Deadly Double

by Adrianne Byrd

  There was nothing fun about this at all.

  She reached the top stair and surveyed the area. Was she alone or was she supposed to guess behind what door danger awaited?

  I choose door number three: Josie’s old bedroom.

  “It’s my bedroom.” Michelle stormed toward it, but then slowed when she’d actually made it to the door. She drew a deep breath, prepared herself for a fight, and then pushed through the door.

  Nothing.

  It took a moment for Michelle’s heart to stop pumping so much adrenaline, and for the blood to stop rushing to her head. No one was there. However, there was the unmistakable scent of perfume in the air.

  “Beautiful,” she whispered. “Josie’s favorite.” She glanced across the room to the dainty gold-and-glass vanity. The bottles had been rearranged.

  “She was here.”

  I’m starting to like your sister. She’s a class act.

  Michelle swallowed her anger and eased farther into the room. She reached the pile of boxes in the center of the floor; but before she could step over them, something crinkled under her foot.

  She looked down and frowned at a picture. Kneeling, she picked it up. It was of Josie smiling broadly at the camera. God, how she hated the spoiled little rich girl standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, with her arms wrapped around a handsome man.

  She stopped cold.

  The man’s faceshe knew that face. Michelle turned the picture over and read. “Josephine Lynn Ferrell and William Charles Hayes in love forever.” She flipped it over again and stared into Dr. Hayes’s baby blue eyes.

  “W.C.H. Well, I’ll be damned.”

  Chapter 34

  Josie barreled down the streets of Atlanta with tears blurring her vision. Her headache had returned and had escalated into a full-blown migraine under the stress of her decision.

  She would stick with William’s plan and go to the police once her medical records arrived. She would tell them everything; including her role in killing Daniel Thornton.

  Her body trembled, and she could barely manage to pull over into an abandoned shopping plaza. She needed to get a hold of herself before she did anything. There in the parking lot, Josie allowed herself the luxury of a good long cry.

  It would be the last time she would do it, she promised. The last time she’d play the victim. When her tears dried, she felt better. Her roller-coaster emotions had to be a by-product of her detox, and they were the most exhausting things she’d ever endured.

  Beside her in the passenger seat sat her pink box of memories, and seeing it returned her thought to William.

  Doubt and fear rippled through her mind; but then she remembered what had transpired between them last night and this morning. None of it meant that he would remain by her side.

  Across the lot, she spotted a McDonald’s and shifted the car into drive. She’d just get some water to wash down her pills. Once she got rid of the migraine, then she would decide her next move.

  #

  Parked a relatively safe distance from the Ferrell Estate, Detective Tyrese Simmons heaved a frustrated sigh and called his partner from his cell phone.

  “Who’s supposed to take the night shift?” Tyrese asked as he watched Andrews’s goons finally arrive. “I have to tell you it’s lonesome out here.”

  Ming laughed. “You poor baby. Anything interesting happening?”

  “Well, there was this episode at a gas station. She couldn’t get gasoline or something and went berserk. When we finally arrest her, we might need a straightjacket.” “How was she when she left Keystone?” “A blur,” Tyrese joked. “I think she was trying to qualify for the Indy 500.” “Sounds pretty bad.” “You’re saying the right things, but I hear sarcasm.” He smiled and shook his head.

  “I can never get anything past you.” She chuckled. “But it looks like surveillance duty might be a one-day deal. D’Angelo confessed Andrews paid him a visit today. She wanted a passport under Josephine Ferrell. But I thin he’s played a bigger part in this than he’s letting on.” “You’ll get the truth out of him. If anybody can, you can. How did your master plan for the fingerprints go?” “Waiting for a comparison to Andrews’s police file right now. With a little luck, we’ll have her in custody tonight.” “Before we find out what she’s done to her twin sister?” “Given the long trail of dead bodies, do you really think she’s still alive?” Tyrese thought it over and had to admit that the chances were pretty slim, but, “There’s always a chance.”

  “True.” Ming drew a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded weary. “What would you prefer we do, follow her around for a few more days?”

  There was a long strained pause while he looked past the curvy driveway to the handsome mansion nestled in the center of an immaculately manicured lawn. “Nah. The sooner we end this, the better for all involved.”

  “You got it. I’ll give you a call as soon as I receive word on the fingerprints.”

  “You know where you can find me.”

  #

  The moment William opened the garage door his heart sank. The Mercedes was gone. He pulled inside and climbed out his vehicle and stared at the empty spot as if his eyes were playing some sort of trick.

  When he, at last, turned toward the kitchen’s entrance into the house, he still called out for Josie. However, silence was the only thing that greeted him.

  It didn’t make sense, he thought. Why would she leave? His footsteps quickened as he rushed from one room to the other. All the while, a wave of denial wiped out reality. After he reached the last bedroom, he plopped down on the edge of the bed as stunned disbelief coursed through him.

  As that emotion left him, anger and betrayal began its own war with his veins. He had placed himself on a limb, sacrificed his career and life for her, and this was what he got in return? When in the hell was he ever going to learn his lesson?

  “To hell with her,” he swore, jumping and storming back to the master bedroom. As he entered, he ripped opened his shirt and paid no heed to the buttons as they cannonballed across the room.

  Once again, Josephine Ferrell had made a fool out of him, and he had no one to blame but himself. He turned on the shower and set the temperature to scalding hot. It was a justified punishment as far as he was concerned, but unfortunately his thoughts refused to focus on anything other than Josie.

  As he started to slide off his shirt, he heard something.

  What was that? Will’s ears perked at an undistinguishable sound. Frowning, he leaned forward and shut off the water and strained to hear the noise again.

  “Josie?” he asked, with measured trepidation. It had to be her, he reasoned; but he had no explanation for his hackles standing at attention.

  “Josie?”

  The sound of footsteps stopped when he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. He reached for a light switch and was stunned when the lights didn’t come on. He needed a weapon.

  He turned, and then rocked back when something hard slammed into his chin. He quickly shook it off and came up swinging at the thin air. His efforts were rewarded with a steel punch to his abdomen. Air rushed from his lungs, and, before he could refill them, something crashed against the back of his skull and knocked him out cold.

  #

  Josie struggled to get back to William’s house. However, she was having very little success. Instead, she had once again pulled into an empty lot, where she tried to combat another withdrawal spell. It was a bad one. Behind her closed lids, a dizzying kaleidoscope of colors spun around her, and an eerie cackle of laughter pierced her eardrums.

  Suddenly, Josie was pulled from the memory. Her body seemed to float above itself. Then she was soaring. Faster, and faster until she woke up with a gasp. Darkness surrounded her in the vehicle; her labored breathing was the only sound. She glanced around nervously, and then her head slumped against the steering wheel.

  “Why?” she sobbed. Why did she shoot him? Why didn’t he try to defend himself?

>   She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Seven-thirty. She was missing nearly two hours. What happened?

  “I need to get out of here,” she said, though she didn’t quite know where here was. Her head pounded mercilessly, reminding her she still hadn’t taken anything to relieve the pain.

  Josie started the SUV, but took a few more minutes to get her bearings. One glance in the rearview mirror, and she concluded that she felt as bad as she looked.

  She drove out of the parking lot and tried to find out exactly where she was. Though she mad managed to calm herself, she was still scared. What if whatever her sister had done to her was irreversible?

  Her mouth was dry, and she reached for the small cup of water, and her arm knocked over the green bottle of Excedrin.

  The sound of it falling and hitting the seat seemed as if it had happened in slow motion. Her hackles rose as a platoon of goose bumps prickled her skin. And then it hit her.

  She pulled over to the side of the road and dug the bottle.

  For as long as Josie could remember, she suffered with migraines at least once a week. Everyone knew that. Josie picked up the bottle and stared at it with new eyes.

  Michelle would have noticed her frequent headaches and her dependency on her favorite pain reliever.

  “That bitch.”

  An angry Josie pulled herself together and started up the car again. After getting lost a couple of times, she finally pulled into William’s driveway forty-five minutes later. At the sight of the black Navigator, Josie cursed under her breath. She had a lot of explaining to do.

  At the door, she took a deep breath and stepped inside. Immediately, she sensed that things were amiss.

  Her hands roamed around the walls in search of a light switch. When she finally found one, nothing happened when she clicked it on.

  “William?” she called out in a shaky whisper. Her voice echoed hauntingly through the house in shaky legs. When she walked into the dining room, she gasped in surprise at the over-turned furniture and the crunch of broken glass underfoot.

  The thought of William lying hurt somewhere in the house was the only reason she didn’t bolt out of there. However, every muscle was coiled, while the tiniest of hairs stood at attention.

  “William?” she called again. At the silence, her eyes blurred with tears. Had Michelle’s goon figured out where she was staying?

  Next, she entered the living room. The moonlight illuminated its total destructing. Her heart sank, while her search for William became a desperate need.

  At the base of the stairs, she slipped on something wet and hit the floor with a loud thud. Timidly, she touched the sticky substance.

  A horrified scream rang in her ears as she tried to scramble away. Glass cut into her skin as she pushed herself off the floor and went back through the house. When she was back in the living room, her gaze caught sight of letters printed on a mirror above the fireplace.

  Josie stopped in her tracks and read the eerie message, “Tag. You’re it.”

  Chapter 35

  Michelle smiled when the phone rang. “I wonder who that could be,” she mused to herself. She stood from the bar and walked over to the dainty gold and white phone. She waited for the third ring before she picked up. When she answered, she made sure honey oozed off her words. “Hello. Ferrell residence, Josephine speaking.” “Where’s William?” Josie hissed through the phone. “Ah, sister dear. How did I know it would be you?” “You’re insane. I’m calling the police.”

  “Ah, ah, ah, ah,” Michelle sang. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. If you do, you’d be signing your beloved doctor’s death certificate.”

  When Josie failed to respond, Michelle’s high cackle filled the line. “You’re not going to call anyone, or have you forgotten about Daniel?”

  “Very clever how you replaced the pills in the Excedrin.”

  “You like that, did you? Too bad you didn’t catch on sooner. Of course, I have to admit that was pretty smooth what you pulled off at the bank. It’s a shame that you’ll have to give it all back.”

  “Not on your life.”

  Michelle’s frowned as she twisted the phone cord around her fingers. “Don’t push me, Josie. You’re running out of places to hide.”

  “You’re sick.”

  “No. I’m just ambitious. I see what I want, and I go after it. You weren’t doing anything with your life; just sitting in some big apartment in Paris bitching about how you couldn’t sing anymore. Boo-hoo. Me, on the hand, I know how to enjoy money. I should’ve been adopted by a rich family, not you.”

  “Should I play my violin for you, Michelle? I can even play it when they sentence you to death. How many people have you killed now?”

  “Two fewer than I should have; but I plan to rectify that tonight, starting with your beloved doctor.”

  Another silence hung over the line before Michelle’s mad laugh returned.

  “What’s the matter, sister dear? Cat got your tongue? I didn’t put two and two together. Until now. Dr. William Hayes, the one that got away. It’s quite a coincidence that you two would run into each other again at Keystone. I have to admit, I was baffled how you got out of that hospital the night I came to kill you, but now it all makes perfect sense.”

  “How did you…?”

  “Find him?” Michelle laughed. “I have you and your breaking and entering to thank for that. You dropped a few photographs on your way out.”

  Josie didn’t respond.

  The playfulness evaporated from Michelle’s tone. “I want the money back, and you have less than an hour to make up your mind. Otherwise, the handsome doctor will meet the same fate as my dear Daniel. May he rest in peace. And make no mistake about it, Josie dear. I will kill him. Call me back in an hour with your decision. Comprende?” With another high cackle, Michelle disconnected the call.

  Rain sprinkled across Josie’s face and hands as she slowly placed the receiver back on the gas station’s pay phone. Tears slid from her eyes while her heart squeezed painfully.

  “Oh, William. What have I done?” Still in shock, she returned to the SUV and just sat there. “If I go to the police, she’ll kill him.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to think, but William’s loving blue gaze stared back at her. William was her heart. She had always believed that, despite all her protests and long separation. He had risked everything to help her, and she had no choice but to meet with Michelle. There was a very real chance her sister would simply kill them bothif she hadn’t killed him already.

  But not as long as I have the money. That was the last ace up her sleeve. Michelle had no idea where she’d transferred the money. That alone should buy them some time.

  Speaking of time, she glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Michelle had given her less than an hour and as much as she wanted to call her bluff, she knew better. At long last, Josie started the car and headed back out to her house.

  Josie wasn’t crazy enough to roll up the driveway and ring the front doorbell. For the life of her, she didn’t know how Michelle would’ve found him within hours of her leaving the house.

  Familiar with her father’s estate like the back of her hand, Josie went through her neighbor’s land and entered the Ferrell estate through the south side of the property on foot.

  Unfortunately, the rain followed her, and she had nothing to shield her from the steady drops. She also didn’t have anything to help calm her speeding heartbeat. As she crept along the side of the man-made lake and around the estate’s sparse trees and bushes, Josie was well aware that she didn’t have a clue as to what she was doing, but was propelled to continue simply because she didn’t have a choice.

  If William was killed, the blame was hers.

  She regretted everything that she’d done that day. Everything could’ve been avoided if she’d just gone to the police with William. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

  “I had to prove that I could beat her at her own game,” she berated herself.r />
  Josie rushed past the small lake and reached the pool and sauna in the backyard in no time flat. When she finally approached one of the back windows, she was unable to see anything through the Venetian blinds. She still had the spare key that would gain her entrance through the garage, but what would she do if Michelle were sitting in the kitchen waiting for her?

  All the what-ifs were going to drive her mad. She wouldn’t know until she actually did something. But Josie never reached the garage. The minute she eased around one corner, a pair of arms wrapped around her like a steel vise, and something hard hit her on the back of the head.

  #

  “We have a match,” Ming announced to her small team as pulled the crime lab report from the fax machine.

  A small whoop of victory went up among her five-man team, but she didn’t dabble with them long. She rushed over to her phone and immediately tried to get the captain on the phone. With D’Angelo’s confession and the fingerprint match, she was sure to have enough to get permission to haul in the phony Ms. Josephine Ferrell.

  Ten minutes later, she and her men received the go ahead. “All right everyone, listen up. This should be a simple arrest, but we’re dealing with a mentally ill suspect and one who’s likely armed and dangerous.” Once Ming and Jorge piled into one of the cars, she quickly gave her partner a call. “I thought that you forgot all about me,” Tyrese said groggily into the phone. “Don’t tell me you’re sleeping on duty,” she joked, but a note of warning hung on her every word.

  “I’m tired, but I haven’t fallen asleep. Please tell me you have good news. I wasn’t prepared to pull a twenty-four hour shift.” “Well, hang in there. The cavalry is on its way.” “Fingerprints?” “It’s a match. Is Andrews still at Ferrell’s?”

  Tyrese cleared his voice. “Yeah. Her goons left for a while, but then returned carrying something heavy. Sorry, I couldn’t get a good look at what it was, but I’m sure am curious though.”