Mirror, Mirror

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  It was easier now. Paychecks weren’t as regular, but at least he didn’t get shot at as much. Still, he knew he wasn’t marriage material. Not if Faith, one of the most complacent people in the world, couldn’t live with him. How could he dare hope things would be different with Dana?

  He forced himself to veer away from the subject. Happily ever after sounded good in books, but it never seemed to be the same in real life.

  “Hey,” she protested in a low voice, wiggling a bit in his arms.

  He realized he had tightened his hold, and immediately loosened his arms. “Sorry, guess I was elsewhere for a while.”

  Dana moved about until she could face him directly. She framed his face with her hands. “I didn’t like you at first,” she confessed.

  He laughed. What else could he do? “Yeah, I kind of figured that out.”

  “I didn’t think you were all that fond of me, either,” she pointed out.

  Mac turned his head so he could plant a kiss in the heart of her palm. “I thought you were coldhearted, opinionated, bossy, and a general pain in the butt because you wanted everything your way.”

  Dana pouted. “You don’t have to be so honest.”

  “One of my better traits.” He smiled. “Besides, you didn’t see your expression when you walked into my office. You looked as if you wished you’d walked in there wearing latex gloves and carrying a can of Lysol. You probably even hoped for a decontamination chamber.”

  “I did not!” she laughed, playfully hitting him in the shoulder. “I just didn’t expect a private investigator’s office to look so—so rustic.”

  Mac roared with laughter at her description.

  “Or that the private investigator was so virile instead of slimy looking, the way many of them on TV do.”

  “Okay, the virile comment saved your cute little butt this time. I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at your face,” he murmured. “I want to wake up every morning and go to sleep every night seeing it.”

  She took a sharp breath. “Isn’t that dangerous talk for a single man with a dog?”

  “Yeah, but it seems you and I’ve been talking dangerous from day one. Why change things now?” He placed his hands around her throat in necklace fashion. His thumbs met in the hollow of her throat. “I’m no prime catch, sweetheart.”

  “And I have an insane twin sister.” Her eyes darkened. “I can’t think beyond that. Please don’t say anything more.”

  Mac hefted her in his arms and stood up. He grabbed the remote control long enough to switch the television off, and turned off the lamp on the way out of the room.

  Dana looped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. She would take this and be content. She wouldn’t dare ask for more.

  “Duffy.” Her reminder was muffled.

  “Yeah, he isn’t exactly potty trained.” He whistled to the dog and detoured by the patio door to let the dog outside. Duffy shot him a reproachful look over his shoulder as he raced outside. “Damn dog can put across guilt as good as any mom,” he muttered, carrying Dana toward the bedroom.

  “I want to forget,” she murmured against his throat. “I want things to be normal again.”

  “They will be,” he soothed, laying her down on the bed. “The pieces to the puzzle are falling into place. Before you know it, life will be so damn normal you’ll wish for some variety.”

  “No, I won’t.” She pulled him down on top of her. “Not once.”

  Mac couldn’t sleep. He’d pushed the covers to his waist because he felt too warm, and crooked one arm behind his head. Dana slept peacefully by his side, and Duffy lay stretched out along the end of the bed, breathing evenly, his body twitching.

  Was Mac crazy in thinking there could be a future with Dana? Everything about the two of them was opposite. But he still thought about it.

  And now it seemed she was backing away by using her sister as an excuse.

  Maybe it was for the best. After this was over, they might realize that what they’d shared wouldn’t stand up to a normal lifestyle.

  For now, he’d settle for her in his arms. Not to protect her, but to protect himself from ghosts that haunted his night.

  It was the same, yet not the same. She was wearing her favorite blue dress again. And she was again sitting on the pretty stool. Except there was no mirror for her to look into. All she saw sitting across from her was another little girl in a blue dress who looked like her. She also sat on a matching stool.

  “You can’t stay here,” the other little girl said.

  “Yes, I can. My daddy says so.”

  The little girl smiled, but it wasn’t a pretty smile. It frightened her. She wanted to call out for her daddy. She wanted her to go away.

  “Daddy doesn’t love you, Dana. He really loves me. He wants you to go far away,” the little girl told her. “I want you to go away, too. I want you to go away and never come back.”

  “No, you’ll go away,” Dana insisted stubbornly.

  The little girl stood up. “Be careful, Dana.” She spoke in a hard tone at odds with her little-girl voice. “People will think you’re just like me. But you don’t want to be like me, do you? I bet you’d rather be dead instead of be like me.”

  Dana whirled away and ran as fast as she could. Except, she couldn’t escape the laughter that followed her.

  Dana jerked awake. It took her a moment to realize it was the middle of the night. She felt the warmth of Mac’s chest against her cheek, listened to the soft rumble of his breath and felt the comforting weight of Duffy’s inert body draped across her feet.

  It’s as if she’s trying to get to me in my dreams. She wants me to think I’m just like her, she thought. I’ll just have to prove her wrong.

  As Dana fell back asleep, one bitter thought stayed with her.

  Even with all she’d said about putting Darcy out of her mind, she hadn’t been able to forget about her after all.

  Chapter 14

  First thing Monday morning, Dana called Marti and told her she wouldn’t be in for a few days. She gave the explanation that she wanted to spend more time with her mother.

  “After we finish with my messages, why don’t you transfer me to Jack’s office, so I can tell him what I’d like him to take over for me,” she said, referring to her second-in-command. “It’s time I make him work for the money I pay him,” she joked. “I’m sure he can handle the wolves as well as I can.”

  “Good!” Marti verbally applauded. “It’s time you realize there’s others around here who can do at least a portion of your work.”

  “I worry about the long-term clients,” Dana admitted.

  “Every long-term client knew your mother, too. There’s always someone who’s asking how Alice is doing and asking that they be remembered. And, as you suggested, if they ask about sending flowers, I suggest a donation to the rehabilitation center. You were the one who believed they wouldn’t understand if you needed to take a leave of absence because of your mother. You should have given them the chance to prove they aren’t all heartless.”

  Dana sighed. “Control freak, that’s me.”

  After they finished, Marti transferred her to Jack. Dana spent the next hour on the phone going over things with Jack, then hung up.

  “Delegating is new for me,” she confessed to Mac.

  “I don’t know. You sounded pretty good. It’s nice to know you don’t have to carry the whole load yourself, isn’t it?” he whispered, then kissed her on the cheek.

  Dana sat at the kitchen table looking over paperwork, as Mac did his own work. She smiled as she watched him with his cell phone pressed to one ear, talking away while he paced the kitchen. His end of the conversation told her that he was finding out what was known about her family in the town she was born in.

  “Yeah, I want to know anything you can dig up,” he said as he refilled his coffee cup. “Call me as soon as you hear anything. Good.” He disconnected without saying goodbye. He glanced at D
ana. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be better when this is all over,” she said honestly.

  “Amen to that.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “We’ve come a long way, Madison.”

  She leaned against him, her shoulder and head resting against his chest. “Sometimes I feel as if I’m not the same person I was a few months ago. Then I remember that I’m not. I find out my parents lied to me for years, that I’m not an only child and that my sister tried to kill me,” she said in a hushed voice. “I suddenly feel as if I’m not who I always thought I was.”

  “I bet Abby can help you with those feelings,” he said gently.

  She nodded. “I’m not going to stop seeing her just because it’s turned out that I don’t have a split personality, after all.” She held up her hand to halt his protest. “There were times when deep down I honestly felt it was me. Knowing it wasn’t is a big relief, but finding out about Darcy has me wondering if there is a chance I could have even a seed like that inside me…” Her voice trailed off.

  Mac kept his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head. “You don’t need to worry,” he assured her. “Let’s make some plans. Let’s agree that when this is all over, we’ll go away for a nice long vacation where all we’ll need is a room with a bed and round-the-clock room service.”

  She smiled. “I’d like that. Can we find a gym, and you let me beat you up again?”

  “Anything your heart desires.”

  She put her arms around his neck. “Then my heart desires you,” she whispered, giving in to her need to kiss him.

  “I need to run by my apartment and pick up more clean clothes,” he told her once they came up for air. “Do you mind if I leave Duffy here?”

  She looked past him toward the backyard, where the large dog was happily sprawled in a shady spot. He’d already settled in as if the yard had always been his.

  “I don’t think he’d let you take him. You do what you need to do. We’ll be here when you get back,” she promised.

  Mac kissed her again. He ran the back of his fingers along her cheek. “Then I’ll make it quick.”

  Dana could still taste him on her lips as she fixed herself breakfast. She was sharing her eggs with Duffy, when the phone rang.

  “Dana?”

  She recognized the voice of her chief financial officer.

  “Hank, I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

  “You know me. I’ve always been paranoid to the extreme. I’ve been in here since five doing some unraveling,” he told her. “The first thing I did was run a quick scan on our main accounts. After I looked those over, I did a little more thorough snooping. I don’t think you’re going to like what I found.”

  She groaned. Not there too. “Is it that bad?”

  “Not as bad as it could be. I’m faxing you some pages I think you need to see.”

  “How bad are we talking, Hank?” she whispered.

  “I’m sure it could have been a hell of a lot worse if you hadn’t asked me to run the audit now. You better have the contracts department check their files, too. I think there’s some inconsistencies there.”

  Dana felt her world tilt on its axis. Later she didn’t remember making her way to her office where the fax machine spit out page after page. She gathered up the sheets and began studying the figures and graphs showing the past five months. Expense reports she’d supposedly authorized. Paychecks for an employee she knew didn’t exist.

  The amount of money disappearing from the accounts was astounding.

  “We have to put a stop to this,” she said crisply. “I think the first thing we need to do is limit the number of people who can sign a check. Put financial limits on even that. Two signatures necessary for anything over five hundred dollars. New safeguards for the computer.”

  “We’ll have some people thinking we don’t trust them,” he said. “They’ve all been with us for years.”

  She felt a headache coming on. “I know. Then do me a favor. Tell them the truth. Tell them someone’s trying to ruin the business from the inside out. I know who the person is, just not how she’s accomplishing all this. As soon as she’s caught, we’ll set up a new checks and balances system. In fact, ask for their input—what they’d do to protect the files.”

  By the time she finished her call, she couldn’t even look at her breakfast. Right now, all she wanted was extra-strength aspirin.

  Her headache hadn’t even gone away when she heard her phone ring again. She felt a sinking sensation.

  “Ms. Madison, this is Barbara, your mother’s nurse—” The woman’s voice brought fear to Dana’s heart.

  “Your mother has been very agitated today. She insists she needs to see you. Would you be able to come by?”

  “I’ll be there as soon as possible.” She practically threw the cordless phone on the bed as she pulled clothing out of her closet.

  Dana prayed she would get there in time as she raced toward her mother’s house. She fled the vehicle as it stopped, and ran for the stairs. No one responded when she repeatedly punched the doorbell and pounded on the door. She dug her key out and quickly unlocked the door, pushing it open.

  “Harriet!” she called out. Only silence greeted her. “No,” she whimpered, running up the stairs. She ran so fast into the room that she almost stumbled.

  The first person she saw was the housekeeper sitting in a nearby chair and the nurse standing off to one side.

  “What’s wrong?” she demanded.

  “Nice to see you, Baby Dana.”

  The voice that sounded like her, yet didn’t sound like her, interrupted whatever Harriet might have said.

  Dana turned to face her mother’s bed. She couldn’t miss the stark fear on Alice’s face. Nor the reason for it.

  Now Dana understood why she dreamed of a reflection in the mirror. Darcy was her identical twin. Even if their clothing was different, Darcy’s hairstyle and makeup were the same as Dana’s.

  “Hello, Darcy.” She silently marveled at her own calm exterior. Inside, she wanted to scream and throw herself at the woman. Only one thing stopped her from attacking. The sight of a hypodermic syringe Darcy held in one hand. The needle shone silver as it rested against Alice’s neck.

  “Look at you. You really are a pale copy of me,” Darcy said. She didn’t look away as she reached to one side and picked up a pile of clothing. She tossed it in Dana’s direction. It fell at Dana’s feet. “Put them on. And no tricks.”

  Dana kept her eyes on her sister as she bent down and picked up the blouse and pants. She noticed both were identical to what Darcy wore.

  “I thought she was you,” Harriet explained. Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked from one to the other. “By the time I realized it wasn’t—”

  “Shut up!” Darcy snarled, turning on the housekeeper. “She doesn’t need to hear a thing from you.”

  Dana moved slowly, toeing off her loafers and unfastening her pants, pushing them down past her hips. As she changed her clothing, she kept her gaze fastened on Darcy. If the woman made any dangerous moves, Dana wanted to be ready.

  What would Mac do in a situation like this?

  Dummy, he’d probably make sure not to get in one!

  “Why do you want to hurt our mother?” she asked, hoping to keep her voice calm and steady. She couldn’t pray for Mac to suddenly appear and save them. He had no idea she was even here. She hadn’t left a note.

  “What happens to her doesn’t matter to me. Our mother didn’t give a damn about me,” Darcy sneered. “This is just to make sure you do what I want. Because if you don’t—” She stroked the tip of the needle against Alice’s throat. The older woman moaned softly. “Did you know air bubbles in the bloodstream are deadly? It’s not even a fraction of what she deserves for shutting me away in that prison.” She cast a cold glare at her mother. “She thought she could keep me there forever.”

  “How were you able to leave?” She hated to speak so civilly to a woman
who threatened everyone around them, but she knew she had no choice. After she slipped on the cream-colored silk blouse, she carefully pulled the coffee-colored pants up, tucking the shirt in and zipping up the pants.

  Darcy laughed. It was a sound Dana recognized as her own, even if Darcy’s held the hint of madness.

  “I didn’t waste all my time in group therapy, baby sister,” she mocked. “I also helped out in the office. All I needed was a sheet of paper with Alice’s signature on it, and it wasn’t long before I could sign her name as well as she could. I had no idea she’d become ill, but it worked to my advantage. No one questioned her letter requesting that I be released and sent home. After the loss of her husband, she felt the need to have her other daughter with her.”

  “It was that easy?” Dana was incredulous.

  Darcy smiled. “Nothing is ever that easy. But I was able to let them think I would be under a doctor’s care during the trip home. Picking up money was never difficult. I had enough to hire someone to pretend to be a doctor. Personally, I think my real doctor, Dr. Fredericks, was happy to see me gone. He was getting tired of firing all the orderlies he’d had to over the years. Just as well. None of them had all that much stamina when it counted.”

  Dana could feel her breakfast traveling up her throat. She swallowed before she started to choke.

  “So you were the one who traveled to all those bars and motels. And you were the one who had an affair with Gary Carter,” she said, just wanting to hear her suspicions confirmed.

  “Of course, it was me. It sure wasn’t you.” Darcy laughed. “Confess, sister dearest, you didn’t start really living until I came along and forced you into it.” She glanced down and ran a fingernail along Alice’s cheek. The woman shuddered as her lips formed soundless words. “I applaud your taste in men. I couldn’t have chosen better myself. Is he as good in bed as he looks?”

  Dana couldn’t play the game any longer. “What do you hope to gain from all this?”