Why Devin wanted to spend his life in pursuit of people who, for all intents and purposes, had vanished was beyond Evan’s comprehension. In his opinion, finding them didn’t pay nearly enough to compensate for the effort involved. But for the first time in his life, Evan was actually glad his brother had decided to become a private investigator.
As soon as he heard the receiver being picked up on the other end, Evan asked, “Are you busy?”
There was a pause, and for a second, Evan was afraid that he’d gotten Devin’s answering machine. He was in no mood to deal with recorded messages and was about to hang up when he heard, “Depends on who’s asking. If it’s the IRS, the answer is no. If it’s the competition trying to see how I’m doing, then the answer is yes. Truth is located somewhere in between.”
Evan didn’t need to see his face to know that Devin was grinning. They hadn’t shared the same sense of humor since a year after puberty had hit.
“It’s me, Devin. Evan,” he added impatiently when there was no response on the other end.
The deep chuckle told Evan that his brother had known all along who was calling. “And a hello to you, too, brother,” Devin replied. “Don’t you believe in preliminary niceties anymore?”
“You’re the last one to give a lecture about that.” Evan had always been the one who lived by the rules, who crossed every t and dotted every i. That was why this turn of events seemed so incredible, so unfair if it was true. He’d always taken precautions, for heaven’s sake.
Except, he realized suddenly, that one time.
The fruity taste of the Mai-tais had hidden their potent punch, and he’d downed one after another until he’d found himself acting amorous and passionate—entirely out of character.
No, he refused to believe that that one night, which was mostly a blur anyway, could have resulted in the fifteenpound bundle he’d had delivered to his office.
“Look,” Evan said sharply, “I didn’t call to argue about protocol.”
Accustomed to his brother’s abrupt manner, Devin was unfazed by the annoyed tone. “Nice to know. Why did you call?”
Evan was aware that he was gripping the receiver too tightly. He hated asking Devin for a favor, even one he was planning on paying for. “I need you to find someone for me.”
If Devin was surprised by the request, he hid it well. “All right, what’s the person’s name?”
Evan thought of the note. There’d been no signature on it. “I don’t know.”
That made it harder, but not impossible. Half of the people Devin had looked for were nameless to him when he began his search. “Description?”
Irritation, fueled by frustration, began to mount. Evan knew he sounded like a fool. He could just visualize Devin smirking at him. “I don’t have one. That is, I do, a few, but none of them might be the right one.”
If Devin was smirking, he gave no indication of it. Instead, he sounded concerned. “Evan, you okay? You sound…addled.”
It wasn’t a word that Devin would have used to describe his brother under normal circumstances. Yet addled was exactly how Evan sounded—as if something had just happened to shake him up. This had to be big. Evan didn’t rattle easily—at least, not enough to come to his brother for help.
Evan bristled. He didn’t care for the observation, however deserving it might be. “You’d be addled, too, if someone just left a baby in your office and said it was yours.”
Devin let out a low whistle. “Someone left you a baby?”
Had his brother suddenly gone deaf? “I just said that,” Evan snapped.
Devin wasn’t slow, but when it came to his work, he believed in being methodical. That meant getting all the facts down straight the first time around. “And it’s not yours.”
“No.” The denial was quick, decisive. And untrue. “That is, I don’t think so.” Evan’s wavering deteriorated even further. “I don’t know.”
Right now, it didn’t strike Devin that his brother knew a hell of a whole lot, but this wasn’t the time to point that little tidbit out.
“And the person you want me to find is…?” His sentence trailed off as he waited for Evan to complete it for him.
Was Devin playing games at his expense? “The baby’s mother, naturally.”
Devin blocked out his brother’s tone. Letting it get under his skin wasn’t going to do either of them any good.
“Do you have any idea who she might be, Evan? Anything at all for me to go on?”
Yes, he had something for Devin to go on. Something he didn’t want to admit to. His night of the endless Maitai. Evan ran a hand through his hair, bracing himself. If Devin was going to be of any use, he had to tell his brother everything.
“My best guess is that it might be this entertainer I met on a cruise ship. A singer,” he added. If he’d been sober, this would never have happened. He wouldn’t have thought of flirting with a woman he didn’t know, much less bedding her.
Or had she flirted with him? Evan tried hard to remember, but it was all one heated blur with very little of it clear.
“Why, Evan, you sly devil. And here I thought you were married to your work.” His laughter obliterated anything else Devin might have said for more than a minute. “Boy, did I ever have you pegged wrong.”
Evan didn’t care for being the source of Devin’s amusement. If he could have, he would have slammed the phone down in his brother’s ear. But now wasn’t the time to take offense.
He needed Devin. But he also needed his privacy, and a thought had suddenly occurred to him. “Look, not a word of this to the girls and Mother, do you hear?”
“Raise your voice any louder, and everyone between Newport Beach and San Francisco will hear.” Devin paused, as if considering something. “Send me a dollar.”
Evan thought he must have heard wrong. Devin was making even less sense than he normally did. And if this was a joke, it wasn’t funny. “What?”
“Send me a dollar,” Devin repeated mildly. “Then you’ll be a client and I won’t be able to tell them anything, even if they try to wheedle the information out of me.”
Evan knew his sisters were more than capable of getting a stone to talk if they set their minds to it. Determination, in one form or another, was a strain that ran through them all.
“You find out who this is, and I’ll send you more than a dollar. I intend to pay you for your services, you know,” he added, feeling somewhat uncomfortable about the whole arrangement. He didn’t want Devin getting the wrong impression. “I’m not asking for charity.”
Nothing changed. Evan was as uptight as ever. Devin blew out a breath. “In case you haven’t looked in the mirror lately, Evan, we’re brothers. It’s not called charity when it’s between family.”
Still, if you paid for something, you got what you paid for. “I’d feel better paying you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t.” There was a note of annoyance in his voice. There were lessons Evan had never learned, he thought. He wondered if his brother ever would. But now wasn’t the time for that, either. Devin got down to business. “How old is this baby?”
“You know I’m not any good at things like that.” But because Devin obviously wanted an answer, Evan thought for a minute, remembering the note. It had mentioned taking care of the baby for six months. “About six months old or so.”
Devin did a quick calculation. “I’m going to need a list of the names, numbers and addresses