As far as he knew, from what Finn had told him, his new Mrs. had no family. Certainly none had come to the wedding. Having a family was part of the appeal of marrying into the Cavanaughs. They had family members to spare coming out of the woodwork in all directions, he thought with a smile.
“Yes,” Krys said slowly, wondering if she had ultimately made a mistake by coming here. “My sister,” she repeated.
But someone had taken a shot at her and that was a police matter, although, after that one attempt, there hadn’t been any further ones made on her life.
Maybe she was overreacting, Krys thought. She usually had nerves of steel, but this had really rattled her rather badly. But rattled or not, she was used to doing things on her own. Maybe she could trace this back to the source instead of asking for help. Still, if she were being honest, she had to admit that this attempt on her life had made her feel rather vulnerable.
What had prompted her to come here, seeking Morgan’s help, was that Nik had mentioned Morgan to her by name during one of their lengthy phone conversations just before the wedding. The fact that he was a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Division was a plus, and it was what had made her think that Morgan might be the right one to get a handle on this.
“Are you saying that my cousin is cheating on you?” Morgan asked her, stunned. In his opinion, Finn was as straight an arrow as had ever walked the earth. His cousin was totally incapable of cheating. Morgan would have bet his life on that.
“On me?” Krys questioned, confused. “Why would he be cheating on me?” And then it suddenly hit her. She realized what Morgan had to be thinking. She had gotten so caught up in this thing that was happening to her, she had completely forgotten that other than an inch difference in height—she being the shorter one—she and Nik were totally identical.
“Oh, wait,” Krys cried. “I need to explain something to you first.”
Morgan could see Fredericks out of the corner of his eye. His partner was totally hanging on every single word that was being said, clearly fascinated with his cousin’s wife.
“Go ahead,” Morgan urged, crossing his arms before his hard, rather well-sculpted chest and waiting to hear what this extremely attractive, squirrelly woman had come here to tell him—especially since she was insisting that she and he hadn’t met yet—which they definitely had.
“I’m Nik’s twin sister,” she told Morgan, hoping that would settle the matter.
It didn’t.
He stared at her. “You’re her twin sister.”
This was the first he had heard of a sister, much less a twin sister, and he was willing to bet that he wasn’t the only one in the family who had never heard about Nik’s so-called twin.
Morgan found himself feeling sorry for his cousin. Finn had obviously married a beautiful but slightly delusional woman—or worse. He recalled that Finn had said something about his wife being an insurance investigator. Maybe she fancied herself a CIA agent or something along those lines.
Well, whatever the case, Morgan was willing to step up and help his cousin get help for his new wife any way he could.
“Yes,” Krys confirmed patiently. She could see that he wasn’t convinced. She reached into her back pocket and took out her wallet. Flipping it open to her driver’s license, she held it up in front of the detective for his perusal. “Her twin sister. Krystyna Kowalski,” she introduced herself. “We were born five minutes apart. I’m older,” she added, anticipating his next question.
“Why weren’t you at your sister’s wedding?” he asked. “Or can’t the two of you be in the same place at the same time?”
Very funny, she thought sarcastically.
Instead of answering Morgan’s question, she opened her wallet again and looked through the different compartments. Finding what she was searching for, Krys took it out and held the photograph up to him now.
It was a picture of the two of them, Nik and herself, taken almost twenty years ago.
“See, we can be in the same place at the same time,” she told him with a deliberately cheerful expression. “The problem is that we haven’t had the occasion to be in the same place at the same time these last few years. Nik works for an insurance company while I do freelance work as an investigative journalist. My work takes me out of the state on a regular basis.” Her point made, she did smile at him this time. “Different but the same,” she told him. Krys’s eyes met his. “So, do you need any further proof?”
“No, this’ll do it for me,” he told her. Morgan paused for a second, thinking, then went on to say, “I do have one more question for you.”
Krys braced herself. This was for Nik, she told herself. That was also the reason she had sought Morgan out, looking for help. Because of Nik. Because what had happened to her made her afraid that whoever had done this might go after Nik by mistake.
“Go ahead,” she told him patiently. “What is it you want to ask?”
“Why weren’t you at your sister’s wedding?” After a beat, Morgan added, “I’m just curious since according to you, the two of you are so close.”
“It’s not according to me,” Krys corrected, taking offense at his implication. “It’s a fact. And although it isn’t really any of your business, I wasn’t at the wedding because I was sitting at a sick friend’s bedside.”
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Your significant other?”
“No,” she told him almost grudgingly. “My mentor.” Before Morgan could ask, she volunteered the information. “He had no family of his own and I didn’t want him to have to die alone.”
Morgan found himself slightly embarrassed and applauding her sentiment. “Oh.”
Krys eyed him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Any more questions?”
“No, not right now,” he replied in
