Girl, we miss u! Where u at?
Isa, the party scene just isn’t the same without you. #findisa
Rolled face at Satin, danced my ass off in your honor.
Thoughts & prayers for ur safe return.
There were a ton more comments like this, people from all over the world, it seemed. I scrolled through Isa’s Instagram pictures, tried to imagine the sort of life that she used to live. The exotic places, all the new faces, staying up playing music until the sun rose. Sleepy brunch at a restaurant on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Countless selfies fans had taken with her. A lot of professional photos of Isa behind her turntables, a different club every time.
I studied the pictures, trying to find a clue, trying to find something that might suggest who had taken her or what had happened. But it all looked foreign to me; it all just looked like one big party, one big good time for everyone involved.
What would I say to her if I saw her again? I had no idea, but I did know I’d go up and give her a big hug and tell her how much I loved her, even if we had two totally different lives. I’d been foolish to let that get in the way of things, to cloud my perception that Isa and I couldn’t be close because we were so unalike. It was as if I thought we had to be carbon copies of each other in order for us to have a good relationship, which sounded ridiculous now. We’d made it through childhood together! That alone should be enough to bond us for life. Yet it was as much my fault as it was hers that we’d simply let the years slip by, we’d let time push us further and further apart. And what had the last conversation with my sister been? When she’d tried to get me to go out to Ibiza and I’d refused. So Isa had wanted us to hang out together, had made an attempt to get that to happen, and I’d been the one who’d turned her down.
Please just let me see my sister again, I thought. Please. I will be nothing but grateful if that happens.
Chapter 17
Jason
Emmy showed up at my place the next morning, two coffees in hand. “For you,” she said, handing one to me.
“Why thank you,” I said, giving her a kiss. “Come on in.”
We went and sat in the living room, and I put my arm around her as she snuggled right up next to me.
“So, do you still want to go with me today?” she asked.
I nodded. “I do,” I said. “Especially after what happened at Oddlands, I just don’t feel safe with you going out there and doing things like this on your own. I know that probably makes me sound like some sort of psychotic, overprotective boyfriend or something—” I stopped, realizing what I’d just said. “I mean, I’m not saying that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend or anything like that; I just—”
“I wouldn’t mind if you were,” she said. She had that shy smile on her face again. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“No.” She sidled out from under my arm and sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck before giving me a long kiss. “In fact, weren’t you already pretending to be my boyfriend? That day we ran into Silas?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, smiling. “That seems like it happened such a long time ago. Even though it really wasn’t. I still would really feel more comfortable about all of this if you didn’t go alone.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good.”
“It can be a little road trip. I’ve never been in a geodesic dome before. I’m not even sure I know what that is.”
“I haven’t either.” I grinned. “But it looks like we’re going to find out.”
***
Laurel and Flax. I didn’t really have any concrete idea in mind of what these two actually looked like, though if I was to take a guess, it would’ve probably been something along the lines of what Scout looked like, or at least how he dressed. That turned out not to be the case at all. Laurel was the one who came to the door, and she was probably six feet tall, no lie. Only a few inches shorter than I was, and it was a little strange to be looking at a woman at eye level like that. She had bright-blue eyes and this wild, curly, blond hair. Dyed, because the roots were starting to grow in, but she had so much hair, so many springy, platinum coils, that that was really all you noticed. Her hair flowed past her shoulders, stopping midway down. She was wearing a short, sheer dress, something more like a slip or maybe a nightgown. No bra, no underwear, nipples on full display, poking through the thin fabric. Her tanned legs looked like they went on for about a mile, and she wore Grecian-style sandals, thin leather straps crisscrossing their way up her calves.
“Babe, our visitors are here!” she called over her shoulder before addressing us. I had to look away. She oozed sex. There was no denying that she was a beautiful woman, but there was something about her that seemed untouchable, despite the fact that she was basically standing there naked in front of us.
“Invite them in!”
Flax appeared behind Laurel, bare-chested, sculpted torso, deep tan. He was an inch or two shorter than Laurel, head shaved completely bald, though he did have a goatee. His arms were covered in red and black tribal tattoos. Like Laurel, he exuded this aura of sex. Had they just been doing it? He was wearing a pair of wheat-colored pants, loose around the legs, tapered down at the bottom, falling across his crotch in just the right way that it showed off the outline of a rather large member.
“Hello, hello!” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Come on in. Welcome to our humble abode. Mi casa essu casa. Or however the hell it goes.”
“You got it, babe,” Laurel said encouragingly, like she was a proud parent. I glanced at Emmy, trying to get a read, to see if she was getting the feeling that this situation was as weird as I was finding it. But her expression was hard to gauge. She just smiled and then was enveloped up into a huge hug, first by Laurel, then Flax. They moved to me next, and I smelled lavender and something vaguely sweet, like honey, when Laurel hugged me, and then some sort of incense when Flax pulled me in, ending with a hearty clap on the back.
“Thank you so much for reaching out to us,” Laurel said. “We had no idea that Isa had a twin sister. Look at you! You’re gorgeous, just like your sister. Please, come in. Let’s sit down and chat.”
Their house was interesting; it was one big, round space, with a huge domed skylight in the middle that let in light as if it were being broadcast straight down from heaven. There was an ornately carved round table, the base of which looked like a tree trunk with branches spreading out and flattening to form a lattice-like tabletop. There was a sectional couch and a mini bar near the kitchen, and a desk built into the wall on which stood several computers.
We went over and sat on the couch, and Laurel asked us if we wanted some tea. She brought over a tray with a teapot and tiny teacups as well as some shortbread cookies and it almost felt like we were visiting at Grandma’s house, except of course Grandma would not be wearing a see-through slip and nothing else—at least I hoped not.
“Laurel makes great tea,” Flax said. He took one of the cups she had just poured and handed it to Emmy, then did the same for me. I blew on the steam and then took a sip. It was some sort of herbal tea, a pale, watery-green color. I wasn’t much of a tea drinker and was really only used to black teas, like English Breakfast and Earl Grey, but this one wasn’t so bad.
Laurel settled herself down next to Emmy. I couldn’t even glance in her direction because her nipples were right there, pretty much on full display.
“So, you guys know my sister?” Emmy said, setting her teacup down on the coffee table in front of us.
“Oh, we know her and love her,” Laurel said. “She’s such an amazing person. Really and truly.”
“It’s the weirdest thing, her just disappearing like that,” Flax said. “We’ve been really worried, obviously. The police haven’t come up with anything? No leads?”
“No,” Emmy said.
“Which is why you’re out, trying to talk to people, figure out what happened,” Flax said, nodding. “That’s so commend
able.”
“I’m not expecting you to have any answers for me or anything like that,” Emmy said. “But if there’s anything that you might be able to tell me about Isa... it’s kind of shameful for me to admit this, but I didn’t really know that much about her life before this.”
Laurel and Flax were both nodding, like Emmy was telling them the most captivating story they had ever heard. They were, in a way, like big children. There was something strangely naïve about them, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was.
“I wish we had some answers for you,” Laurel said. “I really do. But I can say with pretty good certainty that anyone we interact with wouldn’t do something like that. They just wouldn’t.”
“Hell, no, they wouldn’t,” Flax chimed in. “So that’s why we think it was someone that hadn’t been to a club before, or wasn’t very familiar with the scene or anything. Sometimes newbies show up and they don’t know what to expect, or they don’t even like the music, but they just want to take out their bad attitude on people who are actually loving life and having a good time. It’s tragic, but people like that do exist.”
“What we wanted to talk to you about was a party we’re playing this weekend,” Laurel said. “We were booked to play it months ago, before all this happened with Isa, but we’re going to donate part of the profits to a fund to help find her. We know the police are involved, but neither Flax nor I hold San Francisco’s finest in very high esteem, I’m sorry to say. Really, what we’re hoping, though, is that this conversation about Isa doesn’t die out, that people don’t start to forget.”
“Wow,” Emmy said. “That’s so great you’re going to do that.”
“And we’d like you to be there. As our guests. It’s still going to be one hella good party—Isa would want that—and it would really mean the world to us if you’d go,” Laurel said. She looked at me. “You, too. It’s going to be such a great event, and anyone that knows Isa at all should really be there. We need to get as much positive energy together as we can.”
“Uh... yeah, maybe,” I said. I took another sip of my tea, which tasted vaguely like stale mushrooms.
“We should do something in Isa’s honor right now,” Laurel said. “I don’t mean that to sound like I think she’s not going to come back, like we’re not going to see her again. Whenever I meditate now, that’s what I meditate on—seeing her again. But maybe it would help the universe’s energy align for that if we did something that would honor who she is and what she liked to do.”
Without waiting for a response from either of us, she stood up and slipped her little dress off her shoulders. It landed in a puddle at her feet, and she stood there, completely naked.
“Oh!” Emmy said.
“I don’t... um... what?” I said to the floor.
“There’s no need to be shy.” Laurel went over and sat down next to Emmy. “I’m an experienced tantric practitioner. Isa, Flax, and I have a wonderful, loving, extremely fulfilling relationship.”
“She was in a relationship with... the two of you?” Emmy asked.
“We don’t like labels,” Laurel said. “In fact, we try to steer clear of them whenever we can. But, for simplicity’s sake, yes, we did have a relationship, though it was not constrained by the bounds of the traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationship.”
“Because that would be marriage—and no, thanks to that,” Flax said, laughing loudly.
“Isa always knew how to enjoy and appreciate her body,” Laurel said. She placed one hand on Emmy’s leg. “Isa is lucky because she has a beautiful body, but any body should be appreciated and celebrated, because bodies are wonderful things.”
Was this really happening? Was I really sitting here in a geodesic dome, with my girlfriend, who was getting her thigh rubbed by a naked woman who was tall enough and good-looking enough to be a supermodel?
Flax came over and sat down next to me, a little too close, but I couldn’t move over because I was sandwiched between him and Emmy.
“Hold on a second here,” I said. “We came over to talk about Isa, not to... um... do whatever it is you might be thinking.”
“Don’t be afraid,” Laurel said, her voice a purr. “A tall drink of water like you surely knows how to enjoy his body. And if not, that’s truly a shame. We can make you feel good.”
“I can make myself feel good, thanks.”
She laughed. “Would you like to have an orgasm that doesn’t end? That just keeps coming and coming?”
I glanced at Emmy. “Uh... is that a rhetorical question?”
“Would you like to know how to redirect your ejaculation so you can—”
“No, thanks—all set with that!”
“It’s amazing, man,” Flax said. “I know it sounds impossible, but it’s not. And once you can do it, you won’t even believe how amazing you’ll feel.”
“You’re probably not at all acquainted with your prostate gland, either,” Laurel said. “You probably don’t even know where it is.”
“I know it’s up my ass and that’s all I need to know, to know to stay away from it.”
She made a tsk-tsk sound. “That’s a very limited view. And by adopting such a limited view, you are depriving your body of a feeling it has every right to feel. Just ask Flax—Isa, in fact, gave him one of the best orgasms he’s ever experienced through a combination of prostate massage and—”
“I think you might have the wrong idea about us,” Emmy interjected. “I’m not... we’re not... as sexually adventurous as my sister was. This I do happen to know for a fact because I read through her journal. I didn’t even know what half the stuff was that she was talking about.”
Laurel grinned. “So, you’re basically like virgins! Excellent.”
“No, we’re not virgins,” I said. “Not by a long shot. But we didn’t come over here to have an orgy; sorry if we gave you that impression.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Emmy said slowly. “It’s just not something that we’re going to do. I’m sorry.”
“Really?” The look of disappointment on Flax’s face was undeniable. Holy shit—did they really think we were coming over to do that?
“Really,” I said. “Sorry, man.”
“Well, if that’s really your final answer... at least promise to be our honored guests this weekend. And as our guests, you’ll get comped and put on the VIP list—no waiting in any lines for you. It’s going to be the last event we’re doing stateside; we’re heading over to Europe for a while, don’t know when we’ll be back,” Laurel said. She held her hands up. “No funny business, I promise.”
I found that a little hard to believe, but Emmy was nodding, a smile on her face.
“Of course,” she said. “Of course we’ll be there. And you don’t have to put us on any list or anything; that’s really not—”
“Oh, but we are.” Laurel pulled her dress back up, which didn’t do much in the way of concealing her nakedness.
Chapter 18
Emmy
Jason had to go into work for a while when we finally made it back to the city, but I wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. I decided to call Carolyn and see if she was around; it felt like it had been a long time since the two of us had hung out together.
“I’m actually in the city right now,” she said. “Just finishing up a meeting. You want to grab a late lunch?”
“I would love that. I was just thinking that it’d been a while since we really saw each other. That time at the Peruvian place doesn’t count.”
Carolyn laughed. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said. “You feel like Thai? Want to meet up at Jade Orchid, say in like half an hour? I’m not too far from there.”
“Sounds perfect. See you soon.”
Since I had half an hour to get there, I decided I’d walk to Jade Orchid. I went down Market Street, past the cable-car turnaround, past the throngs of people, arms laden with shopping bags, past the line of p
eople playing at the rows of concrete chess tables. As I was about to turn off Market, someone came rushing up from behind and fell in step next to me.
It was a guy, with a ragged rucksack hanging from his back, his face weathered and deeply lined. A pungent odor emanated from him, a combination of old booze and a ripeness that comes from prolonged periods of not bathing. I steeled myself, expecting the next words out of his mouth to be something about giving him money, but instead he held his hand out, which was grasping a worn piece of paper.
But I recognized that piece of paper.
It was one of the flyers that Les had made.
“This is you,” he said, shaking the piece of paper. His eyes were wide, too wide, it seemed, and I wondered if he was on drugs or something. Which I then felt bad about for thinking.
“It’s not me,” I said. “I know it looks like me, but it’s actually my twin sister. She’s missing, and a friend of ours made up those flyers.”
He was shaking his head though. “No, no—this is you. I can tell. Look, look at you. Here you are here on this paper, where it says MISSING, and here you are, walking down the street.”
“It’s really not me,” I said. “I know it says there’s a reward on there, but that’s for any information regarding my sister, who, yes, looks just like me, but isn’t me.”
“I don’t want the money. I want to warn you—there’s a bad guy after you. You should be careful. That’s how come I got this flyer in the first place. See, I sleep in the park sometimes and I get up early and I saw this guy. It looked like he was out for a run, but he wasn’t running; he was walking down the sidewalk, tearing all these flyers off the lampposts where someone had put them up. That’s why I have this one here to begin with, because I am not the sort of person who would tear someone else’s flyers down—that’s disrespectful. But this guy... he looked really angry. Was mumbling all sorts of things to himself, lots of swears. He tore up some of the flyers and some of them he just ripped down. You need to watch out.” He tried to hand me the flyer. “You should take this.”
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