by Megan Hart
"I'll talk to you later," Terry said, slipping back behind the wheel.
He eased the car around the accident and whooped the siren enough to get the rubberneckers moving out of the way. When finally the car had moved out onto the road again, Deacon breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like ants were crawling over his skin, so anxious was he to get to Lisa.
"You think she went to the office?" Terry asked for the third time.
"Yeah." Deacon managed to keep his temper, recognizing he was at the other man's mercy. At least for now. "To check the video."
"So Doug had you under surveillance, huh?" The amusement in Terry's voice made Deacon frown.
"Yeah."
Terry snorted. "Can't say I blame him."
"Just drive," Deacon said. "If we get there and something's happened to her..."
He let the comment ride the air between them. Terry cleared his throat, pressing on the accelerator. The car sped through the night, just minutes from their goal. Deacon could only hope they weren't minutes too late.
* * * *
"Don't worry," Allegra continued calmly even as Lisa wheezed in terror. "I won't kill you or anything." Her grin was feral and terrifying. "I'm not that crazy."
"Al, this isn't funny." Lisa found her voice, the big sister disapproving tone of it making Allegra flinch.
"I'm not trying to be funny." Al's eyes wavered, glancing around the office like she was watching for something that wasn't there. "You want to see something funny? I mean funny ha-ha, not funny weird."
"No," Lisa said. "I want to go home."
Allegra cocked her head. "I sorta kinda figured you were here to see the video."
"I don't need to see it," Lisa said. "Come on, Al. Let's go home. We can talk to Mom and Dad--"
"We can talk to Mom and Dad!" Allegra's voice mocked her. "No, thanks. I have something you need to see."
She held out a stack of videos. Lisa reached for them, but drew back her hands when Allegra yanked them away. The pile shifted in her sister's hands and fell to the floor with a clatter.
"Stupid bitch," Allegra yelled, but Lisa couldn't be sure which one of them her sister meant. Allegra bent to scoop up the tapes. "Now they're out of order."
She began counting under her breath, rocking while sorting the tapes, all of which were blank and unnumbered. She fit them into an order only she could comprehend, piling them on the floor, then rose to her full height. With the light shining from behind her, she looked entirely too familiar.
"It was you," Lisa cried, cringing back against the doorway. "Oh, my God, Allegra! At the house, it was you."
As Allegra stepped to one side to expose the desk, and Lisa saw Deacon's helmet and leather jacket.
"Of course it was," Allegra said. "Dummy. You didn't recognize me then--or three years ago either."
"What do you mean?" Lisa asked, her mind still trying to wrap around the concept her sister had actually attacked her.
"At The Circle K," Allegra told her. "That was me, too."
* * * *
Just as they reached the stretch of road that led to The Garden Shadd, Deacon saw something in the ditch along the road. "Stop!"
Terry glanced in the rearview mirror, his eyes annoyed. "I thought you were in a hurry, Campbell."
Deacon couldn't point, not with his hands cuffed. He jerked his chin toward the ditch. "Look!"
Terry slowed the car and pulled over. "Looks like a car."
The car had settled in such a way that only the back fender was clearly visible. It was the license plate that had caught Deacon's eye. BADGRRL.
"Allegra's car," he said.
"Shit." Terry climbed out, leaving Deacon to strain his neck trying to see. "She's not in here!"
"No," Deacon said to himself, watching Terry shine his flashlight all around the vehicle. He looked up the small hill to the dark Garden Shadd. "She's up there."
* * * *
Lisa clutched the doorframe feeling woozy. "I don't get it."
"You don't?" Allegra asked. "And I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. I'm the pretty one and you're the smart one. Lisa's the smart one. The smart one. Not so smart now, are you?"
Her sister's words had begun to take on a rambling, repetitive quality Lisa didn't like. Allegra seemed about to break from reality. Lisa didn't know much about psychology, but she knew that couldn't be good.
Allegra stretched herself up, then slipped on the helmet. Only the ends of her dark hair showed. She pulled on the bulky jacket. Her stance became more masculine, even menacing. In the dark, she'd easily pass for a man.
She flipped open the visor top. "I'm tall. Surveillance videos aren't very clear. You were ready to believe it was him. What can I say?"
"No," Lisa said softly. "I didn't want to believe it. But I had to answer them honestly when they asked me if it was him in the video, and I had to say yes. I thought it was. But I never wanted to believe it."
Allegra shrugged, the shoulders of the leather jacket creaking. "What's the difference?"
Lisa thought of three years lost and knew it made a lot of difference. "Why, Al? Why would you do that?"
In reply, Allegra tore off the helmet and tossed it to the floor. She struggled out of the jacket and let it fall, too, her lip curled in disgust. She kicked the clothes vehemently. She paced the tiny office rubbing her arms. Every movement pulled up her shirtsleeves to reveal more of the freakish writing.
"You were spending all your time with him," Allegra said. "All. No time left for me. Your sister! And you were going to marry him and go away. Then who would I live with? What would I do then, Lisa? What would I do then?"
Her sister's assessment of the situation startled Lisa. "We never talked about getting married."
Allegra shot her an empty look, continuing her pacing. "I could see it in your eyes. Smell it on you like bad fish. You loved him. Love him. You love him!"
Lisa reached out to stop Allegra and force her to look at her. "I do love him. And I probably did then, too, but--"
"See?" Allegra's pretty mouth turned down in a frown so deep it carved lines in her normally smooth cheeks. "You'd leave me!"
Lisa felt like a tightrope walker. One wrong word and she'd plummet into the precipice. She let go of Al's arm.
"It has to happen someday," she said.
"Not with him." Allegra frowned. "He's not good enough for you."
"You don't have to protect me," Lisa began, but Al's hot glare stopped her.
"And Terry Goody-Two-Shoes," Allegra continued. "Boring Mr. Perfect. You didn't really want to spend the rest of your life with him, did you?"
"My life is for me to decide," Lisa cried. "How dare you try to interfere, Allegra!"
Lisa's anger did nothing to affect Allegra, who merely kept her pacing. Now she began the peculiar habit of ticking off the fingers of one hand with the other like she was constantly making a mental list.
"You just wouldn't see them for what they were, would you?" Allegra questioned. "No matter how hard I tried to show you."
All the pieces fit together like a puzzle after hours of bleary-eyed concentration. "You took my purse that day. You put it in his office and wanted me to find it, didn't you?"
"But you wouldn't look."
"So you put it in his house where you knew I'd find it someday."
"It worked, didn't it?" Allegra asked, for the first time focusing on Lisa. "You ran out of there like a scalded dog, didn't you? Right to where I was waiting for you."
"You tried to hurt me," Lisa accused. She swallowed heavily, fighting the urge to choke on the sick feeling of betrayal.
"Only a little bit. I only ever wanted to scare you," Al said with her old guileless smile. Her voice changed, but remained eerily familiar. "I see everything you do. Remember?"
Where would it end? "You made the phone calls? You stole my laundry?"
"Oh, you were so easy," Allegra said. "So wrapped up in your daydreams. It was easy to misplace your stuff for you. Do you
want to know what my favorite trick was? The light bulbs. I could tell that was just driving you crazy!"
Lisa wanted to slap the laugh right out of her sister. "And you hired those boys to mug me in the parking lot?"
"I thought that would be a nice touch."
"It's been you all along," Lisa muttered, not wanting to believe.
Allegra waved the accusation away as though it were smoke. "It's all going to work out. He'll go back to jail. I paged Terry to come. So it's going to work. He'll go away, and Terry will never forgive you, and things will go back to the way they were before. I'll move back in. It'll be great!"
Lisa shook her head. "You need help."
Allegra let out a low, guttural sound. "I do. I do. Maybe I do, yes. But so what? I just want things to be the way they were--"
Lisa shouted, "Things will never be the same again!"
Allegra winced. "You just won't believe me, will you? He's not right for you. Lisa, when you find the right man, I mean the right man for you, I'll be so happy and proud to be your maid of honor. But he's not right for you and I can prove it!"
"I don't want any more proof." As Lisa turned to go, Al's hand flew out to grab her hair. With a cry of pain, Lisa fell back.
"Don't walk away from me." Allegra emphasized each word with a tug that made Lisa squirm in pain. "Come on. I have to show you."
Lisa resisted, but despite being thin, Allegra was strong. She let go of Lisa's hair, but grabbed her wrist in a pincer grip instead. She pulled Lisa nearly off balance while bending to pick up the pile of videos. Then Allegra began pulling her out the door and down the hallway.
"Al, let me go."
Allegra shook her head. "I want you to see. I want you to 'get it.'"
"You don't have to do this," Lisa said.
Her sister only tugged harder. "Yes, I do."
"This can end now." Lisa dug in her heels and managed to get her sister to stop, if only briefly.
"No," Allegra said with a shake of her head. "It can't. It's not over until it's over."
"And when will that be?"
Allegra shrugged, tugging Lisa's arm upward with the motion. "We'll see, I guess."
* * * *
Terry parked in the back next to Lisa's car. He got out, then opened Deacon's door. He didn't remove the handcuffs, and he didn't help Deacon out of the back seat.
"She's in there," Deacon said.
Terry glanced around. "This doesn't feel good."
"Of course it doesn't feel good," Deacon snapped. "She's in there with that lunatic!"
Terry reached for his radio. "I need to call for back up."
Deacon forced himself out of the back seat through sheer will power alone. Standing, he felt less immobilized, though he still could do nothing without the use of his hands.
"Take these off," he demanded.
Terry looked at him. "No."
Deacon kicked the car. "You're wasting time! Let's just go in there and get that crazy bitch!"
Terry shook his head with another glance at the dark building. "I can't risk that. We need back up."
"Coward," Deacon muttered.
The next instant he found himself slammed onto the hood of the car. Terry's scowl was inches from his own. Even as his muscles screamed in protest, Deacon didn't show the pain. He braced himself for a punch that didn't come.
"I love her, too, asshole," Terry breathed before letting Deacon go. He wiped his hands on his dark blue pants as though touching Deacon had made him feel dirty. "Which is why this needs to be done right."
"Uncuff me, then," Deacon said. He added, "Please."
Terry shook his head again. "You think I'm an idiot?"
Deacon didn't answer. The challenge in his eyes was enough reply. Terry sighed, then reached for the cuffs. Deacon rubbed his freed wrists, then clapped Terry on the shoulder. "Thanks."
"Don't play the hero," Terry warned. "You'll get both of you killed."
"What you don't see, you can't stop," Deacon said. "You call for back up."
He waited until Terry had bent again into the cruiser, and he ran toward the building.
Chapter 15
* * *
Allegra knew just where to find the surveillance equipment. Relying only on the light shining in from the window, she pulled Lisa through Doug's doorway and into the center of the room, then tugged her toward the small closet to the right of the desk.
"I thought you were afraid of the dark," Lisa snapped, trying to free her wrist from Allegra's grip.
"I am," Allegra said with a shudder. "But I've had to learn to face my fears, Lisa."
It was the first sane thing her sister had said, but Lisa could take no comfort in it. There was still too much craziness to wade through.
Allegra continued airily, as though she wasn't struggling one-handed with the closet door while she bruised Lisa's arm with the other. "I left it all in the note."
"What note?" Lisa stopped tugging, recognizing the gesture as futile.
Allegra paused to look over her shoulder. Her eyes flashed in the light from the window. "The note I left you. It explained everything."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You saw it! I know you did!" Allegra smacked the stubborn closet door. "It's what made you go to Mom and Dad and try to convince them I'm a nutcase!"
You are a nutcase. It almost flew out of Lisa's mouth, but a sudden, unbidden memory of her sister as a baby stopped the evil words. Allegra had been a sunny baby, and Lisa had loved to tickle her belly until she laughed. "She loves you," her mother had said, watching the girls play together. "She loves her big sister."
Love for her sister washed over Lisa in a wave so fierce it nearly forced a sob from her throat. What had gone so wrong? "I didn't get a note."
"In the pantry," Allegra said. "I left it for you."
"The cans?" Another puzzle piece slipped into place.
"I was very careful," Allegra said, finally tugging open the door. "I marked out the letters I didn't need."
Lisa thought of the rows of cans, so precisely lined up. There had been a message there, but she had not received it. She guessed it didn't really matter what the message said.
"Let's get out of here," she told her sister gently. "We can go home, Al. Just you and me. And we'll talk."
"Just a minute," Allegra muttered, never letting go of Lisa's wrist.
Lisa dug her feet into the carpet. "Stop this! You're hurting my wrist!"
Even in the dim light Lisa could see Allegra roll her eyes. "Just a minute."
She didn't let go. The bones in Lisa's wrist ground together painfully. "Let me go. I'll watch what you want me to watch."
Allegra turned from her fumbling with the closet door. "You'll run away."
"No. I won't."
"You're lying."
Lisa let out a growl of desperate exasperation. Her initial fear had fled. She was used to Allegra being a pain in the ass. She could deal with this.
"I'm not the liar," Lisa said.
Allegra nodded as though thinking. "Not telling the truth isn't the same as lying."
"Whatever," Lisa said calmly. "I wasn't accusing you. Just let go of my wrist."
Her sister did. Lisa rubbed the bruised flesh, but stood her ground. Allegra watched her warily for a moment before turning back to the closet.
"Watch," she said, finally pulling open the door to reveal a set of floor-to-ceiling shelves. Several vcrs were lined up along one shelf while the rest had been used for office supplies. A small and ancient television set rested next to the vcrs.
Lisa's eyes had adjusted to the dim light, and she had no problem seeing her sister slip one of the video tapes into the first machine. Allegra twisted the tv knob.
Lisa blinked against the bright gray light flaring from the machine. After a few seconds of static, a picture appeared.
"Oh, crap." The tape showed her and Deacon the day they'd let themselves get carried away. Her cheeks flushed hot as she watched her vid
eo self let him kiss her. "Al, turn that off."
"Why?" Allegra tapped the screen with her finger. "Don't you like to watch?"
"No, Al. I don't." Lisa reached forward to snap off the set, but Allegra stopped her.
The pictures of her and Deacon kissing were replaced by a blank screen as he reached over on the tape and hung up a shirt to cover the camera lens. A second later, the tape showed Deacon at his desk. The helmet and jacket sat on the architect's table, almost out of camera range. He bent over his work, scribbling on his pad of paper with a look of concentration apparent even in his profile.
A woman entered the office, and Allegra breathed "See?"
Lisa wasn't sure what her sister wanted her to see. The woman was tall, dark haired, with a lively smile. She wore a casual outfit and carried a straw shoulder bag. Nothing about her seemed out of place.
Deacon looked up, then got to his feet. He and the woman embraced, and the woman kissed his cheek. Deacon smiled at her as though he clearly knew her. He put one hand on her back and they left the office together.
"He doesn't love you," Allegra said triumphantly.
"That's his sister," she told Allegra. "She came to take him home when his motorcycle needed some repairs."
"No." Allegra's tone said she would take no disagreement. "No. It's his lover. And he loves her, not you. Don't you see, Lisa? Don't you?"
Allegra's voice had taken on a slightly desperate quality that matched the increased frequency of the ticking-off motion of her hands. The tv screen went briefly blank, then on again to show a tall figure with dark hair entering Deacon's office. Because the interior lights had not been turned on, it was difficult to tell who the figure was, but Lisa knew it was her sister.
On the tape, Allegra reached for the dark shape draped over Deacon's chair. The leather jacket. She picked up a round dark shape and slipped it over her head. The helmet. The figure turned to face the camera, but Lisa could tell Allegra didn't know about the surveillance device. On the tape, her sister left Deacon's office. Then the screen went staticky again.