Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(56)

“And all these others?”

She spread them out. “I think those are the birds he worked with. Hadrid was his,” she said with conviction. “I think my father wanted one for himself.” Again she lifted her face to stare off in the distance, trying to remember. Trying to extract those little tidbits of memory from so long ago.

“That would cause a kerfuffle, if Hadrid bonded to you instead of your father.” Eagle pulled out the bill of sale. “Pretty darn sure no father would purchase a falcon for a small child. So either he had purchased it for himself or one of your brothers bought Hadrid.”

She nodded. “Or my father purchased Hadrid for my brothers, but the falcon bonded with me instead. I don’t remember a day when that falcon wasn’t mine.”

He nodded. “That would have caused trouble within the family unit.”

She winced. “Maybe. Again I don’t remember much about the rest of the family.”

He turned to look at her. “Any chance your father wasn’t your father?”

She stared at him and then finally understood what he was saying. Her eyes grew as she considered the implications. “I don’t know,” she said quietly, her heart slamming against her chest. “It’s a little ugly to think about.”

“Your mother was obviously having an affair,” he said quietly. “You saw them. What are the chances the relationship had been going on for so long that he could’ve been, potentially, your father?”

She motioned to the papers that surrounded them. “I doubt there’s anything in here to give us a definitive answer, but we can look. Besides, what difference does any of that make now?”

“The men who kidnapped you knew you back then. And that means we need to know why.”

Her shoulders sagged. “I know.”

Together they sorted through the paperwork, once again looking for any clues that gave an indication as to what was going on. They found nothing else bearing the name of Angus McKinley or any other Angus for that matter.

“Take a look at my mother’s envelope. A lot of information was in there.” She glanced at him. “Do you have a scanner, just in case we lose all this, so we can make a digital copy?”

He turned to look at her in surprise. “Yes, I do. That’s an excellent idea.” He gathered up the envelopes in front of him, while she collected the photos and the bill of sale for Hadrid. Together they walked into the office where he scanned every item in the first envelope.

“I’ll get the rest.” She walked back and retrieved the keepsake box. “Considering somebody is after me and potentially after this material, I would very much like a copy no matter what happens to the originals.”

He nodded. “A lot of paperwork is here,” he said. “Bring the tea in too.” He stopped and looked at her. “Or you handle the machine, and I’ll get the tea. Save wear and tear on your feet.”

She shrugged and nodded. “Sure, that works.”

She looked at the little scanner, took out the piece of paper, and replaced it with another one. They were sending everything to his main computer desktop into the scanner folder. She’d have to rename everything and file them later. At the moment she was much more concerned with just preserving a copy. As each page went in and came out, she sorted them into files. The piles started to make sense. For whatever reason her mother had considered all these documents worth keeping. Now if only Issa understood why.

After bringing tea for her, Eagle checked both boxes carefully. She watched as he slowly opened up the bottom of the cardboard box, and a piece of paper folded several times fell out. He handed it to her.

She unfolded it and said, “It’s a handwritten copy of my father’s will. He’d left everything to his sons. Not to his wife or his daughter.” She frowned at the piece of paper. “How does that make any sense?”

“Maybe he knew she was cheating on him? Or maybe he knew you weren’t his?” He turned to look at her. “Did you look like your brothers?”

She frowned. “My hair was more auburn, more reddish. Theirs was brown with a bit of red. My mother had fairly red hair.”

He nodded. “We’ll have to look up some of the family members, find photos of the three brothers. In their files, were there photos?”

She nodded. “In each of my brothers’ files there is at least one.”

Eagle went through the boys’ information. And, indeed, a couple photos were inside each envelope. He opened her father’s envelope and found a photo. He showed it to her.

She looked at it. “Yes, that’s him.” She shook her head. “I don’t look anything like him.”

He held it up against her face and shrugged. “Could be family.”

She motioned to the box. “Oh, there was also a key in the bottom of that one.”

She fished into her bra and brought it up. He stared at her chest. “Anything else in there?”

“Nothing you haven’t seen before.”

He grinned, his face lightening. “Believe me. I haven’t forgotten.”

The suggestiveness of his tone and the warm look in his eyes had the heat rising up her neck. She turned her back on him. “I have to gain twenty pounds to have any sex appeal.”

He leaned forward, whispering against her ear. “There might not be very much of you, but what there is, is very delicious.”