Sisters

by Patricia MacDonald

  Marisol chuckled. ‘That sounds like Dory. Well, I speak to her almost every day. I’ll ask her for you. Where can I reach you?’

  ‘Would you? That would be great.’ Alex fumbled in her purse for her business card and handed it to her, while Marisol fished in the pocket of her jacket and offered her own in return.

  Marisol glanced at Alex’s card. ‘You live in Chichester? I grew up in Waltham. That’s where I’m headed right now. My mom still lives there. Look, I’ll speak to Dory and I’ll be in touch.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Alex. ‘And thanks for helping her.’

  ‘I do what I can.’ Marisol waved as she slid into the front seat of her car and turned on the engine. She threw an arm over the seat and began to back out.

  Alex watched her go and then, lost in thought, returned to her own car and headed for home.

  It was dark when Alex got home, and she felt relieved that the day was over. Going to see Dory had been undeniably stressful. A childish, hopeful part of her, one that still secretly entertained the notion of guardian angels and love at first sight and other miracles, had wanted to believe that she and her sister would have an instant rapport. That had not happened. The reality was quite a bit more sobering.

  Alex went into the kitchen and rummaged through her mother’s cabinets. She found pasta in the cupboards and some vegetables that still looked edible in the fridge. She put everything on the counter and filled a pot with water for the pasta. Then she began to chop. Suddenly she heard a knocking on the front door. Her heart leapt. Seth Paige? she thought. She chided herself for her excitement, but then remembered that he had, indeed, agreed to come over and look at her father’s books. Maybe he had chosen tonight to look through them. She noticed that the bottle of wine he brought her on Christmas Day was still on the counter. She knew where her mother kept the corkscrew. Maybe she would open it.

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Just a minute, I’m coming.’ She turned off the pot of boiling water and the burner under the sauté pan. Then she smoothed her hair as she went down the hallway. She pulled open the front door and looked out.

  A black pick-up truck was parked directly in front of the house with the name ‘Details’ painted on the door. A man and a woman stood on the front steps. The woman was middle-aged with short, spiky gray-blonde hair, a fine-boned face and square jaw. Her well-shaped eyebrows arched over her light blue eyes. Her skin was lined, but she was obviously still attractive, wearing a bulky coat-styled sweater and little make-up. The man beside her was balding and his skin looked weatherbeaten. His eyelids were deeply creased, giving his gray eyes a sad expression. He was dressed in work boots and rugged, outdoorsman-style clothes.

  Alex stared at them, disappointed. ‘Can I help you?’

  ‘Are you Alex Woods?’ the man asked. He had a slight western drawl.

  ‘Yes,’ said Alex cautiously.

  ‘We heard you were looking for us.’

  Alex frowned. ‘I’m afraid there’s some mistake.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said the man. ‘We’re Dory’s parents.’

  SEVEN

  For a moment Alex just stared. These were the people whom her sister had called ‘mother and father’. The thought of it was jarring. ‘I’m . . . this is unexpected,’ she said.

  ‘I’m Garth Colson,’ said the man. ‘This is my wife, Elaine. May we come in?’

  Alex did not move. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just a little . . . surprised to see you here.’

  The couple exchanged a glance. ‘According to our neighbor, you were looking for us,’ said Garth.

  Alex blushed, remembering the half-truths she told to Chris Ennis. ‘I was. But how did you . . . . That is . . . how did you find me?’

  ‘Dory called my phone and left me a message. She said you lived in Chichester and that you are her half-sister, and that you were coming to see her. After that, finding you was easy,’ said Elaine Colson matter-of-factly.

  ‘Oh, of course. I guess I probably should have . . .’

  The woman shivered. ‘It’s chilly out here. May we come inside?’

  Alex stepped away from the door. ‘I’m sorry. Yes, sure,’ she said.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Elaine. They walked in and stood uneasily, side by side, in the vestibule.

  ‘Nice house,’ Garth Colson said, inspecting the curved banister on the staircase. ‘When was it built?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ said Alex. ‘The eighteen hundreds, I think.’

  ‘Garth’s an expert on old houses,’ said Elaine.

  ‘Please, come in,’ said Alex, gesturing to the living room.

  They followed Alex in. Garth stopped in front of the framed photos of her parents which Alex kept on the mantle. ‘Look at this, honey,’ he said.

  Elaine walked up beside him and stared at one of the photos in silence. Finally she said, ‘This must be your mother.’

  ‘Yes, and my father,’ said Alex.

  ‘Dory looks just like her,’ Garth said.

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Alex. ‘It was a little unnerving when I met her.’

  Elaine turned her back on the photo. She picked a chair and sat down. Garth perched uneasily on the edge of an ottoman.

  ‘Can I get you anything?’ Alex asked.

  Elaine shook her head.

  Garth said, ‘No, thanks.’

  Alex sat down opposite them.

  ‘I hope we’re not interrupting,’ Elaine said.

  ‘No, I was just making a little dinner,’ said Alex. ‘All that anxiety. Makes you hungry.’

  ‘What anxiety?’ Elaine asked.

  ‘Meeting Dory,’ said Alex. ‘It was very . . . emotional.’

  ‘I imagine so,’ said Elaine.

  Garth nodded, avoiding her gaze.

  ‘Look, I guess I owe you both an explanation,’ said Alex. ‘I did come by your house the other day. I talked to your upstairs neighbor.’

  ‘Yes, we heard,’ Elaine said in a chiding tone. ‘You told Chris that you’re my cousin. Why did you lie about that?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Alex. ‘I was trying to decide what to do. My attorney had located Dory for me, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to contact her. You see, my parents died recently and my mother left me a letter telling me that she’d given up a child for adoption, so I decided to look for her. I don’t know if Dory told you when you spoke to her . . .’

  ‘I didn’t speak to her. I don’t speak to her,’ said Elaine.

  Alex looked at her, confused. ‘But you said that she told you . . .’

  ‘I said that she left a message on my phone. I don’t take her calls.’

  ‘You don’t?’ said Alex. She looked at the composed, attractive middle-aged woman sitting opposite her. Then she looked at Garth Colson. He sighed and shook his head.

  Alex looked back at Elaine. Her posture was perfect and her grooming was careful. Alex thought of her own mother with her messy strawberry-blonde hair and her softly rounded, middle-aged frame. Her sympathetic gray eyes. Alex could not imagine any circumstance where her mother would not speak to her. She just couldn’t. ‘Ever?’

  ‘It’s better this way,’ said Garth.

  Elaine’s gaze was inscrutable. ‘Dory left me a message as soon as she first got the letter from you, saying that you thought she was the child that your mother had given up.’

  ‘I’m sure that came as a shock,’ Alex said apologetically.

  ‘I was surprised,’ Elaine admitted.

  ‘Well, I’m glad you aren’t angry about it,’ said Alex cautiously, although the woman she was looking at seemed far from content.

  ‘As I said,’ Elaine continued, ‘I was surprised, but I tried to ignore it. Dory wanted me to supply some information. Obviously I wasn’t going to do that. And then today, she called me as soon as you left. I listened to that message several times. Dory sounded quite pleased about it. Very pleased, in fact. As if this were some sort of validation. Her long-lost sister going out of her way to find her. To visi
t her. She wanted to let me know about that right away.’ This last was said in an accusing tone.

  ‘Well, I hope she was glad that I came to see her,’ said Alex carefully. ‘It’s not every day you meet a sister you never knew you had.’

  Garth shifted his weight on the ottoman. ‘We kind of thought that you might give up the idea of bonding with Dory when you found out she was in prison. When you found out why,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll admit it – I almost did,’ said Alex. ‘That’s why I came by your house. I guess I was hoping to talk to you about it. You know, to find out what you thought.’

  ‘So why did you just run off?’ Garth asked.

  ‘I didn’t run off,’ Alex protested. ‘It was just . . . incredibly awkward. I decided to go ahead and contact Dory. I realized that no one was going to talk me out of it. Despite what Dory had done, I was still curious to meet her.’

  ‘You should have talked to us first,’ said Elaine flatly.

  Alex proceeded cautiously. ‘You don’t . . . approve?’

  Elaine took a deep breath and steadied herself. ‘Miss Woods.’

  ‘You can call me Alex.’

  ‘Alex, do you have any idea what Dory has put us through?’ Elaine asked.

  ‘Well, obviously, I know about what happened to . . . your other daughter.’

  ‘Her name was Lauren. She was a beautiful girl. A treasure,’ said Elaine, a slight tremor in her voice. ‘She was on the road to stardom.’

  ‘I’m sure she was,’ said Alex. ‘But it’s Dory that I’m related to.’

  Elaine sighed and shook her head. ‘You look at Dory and you see this . . . sister that you didn’t know you had. Locked up in prison like some princess in a fairy tale. I’m sure it must seem very romantic, finding your long-lost sister . . .’

  ‘I wouldn’t say romantic,’ Alex protested.

  ‘She didn’t mean it like a boy-girl thing,’ said Garth, trying to be helpful.

  ‘She knows what I mean,’ said Elaine. Then she looked up at Alex and held her gaze. ‘I understand your curiosity. Believe me, I do understand that. But I feel that it is my duty to warn you that getting involved with her is a terrible mistake. Dory is dangerous . . .’

  ‘Well, obviously, I know that she’s in jail for murder.’

  Elaine shook her head. ‘When you say it like that, it sounds so . . . sanitary. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dory killed her sister. Her own sister. Brutally and viciously.’

  ‘Not everyone is convinced of that,’ Alex said stubbornly.

  Elaine’s eyes flashed and she let out a laugh that was almost a yelp of pain. ‘So she told you about that business with the law student who has taken up her cause. We know about that, too.’

  ‘The Justice Initiative has helped out a lot of innocent people,’ said Alex.

  ‘Innocent,’ Elaine sputtered. ‘Oh my God.’

  ‘Alex,’ said Garth, ‘I beg your pardon, but you have no idea what you are talking about. This appeal is all about legal technicalities. The fact is that Dory pleaded guilty. Nothing will change that.’

  ‘But her attorney has since been disbarred,’ Alex insisted. ‘It sounds as though he talked her into a guilty plea without even trying to help her.’

  ‘Help her?’ Garth yelped. ‘Don’t you think if she were innocent we would be doing our best to defend her? You don’t know the whole story. She killed Lauren. No amount of legal maneuvering will change that.’

  ‘It’s too late, Garth,’ Elaine interrupted him. ‘She’s already started believing her lies . . . I can see it in her eyes. She thinks we’re terrible people, and that Dory is just a victim of injustice.’

  Garth leaned forward and looked earnestly at Alex. ‘We just want to set you straight before you go getting involved. This situation is complicated. Listen to what we’re telling you. Walk away, young lady. While you still can.’

  ‘Look,’ Alex said, ‘I can’t put myself into your shoes. I mean, I don’t know how you live with all this, losing your daughter like you did. But you’re still Dory’s parents. Doesn’t that mean something?’

  Elaine’s expression was icy. ‘She killed our daughter.’

  ‘Your own, biological daughter, you mean,’ said Alex.

  ‘Now, just a minute,’ said Garth. ‘They were both our daughters.’

  Elaine’s tone was bitter. ‘Do you have any children?’

  Alex shook her head.

  ‘I didn’t think so. You couldn’t possibly understand.’

  Alex got up from her chair. ‘What I don’t really understand is what you intended to accomplish by coming here.’

  Elaine stood up and Garth followed suit. He put a protective hand under his wife’s elbow. Elaine looked again at the photo on the mantle. ‘I came to pay a debt. I felt that I owed it to your mother.’

  ‘My mother? Did you know my mother?’

  ‘Not at all. We never met. But many years ago, your mother gave me a precious gift. I wanted a baby, more than anything in the world, and I wasn’t able to conceive. When your mother gave up her baby, she made all my dreams come true.’

  ‘Dory,’ said Alex.

  Elaine turned away from the photo, buttoned up her coat and knotted the belt. ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ she said.

  EIGHT

  The next morning Alex sat at her computer with a cup of coffee after a sleepless night, feeling as if her heart was made of lead. There was no denying the impression that the Colsons’ visit had made on her. If they did not believe in Dory, why was she trying to see the good in her? The Colsons didn’t seem like cruel or crazy people. Maybe they were right. After all, everyone in prison claimed to be innocent – even those who had committed the most heinous crimes.

  She had bookmarked some of the most thorough articles about Dory’s case. She read over them again, this time with a feeling of despair. The motive had been jealousy, ostensibly over this boyfriend, a doctor named Rick Howland, but Dory’s parents seemed to feel that this was just an excuse. That Dory would have murdered Lauren sooner or later, no matter what. Alex Googled Rick Howland under physicians in Boston and found that there was a podiatrist of that name practicing on Huntington Avenue. She hesitated for a moment then dialed the number on her screen. She asked the receptionist for an appointment as soon as possible.

  ‘Is it an emergency?’ the receptionist asked.

  Alex wondered what might constitute an emergency in podiatry. ‘I’m in a lot of pain,’ she said, realizing that this was, in fact, the truth.

  The receptionist offered her an appointment at noon. Alex thanked her and hung up. Just then the doorbell rang and Alex picked up her coffee cup and went to answer it. This time it actually was Seth Paige on the front step. Her heart barely registered the fact that he was there. In the light of day he looked different. Normal. She felt like an alien encountering a human. ‘Hi,’ she said dully.

  ‘I came to look at your dad’s books,’ he said. ‘Is this a good time?’

  ‘Good as any,’ Alex continued in a dull voice.

  He followed her into the house.

  ‘They’re in here,’ she said.

  Seth walked into the office and gave a cursory glance at the shelves of books. ‘Wow,’ he said. ‘What a great collection. I’d like to have all of them.’

  ‘Take ’em,’ said Alex.

  Seth frowned and turned to look at her. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asked.

  Alex shook her head. ‘Long story.’

  Seth sat down on the edge of her father’s desk. ‘Go ahead. I’m in no hurry. I’ve played about all the games of cribbage with my dad that I can stand for one lifetime. I wanted to see the books but, honestly, coming over here was my excuse for getting out of the house.’

  Alex smiled wanly. ‘I can’t talk about it,’ she said. ‘It’s too much.’

  ‘Well, let me see if I can help boil it down. I know about the sister in prison. I know you went to see her.’

  ‘How did you know that?
’ Alex asked, taken aback.

  Seth shook his head. ‘How long have you lived in this neighborhood? Your Uncle Brian told Laney Thompson. He’s been keeping tabs on you through the Thompsons.’

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ Alex protested.

  ‘Be glad they care,’ said Seth. ‘So, what happened?’

  Alex sighed. ‘Well, I went to see her.’

  ‘How was that?’ he asked.

  Alex hesitated. ‘Difficult. Upsetting.’

  ‘No shit.’

  ‘Then her parents came by here last night. They basically said that Dory was bad to the bone, and that I should stay as far away from her as possible.’

  ‘But you don’t feel that way?’ he asked.

  Alex shook her head. ‘I don’t know what I feel. They know her better than I do. I spent half an hour with her. Maybe they’re right,’ she cried. Then she exhaled. ‘I just don’t know.’

  ‘Then look farther,’ he said.

  Alex looked at him in surprise. ‘You’re not going to tell me to stay away from her?’

  ‘Why would I do that?’ he said. ‘You’re an intelligent woman. Make up your own mind.’ He looked over his shoulder. ‘Have you got a plan for those cartons over there?’ he asked, pointing to a pile of boxes from the liquor store.

  She shook her head.

  ‘Look, Alex, I’m not trying to be flippant,’ he said. ‘I just think you have to trust yourself. Do you know what you’re going to do?’

  Alex shrugged. ‘I located her old boyfriend. I thought I might go and talk to him. Maybe he can shed some light on what happened.’

  ‘You may as well,’ he said. ‘I would if I were you.’ He walked over to the bookshelf and reverently pulled down a volume.

  ‘You would?’ she said.

  He turned a few pages in the book, and then looked up at her. ‘If I wanted to know more, yes, I would. Obviously you are not satisfied with what you know now.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’

  ‘So go,’ he said.

  Alex hesitated. ‘You’re right. I’m gonna do it. But you can stay and look at the books.’