Annie was shaking all over, sobbing. Gwen put her hand on her back, trying to soothe her, and Annie shot up and started thrashing back and forth in her seat, panicking. The officer got up and held his gun low and ready, moving toward the back of the car and around to Annie’s side.
“Annie, Annie!” Gwen said, hands out. “It’s okay! Calm down. The police are here. You have to let them help you.”
She continued to thrash around, as if she hadn’t heard anything, and Gwen pulled away from her as far as she could, afraid of colliding with her swinging head. The police officer she’d talked to was standing outside Annie’s door. Annie’s window was up, so whatever he was saying was muffled, but his gun was still out and low. Several other officers stood behind him, hands on their weapons, waiting for his signal. Gwen was terrified he was going to open the door before she could calm Annie down. She wasn’t about to watch these men shoot the love of her life.
Gwen unbuckled her seat belt and threw herself on Annie, squeezing her as tight as she could. Annie still bucked and struggled beneath her, but Gwen managed to avoid her head as it swung back toward her chin. In her terror, Annie had surprising strength, and Gwen could barely hold on. A steady stream of reassurances and soothing nonsense flowed out of her own mouth, but she focused on calming her. It was like trying to hold onto a hurricane. Then, almost as if she had been turned off, Annie sagged beneath her.
“Shh, shh, shh,” Gwen continued to mutter. “You’re okay, you’re okay. Shh, shh…”
It took Gwen several seconds to recognize that it was over, and she moved back a little, letting Annie sit up. Annie’s face was red and contorted, her eyes almost rolling in panic. She stared straight ahead, almost as if she couldn’t see Gwen. Her hair had come loose from its tie, and lay in lank locks across her face. It was impossibly long—much longer than her hair had been before, and quite dark, hardly blond at all. Gwen pushed some of it back to clear her vision, and Annie didn’t react, seeming dazed, shocked.
Suddenly but dimly aware of a commotion outside, Gwen looked up, searching for the source. Someone was screaming from behind what seemed like a solid line of police officers about fifty feet away, beyond the farthest picnic table. The crowd finally parted, and a small blond figure appeared amidst the taller, armed men.
It was Annie.
She was struggling to get through them, pushing them, but several of them held her back. Gwen could hear only the tone of her panic, not the words, clearly. But finally, a woman wearing a suit walked toward the group of officers holding her back. She must have said something to them, and Annie started running toward Bill’s car a second later. The woman in the suit dashed after her, but no one nearby was fast enough to catch her.
A large, imposing moose of a man grabbed Annie’s arm, almost as an afterthought, stopping her with little effort about ten feet from the car. Annie struggled for a moment and then relaxed, glaring up at him.
“That’s my sister in there, you ass,” she said.
The woman in the suit finally caught up, gasping, and waved at the police officers near the car.
“Step back, everyone,” the woman said. “One of the women in the car is schizophrenic. Her sister’s going to help us get her out safely.”
Most of them stepped back and holstered their weapons, but the nearest officer, the one she’d talked to, kept his gun out and low and moved back only a few feet. Annie raced around to that side of the car and opened the door. Her eyes met Gwen’s and then she was checking her sister, running her hands across her face and up and down her arms, looking for injuries.
“Oh, God, Beth,” Annie said. “What did they do to you?”
Beth’s face suddenly brightened, and she moved a little. Her eyes locked on Annie’s and then filled with tears. Annie pulled her into a hug, and when she drew back, she reached up to remove Beth’s gag. Beth let her without a struggle, and when it was off, she turned to Gwen.
“I’m not Annie,” she said.
Gwen laughed. “Yes. I understand now.”
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Gwen,” Annie said. “It’s all my fault. I should never have let you go on your own.”
“I shouldn’t have left you. It’s my fault, too. I was being pigheaded.”
Annie’s eyes briefly filled with tears, but she blinked them away, focusing on Beth again.
“Are you okay, honey? Did they hurt you?”
Beth shook her head. “No. I’m just scared. I don’t like being tied up.”
Annie laughed, clearly relieved. “No, sweetie. I guess you don’t. But it’s going to be scary again in a minute. That lady over there,” she pointed at the woman in the suit, “is going to have to take me away.”
“For how long?” Beth asked, sounding angry.
“I don’t know yet, sugar, but hopefully not as long as last time.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
“And I don’t want to, but I have to, at least for a while. But you know what? My new friend Trixie is going to help you now, and Tom is on his way.” She lifted her chin toward Gwen. “And you’ve already met Gwen. She’ll help you, too.”
“Tom’s here?” Beth asked, peering around almost wildly.
Annie laughed. “He’ll be here soon, if he’s not already.”
Beth continued to look around, clearly trying to see if she could spot Tom, and Annie took the opportunity to unbuckle Beth’s seat belt. Gwen slid after them as they got out of the car, standing up and almost groaning with relief. She held her hands up for the police again and watched as the closest one finally holstered his gun. He stepped toward them, making everyone flinch, but indicated the zip tie on Beth’s hands. He cut it off and retreated, joining his colleagues a few yards away.
The three of them were left on their own for a moment, and Annie gave both of them a long hug. Gwen, not satisfied, kissed her, hard, and Annie pulled away, laughing.
“We’re giving everyone a show.”
“I don’t care. I had to kiss you.”
Beth was staring at them, eyebrows nearly in her hairline, and Annie gave her another quick, one-armed hug. “Sorry, Beth. I should have told you. Gwen’s my girlfriend.”
“Really? I didn’t know you had one.”
“She’s really special to me. And I hope, once all of this is cleared up, the two of you can be good friends. Like you and Tom.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Tom’s more than a friend. You know that.”
Annie grinned. “Yes. And Gwen’s more than a friend, too.” She looked at Gwen, grinning. “She’s more than a girlfriend, even. I love her.”
“You do?” Gwen and Beth asked at the same time.
Annie laughed again. “Of course, silly.”
“I love you, too,” Gwen said.
Beth squealed, throwing her arms around Gwen and squeezing her with that surprising, wiry strength. Gwen hugged her back, surprised now that she’d ever thought this woman was Annie. While they resembled each other very strongly, Beth was clearly different in every other way. Still, she had to give herself some credit. Most of these differences were only clear now that she was untied and ungagged.
The woman in the suit was pacing, somewhat impatiently, some ten or fifteen feet away. Trixie was seated on a nearby picnic table, talking to some police officers. How much trouble was Gwen in?
Annie glanced back, frowning. “We don’t have much time,” she said.
“What’s going to happen?”
Annie shook her head, her eyes flickering toward Beth. She didn’t want to speak in front of her. Annie would be arrested again, but what would happen next was probably anyone’s guess.
“I tried to make it easy for you, Gwen. I told them I forced you to do most of it at the beginning, but I don’t know how much they believed. I hope it’s not too bad. Trixie intends to call a lawyer friend of hers, so someone should be there for you when they bring us in.”
“Tom!” Beth suddenly shouted, and started running away. Annie tried to gra
b her but was too slow, so they watched as she dashed across the crowded picnic area. Several officers were escorting Tom, but he threw his hands in the air and caught her as she launched herself at him.
“She’s in love with him,” Annie explained. “She doesn’t know he doesn’t like her like that. If he ever tells her, I hope she’ll understand.”
“Ah.” They watched them for a while, and Gwen recalled own brother when she was younger. She turned to Annie and took one of her hands. “I promise to help her, too, whenever all this is settled.”
Annie smiled. “I know you will, Gwen. I trust you. You’ve already done so much.”
Gwen laughed. “No, I haven’t. You’re right where you started. You’re going back to prison because of me. You could have disappeared, run away, and instead you stage this huge rescue at your own expense.”
Annie shook her head. “It wasn’t for you, Gwen. It was for us—all of us. You, me, and Beth. Last night, when Susan told Trixie that she had both of you, I almost passed out. I knew then I had to turn myself in—it was the only way to help you both. That and I couldn’t keep running away. It isn’t in me. I thought I could do it, but I can’t. We’ll have to hope some judge will see reason.”
“I’ll wait for you, Annie. However long it takes. I swear it.”
Annie pulled her into a hug and then whispered in her ear. “You better. You’re going to have to take care of my money while I’m locked up.”
Gwen reeled back, shocked, and Annie kissed her before she could say anything in front of the police.
Epilogue
Gwen stretched and set her book down on the little table next to her ice-cold daiquiri. The thatch umbrella above them was shading them from the sun, but the heat was still intense, almost uncomfortable. Too hot to read, anyway. She was wearing sunglasses, but the light off the white sand was blinding this time of day. The waves were calm today, the water that bright, greenish, almost neon blue that didn’t look real. A breeze blew past once in a while off the water, deliciously cool, but it was infrequent enough that sweat pooled on her exposed stomach. She closed her eyes and adjusted her chaise lounge so that she lay almost prone and started to doze. Annie was already asleep in her chair, sitting upright. It was that kind of day.
It had been almost four years since they’d been arrested. Gwen hadn’t gotten as much time as Annie. In fact, and entirely because of Annie’s testimony, she’d been released fairly quickly, all things considered—less than a year. At the time, Annie had testified that she’d forced her to steal all those cars, and her lawyer had done a fair job of claiming that the rest of her actions had resulted from a kind of Stockholm syndrome. Everyone in the courtroom, including the judge, had been skeptical, but her lack of criminal record had helped sway her conviction and sentencing.
Bill had immediately confessed, partly, Gwen thought, out of spite for Susan, but mostly to reduce his sentence. After a brief, two-week period on the lam, Susan had been caught in San Diego. Presented with her husband’s confession, she’d nevertheless remained tight-lipped and received the maximum penalty.
After a series of delayed appeals, Annie’s sentence had been reduced and her conviction bumped down to accessory, in part because of Bill’s confession. Most of the rest of the evidence to change her sentencing had to deal with the paper and digital trail Bill and Susan had left, which showed them in sole possession of the money from the day it was stolen. Had they not been as greedy as they were, Annie would still be behind bars. Annie’s sentence had been reduced to seven years, with time served, which meant she’d been released six months ago.
Trixie had, in fact, managed to get most of the money. She’d made it seem like Susan had moved it herself before hiding it entirely, and, as Susan wouldn’t confess to anything, let alone something she didn’t do, she received the entire blame. In light of this development, Annie and Gwen agreed that a fifty-fifty split with Trixie was fair, and, in gratitude, Trixie had managed to grow their fortune significantly in the intervening years through smart off-shore investment.
Despite her time in jail, after giving her an official reprimand, Gwen’s employer had kept her on. Gwen preferred to think her former immediate supervisor liked her, but she was probably desperate, and they were short-handed. Her bosses couldn’t discount the whole situation, however, so they bumped her back down to local investigator, which meant a lot of stakeouts on cheating spouses and acting like a secret paparazzi at various events. She’d started with this kind of work as a PI and hated it, but she’d been glad for an actual job. Her employer had kindly transitioned her to the Dallas field office, closer to Annie, and eventually she could visit her nearly every week.
Beyond having something to do to pass the time, her job lent credence to their story: she and Annie didn’t know where the stolen money was or where it had been. Gwen had spied a few police officers and agents tailing her that first year but didn’t do anything about it. Thinking of them watching her watch other people amused her. They also weren’t as good at it as she was. She’d never let herself be seen.
Tom moved closer as well, and eventually, among the three of them—Tom, Gwen, and Trixie—they were able to hire full-time care for Beth. They moved her out of the hospital into her own apartment in Tom’s building, using their legitimate savings, so the police had no reason to investigate how they were paying for it.
Annie held up well behind bars, considering. Because of her education and background, she spent some of her time inside helping other inmates and prison workers with their money and taxes. She taught a few classes on professionalization, making résumés, dressing for interviews, that kind of thing, and seemed relatively interested in her occupation. Annie dealt with the situation as best she could, but occasionally one or both of them would lose it during a visit, terrified by what could happen to her while she was confined.
Three months before her release, Gwen and Trixie took a trip together, ostensibly to Mexico. They rented rooms there and paid some bribes to make it seem as if they’d stayed there the entire time. Instead, they hired a charter flight from Mexico City to Belize, all to cover their tracks. After a lot of driving around, they eventually found a series of remote cays near enough to a larger city for health care and shopping, but isolated enough to stay relatively hidden. They leased two houses on either end of the same cay. Only twenty residences were located on the cay, total, and each had its own section of beach.
They’d come here almost immediately after Annie’s release, waiting just long enough for the police to see that they hadn’t rushed to the cash. Whether anyone would come looking for them some day was another story, but Trixie believed that, with Bill and Susan as the sacrificial lambs, so to speak, no one had much motivation to try.
Beth had been here with them in Belize almost since the beginning. Her nurse was trained and dedicated—they all loved her. She came over from the mainland five days a week, and another lovely nurse spent the other two days there. Beth’s part of the house had a separate entrance that gave her some independence. Eventually, should things continue to go as well as they were now, she might get her own place somewhere nearby.
Gwen startled awake at the sound of a gull, very near. She sat up, resting her weight on her hands, and yawned, yodeling a little. The heat of the day had died down, maybe in part because the breeze had picked up. Annie stirred to life next to her, stretching, and Gwen watched her, delighted as always to see her in a bikini. Her little body was still milky white—she stayed out of the sun almost entirely—but she’d gained some weight since her release. Her curves were coming back, and her ribs and collarbones grew less stark as the weeks passed.
Annie yawned. “Did you say something?”
“No. It was a gull.”
“Mmm.” Annie stretched again, and Gwen stared at her without blinking. Annie must have sensed what she was doing, as she turned to her with a sly grin. “What are you looking at?”
“You.”
“Uh-huh. And do you like
what you see?”
“Yes. Very much.”
Annie swatted her with her hat. “None of that, now. We have company coming.”
Gwen glanced at her watch. “Not for another twenty minutes.”
Annie’s cheeks colored, and Gwen took that as an invitation, climbing out of her chair and into Annie’s. They started kissing, and right as Gwen reached for the tie to Annie’s top, they heard an engine approaching.
“Crap,” Annie said.
They both looked toward the water. At the far end of their beach, they had a small dock. Gwen, Annie, and Beth used bikes to get around the island, primarily, but to reach the mainland, they needed easy access to the water. Gwen hadn’t settled on a boat yet, but Trixie had one and used it when she dropped by. Today she was bringing their visitor over from the mainland, and Gwen could see Tom towering above her in the little boat.
“I should go get Beth,” Annie said.
Almost as if they’d summoned her, they heard a shriek from the house behind them, and they both laughed as Beth ran from the porch, across the sand, and toward the dock. Tom and Trixie were waving enthusiastically enough to tilt the boat back and forth, and Gwen and Annie laughed with shared joy.
“I guess I should get off you now,” Gwen said.
“I guess you should.”
Neither of them moved, and Gwen bent back down to kiss her. The others were still far enough away that they were still relatively hidden, and Gwen crushed Annie against her. Eventually Annie drew back, breathing heavily.
“You’re going to get me going, and I won’t be able to do anything about it.”
“Cold shower?” Gwen suggested.
Annie laughed and pushed her shoulder. “Asshole.”
“Okay—how about this? You can spend the rest of today thinking about what I’m going to do to you tonight.”
Annie laughed again. “That doesn’t make it any better.”
Gwen leaned down for one more kiss, and they both froze when someone sighed a few feet away.
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