Chapter 19: The Gala

Torsten got to the stage before I reached the foot of the stairs.

He took the microphone from the foundation's emcee and tapped it twice.

"Friends," he said. "I wish this evening were only a celebration."

The room went still.

"I have been the trustee of this family's work for twenty years, and tonight I owe you all a painful truth."

He raised one hand toward the staircase, where my family stood in a row.

"These two young women are not what they say they are."

A flash went off, and then twenty.

I felt Eliana's arm go rigid against mine.

"Easy," I whispered. "Let him finish."

"Why?"

"Because he's going to hang himself with it."

Torsten's voice grew soft and sad.

"A laboratory report, which I have here, shows that neither of them is the daughter of Lydia Ashgrove."

He held up the page, the gray box from the headline.

"And a third report, from a hospital run by Lydia's own son, was produced to cover them."

He let it hang.

"I wanted to protect this family from scandal. I can protect it no longer."

Behind me, the older twin took half a step forward, and the pilot put a hand on his chest.

"Wait for it," the pilot said very quietly.

"For what?" said the older twin.

"The old lawyer."

At a front table, a white-haired man stood up with a napkin still in his hand.

He was the trustee who had moved the lab at the shipyard.

His courtroom voice carried to the back wall.

"Torsten," he said. "Which laboratory issued that report?"

Torsten smiled.

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