Chapter 23

Remington held Laura's car door open as she climbed out in front of Collette Virtan's house in San Clemente. He tugged on his ear and offered a crooked smile to Hoppy. The young boy was watching them as he leaned over the small stone wall. Silently, he gave them a thumbs up.

"I can't decide if that's a sweet gesture or borderline stalking," he muttered only loud enough for Laura to hear.

Laura waved at the boy. "He's just keeping an eye on her. She's probably someone positive in his life."

"Perhaps," Remington stated as he dropped his hand to her lower back and guided his wife toward the door.

"Knock or doorbell?" Laura lifted a hand.

Before he could reply, the door opened, and a woman stood before them. "Mr. Steele?"

"Yes… and my wife, Laura." Remington studied the older woman for a moment. "Collette?"

Collette smiled, her face relaxing. "Come in, please." She stepped to the side and gestured toward a sitting area. "It's probably more comfortable in here, unless you'd rather sit on the patio."

"No, this is fine." Remington crossed the threshold and immediately scanned the room. His eyes fell on a set of pictures on a shelf. The image on the left was a professional, older shot of two young children. The second was Collette and Daniel standing with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Remington swallowed hard and smoothed the front of his suit jacket before unbuttoning it.

"You have a lovely home," Laura commented before she settled onto one of the overstuffed couches.

Collette sat across from her. "I've lived in many different places, all over the world but this house is the first one I ever owned where it felt like home. It reminds me a lot of the house my brother and I grew up in."

"Daniel," Remington confirmed.

"Yes, Daniel," Collette replied sadly. She waited until Remington was sitting beside Laura before she asked, "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," Remington clipped. When Laura raised an eyebrow sharply, he coughed. "When was the last time you heard from Daniel?"

Collette's gaze drifted toward the pictures on the shelf. "Daniel and I had a pretty heated argument over a year ago. I wanted to meet in France for the holidays and he said he had something else he needed to do. When I questioned him, he told me to mind my own business." Collette wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry," Remington apologized in a soft voice. "I… um… I have a feeling I know what he needed to do." He paused, cleared his throat nervously, and coughed. "Daniel was ill. He didn't tell anyone until the very end. My wife… well, she found out by accident."

"Ill? What do you mean ill?" Collette questioned.

"Daniel had some sort of lung or heart condition. Or both perhaps," Laura explained. "He tried to laugh off symptoms he was having until I found his medication. Then it wasn't funny anymore."

Collette stood abruptly and began to pace. "So you're telling me my brother was dying, and he didn't tell me?"

Remington pursed his lips tightly before he said, "He didn't tell me either."

Collette stopped and stared at him angrily. "Why would he tell you and not me? I mean, I'm his blood… his family."

Remington coughed roughly, rose to his feet, and stood before her. "So was I. Daniel was more than my friend, Collette. He was my father."

Collette's face went ashen. "No, I don't believe you. Daniel would've told me."

"Did Daniel ever tell you about Siobhan O'Brien? Would have been in Ireland in the early 50s." Remington wiped his mouth nervously.

"Siobhan? That girl from the village… near some castle I think," Colette recollected.

"Siobhan was my mother. I was born while Daniel was incarcerated in England and my mother died shortly after my birth," Remington explained.

Colette shook her head adamantly. "No. No, Daniel would have told me if he had a son with her. He loved her, that much I knew. But after he was released, he said she died, and that was the end of it."

"Yes, it was… until he bumped into me in London a decade later. I had been bounced around from cousin to cousin for years until I finally ran. When Daniel found me… well, looking back now, he may have saved my life," Remington admitted.

Colette turned her back to him and stared out the window.

Remington glanced over at Laura who gestured for him to get closer to Collette. He took a step and stood beside her. "If it helps, Daniel didn't admit to anyone who I was… not even me… until a few hours before he died."

Colette snapped her head. "Then how do you know it's true? How do you know it wasn't just another one of his elaborate cons? I know who my brother was, Mr. Steele, more than anyone. I never approved of his lifestyle but he learned it from our father and his father before him. We come from a line of charlatans, dating back over a hundred years. He was no different from the rest of them."

Remington sighed heavily. "Honestly, I don't know for sure. I have Daniel's word, some pictures, and a birth certificate with his name on it."

"I have an idea," Laura interjected. Two sets of eyes turned and stared at her. "Um… Mildred was just telling me about a new type of DNA test that uses something called electrophoresis. If I understand it correctly, it can find close family matches."

"So what are you saying, Laura?" Remington blinked.

Laura nodded slowly as she steepled her fingers. "I'm saying that we could put this to bed, once and for all. We could prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that Daniel was truly your father and Collette is your aunt. Unless, of course, there's another reason."

Colette's eyes widened. "I can assure you, Mrs. Steele, that Daniel and I are blood relatives. Not only did he and I look alike, he is the spitting image of our father. Unlike you, I might add." She lifted an eyebrow at Remington.

"I appear to have inherited most of my mother's Irish traits based on a few photographs I have seen and the cousins I have encountered in Ireland." Remington worried his bottom lip with his teeth.

Laura studied their apprehensive faces carefully. After a pregnant pause, she asked, "I take it no one has any objection to scheduling that test then?"

Remington shook his head slowly. "None from me, Mrs. Steele."

Colette leveled her eyes at Remington. "And none from me."

"I'll have Mildred take care of it as soon as possible," Laura declared with a firm lift of her chin.