Amanda Read Online Free PDF Page A

except—”
    “Except what?” Walker spoke for the first time, watching her intently.
    She met his gaze, her face utterly without expression for a split second before she smiled sadly. “Nothing, really. I was just surprised he was so young, that was all.”
    She turned her attention back to Jesse, and Walker didn’t say a word. She had just lied and he knew it. The question was, what did it mean?

“J ESSE
—”
    “Don’t say it, Walker.”
    “I have to say it.” Walker watched as Jesse went to the compact wet bar tucked away in a corner of the big room and poured himself a scotch. He wasn’t supposed to drink, but that hardly mattered now. “Somebody has to say it. There’s not a shred of evidence to support her claim. No proof.”
    “She has her birth certificate.”
    Maggie had taken Amanda up to her room, with Reece going along to carry the luggage, so only Walker and a silent Kate were left with Jesse. And the old man’s features were set in a stubborn expression that would have been familiar to anyone who had ever known him.
    “She has a photocopy of the birth certificate,”Walker said, trying anyway. “Which anybody can get. And the notary dated that photocopy barely more than a year ago—shortly before Christine supposedly died.”
    “Supposedly?”
    “I haven’t been able to confirm it, I told you that. I checked in Boston and then the entire state, and found no record of any traffic fatality by the name of Christine Grant—or Daulton or her maiden name, for that matter.”
    Quietly, Kate asked, “And what did Amanda say to that?”
    “She was vague,” Walker replied. “Damned vague. She said her mother was cremated, the ashes scattered —okay, fine, I’ll buy that. But what about the accident itself? Various state and local officials like to keep track of things like that, and why couldn’t I find any record? It happened on a highway somewhere outside Boston, she said, and she’s not sure where the death would have been recorded. Rhode Island, maybe, or Connecticut. Or, hey, how about New Hampshire?”
    “She didn’t put it that way,” Kate decided with a faint smile.
    “No,” Walker agreed, “but almost.”
    “For God’s sake,” Jesse said impatiently, “she was probably in shock when Christine was killed, and it’s been months since then. Maybe she just doesn’t remember where it happened.”
    “Maybe,” Walker said. “But I can take you to the precise curve in the road where my parents were killed —and it’s been nearly ten years.”
    There was a moment of silence, and then Kate said gently, “You travel that road almost every day. How could you ever forget?”
    Walker offered her a slight smile but changed thesubject quickly, annoyed at himself for having dragged anything personal into this discussion.
    “The point is, precious little this woman claims can be verified.” He stared at Jesse and added deliberately, “I don’t believe she’s Amanda Daulton.”
    “She’s got the right coloring,” Jesse said.
    “She doesn’t look like Brian or Christine.”
    “Christine was delicate.”
    “She was tall. She also had blue eyes.”
    “Gray eyes are dominant in our family,” Jesse snapped.
    “So is unusual height and heavy bones,” Walker reminded him evenly. “Genetically, the real Amanda is far more likely to be tall and imposing.”
    Jesse frowned down at his glass. “Her blood’s AB positive, and that’s rare.”
    “Three percent of the population. In a country with a quarter billion people, that’s quite a few possibilities. About seven and a half million if my calculations are correct.”
    Jesse shrugged. “If you say so. But still rare, and what are the odds for someone claiming to be Amanda to just happen to have that type? Slight, wouldn’t you agree?”
    “I don’t play odds,” Walker reminded him. “I’m interested in what I can prove. Her background’s full of holes, Jesse. Maybe Christine
did
somehow manage to get them new