“I didn’t know,” Gianna whispered. “‘Hunch’ isn’t the right word. It’s more like I was questioning a dream . . . a fantasy that I’d set aside a long time ago but that has been at the forefront of my mind since the autopsy. Something about the body made me think of my uncle, and I remembered how much my father resembled him. And every child who’s lost a parent dreams of discovering it was a mistake. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. I had to run the test so I’d have some peace of mind.”

Now she knew, but there was no peace.

My father isn’t alive. He died a few days ago and was left for me to find in that cabin.

Sounds and images cluttered her brain, and she fought to stay focused.

He never talked to me.

Or did he? Her brain leaped from memory to memory as she tried to recall every time she’d talked with an older man.

Would he have reached out to her? In some obscure way?

“I’m so sorry, Gianna. This is horrible news. It must be like losing him twice.”

Yes, yes it is.

She’d already grieved her father once. Now she had to do it again?

Mom? Her knees shook.

“Your mother—” said Lacey.

“My mother . . . is she . . . oh, my God, Lacey. I don’t know what to think now.” She rubbed her temple, her brain spinning around thoughts of her mother. Is my mother still alive? Every childhood dream and wish and prayer had been about her parents’ surviving that car accident. That one day they’d knock on her uncle’s door, laughing and saying it’d all been a big mistake. Gianna had learned early on to stop wishing.

Death was final. People don’t come back. No matter how much you love them and miss them. She’d never been the child who lied to her friends and said her parents were traveling or international spies. It’d been tempting to say something like that several times, but she’d never been a liar.

Someone’s been lying to me for years.

Uncle Saul.

Did he know? All of a sudden every word he’d ever said to her felt false. His expression when he’d seen the image of the necklace . . . his words when he talked about her father . . .

Had he hidden the truth from her? Her limbs grew numb.

“I need to go, Lacey.” She struggled to form the words.

“Gianna. Wait. You shouldn’t be alone right now. Is Violet with you?”

“No, Jamie picked her up for the day. I have to go to the police station and back to the ME’s office. I didn’t want her tagging along.”

“Then sit tight. I’ll be right there.”

“I need you to call Becker and Hawes for me. Tell them what you found out, please. I don’t think I can have that conversation right now. I’m fine, but I—”

“I’ll call for you, but you are not fine. No one can be fine after getting news like this.”

“My uncle is here in the hotel. I’ll head up to his room.” We need to talk. Anger replaced her shock, clearing her mind as she focused on Saul.

“Are you sure? Is that what you want to do?”

“It’s what I need to do, Lacey. If anyone knew my father was alive, it would have been his brother.”

“How could they have hidden this from you?”

“That’s what I plan to find out.”

The door to Gianna’s suite opened as Chris raised his fist to knock.

Gianna looked ready to strangle someone. Anger flushed her face, and he stumbled back a half step.

“What happened?” he asked, alarm pulsating through his veins.

“The man in my cabin was my father.”

He couldn’t speak. He held her gaze as he moved into the suite. “What do you mean?”

“The first John Doe. He’s my father.” Heat flushed her face. “He was alive all those years and never contacted me!”

Chris put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her brown eyes. “Tell me how you know this.” He didn’t doubt she believed it. Every ounce of her energy hummed with the truth of her words.

She exhaled. “I had a private lab run an immediate DNA comparison between the two of us. It cost me an arm and a leg and Lacey Campbell called in a big favor at the lab, but I needed to know. The results came back and it’s him. I knew it.”

“You never said a thing. At the medical examiner’s you said you had no idea who it was.”

“I didn’t, but something about seeing Uncle Saul put the idea in my brain. I hadn’t seen him in quite a while and for the first time I noticed how much he’d aged recently. It made me wonder what my father would have looked like. Suddenly I knew.”

“Why did you keep it to yourself? You could have mentioned it to Detective Hawes or me.”

She laughed harshly. “Don’t you see how ridiculous that would sound? ‘I think this is my long-dead father.’ Everyone would have thought I was hanging on to childhood delusions.” She put her hands over her eyes. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”

He pulled her to him, trying to stop the shudders he felt shooting through her body. “You’re not crazy. You’re sure about the lab work?”

“Absolutely.”

“Someone had to know he was still alive.”

“I think Uncle Saul knew,” she whispered into his chest. “He must have known.”

“And never told you? Why would he keep that a secret? How could a father go all these years without getting in touch with you?”