by Peter Spokes
He thanked God he had missed those of his parents.
Cass was fed up looking at the past for anyone who he might have disgruntled or otherwise pissed off.
There had been four murders now and still he was no closer to understanding the murderer’s motive.
Scene 3: Pollux
Floyd Dobson looked down at the corpse and then up at his boss. “What do you want me to do with the body, Boss? … When you’ve finished with it – that is,” he asked wincing.
As he looked over the shoulder of the small man with white hair, he thought that at any moment he might lose the double cheeseburger he had eaten earlier. Pity; he had so enjoyed it. It would be a shame to lose it – it had his favourite cheese, double bacon and gherkins; only at Alphonso’s could you get the added gherkins. His stomach lurched and he took several deep breaths.
The small man stared impassively at the bloody knife in his right hand and then the mass of skin and sinew hanging from his left.
The man shrugged his shoulders. “I wonder… if he still thinks that the murder of a vulnerable child is okay…?”
“Boss?” asked Dobson quietly.
“Any single innocent life is so very important so why did he decide that mine wasn’t?”
“Erh… Boss?”
Pollux stared up at the man. “You are an imbecile.” He pointed at the body – now without a face – and screamed, “HE THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY TO KILL ME! … THE FUCKER THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY FOR ME TO DIE!”
Dobson nodded and took a step back from the verbal onslaught of emotion. Despite his height, Dobson was terrified of this man; he was definitely not firing on all cylinders.
But he paid so very well.
“Just throw it over the fucking bridge!” Pollux growled at Dobson.
Dobson unsuccessfully tried to ignore the mutilated skull as he dragged the body to the bridge wall and threw it onto the road below.
Pollux looked over the bridge and smiled. “A corpse landing on the bonnet of your Chevy always gets attention,” he whispered. He giggled in a girlish manner clapping his hands… “and in time the note in his pocket will be analysed and traced to Castor.”
“Who’s… Castor?” Dobson asked and immediately regretted it.
Pollux smiled more so and his eyes closed for a moment and his face lifted to the sky as if bathed in the glowing warmth of a midday sun rather than the pale and insipid light of late evening.
“Castor? … Castor is someone very – oh Jesus, so very – close to me.”
Pollux stared at Dobson. “In the note I put in the corpse’s jacket are words of threat and menace; and once the police examine it, my brother will be put away. How many chances are they going to give the ‘favoured one’? I’ve used his knife and car and still he is free! … Hah…”
He looked over to Dobson who was looking seriously unsettled and shook his head; he was new – and a replacement for Leroy.
“Yes?” he sighed. “What the fuck is it now?”
“Erm… I was wondering where Leroy was. I thought he was going to meet us here…”
“He sleeps with the fishes,” Pollux said in a slight Italian-American accent, but Dobson looked on in incomprehension.
Pollux stared at him overlong and shook his head. “Fuck me, Dobson, have you never seen The Godfather?”
“I… don’t know any godfathers… Boss.”
Pollux blinked. “Do I need to explain myself to you? … Huh? … Well, maybe I do.” Pollux smiled.
Dobson hated it when Pollux smiled.
“Leroy was colluding with the spineless bastard that’s hunting me… so I sliced him ear to ear and dropped him in the watercourse.”
Floyd shook his head, “Leroy would never do that, Boss… he is… was… loyal.”
Pollux stared at him and Dobson quickly looked away. “So how would you explain the bastard’s phone number on Leroy’s mobile?”
“I don’t understand it, Boss. I’ve known him for years.”
Pollux walked slowly towards the big man. At five-foot six-inches he stood a full foot below that of Floyd but he knew that height held no importance.
“If I find that you too have been speaking to this man…” Pollux whispered.
“No, sir… I… I haven’t… won’t.”
Pollux could see there was more and sighed. “Something else?”
“Well, it’s just that… what have you got against this… Castor guy?”
“What have I got against him?” Pollux echoed. “HE HAS MY FACE!” he suddenly screamed. Then he looked up and closed his eyes once again. He ran the nails of his fingers through his white hair before continuing wearily. “I need him to die because his sensitive soul is always so close. I smell his fear; sense his innocent uncertainty. I hear his righteous diatribe in my head. I feel that I’m his shadow – his echo.”
Then quietly he whispered, “We are of the same womb.”
Pollux paused. “Each time I look in the mirror he is there smiling at me. But… I WILL BE RID OF HIM!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“But,” he said suddenly quietly, “there is an errand I will have you undertake. There is a place he feels safe and someone he has… desires for. I want you to go there and put him down… and his whore… Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” the big man said.
Pollux smiled and once again clawed back his white hair.
Scene 4: Castor
“Come on in,” said Chief Adams with a seemingly forced smile. “Sit down.”
Cass did as was asked. “Any more news on the psycho?”
“Indeed. He’s made contact… but you are wrong – it’s not random… he knows you… and doesn’t like you. We know this from a note found on another victim. This one also had no face though it wasn’t initially clear as the deceased had been hit and run over several times before we got to him having been – it would seem – thrown from an interstate bridge.
There was a note on the deceased which indicated a couple of… very interesting… things.”
Cass looked up. “Firstly; the handwriting… forensics have indicated that it is very similar to yours.”
“Similar?”
“Yeah. There is a difference but the experts tell me that if not yours, then a relation.”
“He’s very clever. What’s the second?” Cass asked.
“He refers to you as his ‘brother’.”
Cass was quiet.
The chief continued to look at Cass.
“But there is more. We’ve had a witness sighting of the perp…”
Cass knew what was coming… “You are going to tell me that the man looks like me too?”
“Yep; Caucasian, about five-six with white hair.”
Cass paused. “Do you really think I’ve got it in me to carve up my parents?”
“No. Of course not; we know he’s a right-hander for starters.”
“You picked that up from the note?”
“No; from the way he… he used the knife on his victims… he cuts from the right… sorry.”
The chief continued, “But he appears to know you so well. To make himself up like you and then to use a knife from your flat and take your car – there was never any evidence of a break-in. Just why has this guy got it in for you? And this knowledge of you… this… closeness?”
Cass looked down and was silent for several moments.
“What is it?” the chief asked.
“Maybe… there is someone… but I know he’s dead,” Cass said shaking his head.
The chief waited.
“This is going to sound crazy,” Castor said smiling awkwardly, “… but… I had a brother… a twin… once. But I’m certain that he died shortly after the birth.”
“Two opposite poles of the same magnet,” the chief mused.
&nb
sp; Cass shook his head. “I said it was crazy,” he said quietly.
“Do you think it’s possible he… your twin… didn’t die?”
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Good man,” he said as Cass left.
Scene 5: Castor
Once at his desk Cass fired up the PC and googled any information he could find on twin births at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital on 29th January 1982.
He had always held a reluctance to pursue the past. It was something that for reasons he didn’t entirely understand he preferred not to delve into and would rather avoid entirely. But there were times when all was quiet and he was alone that he felt a strange closeness and yet loss… to something.
It did not take long to find a record of a birth:
At 12.10 am Castor and Pollux, born to Tanith and Teagan Constantini of Greater Boston, Massachusetts.
After the birth and through surgery, the identity – named as – ‘Pollux’ was removed at 12.58 am.
Cass looked up perplexed.
Strange wording. What the hell does ‘removed’ and ‘identity’ mean? It wasn’t ‘removed’ intrauterine as it clearly stated that the removal occurred after the birth, so removed from what? And surely ‘baby’ or ‘infant’ would have been more reasonable terminology – not to mention accurate – than ‘identity’.
And once removed, what happened to it?
Cass then noticed the name of the doctor that had performed the birth. Dr Terrance Stapleton.
Cass froze. A coincidence? Stapleton had been one of the psycho’s victims.
But then he suddenly grew hot as he saw another familiar name. It seemed that though in retirement Ms Valerie McKay was a librarian, her earlier professional vocation had been as a prenatal nurse and had supported and advised his mother.
Scene 6: Castor
That evening Cass arrived home tired and opened the front door.
On the mat was a buff-coloured envelope. Somehow Cass knew who it was from and ignored it while he made himself a coffee.
With a cup in his hand he stared at the envelope for several seconds before finally picking it up and taking it to his chair.
He sat down and opened the letter.
I will not beat about the proverbial bush. I want you to die – oh so badly. I want your face cut away as was mine.
Would you like to do that to me? No, of course not. You want to simply arrest me and take me into custody.
You are a weak, ineffectual excuse for a man. Where is your anger? Where is your passion?
I have a connection with you, brother, whether you – or I – like it or not. But you live in the light while I skulk in the shadows; why is that?
You are an itch I cannot scratch; a bad memory I cannot lose; a pain I cannot define.
Once, we were so close – I had nothing against you; we both should have lived. But as it was, it was determined that I should die.
I should be enjoying the fruits of the flesh and – speaking of which – what does your whore of a girlfriend see in you? It is of no small wonder that she’s reluctant to move towards that next level of becoming your fiancée.
Though dead, I am still more man than you will ever be.
I am so looking forward to introducing myself to her… so very soon.
P.
Cass could barely contain himself. The man was insane. But how did he know of Rachel’s reticence in his suggestion of engagement?
Then he heard the front door open.
Slowly he reached out his left hand to his gun and waited.
Scene 7: Rachel
“Hi Cass. You okay? Oh! …” Rachel said alarmed at the sight of his sidearm.
Cass let out a deep breath and returned the gun to the table. “Not really… bit jumpy. I can’t get my parents out of my mind.”
“I’m so sorry, Cass. Any news in the investigation?” she said moving forward and placing her arms around his shoulders.
“Yes: actually, there is. I once had a twin.”
“Wow! Why did you never tell me? What happened to him – or her?”
“Well, according to hospital records, he died shortly after the birth… but…”
“But…?” Rachel asked looking at Cass closely.
“But it seems he may be alive and killing all those connected with our birth.”
“Why?”
“That’s a bit complicated. He appears to be blaming me – and others for his… ‘death’.”
“He thinks he is dead?” Rachel said trying to suppress a smile. “His cheese has clearly fallen off his cracker,” she said kissing his temple.
“Could it be someone dressing up to look like you?” she said. “It’s amazing the things that can be done nowadays with a wig and a bit of make-up. It wouldn’t be difficult with that white hair of yours…”
“I thought that but… he knows things…” Cass said distracted.
“Such as…?”
“Such as your… reservations with us getting engaged… Rachel… who did you tell?”
Rachel was taken aback. “No one! I told no one, and it’s not reservations…” she protested.
Cass looked down. “I don’t understand it. But why would the registrar falsify or fabricate the hospital records as to the death?
I was obviously very young at the time I was born,” Cass said trying to smile, “but I still remember a feeling of… another… so very close and intimate… and then… and then… it was gone and yet… still with me.”
Castor suddenly broke into tears and Rachel put her arm around his shoulders.
“… Such a loss… such an unbearable loss… I felt that part of me was gone.”
“You’re so fragile, Cass – I’ve never thought you were cut out for homicide.”
He looked up suddenly. “I want you to pack. We’re off to the cabin.”
“Will we be safe there?”
“Yeah – and we need to be gone this evening.”
“Why the cabin?”
“Because no one knows of its existence except you and me – and the chief.
You’ll be safe there…” he whispered.
Scene 8: Castor
Cass relaxed a little as he viewed the cabin and once the door was unlocked, they stepped inside.
But it was as Cass lit the oil lamp on the mantelpiece above the hearth that he noticed the envelope.
He stared at it for several moments before ripping it open.
The message was brief.
Hello Castor. What a pleasant and cosy cabin. I’m saddened that you neglected to send me an invite but maybe it just got lost in the post. We really must get together, brother: talk of old times like when I was murdered. Anyway, let’s not revisit awkwardness. Anyone would think that the two of you just wanted to be intimate and maybe discuss why Rachel doesn’t want to marry you; after all, you’re quite a catch! And if you’re not up to it – you could introduce your slut to me.
“Don’t move!” Cass said to Rachel as he unholstered his firearm and slowly entered each of the rooms.
“He’s not in the cabin!” he said when he returned. “Lock the door behind me. I’m going to take a look around.”
At the door, he hesitated and looked down for several moments before looking up again. “I will never let Pollux hurt you,” he said.
Rachel looked up. “Of course – Pollux – the heavenly twins…” but then saw the sincerity in his face and, moving forward, held onto him for several moments before she let him go. Cass opened the door and with gun raised, he stepped out.
He stood at the corner of the cabin and stared out into the woods, his left hand gripping his gun tightly.
This was not how it was supposed to be played out, he thought. How could his twin know of the cabin and that he and Rachel would be here? He kn
ew twins often experienced a special closeness but surely not to this degree.
Someone at headquarters must be in league with him? Only Rachel and the chief were aware of his plans – one of them must have confided in another.
In the cold night air, Cass slowly felt his way around the cold cabin walls with his eyes still on the woods for any indication of his parents’ murderer and still wondering how the security and knowledge of the cabin could have been compromised. He looked out into the woods concentrating for the smallest movement of the branches; the slightest tread on earth. He held his gun out before him.
He was not concerned for himself but knew he had to protect Rachel. It suddenly occurred to him that it was only when evil creeps close in insidious shadows that you understand what’s precious in life.
He was well aware how inclined his adversary was with the knife but Cass was more than confident with his sidearm. He knew he would not hesitate in its use. For some reason, he had always been terrified of knives.
By now he had walked around the cabin’s exterior and though he saw no evidence of his enemy, he kept looking over his shoulder for a presence he felt was so very near.
Cass knew that Pollux was close. He could sense the other’s presence growing – his darkness creeping closer.
He waited and thought of Rachel sitting inside the cabin reliant on him to keep her safe and wondered what had possessed him to leave the safety of the cabin to the uncertainty of the woods.
He knew that part of it was Rachel. He loved her and would do battle with the Devil himself to protect her and keep her safe. But he could not just sit and wait.
Leaving the dim glow emanating from the lit cabin windows he slowly moved into the dark woods.
Scene 9: Pollux
From inside the cabin Rachel heard a knock.
“Cass? You okay?”