Dead Dreams (11 page)

“Right. Your uncle wants you dead, and your lost brother, whom no one has seen for the past nine months or so, is seeking to criminalize you? So, you want them to mistake me for you, so they can kill
me
instead….” I bit down on my lips the moment I said “kill” and saw her face droop.

Sarah glared at me. “I know it looks pathetic, but you’re the only friend I have. I have other…associates. Jackson, Megan, the K twins, but you’re the only person I truly trust.”

I sighed.

“Please, Brie. Hear me out—this will be good for you. I’m not just thinking about myself.”

Her eyes were already moist. “And how did you hear about my uncle?”

“Jackson may have mentioned it,” I said.

“Really?” She looked quizzically at me.

“You don’t want me to know he’s after your wealth?”

She sat up straight and stared at her French-manicured fingernails as if they were not quite the shade she’d asked for. “I s’ppose you’d find out. But I’m surprised Jackson took such liberties to tell you about Stu.”

“If you don’t trust me….”

“It’s not that. But anyway, will you help me? Now that you know what I’m up against?”

“Shoot.” I couldn’t believe I said that.

With her petite frame, I felt like an older sister; for even though she was only a couple of inches shorter, she had frail bones and mine were thicker. I also had wider shoulders, possibly from the hours of gymnastics, ballet, and swimming I’d reveled in. Not that I had time for any of those things anymore.

Sarah rubbed the heels of her palms on her eyes. “If we can carry out this plan, you could be financially stable. Independent. Free to accomplish your dreams. Always have the means to do
whatever
you want,
when
you want. You’d never have to worry about money, or your mom bugging you, or your dad hounding you about speaking to that Pastor Jerry, or becoming a doctor, like him.”

“It’s Perry, Pastor Perry. PP.” Maybe it was worth listening to her proposal. I could always refuse.

“Jackson wants to control me. I need to disappear, the way Todd did. We, you and I, need to make him,
them
all, think I’m dead, or kidnapped, or something, so I can live my life the way I want. And I’ll reward you generously for your help.”

“
We
? I’m not going to partake in murder. Or kidnapping. I watch—correction,
used
to watch—TV detective shows. I’ve learnt a lot from
24,
and
CSI
. And
FBI Most Wanted
. These are federal offences you are suggesting. I could be jailed for life. Hello? This tiny apartment is still bigger than a prison cell.”

“Ridiculous.” She waved her hand at me as if I were a gnat. “Nothing like that.”

“And, what about your inheritance? You’re adamant your brother, or your uncle, doesn’t get your share, and you want yourself dead? Or kidnapped?” I gestured back at her, as she did me.

Sarah laid out the facts. She would get the inheritance, due in a few days, even
if
she disappeared and were presumed dead, as long as her body remained unfound, and she hadn’t committed any crime. Technically. The inheritance would sit in the bank, and no one but she, or the person authorized with the series of numbers and security measures, could touch the loot. It was a loophole in the will her grandfather, Lucas, had drawn up six decades ago. Jackson had explained. She’d double-checked this with at least one other attorney.

“Wouldn’t Jackson suspect something?” Never fool around with lawyers, I’d been told.

“He might, but what could he do?”

On the day Sarah turned twenty-one, in ten days, she said, the inheritance would automatically be deposited into a Swiss bank account and access to the wealth could be via the Internet or in person. But, she thought her uncle or her brother, or both, as they might be working in collusion—and never mind that they hated each other—would try to foil things for her or, worse, get rid of her. Take her out and they’d only have to deal with one another. Maybe Todd had made a pact with Stuart to get the uncle off his own back. Her best bet would be to make them both
think
she was dead on the day of her birthday and have her body disappear.

“We’d make it seem as if it was a kidnapping gone wrong, or that a lunatic had murdered and stowed my body somewhere. Then I’d never have to look behind my shoulders.”

“Why can’t you just disappear to Timbuktu or something?”

“Because I won’t get any peace till they
believe
I’m truly gone. Just think of how one of them must have found me living here.” She waved her hand about. “The will has a clause that states even if I were deemed dead, the money stays in the bank and the bank is beholden not to divulge any information to them or to anyone prying for five years. Client privacy privileges. True, they might think I’ve gone to the Bahamas, but they will always wonder if I was truly dead, and always be trying to find the killer, or kidnapper, rather than focusing their efforts on trying to locate me.”

“Why would they look for the killer or the kidnapper? Wouldn’t one of them stand to gain if you died?”

“Think, think.” She jabbed her finger at her temple a few times. “They’d have to start somewhere if I’m off the radar. To prove that I’m dead the killer would be the only link. It’s not for a sense of justice, I can tell you that. They’d have to
prove
that I’ m dead first if they couldn’t find the body.”

I slumped my shoulders. Poor Sarah. So rich and yet a pauper when it came to family love. “But what about Jackson? Surely he cares.”

“Jackson’s first and foremost a lawyer, and he mustn’t know of this detail. They could subpoena him. And force him to admit I’d committed this unsavory act and I’d lose everything. Lawyers can lose their license if they’re discovered aiding and abetting any sort of misdemeanor.”

“So, Todd had to wait till he was twenty-one, too? To get
his
inheritance?”

She shook her head. “The will only takes effect when
I
turn that age. So, my big brother’s been waiting on the sidelines since our mom passed away. You see, I couldn’t even get the inheritance till I turned thirty, if one of my parents were still living.”

“So, your grandpa favored you? That’s why it had to wait for
your
coming of age? And maybe that’s why Todd’s jealous of you?”

She shrugged. “I only met Grandpa Lucas a dozen times. Each year, he’d pop over once for my birthday and once for Todd’s. Grandpa was in his late seventies then. Who knows why he drew up the will that way? I’m just glad there’s a loophole. Maybe he purposely did it. He had a sharp acumen for business, what with managing the coal empire.”

“But, why would you need
my
help? You can hide somewhere till your birthday,
then
disappear. Like how Todd did it.”

“Strange you mentioned Todd. I always suspected he had an accomplice. Maybe it’s Uncle Stuart. But if not, then who? I tried to disappear when I came to stay with you. A nobody, in a nothing-much apartment.” She waved at the room. “Except now I’m sure of one thing. If Uncle’s after me, he’ll find me. He
was
behind our ‘burglary.’”

“Yet your uncle’s supposed hit man didn’t succeed.”

“Maybe next time he will. No matter where, Uncle’s eyes will seek me. There are agencies that can search out people as long as they live ‘above ground.’ I’d still need to get out, get food, you know, live life.”

I nodded. “Have a love life.”

She glared at me again as if I’d uttered a bad word. “You don’t get it. With the way the trust fund’s set up, I’d have to make physical appearances to sign a paper at the bank each month. In fact, I think that’s how Stu traced me. His spies must have spotted me at the Fremont Bank last time I signed papers to move funds there.”

“Get a disguise.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and smiled that coy way she had. “Who told you my plan?” She snickered.

Plan?
That was something I wasn’t much good at. She’d used that word “plan” on the phone in her bedroom.

Maybe I was too tired, or just not suspicious by nature, but I didn’t put two and two together until it was too late. At the time, I was preoccupied with Jackson’s proposal to coax her to move out of my apartment. I could cut my losses and get a new housemate. Still, the idea of being generously rewarded spelled financial independence, living my dreams, getting to acting school, and who know, once in New York, I could even seek Drew out. He could be attached to some machine and had been wanting to reach out to me but couldn’t.

Sarah went on. “Once the inheritance gets moved to Switzerland, we get the bank to issue a transfer to Antigua. You’re going to love the beaches there.” Her pitch rose with her excitement. “White sands, crystal-clear waters, refreshingly cool after a bake in the sun. We don’t have to stay at any one place. ” She looked at my pale legs, and I instinctively pulled down my yoga pants to cover my calves. Not everyone had slim, tanned legs like Sarah’s to show off.

But there were too many questions floating in my head, and I really didn’t want to break any laws.

“I don’t have a… passport,” I said.

“Least of our problems. This is your chance to break away from family expextations, you’ve always complained about.”

“So, what do you need me to do?” I finally said.

“I take it you’re in?”

“I need to hear your plan first. I’m not a criminal.” It must have been the cool waters and the baking in the sun parts that did me in, or maybe my white legs.

She brought both hands up as if to show her palms were free from the stains of guilt. “Neither am I. I just don’t want to end up
really
dead. Or always having to look over my shoulder to see who has a knife up in the air. You can surely understand that. I’m only trying to get what’s rightly mine. Live a normal life.”

But I still had my reservations. There must be a more conventional way of dealing with her Uncle’s threats, not that there was anything
normal
about that. “Why don’t we go to the cops? Spiel on Stu, and on your brother.”

“With what evidence? Stuart’s already marred my name with the cops. They suspect that I may have done away with Todd. Good thing Todd’s account is being drawn on every month. At least, that’s what pacified the cops. He may have vanished, but he’s alive, somewhere. Either hiding from Uncle, or maybe they’re in cahoots. Who knows? Sources told me Todd might have a lover, the way he’s spending cash like water. Anyway, I can only take care of my well-being. I can’t take the risk. I need to keep my slate clean. You understand?”

She had a point about the evidence. Jim hadn’t found any inkling of who might have broken in, and since then, no one had tried to attempt anything on either of us. Granted, it had only been two days. How long would this false peace last before somebody struck us again? I made a mental note to get the brown envelope still lying in my cubicle at Stay Fit.

“So Jim couldn’t find anything about the burglary?” I asked. She might have told him to drop the case.

She shrugged.

I persisted. “He never called you?”

“Gave him the money and he split. End of story. So are you going to help me?”

I said, “I’ll try my best to help. I can’t promise anything, though.”

“Cross your heart you won’t say a word to anyone?”

I’d already kept the burglary a secret from my family and friends. Jim hardly counted, he was a P.I. and as a professional he’d done it for the money. So I crossed my heart and gave her my Girl Scout’s honor, even though I’d only done two years of scouting.

She leaned over and gave me a quick hug. “This is going to be so fun, too! Look.” She picked up another glossy paper bag, similar to the one that held the wig, and with a flourish brought out another hairpiece. Mousey brown. My shade of mouse.

She pulled the wig over her crown and tucked her hair under it. “What do you think?” She spun around like a ballerina, and the long hair whipped round as she twirled. She could easily pass as my sister. Or me.

“For the next nine days, we switch identities.” She drew two small boxes from another paper bag, this time the smallest of the lot—only about six inches long.