Kathleen Brooks - Secrets Collide

“How do you know? She couldn’t have. She’s not answering her phone and she’s not at home. She has to be here.”

“She always says good night to me. She’s one of the last people to leave and that’s when I come on shift for the night. She told me to have a good night and tell my wife congratulations on our kid’s high school graduation. Look,” the guard paused, “why don’t you go to her apartment? I'm sure she just went to run errands after work.”

Gemma nodded. She couldn’t speak but offered him a wobbly smile. She turned back to the front of the building preparing to leave when she remembered the parking garage. “Can I check the parking garage for her car? It would just make me feel better.”

The guard looked around, unsure of how to handle her request. “Please. I just have a feeling something happened to her and she always answers the phone. Please,” Gemma pleaded. She knew she looked crazy, but she had to know.

“Okay. I’ll pull up her parking space number. Let me lock the doors and we’ll go down.”

“Thank you,” Gemma sighed. She didn’t know what to expect. Maybe an empty spot and Gia’s abandoned cell phone. That would explain why her sister hadn’t answered the phone.

The guard locked the doors and he and Gemma headed to the bank of elevators in silence. He pushed a button and they descended into the garage as instrumental music played in the background. The metallic doors opened and she stepped out into the dark garage.

“It’s this way,” he said as he started counting off the parking spaces.

“Oh no!” Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at her sister’s black Lexus sedan parked in Gia’s reserved spot. “Where is my sister?”

An hour later, Gemma sat crying at the well-worn desk of Detective Peter Greene. “There has to be something you can do.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Perry, but your sister has only been out of touch for four hours and there’s no evidence she’s even missing. How do you know she didn’t just go home with a coworker for a one-nighter?” the young and overworked detective asked as gently as he could.

“My sister would never date a coworker. It’s against the rules and Gia doesn't break the rules. Please, can’t you just take a report?” The young detective pushed back his dark brown hair and glanced at the clock. Hanging her head in defeat, Gemma reached for her purse. It was almost eleven at night and clearly the detective just wanted to get home.

“Okay, give me her name again,” he said calmly as he pulled up a form on his computer.

“Gia Eleanor Perry. She’s thirty years old. Five-feet-seven and a hundred thirty-five pounds. She has short brown hair and green eyes just a shade lighter than mine. She's my identical twin and she was last seen leaving the International Press office downtown. Thank you. Thank you for believing me.” Gemma dried her tears and answered Detective Greene’s questions with a sense of relief. She didn’t know what else she could do for her sister, but at least she was doing something.

“What about your parents?”

“They passed away a few years ago. They didn’t think they would ever have kids, but surprise—my mom got pregnant when she was forty-six.”

“That’s all we need, Ms. Perry. I’m sending this out to my officers on the street and I’ll call you soon to give you an update,” Detective Greene said as he printed off a picture of Gia that she had just emailed him from her phone.

Gemma stood up and slung the big purse containing Fred over her shoulder. As if sensing something bad was going on, Fred had stayed silent in the bag for the past hour. Every now and then, Gemma would reach in to pet him and he would reassuringly lick her hand as if to comfort her. “Thank you, Detective Greene. Thank you so much.”

Gemma walked past the rows of empty dented metal desks and a few of the other on-duty detectives as she made her way through two swinging double doors and out into the small lobby on the third floor of the police station. She pulled out her phone and dialed her sister as she waited for the elevator. “Hi. This is Gia. I’m not here right now, but I’d love to talk to you. Leave a message.”

“I love you,” Gemma whispered into the phone as she stepped onto the elevator. The dirty doors closed as her feelings of hope disappeared.

Gemma stood outside the police station and stared at the cars driving by. She really didn’t know what to do or where to go. Should she go home and wait for the police to call? Should she go to Gia’s apartment and wait for her to come home? Deciding she couldn’t stand there forever, she started walking across the busy parking lot toward her car.

“Ms. Perry!” Gemma turned around and found Detective Greene running toward her. Oh, thank goodness! If they found her already, then Gia must've just been out. She was sure Gia would fuss at her for making such a big deal over a couple of hours, but she didn’t care if that meant her twin was safe and sound.

“You found her, didn’t you? I guess I did overreact.” Gemma gave a little grin and a shrug of her shoulders in embarrassment. “Where was she? How mad is she for having the whole police force out looking for her?” she asked with a shaky smile.

Detective Greene didn’t smile back and Gia then realized what she had known for the past couple hours . . . her sister was dead. Tears streamed down her face. She felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach as waves of nausea hit her over and over again. Detective Greene put an arm around her as she started to collapse. “I’m sorry to ask you this, but I need you to look at a picture.” Detective Greene held out his cell phone and showed Gemma the image on the screen. “Is this your sister?”

The tears dried instantly as a shocked Gemma stared at the image of her sister on Detective Greene’s phone. She looked as if she were sleeping, except for the fact she was lying on a patch of dirt and her face had no color to it. “Yes, that’s Gia,” was all Gemma was able to say until the twisting of her stomach was so much that she leaned over and threw up while Detective Greene kept a supportive hand on her back.

“What happened?” Gemma asked, wiping her mouth as Detective Greene helped her stand upright.

“We think she was mugged. Her purse is missing. She was found behind the parking garage at International Press. We’re looking at security cameras now. I’m on my way over there and I’ll come by in the morning to talk.” Detective Greene waited for Gemma to nod before he asked, “Can I have an officer take you home?”

“No, thank you. I’d rather be alone right now,” Gemma murmured as she stared slightly off into space. Her world seemed over; she didn’t even know what she was supposed to do next.

Detective Greene pulled out a card and handed it to her. “Call me anytime. Please take your time getting home. I really would feel better if you let one of my officers drive you home.”

Gemma looked up into his worried faced and gave him a weak smile. “I’ll be fine. Thank you so much, just please take care of my sister and find whoever did this.”

“I will,” Detective Greene promised. “And I’ll have a patrol car check in on you soon, okay?”

Gemma nodded and then walked to her car in a daze. She was conscious of Detective Greene being picked up by an unmarked car as he looked back at her one more time. She pulled Fred out of the bag and held him tight to her chest as she sat in the driver’s seat, letting the tears flow freely as her body was wracked with sobs.

Gemma pulled into her sister’s parking space at the apartment complex and stared at the cement wall. There was a crack running along some of the blocks and she followed it until it ended. Gemma debated leaving, but she didn’t know where else to go. Her home would seem so empty. She had needed to feel her sister again so she found herself driving to Gia’s apartment. But she stayed in her car, hesitant to go upstairs. The pain would be too much to bear.

Gemma knew she didn’t need to wait for Detective Greene to tell her when her sister died. She had known the second it had happened. She had felt it. She had lived it right here in her own car. Gemma had felt the pain, the fear, and finally the moment her sister could no longer fight. That’s why she was here and that was why she needed to find the courage to go upstairs. She needed to feel a connection to her twin again to help with the anguish washing over her.

“Come on, Fred,” she said softly as she put her windblown dog back into the large bag.

Gemma felt as if she were in a nightmare as she made her way to the elevator and pressed the eleventh floor. It didn’t seem real. The walls blurred and she couldn’t focus on anything but the red elevator numbers as they ticked off the passing floors. When the doors opened, she pulled out her keys and headed to the end of the hall to her sister’s apartment. She heard every clink of the key as she pushed it into the lock.

“What the hell?” Gemma turned the handle. The door was unlocked. Suddenly she remembered that Gia was mugged and her purse taken. The killers would have her address and her keys. What if they were still here? Anger like she had never felt filled her as she shoved the door open. “Come out, you bastards!” she yelled into the apartment as her pulse throbbed in expectation.

Her breathing quickened as she hurried through the apartment, turning on lights and flinging open doors, but luckily, there was no one there. She set her bag down on her sister’s couch and Fred popped his head out and looked around as Gemma sat next to him on the white couch. She grabbed the dark blue decorative pillow and pulled it to her, hugging it while rocking as tears flooded her eyes once again. When she smelled her sister’s flowery lotion on the pillow, it felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. Fred jumped out of the bag and rested his head on her leg in silent support.