Читать книгу Look-Alike - Rita Herron - Страница 10

As hot water sluiced over Caitlin’s skin, she luxuriated in the sensation of being free from the probing eyes of the nurse at the mental institution, who had invaded virtually every aspect of her life, including her personal regimen of bathing. “For all we know, honey, you might try to drown yourself in the shower,” the nurse had said.

And she had been tempted to…. Anything to escape the tormenting sessions in that room.

Another, deeper kind of agony consumed her. Her hope for finding the truth, and her family, had been the thread that had kept her sane during her ordeal at the hospital.

But now her only surviving family member was dead.

Grief erupted inside her, tearing at her insides. Although she thought she’d cried all her tears the night before, once again sobs wracked her body. She didn’t fight the emotions. If Nora was really dead, then a part of her had died as well.

How was it possible that her sister was gone? Fleeting memories of her childhood flashed before her eyes, spotty and confusing, yet she remembered cuddling in bed with her look-alike and whispering in their own secret language, a special way of talking that had allowed them to communicate without their parents, teachers or virtually anyone else understanding their exchanges. A language and closeness she could never share with anyone else.

She struggled for more details of the past, her later years, but she felt as if her memories had been stolen and only tidbits of her life remained, all jumbled together as if they’d been dumped into a big cauldron and stirred, leaving her to piece together the rest. Where had she lived before she’d been admitted into the hospital? How had she wound up restrained in a psych ward? Had Nora even known she’d been missing, or had someone kidnapped her at the same time and kept her hostage?

The fact that Nora had turned up dead the same day she had escaped the mental hospital was bizarre. Did her escape have something to do with her sister’s murder? Was it her fault Nora had been killed?

God, no…

She clutched her stomach as guilt assaulted her. She needed Nora, couldn’t accept the fact that her actions might have gotten her sister murdered. What if she knew who had killed her sister but she’d blocked out that memory as well?

And how could she survive alone? She and her sister had been so close they were like two halves of the same person.

Bits and pieces of her past sprang back to haunt her, like snippets from someone else’s life that she was watching through a camera. The phone calls to Nora that hadn’t been returned. The worry that her sister was in trouble.

She soaped her hair, driving her fingers into her scalp, desperately trying to keep the images at bay, but other disturbing ones followed, images of a life that didn’t fit with her desire for a family. Images of nights when she’d performed at a smoky bar. Nights she’d drunk too much and partied into the wee hours of the morning. Nights she’d flirted and caroused with men, crawling into a stranger’s bed and waking up God knows where.

Men…there had been lots of men.

Was that how she’d met Miles Monahue?

She closed her eyes, willing away the awful feeling that she had done more than that, that she had sold herself for a good time and hurt others in the process. But she’d never hurt Nora…would she?

Panic squeezed the air from her lungs as she struggled to remember more, but a black emptiness swallowed the rest. Her tears finally exhausted, she rinsed her hair, stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around her, shivering in the chilly air.

She had to understand the reason she’d married Miles Monahue, or if he had married Nora instead. And she’d do whatever necessary to find out what had happened to Nora, and if she were to blame for her sister’s death.

THE SHOWER WATER kicked off just as Miles started breakfast. Thank God. It was too damn tempting having Caitlin back in his house, in his bed, in his shower naked. He wanted to go to her, throw her on the bed and demand some answers.

Hell, he wanted to strip his clothes, run his hands over her silky skin, taste her spicy wanton lips, sink himself inside her and screw her until she screamed. Then he might just get his fill of her once and for all.

But he couldn’t forget the agony she’d put him through the last few weeks, or that her look-alike lay in the morgue with stab wounds through her hands and heart. That Caitlin didn’t remember being married to him and had track marks on her arms. That she might not be his wife but a twin, and that his wife might be the one dead.

No, he’d feed her, then pump her for the truth.

A knock jerked him from his task, and he set the eggs and bowl aside. The toaster pinged, but he ignored it and strode to the front door, coffee in hand.

Special Agent Brown stood on the other side, his expression stony and unreadable. “You wanted to talk?”

Miles nodded and gestured for him to follow him to the kitchen nook, well aware Brown anticipated some kind of confession. One he’d never hear from him.

Brown stomped snow from his boots and accepted a cup of coffee with a mumbled thanks.

“I have that list of my enemies.” Miles handed him the final version of his research from the day before.

Brown skimmed the paper, then glanced up, eyes narrowed. “Did you make me drive out here for this? You could have faxed it over.”

He shrugged, hesitant to tell him about Caitlin. “Have you found out anything more?”

Brown frowned. “As a matter of fact, I did some checking on your wife. Word on the streets is that she had a reputation in the bars in Nashville before she showed up in Raven’s Peak.”

He sipped his coffee, biting back a reply. He’d stumbled on that info himself after she’d disappeared.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Brown said.

Miles shifted onto the balls of his feet. If he said he knew, he’d be hammering the nail in his coffin. On the other hand, denial made him look like a fool.

Letting Brown in on Caitlin’s arrival could exonerate him, yet he wasn’t sure the woman was Caitlin. And her story about being locked in a mental ward would raise more suspicion. But if Brown found out on his own, then it would read as if he were hiding information from the feds and only make him look more guilty.

“I’ve also been studying up on your past,” Brown continued. “Witnessing your parents’ murder at age ten had to have affected you, especially since you lived with your grandmother after that. She suffered from dementia, right?”

“Yeah, then she died six months later, and I stayed in a group home. So what?”

“So, the perp who killed your parents was your mother’s lover.”

Miles silently cursed. He knew where Brown was heading with his theory.

“Your father was gunned down in front of you because of your mother’s adulterous behavior. Maybe you have some deep-seated hatred of women,” Brown continued. “Maybe your wife cheated on you like your mother did your old man, and you decided to make her pay.”

“You must be a fan of that new reverend in town.” Sarcasm laced Miles’s voice. “He’s been preaching on marriage and fidelity.” The bitterness that had nearly driven him over the edge for years threatened his control.

Brown lifted one eyebrow. “Haven’t heard him. But I do know this—your wife’s affair gives you motive for murder. So that puts you at the top of my suspect list.”

CAITLIN STOOD AT THE EDGE of the door listening to the men’s conversation, her nerves strung tight. The sheriff’s parents had been murdered when he was ten? This guy Brown was FBI? Did Miles plan to turn her over to them? Were they going to send her back to the mental hospital?

She gripped the door edge, trying to think, but panic zinged through her. Apparently, Miles had been telling the truth about their marriage. But why had she married this man? And how could she have forgotten him?

Even more disturbing, if she had cheated on him, then he had reason to hate her. Reason to have locked her away. Reason to have killed her…or Nora. What if he had drugged her and admitted her to that mental hospital, then Nora had come searching for her, and he’d killed Nora to keep her from exposing what he’d done?

Chill bumps cascaded up her arms. That puts you at the top of my suspect list, the FBI agent had said.

If Miles had killed her sister, she needed to get away from him. She could run again. But she had no one else to turn to.

And she couldn’t leave without learning what had happened to her twin.

This other man—the FBI agent—might help her. She’d have to take her chances that he wouldn’t send her back to that psychiatric ward.

Inhaling a deep breath, she yanked on the sweats she found in the closet, then pushed open the door and inched inside the den.

Both men stared at each other as if they’d engaged in a Mexican standoff, but at the sound of her footsteps, they turned. Miles’s gaze skated over her damp hair and body, sending a ripple of sexual awareness down her spine.

A voice whispered in her head, If he wanted to kill you, why hadn’t he done so the night before? Why did he hold you and comfort you?

The other man stood close to Miles’s height but had shorter brown hair and a cleft in his chin. He froze, the shock on his face evident. “Good God, what’s going on?”

“She’s the reason I called you, Brown.”

Agent Brown’s head whipped toward Miles, then back to her. “I don’t understand, Monahue.”

“She claims she’s Caitlin,” Miles stated flatly. “Caitlin, this is Special Agent Reilly Brown. He thinks I murdered you.”

Caitlin gasped at his bold truthfulness, then clasped her hands together, the intense look Miles shot her a reminder of the men’s discussion—that Caitlin had been cheating on Miles. Anger, betrayal and hurt simmered in Miles’s deadly calm voice.

Agent Brown cleared his throat. “If she’s your wife, then who’s the dead woman in the morgue?”

Miles arched his eyebrows toward her to suggest she explain. Caitlin shivered, the aching loss still so raw she had to clear her throat to speak. “My twin sister, Nora.”

Brown’s questioning look speared Miles. “You didn’t mention that your wife had a twin.”

Miles shrugged, his dark eyes still fastened to Caitlin. “That’s because I didn’t know anything about her until she—” he gestured toward her “—walked into my office last night.”

“I saw the story on the television,” Caitlin explained in a broken voice. “I…I came as soon as I did.”

“Where have you been the last few weeks?” Brown asked.

“I was hospitalized,” Caitlin replied.

“I’ve already phoned the M.E. to request DNA, medical and dental records to verify her sister’s identity,” Miles said.

Caitlin flinched. Miles suspected she was lying, that she might not be Caitlin? That she might be Nora, and that Caitlin might be dead…

Or maybe he was angry she’d escaped the mental hospital and returned. Maybe he was worried she’d figure out he had admitted her, and he feared he’d get caught. But if so, why hadn’t he killed her last night or driven her back to that mental ward himself? Why had he called the feds?

“Good. We’ll need a DNA sample from you, too,” Brown said, directing his attention to Caitlin.

She nodded, knowing it was the only way to prove her identity.

“Were you and your twin close?” Brown asked.

Caitlin glanced at Miles and saw him watching her, studying her every move. Again, scattered broken memories bombarded her. The secret language, the sisters huddled together. Then later…bitter fights.

“I asked you if you were close,” Agent Brown asked again, more harsh this time.

“Yes…I loved her,” Caitlin whispered, knowing that much was true. Although she sensed something had happened between them, something to drive them apart.

“Do you know anyone who would want to hurt your sister?” Agent Brown asked.

Caitlin bit her lip as she struggled to recall conversations between her and Nora. Any mention of a man, a lover, but she drew a blank. In her mind, she saw her and Nora as ten-year-olds. Anything more recent remained a dark empty hole. “No…as far as I know she…she didn’t have any enemies.”

“She had one—the person who killed her,” Brown said. “And I intend to find out who it was.”

CAITLIN’S GRIEF and guilt-ridden look tugged at Miles’s sympathy. He understood those feelings well. He’d been bombarded by them since the day she’d disappeared. Remembering how weak she’d been the night before, he poured her a cup of coffee, then slipped it into her hands. She sank onto the sofa and gave him a fleeting smile of gratitude. Then she dumped a packet of sweetener into the cup, and swirled it around just as Caitlin used to do.

“When did you last see your sister?” Brown asked.

She cradled the mug in her hands, blowing on the steamy coffee. “I d-don’t remember.”

Brown propped one foot on the coffee table, leaned over and glared at her. “What do you mean, you don’t remember? I thought you said you were close.”

Caitlin backed farther into the sofa cushion, her hands trembling.

“She claims she has amnesia,” Miles answered for her. “She doesn’t remember marrying me, doesn’t know what happened to her sister, doesn’t know what happened to her the last few weeks.”

Brown’s eyebrow rose in question. “Amnesia? That’s convenient.”

Caitlin flinched. “It’s the truth. I remember the two of us being together as kids, but nothing later on.”

“Did she live here in Raven’s Peak?”

Caitlin massaged her temple as if trying to think. “No…I don’t think so.”

“What about you?” Brown asked. “Where are you from?”

“I…think we grew up in Georgia, near here, in the mountains.”

“Her parents are dead,” Miles interjected. “After she disappeared, I checked into her past. According to records, the Colliers only had one child.”

Brown frowned, and Caitlin gaped at him, her hands knotted. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” Miles said flatly. “Someone must have tampered with the files.”

“If you were so close to your sister, where was she living? And why didn’t you report her missing?” Brown asked.

“I told you I don’t remember.” Frustration laced Caitlin’s ragged whisper. “Like I said, I’ve been in a hospital for the past few weeks.”

“When she showed up at my office, she was in shock, dehydrated and disoriented,” Miles explained. Hoping to earn her trust, he omitted the part about the track marks.

Brown gave him a skeptical look. “Where were you in the hospital, and why?”

“I…it was in Savannah.”

She hesitated, and Miles realized she was holding back, that her story made her sound unstable. He had to wonder if she was. Maybe Caitlin hadn’t mentioned her twin because she suffered from mental problems, and she’d been embarrassed.

Brown continued to drill her. “How did you get from Raven’s Peak to Savannah?”

She squinted. “I don’t know.” Frustration filled her voice. “I realize my story sounds crazy,” she said in a shaky voice. “But someone locked me in a psychiatric ward. I was on this island, at a research facility. It was off the coast of Savannah.”

Brown exhaled. “The Coastal Island Research Park?”

“Yes, on Nighthawk Island.”

Brown paced across the room to the window, then turned back to her. “Go on.”

“The doctors at the hospital drugged me and kept me locked up. I escaped the night before last and hitched a ride into Savannah.” She sipped her coffee, then glanced at Miles with those pale green eyes, imploring him to believe her. “I went in to a diner in Savannah to warm up, and saw the news report about my sister, so I hitched a ride here.”

A heartbeat of tension followed, then Brown asked, “What was the name of the doctor who treated you?”

“I…his name is foggy. But a nurse named Donna took care of me most of the time.”

“Have you been treated for mental illness before?” Brown asked.

“No.” Caitlin stood and squared her shoulders. “I’m not insane. I didn’t commit myself to that facility, and I didn’t belong there, either.”

Miles studied her, wanted to believe her. But her look-alike was dead, and her story sounded far-fetched. Although he had heard about that research park at Nighthawk Island…

Brown shot him a suspicious look. “If you two are lying to cover up something, I’ll find out.”

“I want the truth as much as you do,” Miles said.

Caitlin inhaled sharply. “And so do I. I may not remember the last few months but I loved my sister. She didn’t deserve to die like this.”

Miles bit back a caustic remark. He had no idea if Caitlin was telling the truth, but she was right. Her sister hadn’t deserved to die at the hands of a ruthless serial killer.

Still, the Caitlin he’d married had obviously kept secrets from him.

Secrets that might have led to her hospitalization.

Or to her sister’s death.