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A s information went, Sadie knew it was a bit of a shocker.

She leaned forward and whispered softly, “Our birth parents passed away many years ago, when I was very young. We were placed in foster care, and, instead of adopting us out together, they split us up.” She gave them all the details because she needed them to trust her.

“I was adopted by a family with whom I stayed basically all my life,” she shared, “and I didn’t even know I had a twin brother until a few months back.

I always knew that somebody was out there or something was there, a pull of some kind.

I didn’t know about energy and such skills, not until I decided to go looking for answers, many years ago.

That led me to Celia and one of her studies, which confirmed I had gifts.

But it was my own mother, my adoptive mother, who finally told me that I had been separated from my twin at a very young age.

I just learned this a few months ago, and I was furious initially when I heard I had a twin. ”

Gage and Morrison both remained quiet, and she went on to explain.

“I tried to find him, I did, but it’s hard to trace these children who are in the foster system and then get adopted.

Plus… my gut instincts told me to stay away.

And I know that sounds bad.” They didn’t say anything, just watched and waited until she continued.

“Anyway, I gave up trying to find him and to make contact. I didn’t do anything more.”

“So what prompted your adopted mother to tell you about your twin brother?” Morrison asked, frowning.

“My adoptive mother got very sick, and I nursed her for a couple years. Not long before she passed, she finally told me that I was adopted. That I had a twin brother. That they wanted both of us, to keep us together. Yet my brother was a handful. They couldn’t handle him, so they made the hard decision”—she swallowed nervously—“to give him up. After hearing that, it took me a while to deal with all those secrets that she had kept from me. I guess I’m still dealing with that.

I mean, I thought she was my mother. Why would I not?

“I thought the brother I grew up with was my brother. Why would I not? Keeping those secrets to unload on me, while losing her too, was just too much. I had so much anger for many reasons concerning just me. Yet I also felt anger that my twin brother was denied this home with me. I understand that he had issues, that clearly he needed help, and yet it was all more than my adoptive parents could give him, so they just gave him back… and kept me. I’m sure that fact has impacted my twin brother’s life as well. ”

She sat here, collecting her thoughts for a moment. “Intellectually I understand that I’m not guilty of any of it, yet…”

Morrison nodded. “At the same time, you don’t know any other way to feel… but guilty.”

She looked at him and nodded. “Exactly, so, when I tell you it’s his energy, believe me that I recognize that energy.

I don’t even know what he looks like, back then or now.

I just know that we’re fraternal twins, so he won’t necessarily look exactly like me, but there should be some familiarity I would think, but who knows?

” She shrugged. “According to my adoptive mother, when we were very young, just adopted by them, we looked quite different, were quite different, and so they fell in love with me, and they didn’t fall in love with him. ”

“That had to really hurt him.”

“I’m sure it did,” she agreed. “I find myself wondering what he remembers and imagining a scenario that has me bundled up and loved, so I quickly forgot any unpleasantness, while he was lonely and rejected, with nothing else to think about but the unfairness of it all. Again, I’m not guilty of anything.

I know that, yet it’s almost like a survivor guilt thing, and it’s eating me up. ”

“You feel guilty because you’re the one who won the jackpot, while he got stuck in the system.”

“I don’t know what happened to him. For all I know he may have had a wonderful life somewhere else. Maybe it’s the best thing that could have happened to him.”

“Yet now that you know that he’s involved in these jewelry heists, you’re feeling even guiltier.”

She winced. “How can I not?” she asked. “I mean, I don’t know what went on in his life.

I didn’t know until a few months ago that I even had a twin brother, and that was enough to break my heart.

While I didn’t know anything about the situation back then, I’ve been struggling since learning about my twin brother, even more so since then finding his energy at all three crime scenes. ”

“These revelations are a shock.”

“I’ve also been struggling with anger at my adoptive family because they chose to split us up, when, if we’d had the opportunity to grow up together, both of our lives would have been enriched,” she murmured.

“Particularly since you were twins.”

She nodded and stared down at the coffee cup in her hand.

When a waitress came along and tried to fill it, she placed her hand over the top.

“No thank you.” As soon as the waitress left, she held her head up.

“I can’t stay.” She looked over at the men.

“I have a USB key for you,” she murmured.

“I know you’ll probably need to talk to me again, but I do need to go to work,” and, with that, she slid the key toward Morrison.

Oddly enough, she gave the key to him, not Gage. Morrison accepted it and asked curiously, “What is this?”

“That contains the only details I have on my twin brother. It’s not very much, and it’s probably of little-to-no value,” she said in exasperation.

“I feel like I’m betraying him all over again, but when I realized that people were dying and that he was involved?

I couldn’t… not …” she whispered, then looked around nervously.

“I don’t know if anybody else knows about me,” she added, “but I have to admit to feeling a bit paranoid.”

Immediately Gage leaned forward. “Any particular reason, or is something making you feel that way?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “It feels as if I’ve been followed a couple times.”

“Any chance it’s him?”

“Sure, there’s a fair chance of that. I’ve told you already what I know,” she stated, “how I wouldn’t even recognize him if I saw him.

However, if he had any curiosity or found out somehow that he himself was adopted, he might have gone looking for more information, and he has as much access as I do. Besides…”

“Besides what?” Morrison asked.

“What if he’s like me? Another energy worker?”

“That is a possibility.” Morrison glanced at Gage, as he fingered the key in front of him. Then he faced Sadie. “I’ll need your contact information too.”

She whispered to him, quickly offering her address and her phone number.

He nodded but didn’t say anything, and she sighed, already looking tired and worn out, even though it should be the start of her day.

“I’m a dental hygienist. I work fourteen hours a day, and then I’m off on Fridays.

This is my last day before I’m done with this session.

So, I very much want to have a few days to get over what I’m doing here.

It took me a while to get up my nerve to even approach anyone, and even then I needed somebody like Terkel,” she shared, looking over at Gage.

Gage was taking notes.

She studied his movements, realizing a certain practiced air to it. “And I know you need more information, but I don’t have more to give. I don’t have any proof that I’m being followed either.”

“I wanted to ask about that,” Gage added, “and I won’t let you walk out on your own if you think that’s a thing.”

“I’m not sure. It’s just a feeling.… You know how you can sense that something’s wrong all around you? I’ve been having it quite a bit lately, but I don’t have any concrete evidence to prove it. It could be…” She took a deep breath. “It could just be my own guilty conscience.”

“That happens,” Gage muttered, with a nod.

“Yeah, it does. I mean, I didn’t even know about my twin brother until a few months ago, and here I am turning him in because I think he’s involved in robberies.”

“Remember that he or his crew are killing people too.”

“Exactly,” she muttered. “I can’t in good conscience just do nothing.”

*

Sadie got up suddenly, then, looking around, she added, “I’ve got to go.

” And, with that, she raced outside, hoping to somehow get away from the memory of what she’d just done.

Yet the thoughts of her twin brother involved in theft and murder were all too overwhelming.

She had a long work shift starting soon, and she needed to get through it as best she could.

Having already had such a tough visit with the two men made for a hard start to her morning. As she walked out to where she’d had parked her vehicle, even now she had that same feeling—that sense of not only being watched, but this time almost a fatalistic memory of somehow being here before.

She got into her vehicle and started it up. When a hard knock came on her car window, she jumped in fright. Seeing it was Morrison, she rolled down the window. While she was relieved it was him, it still pissed her off. “What?”

“I’ll follow you to work, so don’t panic.”

She frowned. “I’m fine.”

“You might be fine, but, if you feel somebody out there is following you, is interested in you, or anything you’re doing,” he explained, “I want to check it out. We have to start somewhere.”

“What about Gage?” she asked.

“He’s contacting Terkel.”

She let out her breath, feeling a rush of gratitude that maybe she wouldn’t have to handle this alone. “Thank you,” she whispered. She rolled up the window and waited for him to get into a vehicle behind her. Then she pulled out and headed to work.