Gemini Rising (Mischievous Malamute Mystery Series, Book 1) Read Free Page B

at the memory but added, “Yes, along with their pilot, Phil Stevens.”
    “According to the official report,” Ramirez nodded toward the thickly-bound document he was holding, “all three passengers were accounted for and identified by their dental records. The investigator ruled the cause of the crash as engine failure, which was consistent with the pilot’s final communication. In the end, it was considered an untimely, albeit tragic accident and the investigation was subsequently closed.” This was not news to me, so I simply nodded in agreement.
    “A couple of days ago, I was in Starbucks getting my morning brew when I was approached by two men who introduced themselves as private investigators from Los Angeles. Although I was skeptical, they indicated they had some information to offer. Typically with PIs, it’s the other way around, so I decided to hear them out.
    “They were searching for a client of theirs who had recently gone missing after heading to Phoenix. That client was Victoria Winestone. Unfortunately, I had to break the news about her death.
    “As it turned out, Victoria had hired them six months earlier to quietly look into your parent’s accident—everything from the events leading up to the crash to the investigation that followed.” Ramirez stopped briefly to let this sink in.
    Frankly, I was dumbfounded. “Why would this girl go to the trouble of hiring PIs to investigate an accidental plane crash? More importantly, why was she even interested in my family in the first place?”
    “According to the PIs, Victoria was convinced the crash was not accidental. She felt bigger forces were at play. Forces that not only affected your family, but her family as well. The thing is, Victoria’s parents recently died, too,” he said solemnly.
    “Wow, that is awful, though I still don’t see the correlation…”
    When I didn’t finish my thought, Ramirez completed it for me, “I know it’s not going to make any sense, but there was a correlation, a connection between all of you. Victoria had proof of it. Proof you were her sister. Proof you were both adopted.” He paused to look at me and for a moment, I wondered what he saw: fear, disbelief, horror?
    Whatever it was, he let pass and continued on, though his voice had grown quiet, “The PIs indicated Victoria had known about you and the adoption for some time, but weren’t sure why she hadn’t made contact. They were surprised when she suddenly left them a voicemail, indicating her plans to travel to Arizona, for you. It was the last time they heard from her. The next day, she was dead.”

Chapter Seven
    My head was spinning. Had I fallen asleep or been knocked unconscious, left to fend for myself in some sort of bizarro alternate reality? Or, better yet, perhaps I was being punk’d? I was sure Ramirez thought I had lost my marbles as I swiveled my head from side to side, searching for the hidden cameras. Finding none, I took a deep breath and opted to stare at the worn tread on my tennis shoes while I mulled things over.
    “Are you ok, AJ?” Ramirez asked, concern filling his voice.
    After a moment, I looked up at him and nodded absently. “In the last twenty minutes, I’ve found out”—I held my fingers up as I counted—“that one : the girl brutally murdered a few hundred feet away from where we are standing was not only my sister, but my dead twin sister; two : I was adopted, and three : according to this dead twin sister, my parent’s deaths were not the result of an unfortunate cosmic accident, but of some evil force out there killing adoptive parents.” I laughed, perhaps a bit too harshly. “Seriously? This has all the makings of a bad Lifetime movie. Now that you’ve shared, what is it you expect me to do with all this information, Detective?”
    Ramirez nodded in understanding. He had entered her world, basically dumped all over it and then offered nothing in return but confusion and drama. She had every right to