CHAPTER FIVE

Levin

“Maddy,” I say when I answer her call, “I’m ready.”

There’s no need for small talk. We both know what happened and what needs to happen. Details are neither here nor there.

“I’ll meet you at Connor’s,” she says.

“See you in twenty.” I hang up. Connor’s is a diner a few miles away known for their pancakes and despised for their service.

I turn the burner off.

The other cell I hide in the closet, pressing it in one of my tennis shoes, a pair I’ve never

worn. If he tracks the location, it will still show I’m at home.

I don’t glance back as I head outside exiting through the garage and walking down to where my rental car is waiting.

Alec will be on my trail soon enough, especially after a woman showed up at the house on his heels a few weeks ago.

I was home alone, drinking a glass of vino and watching mindless television—the kind you secretly love to hate—a group of bored housewives comparing their plastic surgery pitfalls and young, hunky boyfriends off to their frenemies.

The doorbell chimed.

I almost ignored it. No one would be looking for me. I kept expecting no one.

A heavy knock echoed through the foyer into the den.

I grabbed the remote and hit pause on the DVR. I craned my neck to see who was peeking through the frosted glass of our double front doors.

The woman at the door was elegant. She was dressed to the nines in a printed wrap dress, Jimmy Choo’s, and had Gucci shades piled on top of her blonde head.

I opened the door thinking she must be a Realtor.

She stuck her hand out. “You must be Levin Crowley?” It came out as a question but sounded matter-of-fact like she had known what to expect.

I nodded waiting for her to continue. She stared at me for a moment too long. “I’m Liz Hopkins, it’s wow, crazy to meet you.” She stumbles over her words. “You look so much like her. My sister.” She searches my face to see if her name rings a bell. It does not.

“Do I know your sister?” I am confused. Is this a business acquaintance of Alec’s?

“No.” Liz pauses, “You don’t. She’s uh… she’s gone.”

I am curious. I don’t know this woman but feel compelled to stand here and listen instead of slamming the door in her face. She isn’t demented.

“You look like her,” Liz repeats, shaking her head. “I assume you know Alec, my fiance ?” I say.

“Only in passing.” Liz fumbles over her next sentence. “I need to talk to you. I waited until he left.”

My eyes are narrow. Who is this woman? Did he have a long-lost sister I didn’t know about?

Even worse, my mind turns into a dark corner. You always hear about mistresses that confront the girlfriend or wife. Was her sister having an affair with Alec? I grab the door frame. The bile is rising in my throat. I instinctively reach for my throat, a nervous habit I have.

Liz reaches out for my arm. “I read online you got engaged. I had to warn you.”

“We can’t talk here.” I nod up at the camera aimed right at the front door. I smiled at her, the lens focused on us, trying not to look so tense.

“I look different,” Liz says. “He won’t know me. Here, I’m going to hand you my business card. It’s actually a friend’s.” She hands me a card.

My hand shakes as I take it and make a point of reading it.

I look back up at her and smile. Janine Frederick's, Avon Consultant. I pretend I am making small talk. My mind races as I try to process what this could be about.

“Where can we talk?” Liz is apprehensive as she smooths a piece of hair down in a nervous gesture, now uncomfortable that she’s being watched.

I pause, unsure of what to do, my thoughts racing in my head. Either this woman is certifiably crazy, or my fiance is.

“Do you want to sit in my car?” Liz asks. There’s nothing I want to do less. I nod ‘yes.’

Liz whispers. “I parked down the street. Meet me at fifteen. Act like you’re going for a walk.”

With that, she grabs my hand in an awkward handshake. She gives me a fake, toothy smile. She is beautiful. I drifted back to her sister. What is she to Alec?

She turns, and I make it a point not to watch her walk away. Alec would wonder why I did if he watches the tape, and I knew he did. He watches me like a hawk—eyes constant, darting back and forth on their prey, deciding when to swoop down for the kill.

I head inside and throw on some sweats and a tank top pretending I am going for a leisurely walk down the block. I even twist my hair into a knot on my head, which is now pounding with the uncertainties of what this strange woman has to tell me.

My stomach aches and I start to gag. I make it to the toilet just in time to release the contents of tonight’s dinner and wine.

There are moments in life that define you, that change you, for better or worse. In my gut, I knew this was one of those times.

I take my time reaching Liz Hopkin’s safe navy Volvo down the street. It is a convertible, and I make a judgment call that says she prides herself on safety but wants a little fun.

She sees me coming and unlocks the passenger side door.

I open it slowly. “I don’t want to get in.” I am not rude, but it is a firm commitment not to enter a stranger’s vehicle.

She shakes her head in agreement. “Completely understand. Let me get out. We can talk here.” Liz leaves her purse inside but takes her keys out. “Let’s go for a walk.”

I motion to her heels. “In those?”

She laughs—it is forced. I lean against her car. She does the same. We are facing each other not unlike a stand-off—the good vs. evil. I am unsure in this instance if there is a side.

“Was your sister having an affair with my finance?” The words are rushed and sound strange even to me. I swallow hard.

“Levin.” She exhales, and I can tell what she has to tell me is tough for her. She searches my face. “Alec Durant is a killer. He murdered my younger sister.” The world starts to spin. My veins turn to the ice like my whole body is frozen.

My eyes get wide.

She continues, “Alec dated my sister in college at the University of Oklahoma. She was found dead during her senior year of college. He was the last known person to see her.”

I stare at her in disbelief. Pigs flying sounded more believable at this moment.

“Did he ever tell you about her?” she asks. “No.” I am flabbergasted.

“Her name is, Heidi. Heidi Hopkins.” “She disappeared?”

“She didn’t disappear. She was never lost.” Liz looks at me hard. “Levin, do you want to sit?”

I can’t speak. She clicks her keys and helps me into the passenger seat. I

ease back into the cool leather, my skin matching the freezing temperature.

“I’m going to come around and sit.” Liz shuts my door. She slides in and reaches for her purse. She pulls out her wallet and a tattered picture creased from being folded and unfolded. “This is Heidi.” Her hands shake as she fingers the picture.

I make a motion to look at the picture. Liz is right, my doppelgänger is staring back at me. A gorgeous brunette with long legs and an even smile, and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. This is a cheerleading pictures, and Heidi Hopkins is wearing a uniform, pom-poms in hand, looking like she doesn’t have a care in the world.

Except now she is dead—at the hands of my fiance.

“You need to leave soon.” Liz sounds like a concerned parent talking about an issue at the school bake sale, the chocolate chip cookies are not organic or gluten-free. Not my life being turned upside down, the love of my life is a cold-blooded girlfriend killer.

“What happened?” I don’t want to know. I wish she wouldn’t tell me. My palms are clammy, and I try to wipe them on my sweatpants.

“Eric, that’s his name, right?” Liz reaches for my icy fingers, “I keep up with Alec. He was never charged, but his name came up in a Google search. I saw his business partner die. Then a year later, almost on the dot, he gets engaged to you.” Liz holds my hands tight. “I had to warn you.”

I think back to my relationship with Eric—the only solid friendship I ever had. He was my rock. I had watched him grow from a shy, introspective boy into a confident, outgoing, and sexy man. He had kept the qualities that made him irresistible to both sexes—a calming persona that could soothe even the most tempestuous of clients and associates and had been able to rein me in when I was on a destructive path during my adolescent years.

He tutored me, so I didn’t fail out of high school after my mom had overdosed on pain medication. Though she claimed it was an accident, I had my suspicions. If I had her life, I would be looking for a respite from it all.

Eric’s mistake, if one could categorize it as a mistake, was that he had fallen in love with a married man. The man’s wife had unloaded on Alec. It didn’t help that he had three young children and a dead-end marriage—the money was the root of the problem.

“When was this?” I manage to squeak out. My voice sounds foreign. A strangled cat would make more sense.

“This was their senior year of college, almost sixteen years ago.” Liz wipes a tear from her eye. “She never came home to visit, and we knew... we knew something was wrong.”

“How?” I close my eyes and lean my head back into the headrest. A headache is migrating through my temples. I reach up and rub it.

“Heidi was choked to death.” Liz is quiet as she gathers her thoughts. “Days later, she was found in her bed by her roommate. Her roommate had been visiting her boyfriend out of town for fall break.”

“I don’t understand...” My voice trails off. “I don’t understand why you think this.”

Liz looks at me with the most sorrowful eyes, pain appears in the bright blue of her irises. “Levin, listen to me,” her tone is urgent. “You have to leave him. He killed my sister. I hired a PI who thinks he killed Eric. He’s urging the authorities to re-open both cases.”

I cut her off. “I want to go to the police, but Alec will know. He watches my every move. I need something, some proof.”

“Yes, he’s cunning.” Liz shoves her keys in the ignition and starts the engine. “Heidi was going to leave Alec, and he murdered her. Eric was going to leave Alec, and he murdered him.”

My head goes from pounding to throbbing to screaming.

“I have to go, he could be coming back shortly. We can’t be seen talking, or this will be for nothing.”

She has a valid point, but I am glued to the seat. The sweat is sticking to my back holding me in place.

“That card I gave you is for my friend and has a legit number. If you need to get in contact with me, call her. It won’t look suspicious since she does sell beauty products.” Liz is toying with another thought. “The police are going to re-open the case, Levin. When they do, I don’t want you to be his next victim.”

The chills shiver down my spine in succession. I manage to push open the door and force myself onto the sidewalk, the sun setting over another gorgeous San Diego day, with no warning that behind that cloudless sky, there is a rapidly brewing storm.

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