Think Twice

by Lisa Scottoline

  Finally, the door to the restaurant opened, and Carrier emerged, followed by Alice, who put up an umbrella covered with crazy, colorful stripes. It had to belong to Carrier, and before, it would have made Bennie laugh. The women shared the umbrella, which hid their faces. Carrier’s yellow clogs practically glowed in the dark, and Bennie recognized her own brown pumps on Alice’s feet. Still she remained detached, waiting and watching.

  Alice looped a hand through Carrier’s arm and they walked abreast, together under the umbrella. Carrier raised her right hand for a cab, but there weren’t any. The traffic had let up, and it wouldn’t be easy to get a cab down here. For some reason, they headed toward the Toyota, which Bennie didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense to keep walking away from Roux to catch a cab, and if they got much closer, they could see behind the truck and Alice would see her own car.

  Bennie ducked down in the driver’s seat and peeked above the steering wheel. Rain ran in jagged rivulets down the windshield. She could barely make out Alice and Carrier, walking together, approaching the deserted stretch in front of the empty parking lot, with the dark loading dock.

  She felt a tingle of alarm, without knowing why. Alice had an oddly close hold on Carrier’s left arm. Carrier’s right arm was up, waving for a cab. Then Carrier and Alice appeared to be talking under the umbrella, and in the next second, Carrier’s hand went down and Alice seemed to be pressing her toward the loading dock.

  Something was wrong.

  Carrier was in trouble.

  Bennie grabbed the gun, cracked the door, and sneaked out, crouching so she couldn’t be seen. A van whizzed by and sprayed her with dirty water and gravel. She scrambled forward, still crouching along the side of the parked cars, and in four more cars, she’d reach Alice and Carrier.

  One.

  Two.

  Chapter Eighty-seven

  “Ouch!” Alice pretended to stumble on the sidewalk, hanging on to the heavy messenger bag while she reached down toward her soggy foot. “I slipped, my ankle hurts! I think I twisted my ankle.”

  “Oh no!”

  “Ouch, help!” Alice fumbled the umbrella, which dipped suddenly. Cold rain drenched them. “Take the umbrella, quick! I need to sit down.”

  “Got it!” Judy grabbed the umbrella and covered them. A stiff wind whipped off the river, blowing rain everywhere. “Let’s go back to the restaurant. We can get help there.”

  “No, I can’t walk that far.” Alice looped an arm around Judy’s shoulder and gestured toward the loading dock. “Go, there, please, ow! I can’t walk another minute. It’s killing me. Help me get over there and sit down.”

  “Where?”

  “Over there, on that ledge, at that loading dock.” Alice pointed. “Then you can go back to the restaurant and get help. Carrier, hurry, I need to get weight off this thing!”

  “There, you sure? It’s so dark back there.”

  “So what? I’m in pain. Ow!” Alice cried out, then slid her hand in her pocket for the gun. “Carrier, hurry. It’s killing me!”

  “Okay, hang on.” Judy hustled them across the slick asphalt lot, juggling the umbrella while Alice weighed down her other arm. They staggered to the loading dock, but suddenly a security light went on, probably a motion detector, drenching them in a pool of brightness.

  “Oh, ouch!” Alice howled in fake pain. She hadn’t planned on the light shining directly on them, but they were still shielded from the street by the parked cars and trucks. She eased onto the concrete ledge, holding Judy for support with one hand, and with the other, sliding her gun from her pocket. “Here, right here! Judy, help!”

  Judy paused. “What? You called me Judy. You never call me Judy.”

  “So what? Help me!”

  “You’re not Bennie!” Judy’s expression changed, her eyes widening with the realization. “I knew it!”

  Suddenly there came a shout from the street, and they both turned to see a tall silhouette running toward them, out of the rain and darkness.

  It was Bennie.

  Alice seized Judy, yanked her backwards off her feet, and drilled the muzzle of the gun into her forehead. “Stay still and shut up!”

  “Help!” Judy cried out, but Alice pressed the trigger, making a fateful click.

  “I said, shut up!”

  “Please, no!” Judy went rigid just as Bennie ran into the light, raising a gun.

  “Let her go!” Bennie shouted, and Alice laughed.

  “You have a gun, counselor? You gonna shoot me?”

  Judy whimpered, the gun at her temple, her terrified eyes shifting from one look-alike to the other.

  “Let her go!” Bennie shouted again, but Alice only laughed again.

  “Drop the gun or I’ll shoot her.”

  “No!” Bennie looked down the barrel and saw her own face. “Drop the gun, Alice. Or I’ll shoot you.”

  Chapter Eighty-eight

  “Please, faster!” Mary said to the driver as they sped down Columbus Boulevard. She sat on the edge of the passenger’s seat, with Grady and her parents in the back. Rain pelted the windshield, but Mary finally spotted the red awning of Roux. “There it is! Pull up. Hurry!”

  “Okay.” The driver slowed behind another cab, and all of a sudden its back door opened. Fiorella scooted out and scurried toward an empty lot next to Roux.

  “Fiorella!” Mary pointed. “Where the hell is she going?”

  “That’s her!” her father cried, as Mary flung open her door, blinking against the rain.

  “Stop! Let me out! Let me out!”

  “Hold on!” The cab lurched to a halt, and Mary jumped out and ran after Fiorella. The cold rain hit her like an ice shower and she could barely see where she was going. There were lights down to the right, toward a loading dock, and Fiorella hustled toward it like a much younger woman, her stilettos stutter-stepping across the shiny asphalt.

  “Fiorella!” Mary yelled, into the storm. Rain drenched her face and clothes. Grady and her parents were shouting, behind her.

  Mary plunged into a dark aisle between two tractor trailers, running through it like a cattle chute, using her hands against the wet steel to keep her balance. She heard shouting from the loading dock, where she could barely make out Fiorella and some dark figures beyond her, illuminated by a pool of light.

  Mary froze when the figures came into focus. Bennie had a gun on Judy, and Alice had a gun on Bennie, in a terrifying stand-off. Time slowed down, and Mary heard her heart thudding in her ears. Grady and her parents stopped next to her, making a horrified tableau.

  Mary looked again, in confusion. Suddenly she didn’t know which woman was Bennie. Her brain struggled to process it on the spot. Both of the women looked like Bennie, but neither could be Bennie, because Bennie would never pull a gun on anybody.

  Then she realized one of the women had to be Bennie, and one had to be Alice, and she knew exactly who was who.

  Because Bennie would never pull a gun on Judy. Ever.

  So Bennie was really Alice.

  Judy had been right, all along. And now she was about to die for it.

  Chapter Eighty-nine

  Bennie kept her gun aimed at Alice, who was dragging Judy backwards, away from the loading dock and toward the pier. An immense ship sat anchored next to them in the darkness, and beyond it glimmered the Delaware River, its black water choppy with wind and rain, its reflection of the city lights a dark kaleidoscope.

  “Let her go!” Bennie advanced slowly, her gun raised. “This is between you and me.”

  “Stop!” Alice moved farther backwards, out of the security light and into the shadows beyond. “One more step and she’s dead!”

  “If you hurt her, you’re dead!” Bennie left the light, blinking rain from her eyes, and followed Alice onto the pier.

  Suddenly, the security light went off, plunging them all in total darkness. She could see Alice and Judy only in silhouette, against the fog of the sky and the brightness of the opposite shore.

>   “Stop or I’ll kill her!” Alice shouted, but the time for talk was over.

  Bennie raised her gun, aiming at the silhouettes in the black and the rain. She was a decent shot but couldn’t take a chance, not yet.

  In the next instant, there was a scuffle on the dock.

  A gun went off, and Judy screamed.

  And all hell broke loose.

  Chapter Ninety

  Alice was dragging Judy off when all of a sudden, the girl kicked her in the shin with her clog.

  The gun fired, and the bullet found its target.

  Judy screamed, and hot blood spattered everywhere.

  Alice shoved her off the dock, sending her over the side, her arms pinwheeling. The girl screamed all the way into the darkness until she hit the water with a splash.

  Alice tore down the dock in the rain, the messenger bag thumping at her side. She heard shouting behind her. She heard another splash. She knew what it was. Bennie had gone after the kid. She’d save Judy rather than catch Alice. They all would. Fine with her.

  She ran harder. She spotted another pier to the right. She could run that way and double back to the Boulevard. But the cops would be searching there in no time. Her heart was pounding, her chest hurt.

  She was almost at the end of the pier, which pointed at the dark water like a finger.

  She ran to the very end, took a deep breath, and jumped into thin air.

  Chapter Ninety-one

  Mary screamed, anguished. She ran to the pier, tears streaming down her face. She reached the spot where Judy had gone over the side and almost fell in looking for her in the gloom. Grady caught her from behind and stopped her.

  “Stay back!” he shouted, but Mary was hysterical.

  “She got shot! Alice shot her!”

  “I know, calm down. Bennie’s down there! Stay here! I’ll go!”

  “Grady, help!” Bennie called from the depths, her frantic cry drowned by the rain.

  Grady dove into the blackness beside the ship, disappearing.

  Mary heard a splash. She kept watching. She could make out three heads below in black water.

  “Maria, Maria!” her mother cried, hurrying up from behind her, and Mary held her close, heaving a great sob.

  “Oh, Ma. It’s Judy. Judy, Ma.”

  “Oh, no, Deo, Maria.” Her mother hugged her, and Mary tried to shield her from the rain, cradling her tight.

  Fiorella stood behind them, soaked. “Your father ran to the restaurant to call 911.”

  “Thank God.” Mary tried to control herself, hanging on to her mother like a little girl, not sure who was comforting whom. She looked down, watching the heads in the water, scared to death.

  Then she heard her mother praying and joined her.

  Until the sirens came.

  Chapter Ninety-two

  Bennie kept Carrier afloat by treading water and holding her under the arm on one side, with Grady helping on the other. Still the girl had lost consciousness. Her head fell back, her eyes closed, and her mouth flopped open, her jaw slack.

  “I got her!” Grady shouted. “You okay?”

  “Yes!” Bennie shouted back. Rain fell everywhere. Sirens sounded far away. She didn’t know if they’d get here in time. It didn’t look good. “What should we do? Can we get her up, on land?”

  “Don’t see how!” Grady looked up. “Too damn high.”

  Bennie could see that Carrier was losing blood. She patted her cheeks, trying to keep her alive, but her skin had taken on a terrible pallor. “Stay with us, girl! Stay with us!”

  The sirens grew closer, and there was a new sound, the rumbling of an engine, coming from out on the water. Bennie looked downriver. Two police boats were speeding toward them, cutting through the storm.

  “Look, help!” Grady shouted.

  “Swim to them!” Bennie and Grady kept a hold on Carrier and swam away from the pier, stroking past debris, floating oil, and rotting fish. The current flowed stronger mid-river, and they struggled to stay above water.

  “Help! Over here!” Grady waved frantically.

  “Help! Help!” Bennie hollered.

  Mary and the others screamed to the police boats from the pier. Sirens blared closer. Red lights flashed as cruisers hit the Boulevard.

  “Thank God!” Grady shouted, joyful.

  Bennie could see they were losing Carrier. Her eyes fluttered open, then rolled back in her head, the whites looking sightless at the sky. Rain fell mercilessly on her upturned face.

  “Help!” Bennie shouted, wishing, now more than ever, that she had killed Alice.

  But her gun was probably on the bottom of the river, and Alice had vanished into the storm.

  Chapter Ninety-three

  Alice swam against the wind and storm. The chop slapped her in the face, rain poured onto her head. She swallowed a gulp of gritty water, then spewed it out. Police boats sped toward the pier but they were already well behind her. She was getting closer to the Jersey side, swimming hard.

  The river reeked, and plywood floated by with a nail sticking up. She felt something slither around her leg and kicked it off. Oil dotted the surface of the water. Gunk stuck in her teeth, tasting disgusting.

  The current pulled her downriver. She fought it, keeping the bright lights of the Camden waterfront to her left, trying to swim straight. Her heart pounded, water chilled her skin. Her messenger bag weighed her down, too heavy to float. She kept putting it back on her shoulder, pulling it along by its strap as she swam.

  She glanced back. The storm grayed her view. She could see the flashing red of a police cruiser. They’d gotten there quick. They’d look for her first on land.

  She swam harder, her thoughts churning. The money had already been transferred to the Bahamas. All she had to was get there and take it out. It was almost hers.

  She swam even harder, with new energy.

  Chapter Ninety-four

  Mary sat in the hospital waiting room, trying to come to terms with what had happened. The paramedics hadn’t let anybody in the ambulance, so the only thing she knew was that Judy had been rushed into the emergency room. The doctors hadn’t come back yet.

  Her gaze wandered over the wallpaper, a baby blue print that provided an intentionally soothing backdrop for landscapes in muted pastels. Ancient magazines covered the coffee table, and the TV was mounted in the corner, playing on mute. She couldn’t watch it. Judy could be dying at this very minute.

  She felt pure dread, and her parents, anguished and bedraggled, weren’t speaking to each other. Fiorella had gone to the ladies’ room, but her presence lingered like an unwanted ghost.

  Her mother looked at the TV with her chin tilted up, blinking behind her bifocals. Her gray hair was wet, exposing her bald spot, and she watched Seinfeld with apparent absorption, though she couldn’t have any idea what was going on since there was no closed captioning. Her father kept his head down, his shoulders sunk into his damp windbreaker and his hammy hands folded in his lap.

  Her attention shifted to Bennie, who was sitting next to Grady, talking in low voices with two Philly cops. Her blond hair lay in wet tangles on her shoulders, scratches covered her arms and legs, and an oddly girlie purse hung from her shoulder. She seemed distant and didn’t make eye contact with anybody, even Grady, though she’d called Judy’s parents, who were flying in from San Francisco, and her boyfriend Frank, driving home from his job site.

  Mary felt a sadness so deep she could drown. Judy was bleeding. Bennie was bleeding in another way, less obvious. Her parents were bleeding, too. She didn’t know if anybody could be healed. The pieces of her life had been reconfigured, and she didn’t know if they would ever fit together, ever again. Especially if something happened to Judy.

  Suddenly Fiorella entered the waiting room, smoothing her wet hair back, though its chic cut was ruined. She had no lipstick on, and her wet raincoat covered her black dress. She walked over to Mary’s mother. “Vita,” she said, coolly. “Good-bye, I’m going home.”r />
  Her mother turned from the TV and eyed Fiorella with a look that could kill. “Bene,” she said simply.

  “I must collect my things, from your house. I’ll take a taxi.”

  “Certo.” Her mother dug in her purse, produced her house keys, and handed them to Fiorella. “Go. Now. Leave under mat.”

  “Thank you, and I should say that—”

  “Go! Leave!” Her mother pointed at the exit, her cheeks flushed with sudden emotion. “You are powerful woman, Donna Fiorella! You are not good woman. Not good woman at all!”

  Fiorella flinched, took the keys, then turned to Mary and her father. “Good-bye, all. Many thanks for your hospitality.”

  Her father said nothing, and neither did Mary.

  In the next minute, an ER doctor appeared in the threshold to the waiting room, in blue scrubs and a puffy hat with the Phillies logo.

  Fiorella turned, the cops looked over, and Bennie and Grady rose.

  Mary stood up, her knees weak. “Is she okay?” she asked, her mouth gone dry.

  And the doctor slid off his hat.

  Chapter Ninety-five

  Bennie was relieved that Carrier would be fine, but she didn’t feel any other emotion, except regret that Alice had gotten away. Evidently Grady was back, but she couldn’t deal with him right now. He, DiNunzio, and her parents were group-hugging, and she didn’t join in the celebration. She’d taken another pill in the ladies’ room and stood off to the side, near Fiorella.

  “Ms. Rosato?”

  “Yes?” Bennie came out of her reverie, as a uniformed called to her, entering the waiting room as if he had news. “Did you get her?”

  “Did you?” Mary repeated, clustering with Grady and her parents.