Free Reckless by Andrew Gross Page B

there. Some other private clubs in the city. One Alfred Place in London. Various other membership cards in places like Paris and Madrid.
    She quickly fanned out some business cards. A private banker at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam. A contact from Cerberus Capital, one of the largest private equity firms in the U.S. Everything was normal. No secrets.
    See. There’s no scary man in the attic, Merrill. Dani is who he says he is. She shoved the contents of his wallet back inside, starting to feel like a fool.
    The shower stopped. Merrill heard Dani climb out.
    “I’ll be out in a minute,” he called. She could hear him toweling off.
    “I’m just taking my jewelry off.”
    “Along with everything else, I hope,” he called.
    She went to put the wallet back when, fumbling, her heart quickening, some photographs fell out of the inside flap. “Oh, damn…”
    The first was of the two of them. Sailing off the Dalmatian coast last August. Dani could handle a skiff like the snap of a bra. She hadn’t felt so swept off her feet since she was a young girl. They had anchored and made love on the deck in a rocky cove. It filled her with biting shame to even be questioning those memories.
    She was about to fold the wallet back up when the second photo came out. It had been stuck to the first.
    Something made her look more closely.
    The photo was of two women. One was young, in her thirties, her hair pulled back in a bun. The second woman was older, maybe in her seventies, hardened lines across her drawn, unpampered face. They stood in front of a streetcar. It looked like any undetermined European city.
    Merrill was struck by the faces.
    There was something remarkably familiar in them.
    It was Dani. In both of them. Merrill stared wide-eyed. The resemblance was clear as day.
    One could be his twin, definitely. But he had never mentioned one. The older woman, Merrill thought, bringing the photo into the light, the older woman could be his…
    It gave her a start. The feeling of doubt reflexively springing back up. Can’t be…
    Dani had told her many times his parents were dead. Since his university days. His father had died in an automobile accident, his mother from cancer. He said that he had no sisters. No family. They had been in Europe several times together. He’d never said anything about any relatives.
    But the similarity was unmistakable.
    This had to be his mother. And his sister. Maybe even a twin.
    Merrill searched for the signs of age on the photo. Maybe it was from long ago. But the edges were still remarkably firm. And what she saw next sent her head spinning even more.
    In the background, on the streetcar, behind the two women, was an advertisement. It was for a film. Partially blocked by the two women in front of it.
    They died when he was at university, Merrill told herself, but the image she was looking at was the same in any language.
    The film was The Dark Knight . Heath Ledger starring as the Joker.
    You had to have been in a cave somewhere the past year not to have been aware of it.
    The Dark Knight had come out only last year.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    I t was after eleven, that same night, when Kevin Mitman turned his BMW X5 onto John Street, the kids finally dozing in the back.
    Timmy had only calmed down about the game a few minutes ago. The Rangers coming back from two goals down in the third against the Devils and winning in overtime. Petr Prucha, Melissa’s favorite player, had tipped in the winning goal. The crowd went crazy. When Prucha had skated out for his star-of-the-game ovation, Tim stood on his chair and cheered, fists in the air. As they left the Garden, they even bought Melissa his number 25 jersey.
    In the front passenger seat, Kevin’s wife, Rosemary, stirred.
    “We’re home!” Kevin said.
    “Mmmm.” Ro opened her eyes. “How’re you doing, honey?”
    “Not bad. Everyone’s asleep.”
    “No, we’re not!” Tim suddenly chimed in.
    Ro glanced at the clock and groaned. “Well, you will be soon,