“Dylan got in touch with me through my agent,” he said. “I’d been trying to find him for years. One look at the picture he sent and I knew he was for real.”

“Why didn’t you go public?”

“It was too risky,” Robbie said. “You see, when Dylan got in touch with me and begged me to keep it quiet and not let his mother know that we’d found each other, I knew that something wasn’t right in his house. I quickly discovered she kept a tight hold on him and if he even hinted that he wanted to find his birth parents or, hell, even go away to college, she would have a hissy fit and then he’d be mysteriously ill. Soon I suspected what you did—that she was making him ill—and I was afraid if I showed up claiming to be his father that she’d do something drastic.”

“Oh, my god,” Lindsey gasped. She uncrossed her arms and Robbie stepped over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close and rested his cheek against her hair.

“Yeah, it’s pretty horrible,” he said. “She’s a sick woman. I got in touch with Violet, and we rigged the whole thing. I suspect Joanie knew I was Dylan’s father. I believe the adoption papers she told Emma about with an American listed as the father are a forgery. I hoped that if I showed up in town, I’d draw Joanie’s attention away from Dylan. I was right.”

“How did you know to fake your death by poisoning?” Lindsey asked.

“Dylan suspected his mother was poisoning him, and he started sending me samples of his food and drink to be tested,” Robbie explained. “At first there was nothing, but then, we found trace amounts of anti-freeze.”

“Oh, my god, she could have killed him.”

“Apparently, she had it down to a science, just enough to make him sick and keep him dependent upon her. I took up drinking coconut water, because I knew it would make it easy for her to go for me as the coconut would disguise the sweet taste,” he said. “On the night I performed my Oscarworthy death scene, I noticed that the cap on my bottle had been tampered with and one taste, which I spit out, and I knew it was showtime.”

Lindsey closed her eyes. She would never forget that horrible night.

“So Dylan knew all along?” she asked.

“Yes, Dylan, me, Violet, Charlene and Emma,” he said. “That was it. Oh, and the EMTs who carted me off were actually actors. They didn’t know the whole story but they knew enough to give the performance of their lives.”

“Wait. Charlene knew?” Lindsey asked.

“Yes, I was hiding out with her on her isl—” Robbie cut off his words and gave her a sheepish grin.

If there was a flashpoint for mortification, Lindsey was pretty sure she would have combusted right on the spot. If he had been on the island, then he had heard her talking to Charlene about her feelings for him.