawkins. But her street name was Lilac.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

POWERS

“I don’t even know what to say to that.” I grimace.

The others around the table grunt in agreement, having just been filled in on what Lil, Citi, G, and Havoc found out earlier.

Lil snuggles closer as I smooth my hand up and down her back, making her shiver.

“You want to know something crazy? This isn’t even the first time I’ve heard of something like this.” G shakes his head.