She arrived at about three in the morning. After she read Claire's diary entry, she sat still and quiet, thinking. I made us both some tea and waited for her conclusion. She made me jump and spill my tea when she finally broke the silence. "I think we need to confront him alone just the two of us. I'm going in armed, Nicola, and I want you to do exactly what I tell you at all times, got that?" I nodded wide eyed. Then she pulled up her sweater to reveal a Smith and Wesson .38 strapped to her torso.
"Oh my God," I groaned. This was all becoming far too real for me.
Jules glanced my way and shrugged. "It was bound to get nasty sooner or later." I stood up, swallowed nervously and followed her as she left the room.
We found Dennis alone in his office. Jules pushed me in through the door and waited outside hidden behind the wall. I left the door wide open so that she could hear everything said within the room. If Dennis was surprised to see me at this hour of the morning, he didn't show it. He looked up, smiled and offered me a drink. I politely declined. "Well then, to what do I owe this pleasure, sis?" he asked.
I took a deep breath. "I know that you are laundering money, Dennis, and I know how. What I don't know is why? Isn't what my father pays you enough?"
His smile slipped and his mouth twisted. "You want the truth? Well, he treats me like a fucking lackey! I get peanuts running this place. When the syndicate asked me, oh so nicely, to run money through the casino while paying me a good cut, not only had I no choice but you know what, Claire, I wanted to do it—just to screw your father over!"
I blanched at his hatred and as he stepped forward pushing his face into mine. I took a faltering step backwards. "Why Dennis? What did he ever do to you?" I asked.
"I told you—I'm manager in name only, your father won't let me make any decisions or make changes, hell I can't even fire staff without his fucking say so… and you… his fucking little princess. The pair of you make me sick to my stomach!" The pair...so it was Dennis!
"It was you. You killed my sister, Claire!" I felt the bile rise up into my throat.
"What the—you're fucking nuts—you are Claire!"
"I'm Nicola, her twin sister, you murdering bastard!" Incoherent molten fury swept through me and I launched myself onto him, pummelling him with my fists. To his credit, Dennis didn't hit me back. He simply covered his face as I attacked him, berserk with rage.
Into this furore came Jules, gun drawn, voice cold. "That is enough—I said—Stop, Nicola!" She grabbed my shoulder and spun me away from Dennis, her gun pointed directly at him.
He put his hands up in the air and grinned at her. "Hey, you got me, Jules, what can I say?"
Jules reached behind her and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Put these on him, Nicky." Dennis held out his wrists and I snapped on the cuffs. This had gone so much better than I thought it would.
"Okay, I have the car down below, let's go—Move!" She shoved Dennis forward and I followed her, feeling relief that it was all finally over. "I need you to come with me to the precinct, Nicky… you okay?" I nodded and murmured an affirmative.
We made our way to the underground car park unseen and Jules unlocked the car, pushing Dennis into the back seat. "Will you sit in the back too and keep an eye on him for me?" she asked me. Agreeably, I climbed in beside Dennis on the passenger side. Jules climbed into the driver's seat with Dennis sitting behind her. She started the car and drove out into the dark street. Dawn wasn't far off and the sky was beginning to lighten. I looked at Dennis and found him studying me closely.
"So where did you come from all of a sudden?" he asked.
"From England, Claire and I were split up by our parents when their marriage failed and my mother took me back to the U.K. with her; Claire stayed here with our father."
"Jeez, it's like that film, y' know the one… err," Dennis paused, thinking.
"The Parent Trap, Hayley Mills?" I filled in for him.
"Yeah-yeah, I remember that. So why don't I know about you?"
"I didn't know about any of this until after you murdered Claire!" My voice was rising again; I must try and stay calm.
"Me? You think I killed Claire? Jules—hey, are you hearing this?"
I interrupted before Jules could reply. "Was it Kate… you and Kate? Did she lasso Claire off Sasha and throttle her to death?"
"Kate—what the—No. How do you even know that Claire is dead? I mean she could be hiding out somewhere!"
"I saw her body, you bastard! I saw what you and that bitch did to my twin!" I lashed out and caught Dennis a blow on his mouth. A trickle of blood ran down his chin, the sight of his cut lip staying my hand, and I lowered it to my lap. I was shaking badly but I would not become like him. Dennis was scrutinizing me closely and I turned my head quickly to one side, allowing my curtain of hair to fall and cover my face. I couldn't bring myself to look at him, I was too distraught.
After a few moments of tense silence Dennis spoke again in a low voice, "I'm sorry, okay. I didn't know about Claire. I swear it wasn't me that killed her. Was it you, Jules? I would never have agreed to run cash for your bosses, if I'd known what you lot were capable of!"
Say what! I spun back to look at Dennis—what the—Jules?
"Shut your mouth, you fool. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about! The stupid bitch was gonna bring us all down. She had to go. I had no choice in the matter, orders from above you wouldn't want to ignore."
"So where the fuck are you taking us now? Gonna kill us too?"
I gasped and looked out of the car window; we were heading out into the desert and away from town and any police presence. I realised that the bravado Dennis had shown was because he knew that he was safe with Jules. He had been acting all along, they both had. The handcuffs in front of his body and not behind his back, it was all making sense to me now. How naive and trusting I had been with them both.
After that, things became blurred, everything happened so fast that it's hard to remember the exact order of events. I think Dennis yelled, "The gun!" Jules stretched her hand out to the front passenger seat where she had placed the .38 when she first jumped into the car. I leapt forward pushing my hand between the seats and then I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Dennis flung his handcuffed arms over her head and pulled her up and backwards by the throat. The car began to swerve violently out of control as Jules clawed at Dennis's arms. I know I was screaming at that stage and then—well nothing.
I woke up in a hospital bed with my father and Liam standing over me and a doctor flicking a pencil light in and out of my eyes. "Welcome back, my dear, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked while he held my wrist in his fingers and took my pulse. My mouth felt like sandpaper. You know, I've read that in books before and it's actually a really good description because that is exactly how my mouth felt. I tried to speak but groaned. The doctor gestured to the water by my bedside and Liam jumped up and helped me to sip from the glass. I noticed how tired and unshaven he looked and I wondered how long I'd been here.
"How long?" I managed to croak.
"How long have you been here? Twenty-four hours, my dear. Now then, I need to ask you a few questions before I allow the police in, they are most anxious to question you, do you understand?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"What is your name?" the doctor asked.
I tried to smile. "Depends who I'm talking to," I answered flippantly. Liam and my father both growled softly at me. I grinned and then regretted it, my lips were so sore that I gasped.
The doctor patted my arm. "You have facial abrasions, my dear, superficial but painful nonetheless. Let us try again shall we? Your full name please."
I sighed. "Nicola St. Clare." Something dawned on me. "Ooh, is that how my mother chose between us—Claire St. Clare, well I mean she'd sound like a saint wouldn't she?" My mother had to choose which baby to take back to England with her. Knowing that she planned to take her maiden name as her surname after the divorce, she chose me because in the 'lucky dip' of names, I was
Nicola. Had I been the twin named Claire, I would probably have been the dead twin. I shuddered, fate was a fickle friend.
The doctor shook his head at me. "Concussion I think."
"No," my father interrupted him, while smiling at me sadly. "She is making sense, I understand what she's saying, please continue, doctor."
After answering the entire list of doctor's questions relating to the month, May, the year, 1967, the President, (that took some thinking about being English), Lyndon Johnson. The doc declared me fit for police questioning and released me to return home.
*****
"So let me get this straight. Jules was a legit police officer in Vegas but she also worked for this crime syndicate that pressured Dennis to launder money through the C.K. casino?"
Chief Stewart nodded. "Yes, I'm real sorry. It doesn't happen very often but when a cop goes bad, we all feel the disgrace throughout the service, ma'am. I'm sorry that Danker died in the car crash and won't face justice for the murder of your sister."
"You are sure it was her and not Dennis who killed Claire?" Dennis had survived the crash and was 'helping the police with their inquiries but I still found it hard to believe that Jules Danker was the killer and had made attempts on my own life. I had genuinely liked her. "Why did she try to kill me if she already knew that I wasn't Claire?"
"Smoke and mirrors to throw you and everyone else off her scent; they were half-hearted attempts, made only to frighten you. Danker could have killed you any time she wanted. I think she believed that you would give up and go home. Then the case would just remain unsolved, after all who would suspect a cop?"
"But why kill Claire, Mr. Stewart; after all it was only money."
Stewart gave a harsh laugh. "Hmm, more crime is committed in this world for 'only money' than for any other reason, young woman. Your sister realised that the sum of money going in and out of the casino didn't tally up, so she spoke to Dennis and Dennis tried to shut the whole operation down. The syndicate obviously weren't too happy 'bout that and sent Danker to meet secretly with Claire. Your sister thought she was safe meeting with a police officer. We think they rendezvoused at Iron Canyon, your sister on horseback and Danker by helicopter. The records show she booked the rescue Huey out on the day of your sister's murder. Danker landed the helicopter on Pinto Rock, which is just wide enough and flat topped, perfect for landing a 'copter. She strangled your twin sister and took off, leaving no tracks behind, except your sister's going in or out of the canyon. It all hangs together. I can only say that I'm real sorry, Miss St. Clare." He stood up indicating the interview was over, I shook his hand and went out into the hallway where Liam awaited me.
We hadn't had a chance to talk properly, or be alone since the accident, for want of a better word to describe what had happened that awful night. I noticed how warily he watched me and he was so polite around me, but then, today was the first time that we been together without my father present. He had allowed Liam to drive me into see Chief Stewart today to go over my police statement. My father needed to be with Dennis and Molly while Dennis consulted with his attorney at law.
After we left the building, Liam took my arm and guided me to a small restaurant across the street where we ordered lunch. Liam waited until the waitress had taken our order before opening up the difficult conversation that we needed to have. "So then, secrets…"
I watched him nervously, awaiting his condemnation and judgement. "I guess you felt unable to share yours with me because involving me might have put me in harm's way, am I right?"
I let out my breath. "Yes exactly… oh Liam, you have no idea how difficult this whole thing has been. I, well, I just didn't expect to fall in love on top of…" bloody hell—I just told the man I loved him! I froze and waited—a rabbit in headlights.
Liam winked at me and reached his hand out across the table placing it over mine. "Hey, that's okay, I kinda like you too, Nicky St. Clare."
Epilogue
1970
The start of a new decade and of a new life, our daughter, Tabitha Claire O'Donnell, was born on January the sixth, 1970. She is the spitting image of her father, with a thatch of chestnut hair on top of her sweet head. Liam swears that she is the double of me but I think that is because she has enormous blue eyes.
My mother was here for the birth and Molly and my father are flying up to California at the weekend.
Liam and I moved to California to help set up a reform ranch that caters for twenty or so youngsters between the ages of twelve and sixteen. We both love our work and I have just completed my diploma, which enables me to carry out family assessments. My learning has been invaluable to me especially in helping me to build a new and stronger relationship with my mother.
Dennis was given an eight year jail sentence for his crimes and my father sold the C.K. Motel chain and officially retired, giving me a trust fund that enabled us to buy our home in California. He still runs the tourist dude side of the ranch but the discipline part left with Liam and me after we were married.
I dream of Claire now and again and my father and I talk of her often. I feel closer to her now and I feel that she is finally at peace.
Liam has been my rock and oh how I love that man, especially when he spanks my sassy British behind—yeah—I have to say life is good.
*****
Josie closed the diary and stared into space. Why had she not known any of this? Her mother had never told her a thing about her dead aunt, or the drama surrounding her death. Why had no one told her? Her phone chirruped, she glanced at it, Max again. Josie tapped her teeth with her nail thoughtfully. Coming to a decision, one that she thought her grandmother Nicola would approve of, she punched in 'return call' to Max. He answered on the first ring.
"Hey babe, what's up?"
Josie took a deep breath, "I'll be your subbie, Max, on one condition though."
"Yeah, that's great babe! You won't regret this, Josie, I promise you! What's the condition? Cos' you know that subbies don't get to set conditions, right, li'l girl?" He growled softly.
"I know. Just this one thing, Max, I want us to take a trip to Denver this weekend, I want my grandparents to meet you."
The End
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One - Shock
Chapter Two - Disbelief
Chapter Three - Grief
Chapter Four - Nervous
Chapter Five - Ambivalent
Chapter Six - Terror
Chapter Seven - Courage
Chapter Eight - Stoicism
Chapter Nine - Discipline
Twin Turmoil Page 16
