Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 04 - Jupiter Returns (9 page)

I hobbled into the bathroom and dressed my foot.
I took a shower and put on a pair of jeans and long sleeved bright green tee shirt. Mimi didn’t like me to wear jeans. She thought I should dress like a proper lady.

I looked at the clock.
It was only 7:20 a.m. I had almost three hours before I met with Bettina. I was the last one up. Everyone but John and Tracy were having coffee.

“Good morning, Judith,” they all sang.
Rosa started teasing me about not being a morning person.

“You didn’t used to be a morning person either, Rosa.
When we were both working as dancers in New Orleans, we both slept at least until noon ever day.”

“That’s before I had Jennifer.
That cured me. Having a baby will cure you. You’ll see.”

I felt tears welling in my eyes.
Ben had wanted kids so badly. Rosa jumped up and put her arms around me. I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

“I’m so sorry, Judith,
” Rosa said.

“That’s okay,” I said, “It’s not you.
My emotions are close to the surface these days.”

I dried my eyes and joined them for breakfast.
We were all excited about Julia coming. As we were finishing breakfast, Jesse brought Brad and Jennifer down.

“Guess what, Aunt Judith,” Brad said as he climbed up in my lap, “Aunt Julia is coming to sleep over too.
It’s so fun. We have a lot of sleep overs.”

We all laughed.
“Is it all right if I go with Arnold to the airport, Mimi?” Jesse asked.

“Sure Jesse.
We’ll watch the little ones,” Mimi said, winking at her.

I was happy for Jesse and Arnold
finding each other. And I knew she would be riding in the front of the limousine with him, probably with her head on his shoulder.

I would have only a few minutes for my reunion with my twin sister before going to pick up Bettina.
I was so excited. We hadn’t been together since Christmas and it was now March.

I paced and looked at my watch.
I paced and looked out the window. They were running late and I had to leave. I would have to wait and see her later today.

As I drove toward Bettina’s house, I thought about how I would approach her about her mother’s death.
I think part of her knew her mother was dead but she had compartmentalized.

Mrs. Frazier took me aside before Bettina came down from her room.
“She had a terrible night, Ms. McCain.”

“Please call me Judith.
What happened?”

“Well, the kids had all gone to bed and Mr. Frazier and I were watching the news.
It showed you in the yard of a big house not far from here and they were bringing out a stretcher in a body bag.”

We heard something h
it the floor and looked around. Bettina had come into the room without us seeing her, saw what we were watching, and fainted. We have a doctor friend who came over and gave her a shot to knock her out.

“
When she came to, before the doctor arrived, she became hysterical, screaming and crying that that wasn’t her mama.”

“Is her mama dead, Judith?”

“Yes, a neighbor identified her. Don’t talk to her about it. We’re going to have to wait until she is ready to deal with this.”

“Well, you’re the psychologist.”

As I drove to my old office building, I kept glancing at Bettina. She had gone back into her shell. She had her head down and her baby fine blond hair covered her face.

She let me lead her into the play room and sat down on the floor.
Dr. Anna always told me to trust my instincts. I got a sketch pad and some colored pencils and sat on the floor not too close to her and started sketching.

I sometimes wished I had Julia’s talent for art in a case like this, but art therapy isn’t about how well you can draw and paint.

I emptied my mind and let my subconscious take over. Before I realized what I was doing, I had drawn three little girls and put one in a bubble. I saw Bettina out of the corner of my eye straining her neck to see what I was drawing.

Without pausing or looking up I eased closed to her a little at a time and was soon sitting beside her and she was looking at my drawing.
I held the pad tilted slightly toward her and before I knew it she had taken the red pencil and started scribbling across the page.

She made big angry strokes and tore the paper she was pressing down so hard.
The pencil broke and I reached for another red one, handed it to her, and turned to a new page.

That’s al
l she did for over an hour. She went through the entire pad. I would have stayed there letting her use up all the pads in the play room if Dr. Alvarez hadn’t lightly knocked on the door and peered in and tapped his watch. He needed the play room. I had gone over my allotted time.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed
and he silently closed the door.

I gently took the pa
d from Bettina. She looked at me and then looked around like she didn’t know where she was. As we walked out of the building, she actually looked over at me and smiled. She had made great progress in working through the anger about her mama’s death even though her conscious mind was still refusing to admit her mama was dead.

When I dropped Bettina off I reminded Mrs. Frazier not to try and get Bettina to talk.
She agreed and I was glad Bettina had her for a foster mom.

I headed home looking forward to seeing Julia.

CHAPTER 16

When I went into the house, I didn’t see anyone at first but heard noises from the kitchen. They were making cookies and the two kids were using cookie cutters shaped like animals. Rosa, Julia, and Mimi were mixing the batter in different colors.

“Hey, Aunt Judith,” Brad said when he saw me.
“We’re making animal cookies and Aunt Julia’s here.”

Julia looked up, spotted me and ran over.
We hugged and I noticed she had lost weight. “What did you do, quit eating?”

“Well, you know, I’m in love.
I keep forgetting to eat. By the way, my professor is coming over this week-end.”

“Julia, what is his name?
You keep calling him your professor. Have you ever told me his name?”

She laughed, “I do that because
I just can’t believe someone so smart could love me.”

“What are you talking about?
You know you’re smart.”

Mimi spoke up, “You two quit arguing and go on upstairs and get caught up.
We got things covered here.”

Arm in arm, we went to my room.
This was the same room we had been given when we came here at age sixteen for the first time. It was a huge bedroom with a king-sized bed and a private bath.

The mansion was
an unusual house in that each bedroom has its own bath, plus half baths scattered throughout. Arnold had put Julia’s luggage in here my room.

“Julia, you don’t have to sleep in here if you don’t want to.
You can have your own room.”

“No, I want to sleep here just like we did when we were sixteen.
It seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it?”

We sat on the bed and talked for about twenty minutes trying to catch each other up.
I found out that her professor’s name was Dr. Walter Prescott. She called him Walt.

“He’s the sweetest, most gentle man I’ve ever known. I love him with all my heart.
Sometimes I can’t believe I found him.”

She looked at me and put her hand over her mouth, “I’m sorry, Judith.
You’re mourning Ben and I’m going on and on about Walt. I loved Ben too, you know. He was definitely one of the good guys.”

We held each other and cried for Ben.
When I pulled away I said, “Don’t be sorry, Julia. I’m so happy for you. You deserve all the happiness in the world after all you went through.”

“So do you, Judith, and you had happiness for only a short time.
I hope they catch those bitches and soon. It’s hard to believe we’re triplets instead of twins.”

Supper that night was a bittersweet affair.
We were glad Julia was here but knew Jupiter and Christina were still out there and we were worried about John and Tracy. Tracy called later in the evening and after talking to Mark and Brad, she wanted to talk to me.

“Has Julia told you what happened here, Judith?”

“No she hasn’t and I didn’t ask. We have been catching up and I had decided to give her time to tell me when she’s ready.”

“Well, try to get her to tell you what happened.
According to Dr. Prescott, her finance, she called him saying that someone was trying to break in her house. He then heard shots. He called 911 and called me on the way over.

“He found Julia curled up on the floor in the closet.
She had blood on her but he couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. By the time the ambulance got here he had cleaned her up and she seemed to be all right.

“There were no cuts or bruises or anything.
The police questioned her and she said someone had broken a window and came in and started stabbing her.

“The police wanted to charge her with pressing false charges but Dr. Prescott explained to them that she had a history of psychiatric problems.
So, here’s the deal, Judith, she was released with the understanding that she come to Houston and check herself back into Westpark. Has she told you anything about any of this?”

“No, not one word, she acts like she’s here for a visit.
Other than being too thin, I didn’t sense anything wrong. Why didn’t you know about this when you left to go over there this morning?”

“You know how badly the police and the FBI communicate sometimes.
We don’t know how it happened but there was some kind of mix up. It wasn’t until we talked to Dr. Prescott that we got the real story.

“You need to find out what’s going on with her, Judith.
We didn’t even get to see her. Our paths crossed between here and Houston.

“We’re going to check out some more things here and then fly back either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll see what I can find out from her. Thanks, Tracy.”

CHAPTER 17

I went up to my room and found Julia stretched out on the bed reading my diary.
I had kept one since I had first moved to New Orleans at the age of fifteen, after running away from my foster home in bishop Georgia, where my foster father had raped me. Even though she was my twin sister, I didn’t want her to read it. I couldn’t believe she would do such a thing. It was so out of character for Julia.

I was already feeling a little angry about her not telling us that she was supposed to check herself back into Westpark Psychiatric Center, and now I was so angry I lost it.

“What the hell are you doing?” I said as I took the diary away from her.

She got a sheepish grin on her face, “I’m, sorry, Judith.
I didn’t think you would mind since we’re part of the famous triplets. You’ve already told me most of it anyway.”

Her lower lip started trembling and she got tears in her eyes and my anger melted away.
I held her while she cried, “I forgive you, Julia. You’ve been through so much. But please, from now respect my privacy.”

“I will, I promise.
I wasn’t thinking. I thought that since we always share everything it wouldn’t matter. And I was enjoying what you wrote. It was like reading a good book.”

I laughed
, “I’m no great writer, but the journals are for my own therapy. Did you find anything interesting about yourself?”

She laughed, “I was reading the part where we went shopping with Mimi that first Christmas we spent together.
Remember, Mimi pulled out a big roll of one hundred dollar bills and tried to give us each some?”

We got a good laugh over that memory.
After putting on our pajamas and getting under the covers, we talked until we fell asleep. We had talked about our past. I still hadn’t asked her about Westpark.

Tracy and John flew in the next morning and
Tracy took me aside. “Did you ask her about Westpark?” Tracy asked me.

“N
ot yet. We were catching up, enjoying each other’s company and I hated to spoil it. Give me a little time, Tracy.”

She didn’t like it but agreed.
“Are you going to try to find out how Jupiter and Christina came to be in the apartment with Bettina and her mama?”

“She will tell me when she’s ready, Tracy.
I know it’s frustrating for you but I need to go slowly with her.”

“I know, I know.
Don’t mind me. I want to nail Jupiter so badly I can hardly sleep.

I hugged her and told her I understood and went to pick up Bettina.

She was so much less closed off that I decided to conduct a more directed play therapy. The first thing she did was to get down the doll house and the little girl doll.

She stood the little girl doll in the middle of the living room and sat back on her heels and looked at me like she wanted me to ask.
I trusted my instincts and asked, “Where are the mommy and daddy?”

She twisted her hair around h
er finger and said, “The daddy left when she was just a baby. The mommy died.”

“I’m so sorry.
It isn’t fair is it?”

“No,
” she said, balling up her fist. “And I’m going to kill her back. She’s a mean lady. I hate her.”

“It’s okay to hate her but we can’t kill other people, can we?”

She looked at me and shook her head. I took a chance here but I wanted to get as much information as I could before she clammed up again.

“Did you know the mean lady before she came to your
house?”

“Mr. Fu said we had to leave because mommy lost her job.
Aunt Janis gave us money to stay there so we could pay Mr. Fu.”

“She was your aunt?”

She started chewing on her hair. “No, she’s not my real aunt, but she said to call her aunt.”

I hesitated wondering how far I could go before she closed up again then came up with what I thought was a more safe question, “How long did she stay with you and your mommy?”

“They both stayed there.”

“Oh yeah,
Aunt Janis and the lady who looked like me?”

“She was nice.
She wouldn’t let aunt Janis hurt me like she hurt mommy. Is my mommy really dead?”

I nodded, “I’m so sorry.”

She crawled into my lap and rested her head on my chest and cried silently. I joined in. It’s hard to stay objective when you are going through your own grief, so I cried but made sure my eyes were wiped clear of tears before she pulled back.

She had a lot of grief to go through but she had made a major breakthrough that day and I felt proud of her.
Besides grieving in a healthy way, I hoped she would develop the habit of feeling and expressing what she was feeling, so that she could become a healthy happy person.

I would be having more sessions with Bettina but she was well on her way to healing.

CHAPTER 18

I cut the play therapy down to twice a week with Bettina. Mrs. Frazier told me she that Bettina was beginning to play with the other children and to do well in school. She still had nightmares but she was getting better every day.

I noticed the first few days Julia was with us she ate enormous amounts of food.
I had never seen her eat so much and suspected she was pregnant. She had always confided in me and I didn’t understand why she hadn’t told me if she was pregnant or about Westpark.

Finally I could stand it no longer.
After we went to bed I came out and asked, “Are you pregnant, Julia?”

She gasped, “No, why would you even think that, and you know I would tell you.
I tell you everything, don’t I?”

“If we tell each other everything, then why haven’t you told me about Westpart?”

She was quiet and pretended to be asleep but I knew she wasn’t. We usually talked until one of us fell asleep but it was too early for that. I nudged her with my elbow.

“Ow, that hurt, Judith
. I want to go to sleep. I’m sorry. Can’t we talk about this tomorrow? I’m really tired. Mimi wore me out today shopping.”

I didn’t like the direction my mind was going and decided to go talk to Tracy.
I waited until Julia was asleep for real and knocked on Tracy’s door. Mark came to the door. “She’s saying good night to Brad,” he said.

Tracy
was coming out of the nursery and we met in the hall. I put my finger to my lips. “Can we talk on the swings in the backyard?”

Once in the backyard Tracy spoke up before I could say anything, “
Judith, when have you ever known Julia to turn down chocolate cake?”

“Never,” I said.

“Well, she did tonight at supper. You didn’t notice? I was wondering how I was going to get you alone to talk to you. You must suspect something or you wouldn’t have asked me to come out here to talk in private.”

“I guess I’ve been in denial.
I wanted to be with Julia so badly. Okay, the first thing was that the first night she was here I caught her reading my diary. I got really angry at her and she said she didn’t think I would mind since we were part of triplets.

“Then when I asked about Westpark
tonight, she pretended she to fall asleep and she had been wide awake before…”

“Wait a minute, back up.”

“What, what did I say?”

“Judith, did you tell Julia
about Christina?”

“Not yet, I didn’t want to burden her with…Oh! My God!
How did she know we were triplets?”

Tracy and I stared at each other.
“You know what this mean, don’t you Judith?”

“Yeah, I should have known.
Julia has never been that skinny. Her eating habits are different too. She eats a lot. Maybe she’s trying to gain weight before Walt gets here.”

“I wonder when the switch was made and I wonder where the real Julia is.
Judith, don’t go back to bed. Go to the kitchen, no go to my room. Tell Mark what’s going on and wait for us there. I’m getting John.”

I went to Mark and Tracy’s room and knocked on the door.
Before Mark could say anything I put my finger to my lips and pushed him inside and followed. I explained what was going on and he wanted to check on Brad. We found both kids with Jesse, Rosa, and Mimi.

“Tracy explained everything to us, Judith,” Mimi said.
“I’ve thought something was wrong but I didn’t even consider this.”

Mark and I stayed there with the others.
We locked the door and waited. We soon heard screaming and language that Julia would never have used. I opened the door and saw Tracy leading Christina down the stairs handcuffed behind her back.

They were going down the stairs with John and Jake behind them.
Rosa, Mimi, Mark, and and I followed them down and left Jesse with Brad and Jennifer. The kids had slept through the whole thing.

They took her the front den and she looked at me with pure hatred in her eyes.

CHAPTER 19

“Where is Julia?” Tracy asked.

She laughed, “What is this, some kind of joke?
I am Julia.”

Jake
, John, Mark, Mimi, and I didn’t say anything but left the left the questioning to Tracy.

“Julia would never ever turn down chocolate cake.”

“Come on, Tracy. I ate too much dinner and I was full.”

“Julia always says supper
, not dinner, and she would always save room for chocolate. By the way, what is Westpark?”

“I forgot.”

“Julia didn’t know about there being a triplet but you did. Julia would never forget Westpark, she spent six months there. Now are you going to come clean with me or not?”

Tracy took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, as if she was trying not to lose her temper.
“Right now we can charge you with the assessor to the murder of Ben Justice and Emily Goddard and the attempted murder of an FBI agent” Tracy said evenly.

“Aren’t you going to offer me a deal?
” Christina said, laughing like it was all a big joke.

Tracy stormed out of the room and we waited. No one said a word. When Tracy came back in she said, “Okay, w
hat do you want and what can you give us in exchange?”

“I want a new identity and enough income to live comfortably for the rest of my life.”
She said, looking around the living room. “Mimi, you could support me and not even miss the money, you have so much. Why should Julia and Judith live so well, while I live in poverty?”