Tangled in the Sails
Page 14
“Maybe not,” I answered. “But he did. I guess you never know everything about a person.”
Boomer nodded. “We have a perimeter around the city. We’re looking for his squad car and have an APD out on his personal truck. We haven’t found either yet.”
Rage filled me, thinking about all the suffering Charlotte had gone through, about all the fear she must be in right now, if she was still alive at all, that is.
I couldn’t hold back anymore. I reared back and punched the damn closet door. As I pulled away, the door opened up. Looking down, I saw several pairs of Clive’s shoes. The thing was, they were in different sizes. Leaning down, I saw that two pairs of shoes were a size 12 while three pairs were a size 10 ½.
“That’s weird,” I muttered, shaking my head and looking down at the shoes. “Why would he…”
“What are you talking about?” Rebecca asked.
“Clive had a death in the family,” I said, swallowing hard and standing back up.
“He did,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “His brother died in some sort of boating accident. Do you think that messed him up mentally? I mean, he was supposedly right there when it happened. I can’t imagine that would have been easy to deal with.”
“No,” I answered, shaking my head and standing to meet them. “He said he had a twin brother that died that way.” I looked over at Boomer. “Was it an identical twin? Clive told me his brother looked a lot like me, and he always thought we looked alike. So, it only stands to reason that the brother would be an identical twin.”
“I-I don’t know,” Boomer said, his eyes widening. “What are you suggesting?”
“I know Clive,” I said, nodding firmly. “The same way you know Clive. He’s a good man. The idea that he would act this way doesn’t make any sense.” I swallowed hard. “What if the person we’ve been dealing with for the past little bit hasn’t been Clive at all? What if the person who died on that boat wasn’t Clive’s brother? What if it was Clive himself?”
“What?” Rebecca asked. ‘How would that even make any sense?”
“Identical twins have the same DNA,” I said, leaning down again and picking up both pairs of shoes. “So, a test wouldn’t be able to determine which twin lived and which twin died. But that DNA isn’t always parceled out in the same ways. Sometimes identical twins can be different heights. Sometimes they can have different proportions. Sometimes, the difference is as small as different feet sizes.”
“You think Clive died on that boat and his twin brother took over his identity?” Boomer asked. “Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe he didn’t have a good life, or maybe he’s mentally unbalanced in a criminal way. God knows that shrine to me screams criminal insanity.” I shook my head. “All I’m saying is that this still doesn’t feel right to me. If Clive did this, then it doesn’t make sense to me. But if this wasn’t Clive, if this was a different person somehow-”
“I’ll call Clive’s parents,” Boomer said. “I’d like to know what they have to say about the other twin. In the meantime, we need to figure out where this guy has taken Charlotte. If it’s not Clive, then we could literally be dealing with anything right now.”
“It’s not anything,” I said, confidently. “Clive knew his way around a boat. I doubt he’d have succumb to a fishing accident. What I don’t doubt is that a person sick enough to build a shrine to a complete stranger, isn’t also the type of man who would murder his brother and take over his life.”
“Are you saying you think Clive’s brother killed him?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m saying I think Clive’s brother was unhappy with his life for whatever reason. I think he saw an opportunity to make it better, and he took it. I think he killed Clive and took his life over,” I said.
“Okay,” Rebecca answered. “So, how does that bring us here?”
“Maybe the brother wasn’t satisfied,” I answered. “Maybe he got Clive’s life and decided he wanted something more, something different.” Clive does look a lot like me,” I admitted. “But we don’t have the same DNA. He couldn’t trade places with me. What he could do is build a life that was reflective of mine or reflective of what he thought my life should have been.”
“With Charlotte,” Rebecca said, looking back at the picture of our wedding day with both of our heads cut out.
“He lured women who looked like Charlotte first,” I said. “Red haired single mothers. Soon, that wasn’t enough, though. He tired of each of them, killing them when he was ready to move on to the next. Finally, only the real deal would do. He moved into Charlotte’s attic and when he couldn’t stand it anymore, he took her.”
“What about Dustin Reynolds?” Rebecca asked as Boomer stepped out into the hallway to call Clive’s parents. “How does he fit into all of this?”
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “But I’ll figure it out.”
“How?” Rebecca asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But that’s not my main concern. What I care about right now is finding Charlotte and making sure she’s safe. If this guy gets tired of her, there’s no telling what he might do.”
Boomer came back in, his face white and his jaw tensed.
“You might be onto something,” he said. “Clive’s parents said their other son, Theo always had problems. He was in and out of mental institutions his entire life. In fact, when Clive went home the last time, it was to force Theo back into an institution.”
“And now he has Charlotte,” I said, my heart turning to ice in my chest.
“But where?” Rebecca asked. “We don’t know anything about this man, other than the fact that he’s seemingly obsessed with you, Dillon. He could have taken Charlotte anywhere.”
Rebecca’s words caused something to click inside of me. “That’s it!” I gasped. “He’s obsessed with me. He’s obsessed with my relationship with Charlotte.”
“Right,” Rebecca said.
“The letter,” I explained. “The one you found in the attic where he had been living, the one he obviously had been keeping and reading religiously.” A small smile crept across my face. “That’s the answer. I know exactly where Theo is taking Charlotte, and I’d bet I know how he’s getting there.”
35
“Are you sure about this?” Boomer asked as we rushed across the Gulf on his boat. “We’re not one hundred percent sure about what we’re looking for.”
“I am,” I said, nodding firmly as the warm Gulf wind blasted through my hair. “The letter I wrote to Charlotte all those years ago, the one Theo read so many times, said I was going to take her to St. George Island. We thought of that place as the pinnacle of paradise back then. We thought we could build a whole new life, away from the shadow of my father, away from the wreckage her parents’ deaths caused. We were going to be brand new over there. That’s where he’s taking her. I know it.”
“And the boat?” Boomer asked, pulling the wheel of the small vessel and turning us toward the island.
“I helped my grandfather fix up an old center console back then. We named it The New Dawn Surprise. I was going to take Charlotte to St. George Island on it, and when we got there, I was going to give it to her as a present. By the time we managed to fix it up, though, my mother was sick and everything was different. I knew I couldn’t leave. I knew St. George Island was just a dream two kids had and nothing more.” I shook my head. “A few weeks ago, the New Dawn Surprise was stolen from the pier where it had been sitting for ages. I thought it was vandals, kids looking for a good time, but now I’m convinced it’s something else. Now, I know that it was Theo. It’s the bow on top of this plan of his.”
“Great,” Boomer said. “So, we know what we’re looking for, but there are still a lot of piers in St. George Island. By the time we find out which one he’s docked at, it could be too late.”
“Actually, that’s the beauty of this little delusion of his,” I answered. “I wrote more than one letter to C
harlotte about this. In fact, I wrote a lot back then, and I was pretty detailed. I told her exactly which pier we were going to dock at.” I cleared my throat and looked away from Boomer. “It was where we were going to consummate our new life together.”
“My God,” Boomer said. “We have to get there before-”
“We will,” I said, not wanting to think about the end of that sentence. “I know exactly where we’re going, and I know how much faster this boat is than The New Dawn Surprise. Judging from when he disappeared from the precinct, I think we have enough time. In fact, I think we’ll catch up with them well before they make St. George Island.” I shook my head. “Not to mention the fact that Grandpa and I never managed to get the damn thing right. There’s a decent chance that, after all these years, it won’t work. With any luck, we’ll find the damn thing floating out in the middle of the Gulf.”
“We can only hope,” Boomer said. “We can only hope.”
Nearly an hour later, with my mind spinning and the sun dipping lower in the sky, anxiety was starting to gnaw at me. If night fell before we found them, it would make all of this so much worse. Dark water, dark intentions; I didn’t need any of that. I needed to find her today, right now. I needed to end this today.
Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer and thought about the past. Charlotte had been such a huge part of my life. She had always meant so much to me, always been like my arm. When I came back here from Chicago, she and Isaac were the things that made me stay, that kept me here, where I belonged.
In so many ways, that decision saved my life. It brought me back to my family, it brought me to my wife, and it gave me the new life I needed. It was, after so many years, The New Day Surprise. I needed to give the same thing to Charlotte. I needed to give her a new chance. I owed her that much.
“Dillon!” Boomer’s voice sounded through the air, pulling me out of my thought.
I opened my eyes to find Boomer pointing out into the distance. There, in front of us, sitting idly in the Gulf, was The New Day Surprise.
“Thank God,” I said under my breath, and then I prepared myself to get Charlotte back.
36
“Keep going,” I said, swallowing hard and looking at the idle boat as it sat in the water, bobbing with the waves.
“What?” Boomer asked, looking over at me.
“He’s not on the upper deck,” I said, narrowing my eyes and looking at the ship. “Neither of them are but that doesn’t mean he’s not looking at us. If he sees us coming, if we announce ourselves like that, then he might do something to hurt Charlotte. I can’t risk that.” Shaking my head, I continued. “I’ll need you to slow down just enough for me to hop off. After that, keep going. I’ll swim up to the boat. With any luck, I can board it secretly. Give me enough time to do that and then turn around. I’ll get Charlotte, and I’ll put Theo on his ass if he gets in my way.”
Boomer looked at me for a long moment. “Do I have to tell you how dangerous that is?”
“Do I have to tell you how little that matters?” I responded, thinking of Charlotte and Isaac.
“Just be careful,” he said, sighing loudly. “Be as careful as you can.”
“Will do,” I answered.
“And Dil,” he said, patting me on the shoulder. “I know we had words during all of this, hard words with each other. They never meant anything. You know that, don’t you?”
“I always know it,” I answered, pulling my friend close with my good arm and wrapping him in a hug. “You’re my brother, Boomer. You always will be.”
“Good,” he said, nodding at me and motioning to the ship. “Now, go kick some ass.”
Moving to the back of the vessel, I climbed off to the side and down the ladder. Waiting until the boat was close to The New Day Surprise and moving slow enough that I wouldn’t break my good arm in the fall, I let go and fell into the water.
The gulf swallowed me up like an old friend, even if it did hurt like hell. I pushed up, gasping for air and swimming toward the idle boat, a boat I’d help repair and paint with my own two hands. The good thing about that, of course, was the fact that I knew exactly where the ladder was and how hard it would be for anyone not on the upper deck to hear what I was doing.
Grabbing ahold of the ladder on the side, I ached and grunted lightly as I pulled myself up onto the boat that I used to call my own.
I was dripping wet as I fell onto the hull. Taking a deep breath, I scanned my surroundings. This boat was just as I remembered it. Though, where before it was a source of hope, The New Day Surprise now stood as the setting to one of my worst nightmares.
Standing, I pulled the gun from my hip. I didn’t like to shoot people. I especially didn’t like to shoot to kill. I wouldn’t hesitate for even an instant if it meant keeping Charlotte safe, though. I just had to hope I was in time.
Breathing up greedy heaps of gulf air, I crept across the hull. No one was out here. Still, I tried to stay as quiet as possible as I made my way around to the door that led to the lower deck. The element of surprise was something that I couldn’t afford to part with in this particular situation.
Rounding to the front of the hull, I looked and saw that the throttles were pulled all the way forward, even though no one was standing at the ready to man the ship. Just seeing that was enough to know that Theo had no idea how to deal with a boat. That was another bit of proof that the person I was about to deal with wasn’t Clive. I had been on more than a few boats with Clive. He knew his way around them. He’d have known better than to leave things like that.
I had no doubt that Theo’s erratic driving was the reason the boat wasn’t working right now. A gentler hand and a more competent headpiece would have seen The New Day Surprise safely into pier at St. George Island. Theo, it seemed, had neither of those. That would leave him to my mercy. With any luck, it would prove to be his undoing.
Taking one last deep breath, I kicked the door open and rushed into the room, my gun raised and at the ready. Running down the stairs, dripping wet and aching from nearly every joint in my body, all I could do was think of Charlotte. She was at the bottom of these stairs. She was right there. I could feel it.
As I rushed down, my greatest hope and my worst fear collided into each other with stark and sickening clarity. There, in the center of the room, handcuffed to the railing along the wall, was Charlotte.
I couldn’t believe it at first. The idea of ever seeing her again had drifted into the territory of my wildest dreams. Now that she was in front of me, it took all I could do not to jump for joy. Of course, joy wasn’t the only thing I was feeling. Charlotte was motionless. She was still, with closed eyes and limp arms.
The very real fear that I was too late, that he had already grown tired of Charlotte and that she was dead for her troubles, crept into my brain, ruining every moment of my life from the beginning to this. My body jerked with the sight of her, with the idea that she might actually be gone.
“Charlotte,” I said weakly. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. Besides, I had already kicked the door down. So, it wasn’t like Theo was going to be surprised by the fact that someone had come rushing down the stairs.
She didn’t move.
“Charlotte!” I said again. My mind was a mess, and I couldn’t manage to force myself to think straight. By the time I remembered to turn around and scope out the area, it was too late.
My head spun just in time to meet the business end of a piece of metal piping. I stumbled backward, dropping my gun and tasting blood.
Blinking hard, I saw Theo standing before me, his face red and full of scratches. She’d fought back. She’d hurt him. While that made me proud of Charlotte, it also filled me with dread. Theo very likely could have got mad at her exuberance and murdered her. I had seen things like that happen every day on the beat.
“Did you kill her?” I asked, huffing loudly and looking at my gun, which had fallen between Theo and me. “If you killed her, so help me God, I’ll-”
“It’s my past, Theo!” I said, eyeing my gun. “I don’t want to live it again, but I’ll be damned if I let someone else call it their own, especially against the free will of a woman I care about!”
Theo’s eyes went wide. “What-what did you call me?”
There it was. I could see the hurt in him. I could see the delusion beginning to unravel. That was the thread I needed to pull at.
“That’s your name, isn’t it?” I scoffed, looking at the man. “I know you’re intent on pretending to be your brother, but he’s dead, Theo. He’s dead because you killed him.”
“You don’t know anything,” he stated firmly.
“I know everything, everything except why you drug poor Dustin Reynolds into this,” I said.
“He was a picture,” Theo answered. “He was a pretty face I used to pull the women toward me.” Theo shrugged. “He found out, though. He heard someone was using his picture, and he tracked me down. I made him pay, though. Once I saw him in the flesh, I knew I could use him. I could make everyone believe that he was the person responsible for all of it. I just had to blackmail him. I had to make sure he knew I’d kill his mother. So, I made him watch me kill the woman I was holding captive then. I didn’t need her. I had Ellen by then, and Dustin made it all possible. Ellen was supposed to die in the explosion. She was supposed to burn up so much that you wouldn’t have any other choice but to believe she was Charlotte.” Theo grunted angrily. “You saved her, though. You saved her and I had to rethink things. Luckily, I had Charlotte by then. With Dustin to take the fall, I didn’t have to just want the real thing anymore. I could have her, and no one would ever be the wiser. We could live the life we always wanted to on St. George Island, the life we were always meant to.”