Kate’s mouth dropped open. “Greer?”
“Yes.”
Kate was blinking. “That’s it! Last night I saw Jack and Troy walk away, and they looked so much alike from the back. It reminded me of something but I couldn’t remember what. From the back, you looked like Rachel. Lea said that.”
“Only from the neck up.” She was smiling, showing her perfect teeth. “You grew up to be so pretty and now you’re to be married. It makes me feel old.” She looked at Randal. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, but I’m glad Lea waited for you, and—”
Sara cut her off. “Your grandmother sent you away so she wouldn’t be blamed for the disappearance of Derek Oliver. But she knew he hadn’t disappeared. He was dead.”
Greer nodded. “Yes. She can ‘see’ things but her abilities are limited. She can’t predict world disasters. It’s centered on our family. What’s important is that she knew that if I stayed in Lachlan I would be accused of murder.”
“Does Reid know you’re alive?” Randal asked.
“No!” Greer said quickly. “My brother is upright and law abiding. Grans didn’t tell him anything because he probably would have felt a duty to tell the sheriff. The one before this one, that is.”
“The man who set my brother up,” Sara said under her breath. She was studying Greer intently. “I feel stupid that I didn’t see that you were two people. But then, I think maybe Rachel kept herself hidden, but I believe I saw her from a distance. With your brother. And there were little clues. You called Mrs. Meyers ‘Grans.’ Yesterday there was a lift at the end of your sentence. Pure British. Have you been living in England? Tell us everything and please start at the beginning.”
Greer smiled. “Good sleuthing. Yes, I live in London. I work for a law firm of three very old lawyers. I keep their files in order and remind them of where they’re supposed to be when.” She paused. “I guess I should start on the night that dreadful man disappeared...” She looked at Kate. “After we had our picnic upstairs, and after we went to bed, Grans woke me up in the wee hours. She’d had one of her visions.”
“Was it in the form of a dream?” Sara asked.
“I think they are,” Greer said. “She never talked about them, so I’m not sure. Have you had dreams?”
Sara didn’t answer the question. “What did Alish do?”
“She said I had to go with her and to do it quietly.” Greer frowned. “She had everything prepared for me to leave.”
“She must have had a premonition that it was going to be needed,” Sara said.
“I guess so. All I know is that she had a packed suitcase and my passport. When she drove me to the airport, she told me about her vision. She said that the man was dead and that someday the body would be found. When it was,Iwould be accused of the murder. Worse, she said that she’d foreseen that I would be found guilty. She said that years ago she’d arranged for me to go to relatives in Scotland, and...” Greer’s voice gave a little hiccup. “She said that from then on, I was to have no contact with her or my brother or anyone in the US.”
“That was hard.” Randal spoke from experience.
“Yes, it was. I stayed with my uncle and his family for years. They were very good to me, and I got rather good at carding sheep’s wool.” Only Kate smiled at that. “During that time I obeyed and I had no contact with anyone in the US. My Scottish relatives were lovely, but I missed Grans and Reid very much. When I turned twenty-one, I decided I’d had enough of mud and sheep, so I went to London.”
“And got a job with your lawyers,” Sara said.
“Yes, I did.” Greer smiled. “For once my looks worked in my favor. My lawyers didn’t want some young girl who’d have lots of boyfriends around, or after a year she’d quit to get married. I guess I should have been insulted, but it was nice to be wanted. We were a perfect match.”
Sara circled her face with her hand. “Your transformation didn’t happen quickly. You had to have started preparing for this long ago. Healing takes time.”
Greer nodded. “During all those years, I heard nothing from my family, but I had an alert on my computer for anything about Lachlan.” She looked at Sara. “Notices were rare, but I saw your name a few times. Anyway, on my twenty-fourth birthday, Grans sent me money through my uncle. It was a nice six figures, and she told me I was to change my looks. I didn’t know if something awful had happened or what, but I liked the idea of changing. I immediately made an appointment with a Harley Street plastic surgeon. He asked who I wanted to look like.”
Kate smiled. “You showed him that photo of you and Rachel, didn’t you? I remember it. You two were side by side. Barbara said that with makeup, Rachel could be made to look like you.”
“But not the other way around,” Greer said. “And you’re right. I showed the doctor that photo. Rachel and I were the same height, same coloring, but that was all. It took years, but I had teeth, skin, and nose done. And I had a personal trainer who nearly killed me in the gym. I lost the weight and reshaped myself.” She smiled in memory. “My dear lawyers were so polite. They never asked about my bandages or what the English call the railroad tracks on my teeth.”
Sara nodded to Greer’s arm. “You didn’t duplicate everything about her.”
“That odd tattoo? She wouldn’t tell me what it meant.”
“Rachel and Reid,” Sara said.
“Oh,” Greer said as she thought about that. “I wish I’d pushed to know. Then maybe...” She sighed. “Anyway, I want to make it clear that it was never an intentional impersonation. Certainly not planned. After I was...transformed, I guess you’d say, my life didn’t change much. But then I was fairly happy. I was never one for going to clubs or joining anything. For a while, I had a boyfriend, but it didn’t work out. I assumed my life was as it was going to be. But then, abruptly, everything changed.”
“Your alert told you what was going on here,” Sara said.
“Exactly.” Greer looked at Kate. “I owe everything to a woman in your office. She posted online that Lachlan House was being put up for sale.”
