“Okay, good, I didn’t fuck that up. Standby.” Yet another beep and more clicks. “What about this one? Can you hear me still?”
Ken snorted. “Great. Cellphone commercials.”
She blew him a raspberry. “Give me a minute.” They heard a door open and close.
“Where’s she goin’?” Badger muttered.
“I said wait a minute,” Dewi said.
A moment later, they heard another door open. Dewi muffled the phone and called to someone, followed by the sounds of walking, another door opening and closing, and then Dewi again, but not speaking directly into the phone. “Take this one. I’m going to the office.”
“H-hello?” Tamsin tentatively asked over the line.
“Talk to Tamsin instead of playing a literal game of Telephone with me,” Dewi said. “I brought her over to Peyton’s and handed her a phone.”
“Tamsin,” Ken said, “how old was your brother Ben?”
“I believe he was twenty-seven… No, sorry, twenty-eight, I think, when Father killed him. He was the youngest until I was born. I know very little about him. Mother didn’t want to talk about him.”
“And your two older brothers?” Ken asked.
“Alastair was close to fifty, perhaps? Norton was older and around sixty, I believe, but I don’t remember exactly how old either were. I had little contact with them. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked them out of a police lineup. I never lived with them and usually only saw them on the odd holiday.”
Trevor stopped pacing long enough to look up something on his phone. “Alastair was 49 and Norton was 64.”
Ken looked at Peyton. “They were all born after Hamish left. Specifically, they were born after my mother was born. Let’s assume Faegan got Callum to do this for him. Why? And how? Why would Callum strike a deal with him?”
They all looked at Hamish. “To be honest, I was shocked when you told me Hyacinth had Tamsin, much less the others, because I was under the impression she couldn’t have any more children.”
“What’s this about?” Tamsin asked. “Why these questions?”
“Buckle in and just go with it, honey,” Dewi said. “It’s a doozy. I’ll fill you in later.”
Hamish pointed at the photo album, which now lay on the desk. “Did the woman you just questioned insist the men in that photo album are her sons?”
“Yes,” Trevor said. “Alastair and Norton and Ben.”
“And are those her only children besides Tamsin?” Hamish asked.
“According to her, yes,” Trevor said.
“She had no other children?” Hamish asked.
“None she remembers having,” Trevor said.
Dewi snorted. “No woman’s going to forget being pregnant and having kids.”
Hamish cleared his throat. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news yet again, but the only living sons Faegan had when I left were Winston and Carlisle, and they would both be well over one hundred years old now.”
“Who?” Tamsin asked. “I don’t have any brothers by that name. I remember hearing about a couple of cousins I never met who died long ago,” Tamsin said. “Mother rarely spoke of the past and especially not around Father. I learned at a young age not to ask. I don’t even remember where I heard about them, or who from. It was likely at some pack gathering, but Mother kept me away from most of those.”
“Wait a minute,” Trevor said, pacing again. “I heard a couple of members of Faegan’s pack were killed during the Blitz. Male shifters. I honestly didn’t care who they were, at the time, but I assumed cousins. Honestly couldn’t tell you their names.”
Jake’s face twisted in disgust. “He needed a breeder for legitimate heirs to replace the ones who died.”
They all looked at Hamish. “I have yet to see a single photo of Winston, Carlisle, or the real Hyacinth. Not even a picture of Donnel as an adult. Faegan likely burned it all if you’re saying he replaced the real Hyacinth with Frannie.”
“He wouldn’t want evidence around to trip him up,” Peyton said. “Not just because he didn’t want people realizing she wasn’t Hyacinth, but because he didn’t want people possibly asking her about them. Something stupid like that could expose his lies.”
