The Other

by L. J. Sellers

  “You said you would speak to the demonstrators.” Even through the door, the girl sounded mad.

  Oh yeah. The silly child-like people out there who thought they could have everything. “All right. I’m coming.” She’d had just enough to drink to dull the pain and fear, but not the anger. Never the anger.

  Jill checked herself in the mirror, but quickly looked away. She didn’t even know herself anymore. She stepped into the hall and smiled at her anxious assistant. “Sorry for the delay.” She’d been lost in memories again.

  “You only need to give them five minutes.” Her assistant grabbed her arm and steered her down the hall toward the big front foyer. “Tell them your budget issues, reassure them that patients will end up in better facilities, then take two questions and walk away.”

  “I’ve got this.” Why was everyone so bossy with her lately?

  Jill moved past the security point and headed for the front entrance, gaining stability as she walked. The guard nodded and opened a door for her. Jill stepped out, surprised by the dark cold sky. It had been sunny when she arrived that morning.

  Shivering, she walked toward the podium and microphone her staff had set up. “Good afternoon. I appreciate that you’re all here, showing how much you love your family members at Mt. Angel.” What a lie! She hadn’t realized how much politicians had to mislead the public until after Blake had been elected.

  A memory of those earlier days started to overwhelm her, but she fought it. Jill focused on the street in the distance, not making eye contact with anyone in the crowd. They all looked so working class and slovenly. “The decision concerning the psychiatric hospital has been heartbreaking for me too, even though I’m not facing the same issues you are.”

  A young familiar voice called out, “Why not? Don’t you have a child at Mt. Angel?”

  Logan! He was standing there in front, calling her out publicly. The little shit! She spun toward the security guard and gestured at him to do something. He gave her a blank look. The crowd shouted, “Answer the question!”

  Jill spun back to face them, fighting the rage. “I want to talk about the budget! As a state, we face tough decisions.” She started to recite numbers, but her mind went blank.

  In a fog, she heard a young voice say, “My name is Logan Palmer, and I’m your son! You sent me to Mt. Angel to hide me from the public.”

  The stunned protestors went quiet, waiting for her response.

  Panic flooded every cell in her body. She’d been avoiding this day forever, and she feared it would only get worse. But she didn’t feel like herself and couldn’t think clearly or speak.

  “Tell me about my brother! Was he conceived at the fertility clinic too?”

  How did he know about Austin? Shay must have finally told him, even though Jill had been paying for her silence. How was that possible? Confusion gripped her, but somehow she managed to speak. “Let’s go inside and talk about this.” That didn’t sound like something she would say. Oh no. She was losing herself again. The paralyzing fog thickened, and she felt Shay slip inside her mind, ready to rescue Logan again.

  Chapter 40

  Logan watched his mother move toward him, but she was walking funny, as if her legs hurt. Was she making fun of Aunt Shay? The crowd around him grew restless, and some people jeered at Jill, calling her a coward. She stopped in front of him, shook her hair loose, and took his hand. “Hello, Logan. It’s so good to see you outside the hospital.” Her voice was deeper and softer than usual.

  What the hell was happening? With her hair down like that, she looked like Shay. And why was Mother suddenly being nice like his aunt?

  He swallowed hard, ready to stand up for himself. “I’m really glad to be free. Please don’t send me back.” Logan felt a hand on his arm. He jumped and snapped his head to the side. Pops! The old guy and his partner had found him again. Thank goodness.

  “Why would I do that?” Jill stroked his hair. “I’ve missed having you with me.”

  That wasn’t his mother talking. She was having a freaky episode. “What’s going on? Why are you pretending to be someone else?”

  From the side, the pretty newscaster he’d seen earlier rushed over and started taking pictures. The camera guy behind her was filming too.

  “Come on, I’m your Aunt Shay. It hasn’t been that long since you’ve seen me.”

  Logan stared, open-mouthed. The protestors watched in silence too.

  “You asked about your brother, so I’m going to tell you.” The woman, whoever she was now, smiled sadly. “When Jill and I were both patients at the fertility clinic, one of your mother’s embryos split in two. Your dad wanted to implant both. He liked the idea of having twins. But Jill didn’t want to take care of two babies at once. So she held an embryo back and had it frozen, then gave birth to Austin a couple years later. I should have told you long ago, but Jill wouldn’t let me.”

  A twin? He’d been hoping to learn that the Other was his younger sibling, but the truth was even stranger. If he could believe what Mother was telling him—while she pretended to be Aunt Shay. Overwhelmed, he looked to his rescuers for support. “Do you know what’s happening?”

  The tall woman named Karina stepped toward him. “I think your mother is having a psychotic break. In this moment, she thinks she’s Shay.”

  But why? Because she wanted to tell him the truth and this was the only way she could do it? Logan turned back to his mother and talked to her like she was his aunt. “Are you sure it was Jill’s embryo? I think she might have stolen it from you. I’ve always felt like I was your son, Shay.”

  Her eyes widened in shock, but he thought he saw anguish too. “No Logan. My embryos weren’t viable.”

  Disappointment crushed him. He’d wanted so badly for his life to make more sense.

  She kept talking as Aunt Shay. “I was the best mother I could be for you. I know Jill’s rejection was painful, but she brought you to me and we had a good life.”

  “Until you went to Seattle!” The angry cry burst out of him. He hadn’t known how upset he was about her abandonment until that moment.

  “But I came back.” Her eyes pleaded for forgiveness.

  “It was too late! Mother had already had me locked up.”

  The confused woman looked over at Pops and Karina. “That’s why I hired them to get you out.”

  A security guard was rapidly approaching. The tall woman grabbed Logan’s arm. “Let’s go. I found a lawyer who will keep you out of the hospital.”

  Logan didn’t resist her pull. At least he finally knew that the Other was real, not a hallucination. The tricks his brother had played on him were probably Jill’s idea to make him seem crazy. There was so much he still didn’t understand. Where was his real Aunt Shay? He would find out, but not right now. He trusted his rescuers and went with them. Mother could change into her old self any moment and have him arrested.

  As they hurried across the damp lawn, Logan spotted Pops’ car and broke into a run. His new life was waiting—if he could just get to it before anything else happened.

  Chapter 41

  As they neared their sedan, a parking-citation officer rolled up on the sidewalk in a repurposed golf cart. Oh hell. The last thing they needed. Next to her, Marty stopped, reached in his pocket, and held out his key. “I wanted you to drive anyway, because I’m not feeling that well.” He pressed the clicker to unlock the doors, then put the key into her hand. “Start the car in case we have to leave in a hurry, and I’ll try to talk her out of ticketing us.” He walked toward the cart, moving a little slower than he had been.

  “Get in,” she instructed Logan. Rox pulled quarters from her pocket and shoved two into the meter. With a quick glance at Marty, she got behind the wheel and cranked the engine.

  Logan spoke from the backseat. “Tell the old man to get in the car. Now!”

  Something was wrong with his voice. He sounded younger yet more menacing. Was he having a mental episode too? Rox turned to see what was goi
ng on.

  A second boy stared at her with cold blue eyes. “Do what I say or I’ll make him bleed!” He was blond, with perfect features, and looked just like Logan, only a few years younger. He also had a knife pressed to Logan’s throat.

  Oh fuck! The kid was insane. “Don’t do this. We can help you.”

  “Shut up or you’ll both die right here.”

  Her law enforcement training urged her to get out of the vehicle. But Logan looked at her with wild, pleading eyes. She couldn’t risk his life. Rox glanced out the windshield to see Marty rounding the front of the hood.

  Her stepdad climbed in and reached for his seatbelt. “No ticket. Good thing you put money in the meter.” He didn’t look at her or Logan.

  Rox put the car in gear and pulled into traffic. “We have a situation.” She nodded toward the backseat.

  Marty snapped his head in that direction. “Holy shit!”

  “Keep quiet old man or Logan dies slowly.”

  The evil in the brother’s voice spiked fear in Rox’s gut. Hands trembling on the wheel, she struggled to think clearly. They were hostages of an angelic-looking thirteen-year-old with a knife.

  “Drive to the Canby house,” Austin commanded.

  “Why? What will that accomplish?”

  “I can accomplish anything I want. I’m going to be president someday, and I won’t let my freaky brother get in the way.” He gave a guttural chuckle. “I can’t believe you and Grandpa got him out of the psych ward, but your little rescue effort is over. So just do what I say and start by giving me your phones.”

  Rox glanced at Marty, but he wasn’t looking at her. He grabbed the burner cell from her bag, pulled his phone from a pocket, and handed them both over. Good thing she carried three.

  Rox considered her options. Should she just drive to the Salem police department? No, that wouldn’t work. Even if she could find it, Austin might kill Logan the minute they entered the parking lot, then take off running. This kid was too dangerous to let loose on the world. She had to trap him and apprehend him.

  Rox saw a sign for the interstate and struggled to make up her mind. She hated to leave the safety of the city, but they might be able to get control of the situation in a secluded setting. She also wanted information from the younger boy. She hoped to engage him when he was less on guard.

  “Did I mention I have a gun too?” His cold voice cut into her thoughts, and a shiver ran down her spine.

  She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the kid waving a small handgun. Oh shit. He planned to kill them all. “Why?”

  “You’re interfering with our grand plan. And Mother needs to be protected. She’s not herself lately.”

  No shit! Rox had just watched Jill Palmer morph into her sister’s personality, in a psychotic fugue state. Now she wondered what had really happened to Shay Wilmont. The Canby house likely held answers. Rox veered right and took the freeway on-ramp. She looked over at Marty to see if he would object. He hadn’t seemed to notice. His face had lost color and his eyelids were droopy.

  Oh no. “Hey, Pops. Are you all right?”

  “Just a little tired.” He sounded weak and in pain.

  Oh hell! He could be having a heart attack. “Put your feet up on the dash and rest.” It was all she could think to do for him in this situation.

  “Is that some kind of code?” Austin’s tone bordered on paranoid.

  Rox made a mental note to use that in her favor—if she got the chance. “He has a bad heart and needs to get blood to circulate.”

  Austin didn’t respond.

  Once they were on the freeway, they rode in silence. Rox played out scenarios in her mind. She would ambush Austin when he tried to get out of the car. Or right afterward. All she needed was a distraction.

  She glanced in the rearview mirror to see how Logan was handling the stress. He stared straight ahead, not moving, as though in a trance. His brother sat shoulder-to-shoulder against him, the knife still at Logan’s throat.

  What if they were rear-ended or she had to slam the brakes? Logan could be killed instantly. “Hey, Austin. Why don’t you relax while we drive? Give Logan a break.”

  The kid laughed. “Not a chance. I don’t trust you.”

  “I’m not going to do anything on the freeway. That would get us all killed.”

  Austin didn’t respond, but when she looked back a minute later, he’d lowered the knife. The gun remained in his other hand on the seat beside him.

  Rox focused on the road, calculating that it would take another twenty minutes to reach their destination. After a while, she couldn’t stand the tension. “There has to be another way,” Rox suggested. “Why not just let Logan leave town with his aunt? He’ll never bother you guys again.”

  “Are you stupid?” The kid sneered. “Aunt Shay is long gone, and my brother knows that.”

  How would Logan know? He’d been incarcerated when they’d last heard from Shay. A bizarre thought hit her. Maybe Shay Wilmont hadn’t actually hired her or visited her office. It could have been Jill in her alternate state. But why would she sabotage herself? Because she was insane? Guilt-ridden? If that were the case, where was Shay? And who had killed the reporter?

  Thinking about all of it made her head hurt even worse, but Rox had to know. “Where is Shay?”

  “That depends on so many things.” A note of contempt in Austin’s voice. For whom? His mother?

  “Was Shay at the Canby house when Lexa Robbins showed up for an interview?”

  “Sort of.” Austin snickered. “Mother seems to be weakest when she’s surrounded by memories.”

  “You were there too?” Rox knew in her gut he had been. The gun in his hand was telling.

  “Of course. I had to take care of business.”

  The reporter had been shot in the head as a matter of business? But surely Austin hadn’t been able to put her body in the trunk and drive the car into the pond by himself. “Who helped you cover up that crime? Jill or Shay?”

  “Mother was herself by then and not very happy with me.”

  Rox studied the kid in the rearview mirror for a moment. He looked so innocent, but he was clearly a psychopath. She’d learned the hard way that they could seem quite normal, even charming. She understood enough about how their minds worked to be afraid. She also knew that they liked to talk about themselves—to brag especially.

  “Why do you think Logan’s neurological disorder will derail your political career? It seems harmless enough.” She thought that was what he’d implied.

  “Oh please. It’s not that. It’s what he knows.” Austin oozed with disdain now. Anger too. “Mother thought locking him up and shocking his brain would make him forget, but now that he’s out of the hospital, I’m not taking chances.”

  “Forget what?”

  “I’m tired of your questions.”

  She had one more. She caught his eyes in the rearview mirror. “What makes you think you can get away with this?”

  He grinned. “I always do.”

  Marty made a noise in his throat, and Rox looked over. He’d had his eyes closed for most of the trip, but he was more alert now. She decided to keep that fact quiet. Let Austin think Marty was out of it. Maybe that was her stepdad’s plan. But he couldn’t fake the paleness in his face.

  The Canby exit loomed ahead, and Rox eased into the turn-only lane. A few minutes later, they drove through the bucolic town, passing people going about their lives. From the outside, they probably looked like any other family on their way home. Rox scanned the streets, looking for a police vehicle. But even if she spotted one, could she signal the officer without Austin seeing? Was it worth risking Logan or Marty’s life?

  Behind the clouds, the sun dropped in the sky. Dread formed a knot in Rox’s stomach. Darkness could work against their ability to overcome this situation. Had it been a mistake to come out here? No second guesses, she told herself. Austin had chosen the Canby house for a reason. Maybe because of its seclusion and familiarity.
Once he was in his own environment, the kid might let down his guard and put some distance between himself and his brother. When he did, she would make her move. Rox worked through takedown scenarios in her head, trying to keep calm.

  A few minutes later, she turned off the rural road, following the route they’d taken earlier that morning—which seemed like ages ago.

  Chapter 42

  As they rolled down the long driveway, yellow leaves fluttered in the wind. Austin cringed. He hated fall and he hated the Canby house. His parents had always left him with a friend of the family when they visited his aunt and older brother. Logan hadn’t been allowed to know about him for reasons Austin had never quite understood. So on their way out of town, his parents had dropped him off with Uncle Roy—who’d repeatedly sexually abused him… and threatened to hurt him if he told… until the day Austin had decided he’d had enough. He’d been raking leaves and watching Roy stand on a ladder to clean gutters. The man’s accident had left him in a wheelchair, and Austin had declared himself old enough to stay home alone.

  A year later, his dad had a boating accident and his aunt left town—all because of something that happened in the Canby house. He knew his mother had relentless guilt about it. Still, his father’s death had been a hard blow to his new self-confidence. Austin had fortified himself with more ambition and resolve. Then his brother had been shipped off to Mt. Angel, and his mother had started bringing him here on weekends. At first, Austin had thought of the trips a special privilege, because he’d been denied them for so long. But soon after, Mother had started acting weird when they were here, pretending to be Aunt Shay and calling him Logan. So he’d started to hate the isolated stone house and sometimes refused to go along.

  Austin didn’t want to be here today either, but it seemed like the place where people went to die—so he’d gravitated to it naturally. Taking Logan hostage was an impulsive act. Mother had been distressed since learning his brother had somehow escaped the hospital. When he’d seen Logan standing in front of the capitol where she worked, confronting her about everything, he’d become outraged. How dare Logan humiliate Mother in public! Overcome with rage—and fearing a limited future for himself—he’d snapped into action.