Crissy Chance

by Douglas E Roff

  Chapter 56

  It was mid afternoon and Adam was in the Study at his desk writing code and thinking. He had read the daily reports of progress on both projects, but the plan for Edward, et al, was not coming together as well as he liked. Neither Crissy nor Laura had contributed much in the way of specific ideas about how to carry out the plan, and both continued to question Adam and Hecate about what Eene was doing. According to them both, she was dumb as a post and twice as stupid.

  Adam still didn’t trust Crissy at all but Hecate’s reports remained solid in support of her, day after day. Instinctively he knew something was wrong, but the ladies were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and a little more freedom and rope. He was not. But he also couldn’t personally guard her 24/7, so he had to rely on Hecate’s reports, though they made no sense to him. Something was missing.

  His massive desk was facing the window rather than the other direction so he could always look out over the Great Rift Valley and watch events below unfold. When the herds were migrating and there was water and forage, the place was amazing. He could look out, but the industrial glass he used was textured on the outside to look like rock face. Like a two-way mirror, he could see out, but no one outside could see in. And the glass was non-reflective. There were chairs placed on the other side of the desk facing him, so as he was talking to whoever was seated, he still had a view of the valley.

  Today was spectacular and his mind wandered off into the grandeur of the view.

  He heard the two doors creak open and someone tip toe in, then heard the two massive structures gently close.

  “Eene is that you, or a cat burglar?”

  “It’s cat burglar Eene, reporting for duty. Two for the price of one. I’ve come to steal your heart. And there might be sex involved too. Depends on how well you like my idea.”

  “You’ve been thinking again, have you?”

  “Yes. And dressing for success. Just for you.”

  Suddenly Eene appeared facing him across the desk between the guest chairs. She put her elbows on the desk and her hands open under on her cheeks and chin. She was dressed in a private school uniform, one of his favorite fantasies with Eene. But if she was dressed provocatively for him in the afternoon, no sex was likely involved. This was Eene’s ‘I need your full attention’ outfit. As she leaned forward, Adam could see nothing on under her blouse.

  “Whatcha doin’,” she asked lazily. “I had a thought.”

  “You locked the door, dressed up in the outfit you wear just for me, and you want to talk? Very suspicious.”

  “Yes, I know. I’m a woman of mystery.”

  “What’s the thought?”

  “Are you still suspicious of Crissy?”

  “I am.”

  “And what about Hecate?”

  “She disagrees. As do the others.”

  “I have a thought, and I invited Hecate to join us in an hour. I will explain my thought, then we will ask Hecate some questions, then we’ll know. Easy.”

  “What’s the thought?”

  “You said that Crissy told you that she didn’t start getting abused by your faux parents until after she was finished with high school. Correct?”

  “Correct. And good use of French.”

  “Thanks. And you said that Anna and Edward started paying attention to Crissy when she was maybe fifteen or sixteen. Correct?”

  “Yes. About the same time that I moved in with the Suarez family across the street. Crissy arrived soon thereafter and spent loads of time, with the permission of her parents, on condition that I was never to be in the house with her at the same time.”

  “Right. And that never seemed odd to you? Especially now? How did that work? Replacement part for the St. James family? Crissy’s folks just loaned her out? I don’t get it.”

  “Me neither, but at the time I was just so happy to leave. If Crissy wanted to hang with my folks then I didn’t care. Not that I thought anything bad was going on. Just better her than me. She loved being with them, and they seemed to enjoy her company too. Then she would do her homework at their place and spend weekends if her parents were out of town. Toward the end, she practically lived with my folks. She was the good child that I was not. I was ‘difficult’ and she was compliant. The perfect Stepford Daughter.”

  “Does that seem odd now?”

  “No. Not really.”

  “And the lack of communication afterwards? You were friends, right?”

  “Yeah, I thought so. It was odd, but she’s already explained that was my folks doing.”

  “Still, not a single email or post card explaining. Your folks would never have found out if she asked you to keep quiet. You would have kept that secret, right?”

  “Yeah. I guess. But they were awfully good to her. I can see why she would choose them over me. She had a lot at stake; they were very generous and asked for little in return.”

  “According to her.”

  “Yes, according to her. And Hecate confirms it.”

  “I think Hecate has been fooled and that the whole situation is designed to trick you to get our location and kill us.”

  “Fool Hecate? How?”

  “I will reveal that when she arrives. For now, let me tell you what actually happened. Ready?”

  “Shoot.”

  “First off her whole story is designed to line up with what little you really know. Build a legal case on just a few facts. Make it believable. Make us and you believe her too. And she’s succeeding with Hecate and the others. But the only thing she lacks is convincing you. I don’t matter to her. She thinks I’m ignorant. She’ll regret saying mean things about me to Misti and Noki. And I’m not happy with them either. I think they agree with Crissy that I’m a bimbo at best.”

  “Really?”

  “They’re still mean to me. Like they have a right to do stuff to me I don’t like. Did you talk to them?”

  “I did. And was very clear.”

  “Well, talk to them again. I’m going to get angry soon, and if I do they will both be very unhappy ladies.”

  “Why don’t you just say something?”

  “Really? That’s your solution? If your women don’t listen to you, do you think they’ll respect me and stop? You can’t actually believe that.”

  “You’re right. Of course you are. You’re the victim. We’ll fix this, pronto.”

  “Like I said, I think the story is like this. The sexual abuse started when Crissy was a child. Her parents. It continued until she got close to Anna and Edward, who then took over. The abuse continued. When you and Crissy were star gazing, and her parents caught you, how did they react?”

  “They went nuclear. Said I was sexually assaulting Crissy. We were on a blanket, holding hands. That’s all. That’s what Crissy said to the town cop too. The matter was dropped. I went to the Suarez home, Crissy to my parents’ place.”

  “Yep. I think what your parents saw in the faces of Crissy’s parents wasn’t outrage at some phony sexual assault, it was jealousy. How dare their little plaything cheat on them with a boy. You said that she always went straight home after school, no clubs, no activities; the normal stuff any teen would want to do. Not many friends and no social life. No one to confide in; no one she could trust. And she was scared, I’ll bet all my matchsticks that her parents were abusing her daily and threatening that no one would believe her.”

  Adam said, “A few activities were allowed, if she was supposed to participate, like school fairs and contests. But no hanging around and she was strictly chaperoned.”

  Eene listened, then asked, “Anything change after the incident?”

  “Not really. I didn’t see her much; I always assumed that that was the deal between Crissy’s parents and mine.”

  “There was a deal for sure. Just not that one.”

  “Don’t you think that Hecate would have discovered all this through mind probe?”

  “No, in fact I don’t. It’s more complicated than that. And that’s wh
at Edward and Crissy are counting on. They think that your mind probes are lie detectors and drugs. Even if they were correct, we still would never have gotten to the truth. And I think Hecate will confirm a couple of facts, then reconfirm her probes, and we’ll get to the truth. There’s still a missing fact.”

  “You’re saying she doesn’t want Edward and Anna dead?”

  “No. Not at all. I am saying that she does, but again, for very different reasons than you think.”

  “Such as?”

  “Edward’s not in charge anymore; Crissy is. Not sure why, but this connects up with Anna and Francesca, your father and Crissy, the announcement in San Francisco and some of the things that she has already said. I think those parts are true, just not for the reasons she gave. Crissy is behind this whole thing.”

  “If true, it would explain why Dad let Crissy go to meet with us in Spain, then come here. One of those things I could not square up; it made no sense. He must have known that Crissy would bolt or we would kidnap her. She came alone, no security.”

  “How odd.”

  “How odd indeed. There’s more?”

  “Yes. When Hecate gets here. She’s punctual, so we have twenty minutes to kill. Any ideas.”

  “Plenty but not in twenty minutes.”

  “You know, we need a secret hallway between the Study and the Master bedroom. For emergencies like this.”

  “This is an emergency?”

  “I’m really, really horny.”

  “You greedy little not-so-innocent schoolgirl. Come over here this instant and I’ll see what I can do to cure whatever ails you. Can’t have a health issue with my girl while we’re on the verge of a breakthrough. Who would have suspected?”

  “Everyone here in the residence, for sure.”

  Chapter 57

  Hecate appeared at precisely four o’clock to find Eene and Adam a little dishevelled and still putting themselves back together.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  “Eene smiled. “Not now. Five minutes ago, yes. Thanks for coming. Why don’t you enter my mind then Adam’s and get caught up with our earlier talk in the Immortal way? Then I have some questions for you. You’ll find them in my noggin too.”

  Hecate disappeared and reappeared within seconds.

  “What questions?”

  “How did you enter Crissy’s mind. Through her brain or directly into her mind?”

  “Directly into her mind is quicker and more efficient. Going through the brain slows me down unless I need to start there for some other good reason first.”

  “OK. And when you got to her mind, what did you find?”

  “Same old stuff. Mortal humans, memories, thoughts, the usual. Why?”

  “In terms of mind density, say compared to me or Adam, how would that compare?”

  “Adam’s mind is extremely dense. That’s unusual. Yours is average, which is typical. Hers was below average, I guess.”

  “How far?”

  “Now that I think of it, pretty far. Maybe fifty percent of yours. That’s unusual. But not completely out of the ordinary. Could be explained by efficiency. Happens sometimes.”

  “And what did you find that you expected to find, and what didn’t you find. Anything missing?”

  “I expected a lot more and found a lot less. But her memories were consistent with her story, although her patterns were sketchy and somewhat incomplete. Her clearest stuff was her education and travel. School, friends, that kind of stuff after high school. Before that, she was either with her parents or Adam’s parents. I could compare her mind recollections of Adam and Adam’s recollections of her growing up. And I could sample her morning, noon and night recollections to see if they are empty or missing.

  “Could you do that, say, for weekends in her last year of high school? See what she still has in her mind on weekends with Anna and Edward.”

  “Eene, do you have a point to make, or is this just twenty questions?” Hecate was not usually impatient, but Eene was beginning to annoy her. Her questions seemed to imply a lack of care in evaluating Crissy. Hecate did not like being challenged in this way; she was an Immortal, after all.

  “I have a point to make, and lose the attitude, Hecate. Go back to Crissy and enter through her brain. Tell us if there is one door to her mind, or more than one.”

  “All mortals have one entrance. Even big brain over there, still trying to get his erection down, only has one entrance.”

  “But it’s possible to have more than one, right?”

  “Sure. But that would be new to me in mortal humans. There’s no need for more than one. What purpose would it serve?”

  “Need, yes. But if my hypothesis is correct …”

  “Good girl,” Adam said. “You’re so ‘sciencey’. And adorable.”

  “Thank you and thank you.”

  Eene turned back to Hecate, “If my hypothesis is correct, you will find more than one entrance. I expect you’ll find four. Maybe more.”

  “Not possible, but I’ll check.”

  “Hecate.”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t blow me off. Check. It’s important.”

  “You thought I wouldn’t?”

  “I don’t think you respect me at all. You think of me just like Misti or Noki. And I warned Adam that if they keep up their shit with me, I’m going to hurt them and hurt them very badly.”

  Hecate disappeared, visited Noki and Misti, then reappeared. “If they ever touch you again like that, Eene, you won’t have to do a thing. I’ll do it for you.”

  “Thank you. If you find more than one entrance for Crissy, put her to sleep and lock her in her room. Then the three of us need to have a chat.”

  Had there been nothing, Hecate would have been back in seconds. She was gone for twenty minutes. Adam was nervous because Hecate had found something and only Eene could explain what it was.

  “You were right. Six. How did you know?”

  “Got the idea from a TV show and an old movie. I conjecture it’s a form of DID, dissociative identity disorder is also known as multiple personality disorder, or commonly in the old days on Earth, as a ‘split personality’. It might cause, if the trauma is severe enough, the need for multiple separate minds and therefore multiple separate mind entrances. It doesn’t really matter if it is exactly that, something like that, or something entirely different if the effect is the same. But this answers a lot of questions that were troubling Adam and explain tons of stuff.”

  “Like?”

  “Mind density. It’s why you could clear her; you found nothing out of order in the mind she was using.”

  “Actually, my bad,” said Hecate. “There’s a ton of evidence that I see now, but I was only looking for stuff that confirmed her story. I guess I assumed she was telling the truth since what she said conformed to her mind memories and thoughts. You were right, the stuff that was missing from her main mind was stored in her other smaller minds. And the second mind that started it all off was as a result of trauma in childhood. Her parents were sexually abusing her. The third mind is all the Edward and Anna stuff. The last three minds I do not want to discuss. Too horrifying. I would say that you were correct in every detail, Eene. She could hide the details we wanted to know about because I wasn’t looking in the right place.”

  “And Edward and Anna? When did their abuse begin?”

  “As soon as she got to her new home. Basically, Crissy’s parents sold Crissy to Edward for the promise of fresh meat. Two years later, they disappeared. And, further news flash, Crissy is the new, boss-of-bosses now. Edward is like the retired CEO; Anna does what she’s told and Francesca is the new toy that Edward found and Crissy gifted to her Mom. The changes in organization are in process, but Crissy still wants the pair dead. She wants the business end of things, and she’ll always be vulnerable to Edward and Anna if they aren’t eliminated. Better for them to move to the afterlife and soon, then Crissy can start restructuring and rebuilding the empire.”

&nbs
p; “It made no sense to let Crissy go; now we know it’s all part of Crissy’s plan. We better have a chat with her soon.”

  Adam said, “Right now I need to have a chat with two of my girlfriends.”

  Hecate said, “No need. All resolved. I told them to cut it out or there’d be some imploding of heads. This they found funny, so I exploded their coffee cups instead. I told them they’ve been warned and to apologize, sincerely, and right away, or they might go missing a finger or a toe. Inexcusable behavior. Next time tell me if anything is wrong, Eene. I will make sure this never happens again, or anything like it. Laura will be making her apologies to you too.”

  “Thank you both.”

  “And Eene?”

  “Yes, Hecate?”

  “Good work. You’re my hero. Good thinking. Let me know if you need help with, you know … anything. Girl stuff. Dating advice. Behavioral requests. Adam. You know, that sort of thing.”

  “I wouldn’t mind it if you two were my guests tonight,” said Adam. “At beddy-bye time.”

  “Deal!”

  “Deal!”

  ***

  When Crissy awoke, she found Hecate, Eene and Adam standing over her. She was shackled to the bed, wrist and ankle.

  Crissy was furious. “What’s this? Let me out of these this instant!”

  “No way, Crissy. And, you’ll be in the stockade shortly. We found all your hidden shit and schemes. Very interesting. You were trying to fuck me over. Why don’t you switch to your preferred criminal deviant mode? Your deceptive standard mode is largely empty of any value to me.”

  Crissy’s aspect changed. Gone was the goofy teenage smile. Now a more feral looking creature appeared, a wild and despicable woman who had been caught but did not care.

  “As you wish. So, who caught me?”

  “Actually, that was Eene. Caught the multiple personality thing, and the rest just sort of fell into place. Now everything is clear. You’re a fraud; I’ll have to deal with you somehow after I dispose of mummy and dada. And, you’re going to help me.”

  “If I want. You need me more than I need you. I’m willing to make a deal if you want to catch them unawares.”