Three Deadly Twins

by David Thyfault

  Thankfully Mac drove sensibly, not like some of the guys she’d seen weave in and out of traffic. The bike was big and powerful and too loud for much conversation, so she mostly just held on, enjoyed the moment and rehearsed questions she’d ask him later.

  Finally, they rolled into a steak and lobster place where Mac ordered them each a glass of red wine. “Just one,” he said. “Can’t afford to get tipsy.”

  Miranda thought the same thing. “I’m surprised we’ve hit it off so well,” she said, only half-lying. “I feel like I’ve known you longer.”

  “I hate to think it’s all going to come to an end. Maybe we could meet in Sturgis next summer.”

  “What’s Sturgis?”

  “South Dakota. There’s a big motorcycle rally every year.”

  “I don’t know. All those bikers might be intimidating.”

  He grinned. “You’d be surprised. Most of those guys are businessmen, lawyers. Guys like that. Besides, if you’re with me, nobody will hassle you.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “A couple years ago, a daughter of one of the bikers came down with cancer so we filled a beer keg with money for the medical bills.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Touching.”

  “I thought you’d appreciate it, considering your brother’s situation. How is he, anyhow?”

  “Not very good. I had to move him to a new facility. It takes a while to adjust.”

  “I hope it works out.”

  He sounded more compassionate than she expected. If she hadn’t been warned, she could actually like Mac. “What about your childhood? Where were you raised?” she asked, partly wondering how his version would compare to Don’s.

  “Ohio. Out in the sticks. My old man was a drunk. Abusive. Mom was a little better, but she coulda used a backbone. She wouldn’t stand up to him.”

  “Sometimes mothers take the abuse so their kids don’t have to.”

  “That might be it. All I know is, he had a scary cellar. Wouldn’t let any of us go down there unless we were going to get the belt. When we were born he wasn’t even around to take our mother to the hospital. Later, the nurses said she was the only woman they ever heard of who self-delivered twins.”

  Miranda lifted her hand to her lips. “Really? How’d you all get there?”

  “We nearly died. It was the middle of the winter. The next day the sheriff drove by and noticed that she’d left the front door open. He checked it out and saved all of us.”

  “Wow. That must have been really tough.” Miranda enjoyed hearing information Don had never mentioned.

  “The old man got his comeuppance when we were in high school. They hauled him to jail because he’d robbed a jewelry store some twenty years earlier and ended up killing a night guard. We were all shocked.”

  “No wonder you don’t like him. What happened then?”

  “We moved into town. I graduated the next year and haven’t spoken with any of them since. Don’t want to either.”

  Miranda folded her hands in her lap. “I would have guessed that you and your brother would have been closer. What happened between you?”

  Mac smirked. “Things started going downhill after he flunked the fifth grade.”

  Miranda’s tummy tightened. “Oh, really?” Don had never said anything about flunking.

  “Yeah. I always got better grades. One time we killed a rat in the school library. He dissected it and put the guts in the librarian’s desk. Then he got caught and tried to get me to share in the blame. But why would I take the blame for something I didn’t do?”

  This too was news. Miranda raised her shoulders as if to reply to the rhetorical question.

  “Another time he killed a dog just because it wandered in our yard.”

  Miranda’s jaw about dropped. “He killed a dog?”

  “Oh yeah. He was always good with knives. Better than me. He made spears, killed small animals. He might have made a decent taxidermist, but he never had the attention span.”

  Miranda’s foot shook. The only dead dog Don had ever mentioned was the one he killed before being sent to prison.

  “I’ll admit I helped kill the rat, but Donald was too sadistic for me. I lost interest. But Laura Leigh was the final straw. She was his girlfriend before she decided she liked me better because I had a van and was in a band. I kept my drums in there. Then one day they were all slashed up. I knew damn well Don did it, so I called the cops.”

  “On your own brother?”

  “I thought they’d just have a talk with him, but they charged him with a low-level felony. I guess they wanted to teach him a lesson. Later they offered to erase his record if he’d go to college or join the service right after high school. They left his case open for a little over a year. Then he went in the Army. By that time I’d already left home and been on the road for a long time.” Mac tilted his head. “Let’s talk about something else – like Mickey? Why’d you have to move him?”

  Miranda forced herself to stay focused on the conversation at hand rather than jumping to conclusions about either Don or Mac. “He’s gentle as a lamb most of the time. But sometimes he has emotional problems and he’s pretty strong. They wanted him to go to a place where he could get more attention.”

  Mac nodded. “Sounds like he could use a little help.” He pulled out a large wallet and withdrew a piece of paper. ”That’s why I made out this check.” He grinned. “I didn’t know your last name so it just says Miranda. I want you to use it for Mickey.”

  Miranda couldn’t believe her ears. “I can’t take your money.”

  “Baloney. I can get more money. This is important. I want you to take it. It’ll make me feel good.”

  She looked at it more closely. Six hundred dollars. “This is really sweet. Are you sure?”

  “Sure I’m sure. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  She wrapped her hand around her glass. “Well, okay then. Thanks a lot—from the Munchaks.”

  Regardless of Mac’s motives, his kindness and generosity made Miranda’s other decision a little easier. Good thing she hadn’t messed up the king-size bed in her hotel room.

  Chapter Eleven

  The ambulance took forever to get Stump and his mom to the emergency room. Aunt Gerry was already there. Now, some forty minutes later, the double doors flung open. “Neal Randolph?” asked a white-coated doctor with glasses.

  Stump’s heart jumped. He hustled toward the man. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “I’m her sister,” Aunt Gerry said, with Willie at her side. “How serious is it?”

  “It’s not good news. She still hasn’t come to.“

  “Oh, no.” Aunt Gerry’s hands shot to her mouth.

  “She’s definitely been drugged. We just don’t know which one. We’re running more tests.”

  “Ecstasy?” Aunt Gerry asked.

  “Don’t think so. This is stronger. Could be Rohypnol, called roofies on the street. Victims are in a dream-like state, semi-aware of what’s going on, but can’t do anything about it.”

  Stump rose to his toes, tugged on the doctor’s arm. “She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”

  “We’re doing all we can.”

  “You’re going to arrest the guy who did this, aren’t you?” Willie asked.

  “That’s not up to me. We’ve got DNA. It can tell us who did this.”

  “We don’t need no DNA,” Stump said, shaking his head. “The guy’s license plate is KARS 4U.”

  “I didn’t see that,” Willie said.

  The doctor made a note.

  Aunt Gerry placed her hand on Stump’s shoulder and then turned toward the doctor. “When will you know more?”

  “When the tests come back from the lab. We’ll let you know.”

  * * *

  Some ninety minutes later Stump’s mother came to and had been taken to a room. After the nurse took her vitals, she was told of the date-rape drug.

  “I can’t believe
this,” she said. “All I wanted to do was have a good time. Enjoy a classy evening for once in my life. But instead I get doped up by some damn pervert.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, Honey, Stump got his plates,” Aunt Gerry said.

  “We already called the cops,” Stump added. “They’ll be coming by later.”

  “No. No. No.” His mom rolled her head from side to side. “We can’t do that. That’s the worst thing to do. I might get fired.”

  Aunt Gerry patted Stump’s mom on the hand. “We can talk about that later, Honey. Right now you need more rest.”

  “You have to tell them we made a mistake, Gerry. I don’t want to turn him in. He can get even.”

  Stump took his mother’s hand. “I’m glad you’re okay, Mom, but you have to quit drinking.”

  She thrashed her head back and forth. “Don’t you people get it? This wasn’t my fault.”

  “I know that you didn’t take the drug on purpose, Mom, but if you didn’t drink so much, you wouldn’t get in these situations. You had lipstick all over you.”

  Her eyes widened. Then she pursed her lips. Finally, “I remember him smearing it on me. But I couldn’t say anything or stop him.”

  “See. That’s what I mean, Mom. You get into these tight spots and barely know what you’re doing. I had to wrap you in a sheet so the ambulance guys wouldn’t peek at you. It’s embarrassing.”

  “I’m sorry I embarrass you,” she said sarcastically, while rolling her head back and forth.

  “But this isn’t the only time. You remember last month when I found you on the floor?”

  Aunt Gerry patted her sister’s arm. “And we all know you’ve missed some work, Honey.”

  “And you might lose your driver’s license,” Willie added.

  Stump’s mom looked scornfully at Willie, and then turned to her sister. “Lydia said I’ll be okay if Stump vouches for me and says I’m doing better.”

  “I know, but you don’t want to use up your last chance in court. And, the same thing goes at your job. You can’t keep asking Lydia to bail you out. She can’t work on cases that pay their bills if she’s in court doing favors for you. Neither one of you is getting your work done.”

  There was a gentle tap at the door and the same doctor Stump had seen in the waiting room walked in. Stump clenched his jaw as the doctor stepped right next to his mom’s side. “How’s our patient feeling?”

  “I’m angry as hell, and a little groggy, but I think I’ll be okay.”

  “That’s good. I was worried about you for a while there.” He glanced at the others in the room and then back to Stump’s mom. “Would it be okay with you if I talk openly with you and your family about some of this?”

  “Of course. They know what happened.”

  “Not just that. I want to have a broader conversation about your drinking.”

  “Go ahead. I’ve heard it all already.”

  “Okay, then. Have you told your family about your last trip in here?”

  Stump’s eyes bounced from the doctor down to his mother. He hadn’t known that. His mom rolled her head to the side without replying.

  The doctor looked at Aunt Gerry, then at Stump. “We had tests run then, too. Her liver has sustained a great deal of damage. I’m afraid she can’t go on like this much longer.”

  Stump dug his fingers into his palm. It sounded as if the doctor was saying she might die. How could he live without his mom?

  “On the other hand,” the doctor continued, “the liver has remarkable self-healing qualities. If she stops drinking she’ll have a much better chance. I’m sorry to be so dramatic, but she could really use the family’s help.“

  Stump’s mom closed her eyes for a few seconds. Then she sighed. “You’re right about the drinking – and all the rest. I’m going to quit, or at least cut way back.”

  Stump hugged her. Hopefully, this time she really meant it.

  The doctor patted her arm. “I can tell you’ve got an awful lot to live for. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some other people waiting.”

  “Everybody is right,” Stump’s mom said to her family as the doctor walked out. She turned toward Stump. “I get stressed out about not having enough money to get by.”

  “Couldn’t we find Dad? He might be able to help.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve told you before, I don’t know where he is.”

  “Just tell me his name and I can see if I can find him on the Internet.”

  She rolled her head again. “We have to make it on our own, so stop asking.”

  “But it might solve everything.”

  “I said, no. If you want to help me, straighten up the house and clean up the back yard. It’s disgusting back there. You do that and I’ll worry about my driver’s license and my job. They’re all I have left.”

  “You’ve still got all of us,” Stump said.

  Chapter Twelve

  Miranda wallowed in an inner conflict. She felt guilty for cheating on Don and reminded herself that Mac was not to be trusted. At the same time, she actually liked Mac. After she verified that he had no significant employment commitments, the invitation for him to stay with her in California for a while rolled naturally off her lips. Now, he and Annie were somewhere in the middle of the country and on their way to meet her.

  Meanwhile, it had been two weeks since she’d last seen or spoken with Don and another conjugal visit day had arrived. As before, they followed Officer Jackson toward the make-out cabins. On the way, she thought about some things Mac had said about Don. She wondered how much of it was true.

  Officer Jackson opened the cabin door. “You know the routine,” he said. “I’ll be back in an hour. If you’re not ready to go, you won’t be able to come back next month. Got it?”

  Don watched Jackson walk off, before turning to Miranda. “What about Mac? Is he here?”

  In the past, Miranda overlooked Don’s tendency to rush things. After all, they only had so much time, but this time she’d hoped he’d ask her how she was doing, be more sensitive to all she’d been through. “He’s on his way,” she said matter-of-factly, “but I haven’t had a chance to approach him about Rachel. We’re still just getting to know each other.”

  Don stepped away from the window and toward her. “You don’t understand the urgency. We have to get her off the market before somebody else gets to her.”

  “I know,” she said, while pulling out of his grasp. “I’m trying, but I can’t just ask a stranger to help me cheat a woman out of her money.”

  Don waved his arm in the air. “Those people are rich. They can afford to share their money, but this is the only way we can help your brother.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Where do things stand now?”

  “He should be here tonight. He’s riding his motorcycle.”

  “Okay, then. At least we’re making some progress. Just keep doing what you have to do, but remember to keep the emotions out of it. That will make it easier.”

  Easier? None of this was easy, let alone easier.

  “We can talk about it more in a few minutes.” His tone had softened. He reached for the top button on her blouse. “It’s been two months.”

  Miranda pushed his hand aside and backed away. “I need to ask you something first.”

  “Well, hurry up. We’ve already wasted nearly ten minutes.”

  “I will, but this is important to me. Your brother said that when you were kids, you killed a rat. Is that true?”

  “Why were you talking about that?”

  “Because I was getting to know him and asked him about his childhood. Was he right? Did you kill a rat?”

  Don shrugged. “It was in the library. We did them a favor.”

  “But he said you cut up the rat and put it in the librarian’s desk. That’s nauseating, Donnie.”

  Don smiled. “Well, sometimes boys do silly things just for kicks. What’s the big deal? Nobody needed that rat.”

  “He said you k
illed a dog, too. Just because it came into your yard?”

  Don grabbed the chair and dragged it across the floor. “He’s the one who killed that dog, not me. This is the kind of thing I was telling you about. The man can’t be trusted.”

  “Are you sure about this, Donnie? ‘Cause you killed that other guy’s dog, too.”

  He pulled her closer. “Of course I’m sure. You’ve got to believe me on this, Baby. He’s lying to you just to make himself look better.”

  She sighed. Her shoulders slumped forward. “I don’t know what to think.” Or who to believe.

  “You’ve got to get those negative thoughts out of your mind. We’re running out of time and I need your body.”

  Within a couple of minutes he was on top of her. She felt sorry for his limited opportunities and accommodated his aggressive urges. Then, as quickly as it started, he let out a loud grunt and it was over. “Wow. That was fantastic,” he said and plopped on his back.

  Miranda rolled to his side, unfulfilled, and wished she felt the same way. She laid her hand on his chest. His heart pounded hard and steady like the bass drum of a marching band. She couldn’t help but think of how different things were when she was in bed with Mac.

  * * *

  The next afternoon Mac glided into Miranda’s driveway and that night they made love. She told herself she was just doing what she had to do and that his evil side would show up sooner or later, but down deep she liked him more than she wanted to admit. He spent the night.

  Now another day had come and they were returning from a trip to San Clemente where they went to lunch with Mickey at a restaurant that overlooked the Pacific.

  Still some twenty minutes from her home, Mac looked at the brochure they’d picked up at The Broadhouse. “I can see why you liked that place. It’s clean and those people obviously love what they do. Mickey seemed to like them a lot.”

  “So you don’t think he’s weird?”

  “Weird? Hell, no. He may not have to worry about paying the bills, or making dinner like most of us do, but his problems are just as real to him as ours are to us. I think that makes him as normal as anybody else.”

  She moved her hand to his side. “That’s so nice. Can I ask you something? Would you mind if I call you ‘Sweets’ from now on?”

  Mac smirked. “Sweets? Where’d you get that?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems to fit. You’re always so sweet. It makes me glad I invited you to come out here.”