Sibling Rivalry

by E A Harvey

  “Pierre please take me please fuck me now".

  She arched her back for him and he slid his penis deep inside her.

  She came almost instantly and he soon erupted inside her.

  "My God Penny I have missed you so much. Will you ever forgive me for doubting you"?

  "No never. How could you think I would ever be unfaithful to you? You're all the man I could ever want, will ever want. I would die before I cheated on you".

  "Forgive me darling I am so sorry. I was so stupid and so distraught with worry and then to find you again was all too much".

  They lay together, his kisses smothering every inch of her body.

  Neither of them heard the door to the room open but both heard the voice ring out.

  "Pierre how could you? Who is this woman? How could you do this to me? I thought you loved me. You accuse me of cheating and now you’re having sex with my sister”

  Pierre jumped up in surprise and could not believe his eyes.

  "Oh my God, what in heaven's name is happening”?

  He looks from one to the other “Penny” he asked

  “Yes Pierre”? Said the girl in the doorway

  He quickly grabbed a pillow to hide his embarrassment.

  "Oh my God, what is this all this about, what game sort of game are we playing?

  Pierre looked from one girl to the other in quick succession.

  "Am I going mad? It must be jet lag, tell me".

  "Darling I am so sorry to spring this on you but it was Janet's idea. It was her way of saying sorry to me and to pay you back for doubting me. You always knew I had a twin sister and that we were very much alike" said the girl in his bed

  "Alike? Alike is a bit of an understatement don't you think"?

  Now Gabrielle appeared in the doorway.

  "And what is your part in all this drama, sister of mine"?

  Gabrielle raised her hands above her head as if to say “Don't look at me”.

  "May I suggest that we meet back at the apartment where I will try my hardest to explain some of what’s gone on in your lives over the past months” said Penny.

  “Fine let’s go and let the love birds get dressed” said Gabrielle.

  As Pierre started to get out of the bed Penny pulled him back.

  "Now that you have just taken me like a man starved of sex you can make love to me properly.

  Rough is fine but romantically, gently, is pretty nice too"

  “Come here you, I have no doubt after what we just shared that you’re my girl”.

  “But you’re wrong Pierre, I am afraid. I am Janet. Surely you realize".

  "Oh do shut up” he said.

  Chapter 66 Reasons

  Back at the flat, Penny asked them to all to be seated.

  Pierre could not keep still looking from one sister to the other in quick succession while shaking his head in disbelief.

  “The story which I am about to tell is at times not very nice but I am afraid it's true. Please don't interrupt me. When I am finished you can ask all your questions"

  "Pierre I am sure that you have guessed by now that the girl at the hospital and the girl who has lived here for the last weeks or so was my sister Janet".

  "Well I have now and I still cannot believe it".

  “As far as she knew she was Penny Scott. And why, because you both told her she was. Even her sister and mother told her it was true, and for that, I can only apologise.

  Janet had no idea who she was until Gabrielle found her and called her Penny and told her that she was going to, marry her brother.

  Janet before I go on how much do you remember what happened to you”?

  “There was a house with a fireplace, a man who I understand was Bob, and then a woman who I am sure was you Penny. But of course that’s wrong because, you were not there” said Janet. “Anything else you remember about that night Jan “asked Penny

  “I see flashes and pictures but it’s so very mixed up and it makes no sense”.

  “Tell us what you see Jan, no matter what it is”.

  “It’s you Penny. I see you shoot me”.

  “I know darling because I did”

  “My God Penny, why would you try to kill your own sister, I am sorry, just do not believe you would do such a thing”, Said Pierre.

  Janet looked at Penny and tears just rolled down her face.

  “Oh darling I am so sorry but I wanted you to understand that what you saw was not your brain playing tricks on you. It was Penny Scott who shot you, but not me”.

  “What in heaven’s name are you talking about? How many Penny Scott’s are there? I think two was quite enough without there being three don’t you”? Said Gabrielle

  “Let me try to explain about the third Penny Scott. Of course two of them are in this room. The third one is actually Peter Scott”.

  “Now I now you’re out of your mind darling. What are you talking about? Peter is really Penny” asked Pierre.

  “Now if you will let me, without interruption. I will attempt to explain.

  “My brother Peter is transsexual; a man in a woman’s body. And yes, he wants to become a complete woman. Sadly the woman he wants to become is me, Penny Scott”.

  “Peter is as normal as you and I” said Gabrielle.

  “I only wish he was Gabby. But please let me continue or we will be here till tomorrow”.

  “Peter, as I said, wants to be a complete woman but in his mind he already is. He is Penny Scott. He even calls himself by that name. He is completely obsessed with me and becoming me.

  You will remember the night I saw, or thought I saw, Janet at the night club. In actual fact I saw

  Penny, she was “Having a night out with the girls” or so he/she told me. Of course she was not expecting us to be there”.

  “But why did Peter’s Penny kill Bob and almost kill his sister” asked Pierre.

  “It’s because of his obsession with me. When Janet called Peter from France he convinced himself that she was there to do, once more, what she had done with Bob, by pretending to be me. Of course he had no idea that she was there at the cottage with Bob. Peter, with his Penny, discussed How to stop you they argued. They could not let you come between me and Pierre because his Penny would be heartbroken”.

  “This is ridiculous, where has this story come from? How can it be true” asked Janet.

  “It’s true because they told me Janet. You see I have sat down and had a very long conversation with both of them”

  “Both of them, how is that possible” asked Janet.

  “The only way I can explain it, darling, is to compare it with a ventriloquist and his dummy, a very good one. So dressed as me, he arrived at the address you had given him Janet. He had a gun to warn you and convince you to return to England. He never meant to harm you; just scare you. Bob grabbing him from behind caused him to pull the trigger and then when Bob in his grief threatened Penny she killed him, and believe she had no qualms over it. He/they then moved the bodies so it looked like one pool of blood and therefore one body”.

  “Can I ask a question Penny? How did you survive the car crash, why were you never found” asked Pierre.

  “Because I was never in one, in fact I was in the UK”.

  “But there was two witnesses who saw you crash, one young man even tried to save you”

  “Again it was her and it was well planned, a rucksack with clothes hidden near where the accident would occur. They even made sure they had a witness.

  “Once the car hit the water he removed his wig, and swam away from the car. He turned and started to swim back, becoming the second witness.

  You understand his mental state in risking surviving a car crash at speed”.

  “Let’s get back to where we were”

  “You really must understand, and I will tell you time and time again, she was capable of becoming Peter whenever it suited her”

  At the cottage he makes it look like a robbery by removing Bob’s watch his wallet
and he makes the cottage look like it’s been ransacked. Janet’s body they intend to hide where it will never be found; in the swamps of an animal and bird sanctuary. But this is where I believe his side took over and would not let her bury you darling. So thankfully he laid you gently even though this was an important part of the plan. Next he calls me and then later arrives at our apartment. Using Janet’s passport I travel to London, before I go I leave Gabrielle the note. He drives me to the station and Eurostar and I return to the UK as Janet, my passport is still in our flat”.

  “At home I meet the woman detective, or should I say Janet meets the woman detective.

  My alibi or Janet's is now established, and Janet is still alive and was never at the cottage. Mummy says nothing when I say I am Janet because I convince her Peter and Janet are in trouble and need the lie. She even said nothing when she hears about Janet being shot. She, like me, would say and do anything to protect her family.

  “Do you know that Mummy and the police woman are friends, she is a fantastic woman?”

  So Peter will now convince the restaurant people that Bob's girlfriend is still alive.

  He drives my car to the restaurant where he sounds the car's horn and waves from a distance. Of course, this is after Janet, me, arrives in London.

  They wave back and he drives off”

  "Let me try to make it clearer” said Penny.

  “Peters plan was to make Bob’s death look like a robbery and to hide the way Janet died from mother. Sometime later we will say it was Janet who was in the car and, of course, Peter never harmed her. We will make up some story about why we lied. But now as far as the police are concerned Penny is gone, lost in the river and if she is a suspect in the killing she can never be questioned. Janet is alive and well living in London”.

  “Yes but now I am alive so the plan goes out the window" said Janet.

  "Yes that's very true and, of course, what I am about to say is very much to all of you, so please hear me out.

  "The police, believe Janet is me and I have been shot so I am innocent of any involvement in Bob's death unless I killed him and then tried suicide, I doubt they would even consider that. There is also another flaw and that's the time difference between the car crash and Janet's body being found. Penny can't answer it. She has lost her memory and Janet was in London and knows nothing".

  "Surely there is something else." said Pierre.

  “Which is what“?

  "Janet was at the restaurant, not Penny".

  “Yes, but the police will show a photograph and that will be it, we hope, names will not be important”

  "Let’s hope your right”

  "Mummy never knew that Peter nearly killed you Janet and she still doesn’t. I told her that Peter was in a spot of trouble that was all, so goes along with me being you. She has been amazing she took everything I said and everything I asked her to do on trust. Even when she saw you in the hospital she said nothing. So now it's down to you Janet. You must choose if you want to go to the police. All I will say, in my defence, is that I could not let Mummy lose you and then Peter to prison, and very soon Daddy. But if you do, remember Mummy could also be in trouble because she said nothing when DI Daniels asked where you were and I pretended to be you. Of course, I will most certainly go to prison as Peters’ accomplice. But it was you that was almost killed. It is you that has gone through so much, then there is Bobs death; another reason for you to go to the police. Poor Bob such a tragedy, such a loss, a really lovely guy”.

  "Penny, I think I have remembered why I was with Bob, I am sure he asked me to marry him”. Janet broke down; her grief affecting them all.

  "Oh, my poor sister”

  Penny grabbed her and held her tight; her own tears streaming down her cheeks.

  "Where is Peter now Penny “asked Gabrielle, cuddling both the sisters?

  "I have had a letter from him, which I have since destroyed. All he says is that he is in a South American country which, he believes has no extradition treaty with England. He says he will keep moving”

  "Gabby, Pierre, I am so very sorry I caused you two so much pain and sorrow. I will fully understand if you never forgive me".

  "Gabby darling, what must it have been like for you to discover that Janet was not really me?”

  "That was a peculiar day, you must understand, when first I lost you and then I think I had found you once more. Having you back was wonderful but also very traumatic because you were not the girl who I had known, of course not. Not only was I trying to help Janet remember who she was, I was trying to get her to remember who she was not. I had been out to do a few errands and when I arrived home it was to find Penny, Janet, sitting on the sofa her head in her hands crying uncontrollably. Of course, I was worried about her. Was she in pain or had she had some sort of relapse. “Penny darling what's the matter what’s wrong are you okay” I said. She looked up at me with an expression of complete and utter despair.

  “I am so confused Gabby, I don't think I am Penny Scott" she said

  Of course, my reaction was, don't be so silly of course your Penny who else could you be”?

  “No”, she said “I think I am Penny's sister and my name is Janet. Please help me. Gabby"

  Over the next days we talked and I told her the few things I knew about her family and slowly parts of her memory started to return. But, of course, I still thought she was you.

  About a week ago she started to cry once more and said she had remembered how badly she had treated you and your relationship with Bob and that was a story I knew.

  But even so, I was talking to her looking at her, Penny who else could it be. That night I telephoned Mrs Scott which was also very strange because I did not know what to say to her. So very gingerly I found myself asking Justine if Janet was there. Of course then I had to explain that Penny was saying she was you.

  Seeing the real Penny walk through the door and then seeing you both together was quite astonishing, scary"

  "For Mummy and I, the hardest part was staying away from you, Janet, and not being there. But if you had not got your memory back you would have stayed Penny Scott and I Janet. Certainly for as long as it took for the police to give up on the case.

  And Mummy still does not know Peters involvement, the rest you know“.

  "I have a question," said Pierre "If Janet had died and, thank God she didn’t, what about you and I"?

  "Pierre you know how much I love you, so I had hoped that with me as Janet, we would meet and you would fall in love with me all over again".

  "But I would have known eventually surely"?

  “We would have crossed that bridge when we came to it”.

  “I think we all understand why you wanted to protect Peter and your mother so going to the police would serve no purpose. I for one need to put a beautiful ring on a beautiful hand and start arranging a wedding” said Pierre.

  "Penny if I went to the police the only ones to suffer would be you and Mummy, and me, of course, because I would lose you both. This way Mummy will never know of Peter’s involvement in the shooting. Anyway, I think I caused you enough pain in the past, so, maybe this way, I am making up for some of it “said Janet.

  The picture of the two sisters holding each other so tightly was one their mother would see very often in the future.

  There were many questions after, of course. Janet was always Penny as far as the police were concerned. No, she did not remember who shot her, the time difference between the shootings and the car crash could never be understood, of course. Janet as Penny remembered nothing. Had it not been for the fact that the witnesses were in France and England and maybe things were lost in translation, I am sure an answer would have been arrived at. Who knows?

  Chapter 67 Lies

  Some weeks after the meeting between the sisters Janet telephoned Chief Inspector De Salis.

  "Inspector, its Penny Scott, may we meet please. I have some information for you which you might find useful, I could call into y
our office later this afternoon if that's fine with you”.

  "Certainly Miss Scott, whenever you wish".

  Later that day she sat opposite Rene in his office

  “It's nice to see again. And how are you feeling Miss Scott”

  “I am feeling so much better thank you Inspector and it's good to see you also“.

  “Now what can I do for you” said De Salis.

  "More of my memory seems to have returned Inspector and I am almost sure I can describe the person who killed Robert Heath and shot me".

  "Well that is good news. Let me see if we can get an artist to draw a photo fit, and maybe we will have something to put out there".

  An hour later the drawing looked nothing like her brother.