He turned back to Esperanza. "What else you got?"

"Not much. Dennis Lex changed his name to Davis Taylor eight months ago. I also found this." She handed him a photocopy of a news clipping. A small birth announcement from the Hampton Gazette dated thirty-seven years ago: Raymond and Maureen Lex of Wister Drive in East Hampton are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Dennis, six pounds eight ounces on June 18th. Dennis joins his sister Susan and his brother Bronwyn.

Myron shook his head. "How could no one know about this?"

"It's not all that surprising," Win said.

"How do you figure?"

"None of the Lex family holdings are public. They are fiercely protective of their privacy. Security around them is around-the-clock and the best money can buy. Everyone who works with them must sign confidentiality agreements."

"Even you?"

"I don't do confidentiality agreements," Win said. "No matter how much money is involved."

"So they never asked you to sign one?"

"They asked. I refused. We parted ways."

"You gave them up as clients?"

"Yes."

"Why? I mean, what would have been the big deal? You keep everything confidential anyway."

"Exactly. Clients hire me not only because of my brilliance in the ways of finance but because I am the very model of discretion."

"Don't overlook your startling modesty," Myron added.

"I don't need to sign a contract saying I won't reveal anything. It should be a given. It's the equivalent of signing a document saying that I won't burn down their house."

Myron nodded. "Nice analogy," he said.

"Yes, thank you, but I'm trying to illustrate how far this family will go to maintain their privacy. Until this inheritance feud erupted, the media had no idea how extensive Raymond Lex's holdings were."

"But come on, Win. This is Raymond Lex's son. You'd know about a son."

Win pointed to the top of the clipping. "Notice when the child was born---before Raymond Lex's book came out, when Lex was just a typical small-town professor. It wouldn't make news."

"You really buy that?"

"Do you have a better explanation?"

"So where is the kid now? How can the son of one of America's wealthiest families have no paperwork? No credit cards, no driver's license, no IRS filings, no trail at all? Why did he change his name?"

"The last one is easy," Win said.

"Oh?"

"He's hiding."

"From?"

"His siblings perhaps," Win said. "As I said before, this inheritance battle is rather nasty."

"That might make sense--and I stress the word 'might'--if he'd been around before. But how can there be no paperwork on him? What is he hiding from? And why on earth would he put his name in the bone marrow registry?"

"Good questions," Win said.

"Very good," Esperanza added.

Myron reread the article and looked at his two friends. "Nice to have a consensus," he said.

Chapter 13.

The mobile phone blew him out of his sleep like a shotgun blast. Myron's hand reached up blindly, his fingers bouncing along the night table until they located the phone.