Double Take

by Brenda Joyce

  He looked from her face down to her palm as it clasped his. Then he pulled away, standing. “I need to go get Marni,” he said tersely.

  Marni was expecting Kait to pick her up at school. Kait struggled to stand up. “Oh, God! She’s expecting me! I have to go!” she cried. Marni was coming to love and trust her and she could not disappoint her now.

  “Like hell.” He was staring at her as if she were an alien from Mars. “I’ll explain what happened.”

  Tears came to her eyes. “But that isn’t good enough! I can’t let her down,” she said, shoving off the covers and leaping from the bed.

  The moment she did a huge wave of dizziness engulfed her. Trev caught her and held her upright, his arms hard and strong around her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked harshly.

  She didn’t move away. Her breasts were flattened by his chest. “I want to come too,” she said. “Please.”

  “You’re so dizzy you can’t even stand up! Besides, Mitch gave orders, and we’re following them.” He somehow maneuvered her over to the edge of bed, where she simply had to sit down.

  “I’ll go get her now, and Elizabeth can watch over you,” he said grimly.

  Kait nodded, tremendously upset. Marni was only four. She wasn’t going to understand and Kait didn’t need to be a child psychologist to know that.

  Trev walked to the door. Kait said, “Don’t scare her. Tell her it was a little fall and I will be up and about in no time.”

  He turned abruptly and looked at her. Confusion, doubt, and suspicion were clearly reflected on his face. He said, “I wish to hell I knew what was really going on.”

  Kait didn’t move.

  Neither did he.

  “What does that mean?”

  she asked unsteadily.

  He stared, a familiar coolness now in his eyes. “It means I know you damn well. And this is not you. My wife wouldn’t care about picking Marni up at school, not after the accident you had today. This has gone too far, Lana. This act of yours has to stop.” He was angry.

  Her heart stopped. She failed to breathe. Tears wanted to come to her eyes. “Trev, please. It’s not an act. Not anymore. Please try to believe me!”

  “You’ve even got Mitch on your side! How the hell did you manage that?” He was even angrier now.

  “I told him the truth,” Kait whispered. “I told him how I feel.”

  He stared.

  Kait inhaled. “Trev? I need to ask you something. It has to do with who may have taken a shot at me.”

  He started. “What?”

  “Have you ever heard of someone named Paul Corelli?” she said, her cheeks heating, her mind spinning, almost unable to believe what she was about to say, about to do.

  “No.” He was abrupt, mocking. “Let me guess. Another jilted lover?”

  Kait gasped.

  He folded his arms across his chest and waited.

  She swallowed, praying he was wrong about her sister. “Remember when we were in trouble with the banks? Remember when they were going to foreclose on Fox Hollow?”

  His eyes widened. It was a moment before he spoke. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  An inkling began, a horrible one. “I’m talking about the time when we were about to lose Fox Hollow.”

  He stared. “What game is this? I was never on the brink of losing Fox Hollow. I own Fox Hollow free and clear and I always have,” he said.

  CHAPTER 6

  The pain had returned. Her head throbbing, Kait stared as Trev walked out of the room, almost slamming her door behind him.

  Lana had lied.

  Fox Hollow had never been in danger of foreclosure. Trev owned it free and clear. Why would Lana tell Kait such a story?

  Why would she ask Kait to switch places with her?

  Did this mean that she did not owe money to someone named Paul Corelli? And if that was the case, why was Kait at Fox Hollow, pretending to be her sister? If that was the case, why had someone followed her last night, and tried to shoot her this morning? What the hell was going on!

  Kait’s instinct was to run after Trev and explain everything and beg him for his help.

  But instead, she gripped her head as she sat on the bed, trying desperately to think. Lana was not malicious; her lies were always meant to avert trouble. Clearly she was in trouble now. There was no other possible explanation for her to lie this way to Kait, and ask Kait to switch places with her.

  Kait was terrified. She felt like a blind person trapped in a huge dark maze, with pitfalls awaiting her every turn. What should she do?

  She told herself to calm down, to breathe. And as she tried to inhale slowly, deeply, and exhale the same way, she began to think coherently. Lana would return. Kait chose to believe she would return as she had promised, in two days—which meant in a few more hours or the following morning. Could she, Kait, hang on until then—until she knew what the stakes really were?

  Kait swallowed, thinking the worst. Lana had to be in danger. Her life had to be at stake. Only such jeopardy would justify such a monstrous lie and their deception on her family. If Kait came forward now, might she inadvertently put her sister in even more danger?

  It was hard to say. Being as Kait had not a clue as to what was really happening, sitting tight seemed to be the only possible solution now. And the more she pondered, the more staying put seemed like the least of all evils because the only conclusion that seemed likely was that Lana’s life was in real danger, and she had left Fox Hollow to do something about it.

  Kait shivered. Did that mean that she was in danger, too?

  Kait already knew the answer to that. Her riding accident was proof that her own life was on the line as well.

  But why? If Corelli did not exist, who was after Lana?

  Trev Coleman had said she had many enemies.

  Kait shivered again, panic trying to claim her once more. He had also said no one hated her enough to want her dead. Very uneasy now and quite simply overwhelmed, recalling Max Zara’s hostility, and then Elizabeth’s, she walked quickly into the bathroom to retrieve Lana’s cell phone from the trash, hoping against hope that Lana might try to call her. But to her dismay, the phone was gone.

  Lana would never call her at the house. Kait sat down on the edge of the tub with tears filling her eyes, overcome with dismay. How would Lana ever reach her now? If only she dared go to Trev! In fact, she wanted to huddle in his arms. But being as Lana hadn’t done so, Kait knew now that she had better not, either. She was terrified that anything she might do would make her sister’s dilemma even worse.

  But damn it, Lana should have told her the truth!

  Grabbing a tissue, Kait wiped her eyes and returned to the walk-in closet. Surely there must be some clue somewhere. Grimly she went to Lana’s side of the closet and began a thorough search of every shelf and every drawer, but other than finding clothing and accessories, she only found a few receipts. Her pulse accelerating, she began searching through Trev’s things. She shoved aside jeans and slacks, socks and underwear. She was on her hands and knees, rummaging on the floor behind his shoes, when she realized that she was not alone.

  The closet door had been open, and slowly, she turned. Elizabeth Dorentz stood in the bedroom, watching her.

  Kait stared defensively back, but her heart lurched with more dismay. This woman disliked her. She did not know why, but her feelings were all too clear. Was she one of the women in the county who hated her? And, if so, why? “Are you spying on me?” she asked tersely, slowly getting to her feet. Too late, she realized she had left the closet looking as if a burglar had ransacked it.

  “Spying? Hardly.” Elizabeth was holding a tray. Her face was an expressionless mask. “Your painkillers. Max brought them.”

  She stared. But nobody hates you enough to want you dead. Trev’s words echoed in her mind, loud and clear. Someone hated Lana enough to want her dead, Kait felt certain.

  “You’re staring,” Elizabeth said calmly.
“Have I grown horns?”

  But it was absurd to think that Elizabeth had taken a potshot at her. Or was it? “I don’t know. Have you?” Kait stepped into the bedroom, her shoulders defensively high.

  “What does that mean?” Elizabeth asked sharply.

  Kait stared back. “What have I ever done to you?” she finally asked softly, “to make you dislike me so?”

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened. Then she set the tray down, shook her head, and began to leave the room.

  “Wait!” Kait cried. “I mean it. I am serious.”

  Elizabeth turned around. “I doubt that. Trev might believe you somehow fell from your horse and now are injured, but then, you have played him for a fool from the moment he first laid eyes on you, haven’t you?”

  “I did fall from my horse,” Kait said. “Someone shot at me, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth made a disbelieving sound.

  “You still haven’t answered my question,” Kait said. “You can’t hate me because we fell in love!”

  Elizabeth folded her arms. “You don’t love Trev. You never have.” Kait stiffened. “That’s not fair.” Trev’s accusation that Lana had only married him for his money came to mind. It was too terrible and ugly to contemplate, and she shoved his words aside. Still, the kernel of their meaning simply would not budge; it had been implanted in her mind.

  Elizabeth’s face darkened. “You never have loved him! I have known him since he was a small boy. I consider him the son I never had. I bandaged his scrapes and cuts, I encouraged him before every show, I picked up his tuxedo on prom night! I sat with him as his wife wasted away, day after day, dying. I love him just as I loved his father, deeply and selflessly. That is why I am still here, at Fox Hollow, holding it all together! And that is why I am intolerant of your shenanigans.”

  Kait recoiled at the look of anger on her face, even as she tried to absorb this. Why hadn’t Lana mentioned this to her? “You were involved with his father?”

  “Oh, please! As if you don’t know. Edward’s wife also died, but in a tragic riding accident. Trev was a small boy; he needed me—just as Edward did.” She stared closely at her. “I am wondering what you hope to gain by this charade of yours.”

  Kait shivered. Did Elizabeth suspect that she was Lana’s twin, or did she think her to be Lana, and playing a dangerous game? In either case, Kait realized that she was walking on eggshells here. And then she realized that she was determined to continue to cover for her sister until her sister returned, until Lana could explain precisely what was going on and who wanted to kill her—and why.

  “Someone shot at me today,” Kait said tightly. “That’s why I had a riding accident. Someone tried to shoot me. I think that person wants me dead.”

  Elizabeth stared. It was impossible to gauge her reaction to Kait’s words. The woman had an iron will, the most superb self-control.

  “Do you have any idea who might hate me enough to try to shoot me?” Kait asked harshly.

  Elizabeth blinked. “No.”

  Kait had hardly expected her to confess. However, her next words truly surprised Kait.

  “I do not know who might hate you enough to want to murder you, Lana,” she said with a poisonous smile. “But I do know that you don’t have a single friend in the entire county. What I do know is that you have many, many enemies.”

  Kait stared, unnerved. Was Elizabeth implying that she was hardly surprised that someone wanted her dead?

  “Just for fun, why don’t you tell me who I’m up against?” Kait asked without thinking.

  Elizabeth blinked. “I have no idea,” she said, turning to leave. Kait raced after her and grabbed her arm. “Let’s say the intent was not murder. Let’s say someone only wished to hurt me, or even frighten me.”

  Elizabeth shook free. “To hurt you as you have hurt them? Oh, I don’t know. But I would count backwards if I were you.” Her blue eyes blazed.

  “Count backwards? And just what am I counting?” Kait asked with dread.

  “Your lovers and their very angry wives,” Elizabeth said.

  When Kait awoke, she was completely disoriented. The sun was shining brightly into her room, as if it were midmorning, but she knew it was the late afternoon. In fact, distorted images flitted through her groggy mind: Pride standing riderless in the field. Trev cantering over to her, his face a mask of concern; then his face near hers as he shook her, asking her to wake up. Another image of Dr. Mitchell followed, and suddenly Kait was completely awake. Dear God. Someone had tried to kill her, and Lana had lied to her about the reason for the switch.

  She blinked and the amount of sunlight streaming into the bedroom did not change. Kait struggled to sit up, stunned and then horrified— how could it be the morning? She had lain down right after the tense and hostile exchange with Elizabeth Dorentz, after swallowing the prescribed painkiller. She blinked at the grinning clock on the bedside table, and realized it was eight the following morning.

  Though she dimly recalled someone checking on her several times, it seemed she had mostly slept through the entire night, which meant that Lana had not yet returned.

  Or had she?

  What if she had returned last night, and Trev Coleman now knew everything? Kait threw off the covers, a knot of tension inside her chest, aching terribly, like heartburn. And she had missed Marni.

  Kait got up, more than dismayed. By now Marni had left for school, and as upset as she was to have disappointed her niece, she was terrified of the reception she might find downstairs. She reminded herself that the upside of the equation was that she would finally have answers from Lana if she was back—she would finally have the truth.

  She quickly brushed her teeth and showered, then dressed in a pair of beige slacks and a turtleneck sweater. It was nine o’clock; downstairs, Sam was in the kitchen, slathering something goopy and beige onto toast. The tall blonde turned, saw her, and turned away. Today she wore all black—a black V-neck pullover, a black leather vest, black jeans, and a big black belt with silver grommets. Her shoes were black Keds.

  Kait felt a flash of relief. Sam was acting as if she were Lana, not an unknown twin sister of her stepmother. Kait cleared her throat. “Did I miss everyone?” she asked nervously.

  Sam didn’t answer. She carried the plate of toast over to the breakfast nook with a huge glass of green juice that looked healthy but unappetizing. She sat down, drank, and ate.

  “Good morning,” Kait tried. But she was certain now that Lana had not come back. Sam would be acting far differently if she had, and the firing squad would be waiting for her.

  Sam didn’t look up. She pulled a newspaper forward and seemed to read the front page.

  Kait hesitated, went to the coffeemaker, and poured herself a coffee. Today she needed sugar, and she found a jar in the cupboard. She added milk and went and sat down across from Sam. The teenager looked up.

  “You may be sixteen, but that is no excuse for bad manners,” Kait remarked, her gaze moving over Sam again. She realized that Sam’s sweater was extremely expensive—it was cashmere and of the highest quality, Kait felt certain of it. But perhaps she was allowed unlimited spending. Yet Trev didn’t seem like that kind of father.

  Sam finally looked at her. “You’re not wearing any makeup.”

  Kait smiled. “It’s too early for makeup.”

  Sam stared. Mostly at her face and hair. Then she stood up. “You look weird naked like that,” she said abruptly. “You look like a geek!” She thrust her slim body away from the table, and then snatched up her juice.

  Kait also shot up. She had had enough, and to hell with the consequences. She grabbed Sam’s thin arm. “What have I ever done to you?” she asked.

  Sam shrugged free. “Are you kidding?”

  “No, I’m not. I had a riding accident yesterday, or didn’t anyone tell you?”

  Sam folded her arms across her chest. “I heard,” she mumbled.

  “I have a concussion. My head happens to hurt. But more import
antly, your rudeness is intolerable.”

  Sam snickered. “Did you suffer memory loss, as well? That might be why you forgot to put on your face—and why you’re drinking coffee with cream?”

  Kait suspected that Lana drank her coffee black. “I didn’t even think about it. I’m hungry.” That was the truth.

  “Right.” Sam turned to go.

  “Wait.” Kait moved in front of her, blocking her way. “Why don’t you like me? Is it because of your mother?”

  “My mother?” Sam seemed startled. “My mother died when I was nine. Sometimes I can’t even remember what she was like.” She seemed upset and she stomped away, finishing her juice and putting the glass in the big state-of-the-art stainless-steel sink. Then she turned. “But she was a lot more beautiful than you!”

  Kait stared at her back. If Sam’s mother had died seven years ago, there had been a year or less between her death and Trev and Lana’s marriage. She would imagine that Sam had had an extremely difficult time with the marriage, and that might explain her hostility to Lana. It suddenly occurred to her that Trev as well may have been in the throes of grief when he had met her sister.

  She didn’t like the implications of her thoughts. But there was no way for her to avoid them now—he hadn’t been ready to settle down with another woman, not on the heels of his wife’s death.

  Suddenly Kait felt as if a huge curtain were going up, laying bare the weakness of all the excuses she had been making for her sister. Suddenly she felt as if she were on center stage, drowning in bright stage lights. Lana loved beautiful things. She loved clothing and jewelry, and now, apparently, expensive horses and sports cars. Trev had been newly widowed when they had met. Had she been attracted to him because of his wealth?

  He owned Fox Hollow outright. That made him a fairly wealthy man.

  Dismayed, Kait had to sit down.

  “You gonna faint?” Sam asked.

  “I hope not.” Kait gripped the edge of the kitchen table grimly. “So then what is it, if not your mother?” she asked.