“To make a movie,” Sara said.“Only Once.”
Greer’s eyes widened. “The movie I saw with Quinn and Gil. The actor who killed the women was my grandfather?”
“Yes,” Alish said.
“He was gorgeous,” Greer said.
“And as deadly in real life as the man in the movie,” Sara said. “After the movie was done, he returned here to Lachlan, didn’t he?”
Alish’s heart was beating so hard a vein in her neck was throbbing. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I think he wanted to rub Aran’s nose in it, but it didn’t happen. On his first night back, he killed Tom Skellit in a barroom brawl. He was an awful man and was drunkenly saying that Reid was nothing and never would be. One punch and he fell. He was dead.”
“Manslaughter at best,” Sara said. “Maybe even self-defense, but the judge...”
“Came over with James and was a failure at everything. Out of spite, he sentenced Reid to hang.”
“But he wasn’t executed,” Sara said.
Greer frowned. “Yes he was. We all know that.”
Sara put her hand to her neck. “Reiddidn’t hang.”
Tears began to slide down Alish’s face. “I knew I was going to have a baby and I was desperate. It’s no excuse, but back then I felt it was. And Reid had spent years making me hate Aran.”
When Alish was silent, Greer said, “I don’t understand. What happened?”
Alish looked at Sara for her to finish.
“Alish visited Reid in prison and he talked her into getting Aran to visit with her. The plan was to switch identities. Clothes. And the birthmark.” She glanced at Alish. “She agreed but only if Reid married her before they did it.”
“A marriage for murder,” Alish whispered. “It’s what I traded for.”
“The judge agreed and three days before Reid was to be hanged, your grandparents were married. Then...” Sara paused, looking at Alish.
“Early on the morning it was to happen, Aran and I visited Reid to say a final goodbye. I’d had to beg and cry to get him to go with me. I paid the guard to leave us alone. He thought we wanted to do something unholy—and we did, but not what he thought.” She turned to Sara.
“You and Reid drugged Aran, changed clothes, and inked his neck,” Sara said. “The birthmark was how the men could be told apart.” She took a breath. “I saw Aran being dragged to the gallows. He was hardly awake.” She looked at Alish. “The date of the execution is the tattoo on your arm. This Reid said you wouldn’t leave Lachlan because you wanted to stay with your husband, but it was Aran who you wouldn’t leave.”
Alish nodded. “I didn’t want him to be alone.”
“Mary!” Sara said.
“She died in the car crash. No one believed it was an accident. She couldn’t bear losing her son.”
“Who she thought had run away,” Sara said. “I can’t imagine her grief. Did James know the truth of what happened to his son?”
“Not for years, but he did figure it out. He didn’t tell me directly, but he hinted at it. By then, Reid, known as Taylor Caswell, had been killed in LA. He never saw his movie. Never knew of his success.”
“Maybe it was karma,” Sara said. “Did James know of your part in it all?”
“I don’t know. I never wanted to know. He was always kind to me and to Reid’s son. James insisted he be named Reid II so maybe he did know.”
“My father,” Greer said, “was a good man.”
“Very good. But the third Reid—your brother—was like the first one, and like Mary’s sister’s thief lover.”
“When did you know about your grandson?” Sara asked.
“By the time he was two, but then, I was watching for signs of what he could have inherited. When Greer was born, I saw the hatred in his eyes. Ifeltit.”
