The dial tone clicked, filling the quiet study with a flat, steady drone.

Ryker reached down and cut the connection.

He looked at me, his grey eyes cold and analytical.

“She is going to use the media,” I said.

“She will try,” Ryker said.

He pressed a button on the desk intercom.

“Marco, get in here.”

Within ten seconds, the heavy oak door opened.

Marco stepped inside, his dark suit slightly damp from the rain outside.

He carried a black leather folder under his arm.

“I heard the call from the hallway,” Marco said.

“We need leverage,” Ryker said, walking back to the window.

“We need someone with a blood relation to those kids who isn’t Marissa.”

Marco opened the folder on the corner of the desk.

“There is Clara Vale,” Marco said.

“The twins’ biological aunt.”

I remembered her name from the sparse family records we had gathered earlier.

“She disappeared three years ago, didn’t she?” I asked.

“According to the police reports Marissa filed, yes,” Marco said.

“Marissa claimed Clara abandoned the family after their father fell ill.”

Marco slid a printed document across the desk.