“Emma makes a good point, but I understand where you’re coming from,” she said as Emma sat on the arm of her chair. Finley was at the door and hesitated, out of Abigail’s sight. Cain waved her in.

“I should be concerned, considering I wouldn’t have my children without Nicola, but I think of who she was—who she is. If that’s what Cain had done with her life, would you have one single doubt your kids would be better off without knowing anything about her?” Abigail rested her head against Finley’s hip when she came over and put her hand on Abigail’s shoulder.

“We need to have another conversation, then,” Cain said, liking the way Emma was rubbing her back. “Did Nicola ever talk about her family outside her parents and twin brother?”

“She mentioned a few people, but we never saw any of them. The only socializing we did with her family revolved around her parents and Fredrick. I think the only time I ever met a cousin or some other relation was on one of our trips to Miami when we were there on vacation.” Abigail closed her eyes as if trying to concentrate better. “It was a guy, and I remember Nicola laughing at me because I thought he looked scary.”

“We’ll get back to him, but did you ever meet Linda Bender and her family? We have a picture to help you.” She waited for Finley to show her the image on her phone.

“She was at my in-laws’ place sometimes but only to drop stuff off from work. We were never introduced, but I’ve seen her.” Abigail held the phone and stared at the woman who might hold all the answers that could help them. “Who is she?”

“Linda is Nicola’s cousin and the keeper of their ledgers. For a business that should have virtually no paper trail, the Antakov family kept ledgers that contained a roadmap of their entire operation. Linda turned all the records over to the FBI before running with her brothers. She didn’t want them being raised in the family business.” Finley gave her the rundown, and Abigail handed her phone back.

“I wish I had met her,” Abigail said. “She sounds like the only one who got how crazy all this is.”

“But you never spoke to her, right?” Cain asked.

“No, and I’m thinking that’s the wrong answer here.”

“There are no wrong answers, so tell me about the cousin you met,” Cain said, and Finley sat on the ground and left her phone out.

“He wasn’t Nicola’s favorite, from the way she treated him, and his name is Sacha, I think. It’s been a few years so I can’t be sure, but he came for drinks with us but didn’t stay for dinner. I don’t think his last name was ever mentioned.”