Twisted Rock

by Jill Sanders

  “End the affair or suffer the consequences.”

  It was written in red under the snapshot of Isaac and Kristy Owens in an embrace with their three-year-old son. Everyone looked so happy together, so… family.

  “You think the note is…” She turned but realized Sawyer was busy talking to the chief.

  Taking another step forward, she picked up a pen and, with the tip of it, moved the top image aside, to see the next picture underneath it.

  “There are more,” she said to the room.

  Sawyer was off the phone and moved to stand beside her again.

  “From the looks of it, he’d been getting these for a while. The boy is younger in these pictures.” She showed him. “See?”

  He took the pen from her and moved them all, so they were in chronological order. “Six of them,” he said.

  “Are there envelopes? How did he get these?” She tilted her head towards the book.

  “I’m not sure.” Sawyer picked up the book and shook it as if expecting something else to fall out.

  “We’ll have to assume they were delivered by hand and left where Isaac would find them.”

  “You think whoever killed him did it because…” She paused then gasped. “This makes it look like I…” She felt all the blood leave her face.

  “Hey.” Sawyer took her by the shoulders again. “This means nothing. Anyone could have threatened him about the affair. This does not make it seem like you’re the one who killed him.”

  She nodded slightly, but in the back of her mind, she knew the guilt meter was pointing back towards her.

  “The chief needs me to come in and wants me to bag them and bring them in, including the book.” He picked up the bag from the library and nudged everything in it. “I won’t be long. He needs me to fill out some paperwork since I’m cleared to work again.” He groaned. “Night shift. I hate night shift.”

  She nodded, still not trusting her voice.

  He set the bag down and took her shoulders. “I won’t be long.”

  She nodded again, then he leaned in and kissed her until her body relaxed.

  “I’ll lock the door behind me,” he said. She followed him to the front door and watched him pull on his jacket then tuck the bag under his arm. “Set the alarm.”

  She nodded. When he opened the door, she realized that it was raining lightly.

  “Drive safe,” she called after him. He walked back over to her, his finger going under her chin.

  “I can bring us back something for dinner,” he suggested.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I feel well enough to cook something. It’s my way of relaxing.” It was also her style of therapy. Besides, Debra had given her a new recipe she wanted to try out. It had been handed down from her great-grandmother, who smuggled it out from Russia after defecting during the cold war.

  “If you need anything, call me.” He nodded to her phone. “Keep it with you.”

  She nodded and waved as he walked out and then set the alarm. Since it and the cameras had been installed, she felt safer in the house. Still, it was the first time she had been left alone since Sawyer had moved in.

  Half an hour later, she and the dogs were in the kitchen putting the beef stroganoff into the oven along with another loaf of bread.

  She poured herself a glass of wine and imagined what it would be like to have her and Sawyer’s kids here. She imagined the sound of children’s laughter echoing through the home she’d built.

  There were still things to be done to the place, but she’d put it all on hold after Isaac… She shook her head. She scanned the kitchen and started building a mental list of items that still needed to be done. When the list got too long, she pulled out her notepad and started writing it down.

  When the dogs whined, she pulled on her boots, disarmed the alarm system, and took out the umbrella, since she knew Tsuna wouldn’t go out unless she was protected from the rain.

  “Let’s go,” she called out to the dogs. Ozzy took off quickly after she opened the door. Tsuna whined until she picked her up and carried her out under the protection of the umbrella.

  When they reached the grass, she set Tsuna down and waited while the little girl did her business. She called out for Ozzy, but the dog didn’t come back. Snapping her fingers, she picked up Tsuna and set her inside the house, since the dog was shivering.

  She called Ozzy several more times, and when he didn’t come, she took the flashlight from the kitchen drawer and wrapped her jacket around her more tightly, making sure the phone was tucked into her pocket.

  “Come on, Ozzy,” she called. “Daddy’s going to be home soon.”

  The bushes near the driveway shook and Rose walked towards them, thinking that Ozzy had gotten stuck.

  A dark figure stepped out instead, and Rose froze. It felt as if all the blood from her body had just drained out.

  There, standing across the driveway in the dim glow of the porchlights, stood Isaac.

  Her joy spiked then quickly turned to fear as the man moved forward.

  Shaking her head, she backed up. Her hand covered her heart as she blinked a few times.

  “I…Isaac?” She continued to shake her head. “But you’re…”

  “Not Isaac,” the man said, moving closer as a slow smug smile curled his lips upward.

  From way he walked and the tone in his voice, she knew instantly it wasn’t her husband, couldn’t be her husband. Still, he was wearing Isaac’s face.

  “Who are you?” she managed.

  “Ian.” He smiled. “Isaac was my twin,” he spat out. “Bet they didn’t tell you about me.” He was less than a foot from her, and she realized it was too late to retreat. He reached out and gripped her shoulder.

  “W…who?” She tried to pull her arm free, but she was weak from fear.

  “Our dear old dad,” Ian spit out.

  Rose felt her blood pumping quickly through her body and tried to force her heart to slow, but she knew there was no way she could. When her eyesight started fading, she tried to fight it, but she slipped into darkness as she fainted.

  When she woke, she was lying on the sofa in her living room. Or so she thought. It wasn’t until she sat up that she realized it wasn’t her living room or her sofa.

  Instead, she was in a smaller room, furnished similarly to her own. So much so that as she looked around, she had to reassure herself that she wasn’t seeing things.

  “Do you like it?” The warm tone was so much like Isaac’s. Jerking her head around, she saw him standing near the doorway, a tray of cups in his hands.

  “Who are…” She shook her head. “Isaac didn’t have…”

  His laughter stopped her.

  “Yes, so everyone was made to believe.” He set the tray down in front of her on the coffee table that matched the one she and Isaac had picked out together.

  “You were twins?” she asked, finally allowing it to sink in.

  Ian sighed and tilted his head to look at her instead of answering. His gaze ran over her body and, even though his eyes matched Isaac’s perfectly, the way he looked at her made her very uncomfortable.

  He’d removed her boots and jacket so that all she wore was the tight pink sweater shirt that covered her black leggings.

  “Where… are we?” she asked, glancing around slowly.

  He handed her a cup of tea. “I tried to make it as comfortable as I could for you.” He smiled when his blue eyes landed back on her. “Just like our place.”

  “You’ve… been in my place?” she asked, taking the tea but not taking a sip. She didn’t trust the man, not with the looks he was giving her. There was something different in his eyes, something she’d never seen in Isaac’s before.

  “Yes, many times. Isaac’s keys were helpful until that cop moved in. I left them there on the fireplace, for you to find.” His expression turned dark.

  It was then that she remembered the cell phone she’d shoved in her jacket pocket before she’d stepped outside to let
the dogs out.

  Glancing around, she scanned the room for any sign of her coat.

  “Did you…” She turned back to him when she didn’t see the coat or her boots. “Did you kill Isaac?”

  He took a deep breath. “An unfortunate accident when we first met face to face.” He smiled. “Apparently, he’d gotten wind that something was wrong. He kept his eyes out for me and that night caught me sneaking around the house. Paying off the worker who had showed up early that morning was easy. I simply told him I’d killed a wild dog and shoved its body into the cement wall. I still had plenty of money our mother had left me.”

  “You…” She shook her head.

  “Our mother had set up accounts for both of us before she was murdered by our father,” he sneered.

  “What?” She set the cup down, and when his eyes narrowed, she decided to quickly take his mind off the fact that she hadn’t drank any of the dark liquid. “Your father murdered your mother?”

  “Yes, and your father.” His smile was back. “I bet my dear old dad didn’t tell you that one either.”

  She shook her head, unable to breathe or talk.

  “Why don’t I start at the beginning? Shall I?” He leaned back and crossed one leg over the other, a move Isaac had done so many times before.

  She nodded, then tried to appear more relaxed, even though she was still scanning for a way out of the situation. After all, Ian had just admitted that he’d killed Isaac and had paid Wallis off, which meant, he could be the one who’d killed the worker as well.

  “Our parents divorced when we were two. Since neither one of them wanted to give up guardianship of us, they settled on each taking one of us.”

  “Isaac with Sean and you with your mother?” she asked.

  He laughed. “You would have thought so, but no. I actually went with our father and Isaac with our mother. Sean and I moved to Twisted Rock to escape the clutches of my mother’s very large and wealthy family. It seems, however, shortly after we moved here, my true nature was revealed.” His smile widened, and she was reminded of Jack Nicolson in The Shining, which caused a shiver to rush down her spine. “My parents set up a meeting, here at our home. That evening, our father demanded they switch sons. Our mother, you see, had been in and out of institutes all her life.” His eyes turned darker and she guessed that he was remembering something unpleasant. “Apparently, it runs in the family. Anyway…” He shook his head and focused again. “When our mother wouldn’t agree to the exchange, dear old dad pulled out a gun and killed her, shot her point blank in the face. One of the staff members heard the shot and called the police, but by the time your father and the other officer arrived, Sean had set it up so that it appeared our mother had committed suicide. Our father claimed that she had shown up, desperate to take him back, and when he wouldn’t agree, she shot herself.”

  He bent down, took his tea and sipped, then nodded to her tea. “Drink.” It wasn’t a question or a suggestion, but rather a demand.

  “No, thank you,” she said softly. “What happened next?” She tried to convince him to go on.

  His eyes narrowed, but he continued.

  “Your father, apparently, didn’t buy it. The other officer, however, was easily paid off after my father shot your dad. My father has been paying the man off, chunks at a time, over the past twenty years.”

  “And? Where have you been?” she asked.

  “Just like my mother, my father decided I was too much of a risk and had me locked up.” His spooky smile was back. “Shortly after I turned eighteen, I was able to check myself out, finally emancipated. It didn’t take long to find Isaac at school and to sneak into his life here and there.” He laughed. “Messing with him was easy. I knew which classes he was in and since he never skipped a class, it was easy to make sure I was never seen in the same places.” He shrugged. “A trip to the beach with an old friend, or even going skydiving and taking flying lessons.” He shrugged and laughed. “Sleeping with beautiful women who think you’re someone they’ve wanted was so easy, so fun.”

  Her heart skipped. “You… and Kristy?”

  His smile turned, and his eyes grew darker. “Yes, she was all mine, her and Ash.” His smile returned but was different. “My son. Not Isaac’s.”

  She thought about the woman’s death and he must have seen her questions.

  “She was making a mess of things.” He sighed. “She had a weakness for pills. I still had my keys, so I let myself into our apartment.” He shrugged. “I saw what she did to you, at the mall.”

  “You… were there?” He laughed and nodded. “You killed her?” Once again, her eyes darted around the room. The fireplace was the only light in the room, and she couldn’t see beyond the glowing light.

  “Less messy than killing the worker. I had paid him not to ask questions about the body.”

  She shook her head. “But Willis must have seen Isaac that morning.”

  Ian laughed. “No, I was smart and covered him with plastic before the worker arrived that morning. But when they found Isaac’s body a year later and then I showed up shortly thereafter, the worker knew instantly that I wasn’t Isaac and demanded more money. So, I paid him, with the condition he kill the cop who was sniffing around you. But the man botched that up, so he had to die.” He shrugged and picked up the tea and handed it to her. “Drink.”

  “I’m not…”

  “Drink!” He slammed his fist on the table, sending the other cups dancing.

  She held the cup up to her lips and pretended to sip. The tea smelled sweet, too sweet, but she must have been convincing since he nodded and went back to his story.

  “Why tell me all this now?” She played with the heart on the bracelet Sawyer had given her, afraid of his answer. She wondered if she’d ever see Sawyer again, if she’d ever have a chance to tell him how she felt. They had said the words, but did he know just how deeply she had meant them?

  “I should have had his life, it should have been me! Not him!” Ian screamed, then he quickly settled back down. “I was the one who sent you those roses, the yellow ones.” He sighed. “We will have to have an open and honest relationship unlike you and Isaac had. I’ll need to know everything, all the time.” He sighed and relaxed back. “You’ll see, things will be just as wonderful as they were before.”

  Her stomach twisted. “Have you ever… have we…” She felt her entire body convulse as his eyes heated.

  “It was so easy, after Isaac graduated college, filling in for him every now and then. Only the once, when he was away on that long business trip. I flew home to my wife.” He reached over and took her hand. “Then, that last night, after Isaac lay in the wall, I returned to you, made love to you.” He smiled. “You must have known. I had dreamed, hoped you would know it was me and not him making love to you.”

  She leaned over and emptied the contents of her stomach on her favorite rug and her mind blurred as she remembered it wasn’t really her rug, but Ian’s. The man who’d filled in for Isaac, her husband. How many times had he returned home, played the role of her husband? How many times had she made love to Ian, instead of Isaac? He said twice, but suddenly, everything made sense and her mind cleared.

  Isaac had never been the one to demand perfection from her, he’d never complained about her art. Several times before, she could remember Issacs doing so, now, realizing it had always been Ian. Ian had been the one who was controlling, the one demanding she be something she wasn’t. Knowing everything she did, where she was. So much made sense to her now and her stomach rolled again. A bucket was shoved under her face.

  “There, there.” Isaac’s voice soothed her, and she relaxed as memories blurred with the present.

  “Isaac?” she cried.

  “Yes, I’m here, I’m right here, sweetie.” His hand soothed her hair away from her face. “You’ll get better, then we can start on that family we’ve always dreamed of.”

  She glanced up, her eyes filled with tears and, for a moment, she allowed h
er mind to convince her that it was Isaac sitting next to her, soothing her. Then Ian smiled and broke the trance.

  She gathered all her strength and pushed him, causing him to fall off the sofa and land on his butt on the rug she’d just soiled. Without thinking, she rushed from the room down a long hallway and through the door at the end. It led to the kitchen and, when she didn’t see another door, she looked around for a weapon. She froze when she saw an outline of a man sitting at the kitchen table. The lights were off, so she couldn’t see who it was, and she didn’t know what to do next. She could hear Ian calling to her, searching the large home for her. He opened each door in the hallway and she knew it was only a matter of time before he found here there.

  Squinting, she took a step closer to the figure. Her eyes adjusted, and she realized it was Boone Schneller sitting at the table. When she reached out to touch his shoulder, his head fell back, and she noticed the large gash from ear to ear. His eyes stared up at her in the darkness and dried blood covered the man’s shirt.

  She screamed and screamed, her mind going completely blank as Ian walked into the room, a gun pointing at her chest. In his other hand, he held a mug.

  “You see, I will protect you.” He nodded to the body of her neighbor. “He was the one destroying your deck, the one who attacked you. I saw what he did to you.” His eyes turned dark as he stepped closer to her. “I’ll always protect you.” He moved closer, the gun going down to his side. “You haven’t finished your tea, wife.” Ian held the cup towards her as she once again felt her world go black.

  Twenty-Eight

  Full disclosure…

  “What do you mean she’s not there?” Carson said into the phone.

  Sawyer felt another wave of panic wash over him as Ozzy danced around his feet. “I mean she’s not here. Ozzy was locked out of the house, Tsuna was in, and Rose is nowhere to be found. Get your butt over here and bring anyone else you can drag out here as well.” He reached up and flipped off the oven.