The Stolen Twin

by Michele PW (Pariza Wacek)

  Nothing. The police could do nothing. Cat was dead and they got away with it. The perfect crime.

  I didn’t think I could hate David anymore than I already did, but at that moment the rage burned inside me. How could they do that to Cat? What kind of monsters were they?

  The fairies are evil. Pure evil.

  I wondered if Cat had suffered, if she had known their intentions, if she had seen her death reflected on their faces before the final blow.

  Now they wanted a new little girl to play with.

  Detective Reynolds stretched back in his chair, steepling his fingers again. “So, tell me more about how David is stalking you.”

  I gave him the shortened version, but I did include how David had managed to destroy my credibility. The detective didn’t interrupt, simply alternated between nodding his head and drinking his coffee.

  When I finished, he pondered for a bit before speaking. “Your story is certainly consistent with my dealings with David. I’m sorry you got tangled up with him in the first place. If you’d like, I’d be happy to call the Riverview police and share my experiences with them.”

  “You’d do that?” After weeks of living in a cloud of doubts, second-guesses and outright disbelief, I was deeply moved that someone not only believed my side of story, but was willing to help me.

  “Of course. I do have an advantage over the investigators in Riverview since I’ve had prior experience with David. Although, even without my help, I’m sure they would have figured out David’s true nature eventually.”

  Ah, eventually. That was the key. With my luck, eventually would come when Riverview’s finest were standing over my murdered body.

  I glanced sideways at Tommy. He shrugged. “Uh, I was wondering if I could share something else with you,” I began.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Well, I think that there might be a … more personal reason why David chose me to stalk.”

  Detective Reynolds leaned forward, his face narrowing. “I’m listening.”

  I took a deep breath. This was harder than I had expected. “You see, I had a sister, Cat. She was kidnapped when I was seven. And the thing is, Bethany looks like her.”

  He paused, considering. “So, you think the Terrys kidnapped your sister and raised her as their own?”

  “Okay, I know it sounds a little crazy and a little paranoid, but it actually makes sense. David told me he lost a sister to Cystic Fibrosis as a baby. I have Cystic Fibrosis, which is another reason why I think he latched onto me. But, anyway, now I find out he has another sister, Bethany. He loses that sister at sixteen. And now Mrs. Terry is in the process of adopting a ward of the state, a little blond girl named Kayla.”

  Detective Reynolds reached down, selected a pen and began jotting notes. “You say she’s about to adopt another girl?”

  “Yes, on Tuesday the adoption will be final. Kayla Benson. That’s the little girl’s name. But, back to Bethany, I really think she’s my sister, Cat Caldwell. Can you find out if there’s a police file on her kidnapping?”

  He continued to scribble on a piece of paper. “To be honest, the kidnapping doesn’t ring any bells, but I’ll check it out.”

  I filled him in with as much of the kidnapping details as I remembered while he took notes. I even told him about my meeting with Mrs. Terry.

  After I finished, he pondered his notes before looking at me. “I’m glad you came in today, Miss Caldwell. Why don’t you go get some rest? Check into a motel and let me see what I can dig up.”

  I nodded, my body going limp with relief and gratitude. Finally, some official help. A police officer who actually believed me. Even more amazing, he wanted to help me find the truth. For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt like things would work out for me.

  Tommy and I both stood up, thanking him. He stood as well, shaking our hands.

  “I don’t suppose I have to tell you two to be very careful,” he said. “You’re dealing with someone very dangerous, who’s quite possibly violent and homicidal. Watch yourselves.”

  “But how could he possibly know we’re here?” I asked. “He’s probably in front of my apartment building in Wisconsin right now.”

  Detective Reynolds’s face became grave. “I’m not trying to unduly alarm you, but you did visit his mother. I’m sure he knows you’re here.”

  My stomach dropped with a sickening thud. How could I have been so stupid? Of course she would call him. Why did I tip my hand like that? How idiotic could I be?

  “All I’m saying is be extra careful,” Detective Reynolds said. “He knows you’re in Minneapolis, but he doesn’t know exactly where, so you’re probably safe for now. But he also knows you’re investigating him, and he’s probably going to become even more dangerous. Make sure you check in with me before you return to Riverview.”

  I nodded, thanking him again, but more subdued than before.

  Two dead daughters, one murdered. One psychopathic son.

  And now that son knew I was on to him.

  ***

  We didn’t speak in the car. I was too busy trying to force my numb brain to process all the information thrown at me today, but Tommy just seemed preoccupied. He kept glancing in his rear view mirror.

  Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “What’s with the rear view mirror love affair?”

  Tommy stared into the mirror, pressed his lips together. “I think there’s a car following us.”

  I automatically glanced in the passenger side mirror. Several sets of lights shone back at me. “How can you even tell?”

  “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing. Just paranoia. Forget I said anything.”

  “Paranoia is catchy,” I said with forced lightness. He half-smiled at me, but he didn’t stop checking the rear view mirror.

  I spent the rest of the trip studying the mirror, trying to see why he thought we were being followed. I couldn’t tell, all the lights looked the same to me.

  Tommy turned into a lighted Motel 6 parking lot. Pulling into a space, he shut the car off and glanced around. “This fine?”

  “Sure.”

  He looked strained and exhausted. I attempted a smile. “Hey, look at the bright side. At least now we know David has some serious issues. Before, we only had a hunch.”

  He drummed his hands on the steering wheel. “I think I would’ve preferred being wrong.”

  Somewhere close by a set of tires squealed and a horn blared. “You think?”

  Tommy looked away, running his hands roughly through his hair. “It’s just such a shock. This whole day. I mean, I knew there was something off with him, but this goes way beyond it.”

  Two dead daughters, one murdered. One psychopathic son.

  “I know. Believe me, I know.”

  Tommy studied the steering wheel, his fingers splayed across it. He took a deep breath and gave himself a shake. “Let’s get checked in, then we can go across the street and get some dinner.”

  I nodded, following him out of the car. Although the parking lot was well-lit, the darkness hovered around us, hemming us in. Trees waved their bare branches, menacing silhouettes in the shadows. Our footsteps sounded hollow and exposed. I found myself craning my neck, trying to see everything at once, even though I kept telling myself I was being paranoid. No way could David be out there. Nobody had been following us.

  “What about football?” I said, the thought suddenly breaking through the muddle.

  He shrugged. “If we leave in the morning, we’ll be back in plenty of time.”

  That explanation sounded way too nonchalant. Brandi’s words flashed in my head. I opened my mouth to dig deeper, when an inarticulate cry shattered the stillness. I snapped my head around.

  David rushed out of the darkness. His face was twisted in rage. Hot eyes burned with madness. A knife glinted in his hand
.

  I froze. How could this be? It was like the first time he showed up at my classes. Like my thoughts had caused him to materialize. How long had he been following us? Would I ever get away from him?

  Tommy knocked me out of the way just as David’s knife slashed toward me. I fell sideways, landing awkwardly on the cement. Tommy barreled into David, knocking him to the parking lot. They landed into a heap of flailing arms and legs.

  Stunned, I rolled over. I had to help Tommy. But what could I do? From the tangle of bodies, I could see David raise the knife and plunge it downward.

  I screamed and scrambled to my feet. Tommy cried out in pain. The knife was buried in his shoulder. Blood splashed against his blue and yellow jacket, forming a new design.

  I ran toward them. David yanked the knife out. As he swung it down a second time, I grabbed it in mid-motion. It felt warm, sticky.

  A muffled curse. “Kit, get out of here,” Tommy muttered. “Call the cops.” I struggled to peel David’s fingers off the knife.

  David’s foot shot out of nowhere, kicking me in the calf. The pain was sharp, unexpected. I lost my grip on the knife. One finger slid across the sharp edge. A sting. More blood. Mixing with Tommy’s.

  Another kick. More pain. I went down hard. I tasted blood in my mouth.

  David stabbed Tommy again, this time in the arm. Tommy gasped as he fought to get the knife. Blood was everywhere. Have to do something. But what?

  My purse. I spied it lying on the pavement. I dove for it. Trembling with both fear and rage, I dumped the contents on the parking lot. There. Pepper spray. Noisemaker.

  Grabbing both, I ran back to the fight. David had pinned Tommy beneath him and was raising the knife a third time. Aiming for the chest. The kill. I sprayed him in the face.

  He screamed, whipping toward me. “You bitch.” The lower half of his face was wet, but his eyes blazed with the bright light of insanity.

  I saw my mistake then. My hand had been shaking too much. I missed his eyes.

  I sprayed a second time, but he was ready. His hand snaked out, grabbed my arm. “Bitch.” Twisted my wrist. Pain exploded in my arm. “Sneaking around. Spying on me. Spraying me with pepper spray. I’ll show you.” He yanked me against him. Squeezing and bending my wrist. Agony. I dropped the pepper spray. God, he was strong. Strength born of rage. Of desperation. Of madness. How else could he have overpowered Tommy?

  “Yeah, well you murdered my sister,” I hissed through clenched teeth, refusing to show how badly he was hurting me.

  His eyes widened, shock penetrating his madness. “How could you know that?” he gasped.

  “Detective Reynolds told me. Remember him? He didn’t fall for your crap.”

  David stared at me. Then he began to laugh. A horrible, eerie laugh.

  “Kit, you don’t know a damn thing,” he started to say, but Tommy punched him in the throat, striking him in the Adam’s apple.

  David’s eyes bulged. He made a strangled, garbled noise and dropped the knife. It hit the cement with a clatter.

  I lunged for it, falling across Tommy’s body. My hands touched the knife, slid over the wet, slick surface.

  “No, you don’t.” David’s voice came out as a choked gasp. He snatched my hair, jerking my head up painfully. My teeth clicked together. The knife kept slipping, I couldn’t get a good grip on it.

  Another head jerk. Hot, bright pain. Tears filled my eyes. I clawed at the knife, just managed to get if off the pavement.

  “Bitch.” David dragged me to my feet by my hair. “We’ll see if your boyfriend can save you now.”

  He seized my throat.

  I plunged the knife into his thigh.

  He screamed and let go of me. I fell to the ground, landing on something hard.

  The noisemaker.

  Tommy groaned. David was staring at the knife poking out of his jeans. Blood spurted out, staining his clothes. He raised his head, mouth twisting uselessly. He didn’t look human.

  “I can’t believe you did that to me.” He grasped the knife, as if to pull it out.

  I wretched the noisemaker from under me and yanked out the pin. The alarm squealed. David stopped what he was doing, jerking his head to fix his hot, gleaming eyes on me. People started streaming out of the hotel, running toward us.

  David followed my gaze. He looked back at me.

  “This isn’t over yet,” he mouthed, then turned and limped away.

  I closed my eyes briefly, then struggled to replace the pin. My hands shook so bad it took a couple of tries, but I eventually did it.

  Silence. Tommy groaned again. Blood everywhere, his jacket soaked.

  “Somebody call an ambulance,” I heard someone shout, before realizing I was that someone.

  Chapter 34

  David’s face. Twisted. Laughing.

  “Kit, you don’t know a damn thing.”

  Newspaper photo. Cat’s face looking at me. “It’s all real, Kit. It’s all real.”

  I opened my eyes. Dozens of blue-gray chairs. Gray carpet. White walls. Television in the corner. Hospital smell. Such a dreadful smell. I hated that smell.

  For one terrible moment, I was seven years old and dying. Dying in the hospital while the fairies kidnapped my sister.

  No, it was the Terrys. The Terrys kidnapped her. And they killed her.

  Now it all came back to me. I had fallen asleep in the hospital waiting room.

  I stood up and every muscle in my body protested. God did I hurt.

  Tommy had been whisked away the moment we arrived at the hospital. They had tried to whisk me away as well, but I kept telling them I wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t my blood all over my clothes.

  “We have to check you out anyway,” the Hispanic doctor said, escorting me to a room.

  He introduced himself as Dr. Sanchez. Reluctantly, I allowed him to examine me.

  “Well, it doesn’t appear that you have any injuries,” he said, after he had finished poking and prodding me. “But that cough doesn’t sound very good.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sick,” I said. “Nothing some chicken soup won’t cure.”

  He started writing a few notes. “Have you had a chest x-ray?”

  Oh no. Not a chest x-ray. They would never let me out of here if they actually saw the condition of my lungs. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

  Dr. Sanchez glanced at me. “The way your lungs sound, I think you should have one.”

  Oh, God. I couldn’t be admitted. Not with David still out there. I’d be dead in no time. “Okay, I’ll get one, but let me get one back in Riverview. I’m a broke student and I have an insurance problem. Deal?”

  Dr. Sanchez smiled. “Ah, yes. I’m well acquainted with both situations. All right. Just promise me you’ll schedule an appointment with your doctor the moment you get back to Riverview.”

  Relief. I smiled back. “You got it. Thank you, doctor.”

  He nodded and let me return to the waiting room, telling me he would check on Tommy for me. I had just managed to get myself semi-comfortable when he reappeared, informing me that Tommy was going to be fine, but was pretty drugged up at the moment. I could see him in the morning. I thanked him, then worked on getting more comfortable since it appeared I would be spending the night.

  I didn’t think I’d fall asleep, but I must have, because that had been another peculiar, unsettling dream.

  It’s all real, Kit. It’s all real.

  Whatever that meant. I glanced at the clock, rubbing my chest. A little after 10 p.m. I hadn’t slept long.

  “Didn’t I just tell you to be careful?”

  I whipped around. Detective Reynolds was striding toward me.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to get my breathing under control. “You scared me.”

  “I wish I’d scared you more.” He
looked grim. “Now, what exactly happened?”

  I filled him in as best I could. He took copious notes, asked questions when I started losing steam and nodded a lot.

  When I couldn’t think of anything more to tell him, he closed his notebook with a sigh. “He’s upped the stakes, you do realize that.”

  I nodded.

  He ran his hand over his face, his head. “I probably don’t have to tell you to be very, very careful. I’ve already informed the hospital not to tell anyone you or Tommy are here, and I’ve alerted hospital security of the seriousness of the problem. In addition, I’ve supplied them with a photo of David. The fact that you’ve wounded him is something we can track. We’ll check hospitals, clinics, and his mother’s. I’m also sending out an APB. We’re doing what we can.”

  I nodded again. He studied me, his brown eyes warm and concerned, then reached out to squeeze my hand. “We’re going to get him. Don’t you worry about that. You just keep yourself and your boyfriend safe until we do.”

  His hand was warm, comforting. Strong and gentle at the same time. He was a man who kept his promises. And he had promised to help me. I smiled, a real smile. “Thank you.”

  He ducked his head in a quick nod, squeezed my hand one last time and left.

  I settled myself back on my chair. Might as well get some sleep. But every time I closed my eyes, fragments of my life cracked through my subconscious, keeping me awake.

  “Kit, you don’t know a damn thing.”

  Why would David say that? What was I missing here?

  “It’s all real, Kit. It’s all real.”

  Cat had said that in my church dream.

  My life has been dominated by two dreams.

  In one, the fairies kidnap Cat. In real life, the Terrys kidnap Cat. I knew they did with the same deep-down certainty I had known when Cat died.

  After all, she came to say goodbye.

  In the second dream, I visit a lonely country church with my parents.

  Could that one be true as well?

  “It’s all real, Kit. It’s all real.”

  Still pondering, I looked at the clock. Only eleven. Elena would still be up. I dialed my cell phone.