15
“Did you pack a bag for Evie?”
“No, Mom.”
“You’ll need to get out of the habit of calling me Mom. We’re not going to get out of this without drawing attention to ourselves that way. No one is going to believe I’m old enough to be your mother.”
“The flock did.”
She scoffed.
“The flock is full of imbeciles, fools, and people who have been programmed so many times that their brains are mush.”
“What do you want me to call you?” Matt shot back. “The supreme doctor? The lord of the lunatics?”
“Chelsea will work,” she quipped. “I’m a little tired of hearing ‘Mrs. Baker’ and having to respond. What a wretched name you chose this time.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he asked, packing money into a brief case, then setting it down when it was full and picking up the next bag. “Where are we going this time?”
“I was thinking about Canada. We haven’t hit there yet.”
“What about David?”
“What about David?”
“We’re just going to leave him here without anyone to prompt him?”
“David believes he’s a supreme being and has for almost a year now. He’s long past the point of the power of suggestion, and the tapes aren’t working anymore.”
“Shouldn’t you figure out why?”
“There will be other Davids. This one can stay behind and lead the flock into the flames. I have a feeling your little mistake is going to expose the community to the government soon enough.”
“My mistake? It was your idea to snag that woman and turn her into Jessica. I was happy to raise my daughter alone and move on.”
“And how would we continue the charade if they knew that your wife, the wife of one of the elite, died in childbirth? We promised these people a life free of health complications and a peaceful death and abundant afterlife. There’s nothing peaceful about what happened to Jessica. The con would have been over four years ago. All because you let her convince you to start a family.”
“It was my idea.”
“And look what happened,” Chelsea shot back. “You needed a duplicate, and the only one available was her own twin. I don’t know why I let you convince me that it would work out.”
“Just hurry up. I want to get out of here and go get Evie.”
“Why are you in such a hurry? Naomi is dead in the woods somewhere, and it’s fall. If the bears haven’t snacked on her to fatten themselves up for winter, the buzzards have. No one is going to find her.”
“I don’t want to be here when they do.”
“You’re ridiculously paranoid.”
“It saved us last time. We got out before the shit hit the fan, and we’re going to get out now too.”
Chelsea shook her head, grumbling to herself as she packed up only what would fit in her minivan. Matt had already stowed all the seats in the floor storage areas except for the one Evie would sit in. That left the entire back of the minivan and the area beside Evie to pack what they needed in it.
They could fit more if they left the child, but Matt was completely against it even though it made so much more sense. With a child in tow, it would be harder to run, but they would be more trustworthy. They would be that awkwardly sweet couple with the adorable little girl that drew people in. Maybe it would work, and maybe the next con would be the one they could retire on.
She laughed to herself, noticed Matt looking at her quizzically and ignored him. She didn’t have time for this; she was too busy packing up the life she’d built over the past few years. Chelsea wasn’t ready to move, but she didn’t have a choice. Matt got these feelings, and they were always on point. He’d saved them so many times, and she would be a fool not to heed his internal alarm. Their gig was about to be up, and they needed to be long gone before that happened.
“I’m going to take the money to the garage. Are you almost done?”
“Don’t get snippy with me. I have to pack up my toiletries upstairs. This could have been avoided if you’d called me last night and warned me.”
“I didn’t have the feeling last night. I was driving to work when it happened; otherwise, I would have Evie with me right now. It’s bad enough I had to ditch the SUV and take public transportation to get here. You don’t know how that pained me.”
“You’re so paranoid. No one knows how to hack into your GPS unit. That’s just stuff they put in the movies to make it exciting.”
“Better safe than captured.”
Chelsea sighed, shaking her head and walking up the stairs.
“Get your stuff packed, and I’ll get Evie’s things from her room.”
“Does she have much here?”
“Darling, I might not be old enough to be a grandma, but I embraced the role,” she said with a flourish. “Your little princess has a full wardrobe here, including shoes. We can skip your house entirely and leave straight from here to pick her up.”
Matt let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s perfect,” he said, grinning for the first time. “You really are the best partner a man could have.”
“You’d better not forget that,” Chelsea said, then swept herself around so her whisper-light garments flowed behind her as she continued up the stairs.
Matt watched her go and wondered how the world could hold such a flamboyant woman. Everything she did was a show, and she was the perfect partner for everything that Matt wanted to accomplish in life.
Still shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he went through the kitchen door and into the garage with a bag in each hand. He opened the side door and placed the bags on the floor between the driver’s seat and Evie’s seat. The child would be happy to have a footrest on the long trip, and Matt would know that his money was safe.
Something cold and hard pressed against his temple, and before he could react, he heard the safety click off and knew that he was screwed.
“Going somewhere?” Naomi asked.
“Just coming to find you, My Love,” he lied, but he knew she wasn’t going to buy it.
“Where’s Evie?”
“She’s safe.”
“Where is she?”
“You’re not taking her. She’s my child.”
“Not if you’re dead,” Naomi said through gritted teeth.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Do you trust that? How do you know what I won’t do? Have you been in my head since you hit me with the shovel? Have you seen the things I’ve seen?”
Matt’s blood went cold. He’d hit her hard, fully intending to kill her in the process. He’d known when she got up and ran away that she wasn’t dead, but he hadn’t thought about the ramifications of giving someone who’d been through identity reassignment a severe head injury. He’d knocked something loose, and she’d already had an epiphany of sorts when she’d seen the picture of Evie’s birth.
He could kick himself for keeping that picture there.
“I trust that you love Evie enough not to ruin your life and any chance you have of watching her grow up. You could come with us and take care of Evie.”
“I don’t need to come with you to see Evie. I’m not leaving without her, and you’re not leaving with her.”
“Don’t do this,” he said, then instantly hated himself for sounding so desperate. “We had a good life, and you were happy.”
“I was a Stepford wife. I wasn’t me.”
“But you were happy with Evie, right? Weren’t you happy before you knew that you weren’t Jessica? You could never hold a candle to the real Jessica, even if you are identical.”
He heard Naomi’s sharp intake of breath and knew that she’d made the connection.
“Who was she?” Naomi demanded.
“She was my life, my soulmate, mother of my child, all the things that you’ll never be.”
“Why did she look like me?”
“I wouldn’t find a woman who didn’t look like my late wife to play like her death never happened, would I?”
“But how?”
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you that you’re adopted?”
“Of course. I mean, I’m sure they did.”
“You don’t remember.” He laughed cruelly. “How do you forget something like that? You were adopted, but they only took one baby. They couldn’t handle two, so Jessica stayed with her drug-addicted mother. She had a horrible life, but I saved her, and she was devoted to me and my happiness. Jessica was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I miss her every day. You couldn’t compare. You had an air about you that just stank of privilege. Jessica was sincere, loving and genuine. Things you’ll never be no matter how hard you try. Jessica’s childhood shaped her, and she was perfect.”
“You took advantage of her.”
“Your parents left her in the care of a woman who didn’t even know she was pregnant. Did you know that your mother had you in the bathtub? She left you there in the empty tub for a long time before she took you to the hospital. She came home with Jessica, and you got the easier life. The better life. How dare you act like Jessica’s life wasn’t good enough for you to live it.”
“No. You’re lying. This can’t be true.”
“You tell yourself that and see how it goes.”
Matt saw something out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t react. Naomi’s back was to the kitchen door, and he knew that she had no idea that Chelsea had snuck into the garage through the open door. Naomi was about to find out that she wasn’t immortal, and he couldn’t wait.
Naomi stiffened an instant later, and he knew that she’d seen Chelsea. He took advantage of her moment of distraction, sliding out of her grasp and ducking. The gun went off, filling the air with the loudest boom he’d ever heard and deafening him. The bullet ricocheted off the wall and lodged itself in a box. Chelsea screamed in surprise, and Naomi aimed the gun at Chelsea. Matt lunged for her, his anger getting the better of him when the gun was turned on Chelsea. He couldn’t do this without her, and he wasn’t going to let Naomi ruin his family more than she already had.
Naomi swung the gun at him, hitting him upside the head so hard that he saw stars. He kept going at her, and his shoulder connected with the softness of her mid-section.
He yelled out and tried to hold on to her as she pummeled him with the butt of the gun. He was fading fast and losing his grip, and Naomi continued to hit him over and over again. Then, the gun went off, and Chelsea’s scream faded into the blackness. Matt felt himself sliding to the floor, but he couldn’t feel the floor itself.
So, this is what death feels like, he thought, then he let go of his grasp on consciousness and fell into blackness.
***
Ty’s phone rang while they were still in the car, and before he could pick it up, the surveillance car peeled out from where it was parked, sirens going as it went down the road. He threw the car into gear and followed them, the fast, little car catching up in no time as the ungainly SUV turned around the tight corners of the neighborhood. Ty tossed Senora the phone, and she answered it.
“Shots fired,” a frantic voice said over the phone. “Naomi has Matt and Chelsea trapped.”
“We’re on our way,” Senora said, then hung up the phone.
“Who was that?”
“Shots fired, and I don’t know. Probably Michael. It sounded like someone familiar.”
“Is it Naomi?”
“They think she has Matt and his fake mother cornered.”
“If she kills him and we can’t prove self-defense, that’s going to complicate things.”
“Then let’s get there before Matt dies. If I have to shoot him myself to save Naomi, I will.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
Senora scoffed.
“I work for the government. You’d be surprised how many times it works exactly that way.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Not one bit,” she said. “But for Matt Baker, I might make an exception.”
The SUV ahead of them swerved and screeched to a halt in front of a quiet-looking, two-story house. Senora had her hand on her seatbelt, but Ty put his hand out to stop her.
“You don’t have a bulletproof vest.”
“Neither do you.”
“I’m harder to kill.”
“I’m not staying in the car,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and jumping out before he could stop her again.
She ran for the house, staying behind the two men that had led the way, then pinning herself to the wall and using it for cover as she made her way around to the back of the house. There was a loud shout from one of the men, then the sound of a door crashing down. The back door was in front of Senora, and as she predicted, it opened as soon as the front door crashed down, and Naomi appeared, wild-eyed and frantic.
She saw Senora and shook her head.
“No, please,” she said, turning to run.
“Don’t make me shoot you,” Senora said. “I’ll do it, Naomi.”
“Please,” Naomi begged. “I have to get Evie.”
“Evie’s safe. We need to get you help. You’re no good to her like this.”
Senora kept her eyes locked on the clear blue eyes staring back at her. She wanted to break eye contact, but Naomi needed help, and she wasn’t going to stop until her two identities were unscrambled and she was back to her old self. As much as she wanted to let Naomi go, she couldn’t.
Naomi was still pleading with Senora when the man behind her stuck the rapid injection pen into her neck, and Naomi lost consciousness almost immediately.
“How could you?” she said as she crumpled into the man’s waiting arms, then her body went limp and she was out.
“Thank you,” the man said. “She’s been impossible to capture.”
“Good for her,” Senora said, then turned and went into the house.
The scene was already secured, and Ty was standing beside Matt’s body on the floor.
“Oh no,” Senora gasped, then caught sight of the woman in the next room. “Naomi, what have you done?”
“Don’t worry,” Ty said softly.
“How? Naomi has ruined her chances of getting custody of Evie. She’s a murderer now.”
“No, she’s not.”
“There’s no way we can make this look like self-defense.”
“It doesn’t have to. She didn’t shoot them. She used the auto injectors.”
“She did?”
“They’re not dead. They’ll feel like it when they wake up, but they’re not dead.”
“What about the shots fired?”
“It looks like the gun went off when she was threatening them. It was enough to make Matt here wet his pants.”
Senora looked down, and sure enough, there was a puddle on the floor.
“Take a picture of that,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because when I interrogate him, I want to make sure that he knows.”
“You’re ruthless.”
“Naomi deserves someone on her side that’s not going to play nice.”
They were interrupted by a strange beeping that sounded like it was coming from the floor. Senora and Ty stopped, both hitting the floor and looking under the van.
“What is this?” Ty said, grabbing the little handheld recording device and looking at it appreciatively.
“It’s Naomi.”
“How do you know?”
“She recorded her escape with a cell phone; why wouldn’t she bring a handheld voice recorder with her and hide it?”
“Let’s see what’s on it.”
“Going somewhere?” Naomi’s voice said.
They listened to the entire recording to the end, and with each answer, Senora felt more sick. Was what he was saying true? Or was he making up things to further confuse the truth? Was Naomi really a twin?
“I trust that you have people that can check that out?”
“Yes. I’ll call Betty. She’ll know.”
She excused herself, calling her friend on Ty’s cell phone. After she explained what she needed, she hung up and handed the phone back to Ty.
“It’s going to take some time to find out everything she can on Naomi, Jessica and their mother. If they are even related. Matt could have been lying.”
“It will be a while before we can wake him up and ask him,” Ty said. “How about we get something to eat?”
Senora was already shaking her head.
“I can’t. I’m too riled up to eat. What’s going to happen to Naomi? How long until this is over for her?”
“J and his team will be done with her in a few weeks. After that, it depends on Naomi.”
“This is a nightmare.”
“I know it is. But she has you in her corner, and that’s important.”
“And Evie?”
“Social Services is going to have to take her. We can’t go around that.”
“Why not?”
“If we want any chance of this going the way we know is right, we have to do everything by the book, Senora.”
“What if Naomi gets all her memories back and decides she doesn’t want a child?”
“I don’t know,” Ty said. “We’ll figure something out.”
Senora nodded, and when Ty’s arm went around her, she leaned into him.
“Let’s go,” he said.
“Where?”
“Back to your house for now. We’ll play things by ear, and if you’re feeling up to it, we’ll get on that plane.”
Senora closed her eyes. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, a little self-care sounded magical right about now.
“Can I visit Naomi while she’s going through treatments?”
“No. She has to be completely isolated. And it’s going to take a week or two before you can get granted access to Evie unless it’s under official FBI business. So, there’s nothing to do right now except to sit around and wait for everyone else.”
Senora bit her lip and weighed her options.
“You’re right. There’s always going to be another victim, and I can’t let that stop me from doing what I know I need to do.”
“Exactly.”
“Alright, let’s go. We could both use a break.”
He hugged her close then took her hand and led her to the car. He opened the driver’s door and handed her the key.
“You don’t want to drive?”
“I’m not sure how to get back to your house,” he said. “And I think you need to drive.”
He was right; that was exactly what she needed. A long, quiet drive with Ty by her side and only the wind keeping them company.
His phone rang as she was starting the engine, and he put it on speaker phone so she could pull out of the driveway and head toward home.
“Are you ready for this? You are not going to believe what I found.”
Betty sounded breathless with excitement, and Senora found herself clenching the steering wheel.
“Get on with it, Betty.”
“My goodness. Patience is a virtue, Senora. Alright, here’s the deets on Jessica and Naomi. Jessica’s real name is Jessica Cooper. Born to one Beverly Cooper. It turns out that Naomi’s parents didn’t reject the second twin. Beverly Cooper had Naomi in the bathtub like Matt said, and she decided to drop the baby off at one of those safe boxes in the hospital. It’s the heated one on the outside of the building that alerts the hospital staff right away and keeps the baby nice and warm. She deposited little Naomi in the box, and as she was walking away, she started having pains.”
Senora thought she knew where this was going, but she couldn’t help hanging on Betty’s every word.
“An orderly saw her hunched over near the entrance, and not knowing that she’d just dropped a baby in the box, he helped Miss Cooper into the hospital in the wheelchair he was bringing back from the parking lot, and Miss Cooper gave birth to Jessica. She was so strung out or so far in denial that she named the baby and signed the birth certificate and never mentioned that she’d already given birth that day.”
“How did you find all this out?” Senora asked, though she knew better than to doubt Betty.
“Miss Cooper was in and out of rehab, and when she was sober, she would tell this story over and over again but with the added haze that memories formed while high on opiates tends to have. The common consensus was that she was self-medicating for mental problems, and no one ever took her seriously.”
“That’s awful.”
“For Jessica. She only lasted in Miss Cooper’s care for eight years before the state stepped in and took her.”
“What an awful thing to happen to a child.”
“Agreed. I have to run, cherubs. I have work to do, and Agent Patterson is on the warpath.”
“Why?”
“She found out that you were working, and apparently, J told her to butt out. She’s not a happy camper. Toodles!”
The line went dead, and Ty put his phone away.
“That’s a relief,” Senora said.
“About our vacation,” Ty said, looking at her and smiling.
“Let’s go on vacation,” she said, smiling back at him and pushing down the accelerator.
The car leapt forward, and they tore down the interstate and headed to Senora’s house to grab their bags. She deserved a vacation, and so did Ty. She was nervous, but she needed to get out of here and leave this mess behind. And she couldn’t think of anyone better to run away with than Ty.