Duke’s pulse jumped.
Andi froze before asking, “What? Are you sure?”
Emily frowned, a wrinkle between her eyes. “Of course. I’ve known Pam since I was twelve. Why?”
Duke exchanged a quick but loaded look with Andi.
The woman in that picture wasn’t the Pam who’d approached them.
Same hair color maybe. Same height.
But the face was different. Younger. Softer. And unmistakably not the exhausted, frantic woman who’d pleaded for their help at the signing table.
The room subtly tilted.
“Emily,” Andi said, “can I see that photo again?”
Emily handed her the phone.
Duke leaned in and studied the image.
The realization settled heavy and cold in his gut.
Whoever had come to them about this case hadn’t been Gina’s sister.
That meant the woman—Fake Pam—had lied to them from the very beginning.
Duke leaned back slowly, every instinct screaming awake.
This case just became a lot more twisted.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Andi staredat the phone in Emily’s hand, her mind scrambling to catch up to what her eyes had already accepted.
That’s the real Pam.
The words kept looping in her head, blunt and disorienting.
Emily shifted in her chair, her eyes narrowing with confusion. “What’s going on? Why are you both looking at me like that?”
Andi forced herself to breathe. “The woman in that photo isn’t the same woman who came to us asking for help.”
Emily blinked. “What do you mean?”
Duke leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Someone approached us at our event in San Francisco. She introduced herself as Gina’s sister, Pam. She knew details about the break-in, about Gina, about Gina’s apartment.”
Emily’s brow furrowed, and she gestured at the phone. “But . . .that’sPam.”
“That woman,” Andi nodded at the photo, “is not the one we met.”
Silence settled over the table, thick and uneasy.
Emily glanced between them. “Are you saying someone pretended to be Gina’s sister?”
“Yes.” Duke offered a quick but definitive nod.
