Page 76 of Lorenzo

A twin given up at birth has no automatic access to an apartment. She has no reason to know where Genevieve lives unless someone found her first or she went looking.

How would she have found out? Curiosity about our own life. Did she see Genevieve across the street one day?

That would be too much of a coincidence.

I move toward the windows and check the latches. They are closed. The apartment is too high for ordinary entry from outside.

There is a fire escape, but the ladder is pulled up and secured.

The front door is the only reasonable way in.

I walk back into the living room and look at the framed photographs again.

Genevieve with friends. Genevieve at work. Genevieve at a wedding.

I pick up one frame and look behind it.

Nothing.

The next one is the same.

On the third, I pause.

The photograph sits slightly crooked beneath the glass.

That may be from the police search.

I turn the frame over and remove the backing.

There is nothing hidden inside.

I replace it.

I am starting to understand why the police built their case so quickly. Genevieve’s apartment says almost nothing that would show the contrary. Just a quick scan shows that there's no one else in her life close enough for something like this.

Which would make her perfect for what Rachel had in mind.

But, again, is that a coincidence? Did Rachel find her and know that she could use her somehow?

Or did someone put Rachel on her path?

Either way, this started before the night of the murder.

I check the time.

I have been inside longer than I intended.

I move through each room once more, making sure nothing is out of place. Drawers closed to the same position. Frames returned. Cabinet doors left as I found them.

At the front door, I turn off the lamp and wait in the dark.

No footsteps or voices in the hallway.

I open the door, step out, lock it behind me, and reattach the police tape.

The adhesive holds.

From a distance, it looks untouched.