Double Take (33 page)

Why should Rafe or Trev believe anything she said—after all she had done?

Was her own plan to entrap her sister about to backfire?

Was Lana’s plan to set up Kait going to succeed?

Kait felt faint now. Now, she thought about Rafe planting the stolen ring on her. God, she could go to jail for a long, long time....

“I didn’t steal that ring,” Kait whispered. “Farrell stole it, and Lana gave it to me yesterday and I turned it over to you.” She grabbed Rafe’s arm so that he turned, forcing him to look down at her. “Damn it! Please don’t do this!”

He looked at her with a cool, even smug smile. “I don’t know and I don’t care whether you are Kait or Lana or Anna Banana.” His eyes blazed. “You know what I do know, sister? What I do know is that you are here, living with my brother, as his wife. What I do know is that about a year after you turned up in Trev’s life a string of thefts began. In fact, it was like two heists the first year and then three and then four....Yeah, so innocuous that at first no one even figured it out—then one day, it was like, geez, there’s been a dozen burglaries in this county, all with the same MO—an easy safe crack from the inside and very valuable missing jewels. So what’s your story? Oh, yeah. You’re not the woman my brother married six years ago. You’re her twin. You just showed up in town—conveniently switching places with your sister, who’s the real thief. And that this other woman is where? On her way to Paris? You know what I do know?” He didn’t wait for a response. “If you do have a twin, an identical twin, who’s to say that you’re not the thief and she’s not the honest, hardworking, law-abiding one?”

Kait recoiled. Suddenly she realized just how much Rafe Coleman hated Lana. She could not move.
He hated her with a vengeance.
Enough to frame her for what he couldn’t prove, enough to shoot her with the intent to kill, enough to drive her off the road with the same murderous intention, and to set fire to his own brother’s barn.

She wasn’t Lana, but he didn’t know that.

“The day you conned my brother into believing that you loved him was the day you made your first mistake, baby, and the day you married him was your second,” Rafe Coleman said, his green eyes blazing.

Oh, God, she had made a terrible miscalculation. Rafe Coleman was the enemy. How had she ever thought, for an instant, to trust him?

“We lifted half a dozen sets of prints from the Parkers’ bedroom,” Rafe said flatly. “They got two housemaids and then there’s Parker and Georgie. How much you want to bet your prints are all over that room, Lana...Ms. London—or whoever you really are?”

Kait didn’t move. Farrell had worn gloves when he’d cracked the safe. She hadn’t worn any gloves, as the thought hadn’t even occurred to her. She had, at least, touched the door or doorknob. Her prints would be in that room. And Rafe Coleman had planted the ring.

She was doomed.

“Book her,” he said with disgust.

Kait sat on her bunk, her hands in her lap, unmoving. There was one other inmate in the jail, a young man who was badly battered and appeared to be sleeping off an excess of alcohol. His cell was across the corridor and at the end of it, and for that small amount of privacy, Kait was grateful. How long would she be imprisoned like this? And where were Lana and Farrell right now? She was in the throes of despair. Right now, the police should be chasing Lana down. But now Kait knew that Rafe Coleman hadn’t believed a word she had said to him.

She heard the door at the front of the corridor opening. Kait stiffened, as footsteps sounded, approaching. She did not stand up.

An officer was approaching. “You got visitors,” he said.

Kait saw Sam behind him—and Trev standing in the doorway that they had just come through. She leapt up. “Trev.” Her voice was a barely audible whisper.

His jaw tightened and he halted, standing there staring at her.

“Trev!” she cried, gripping the iron bars of her cell. “Please, I’m not Lana! I’m her twin! I’m Kait! I told you last night—you have to convince Rafe! Otherwise she will get away....” She trailed off. “Please help me,” she begged.

He whirled and walked out.

Had Kait not been gripping the bars of her cell, she would have collapsed. He had been her last hope.

“You got a few minutes. Boss says five.”

Kait realized the guard was unlocking her cell to allow Sam in. Sam was ashen.

“Go tell your boss to jump in the lake,” Kait whispered.

The officer shook his head, allowing Sam to walk inside, locking the cell door behind them.

“Clearly he doesn’t think me a murderer,” Kait said, as he walked away. “Otherwise he wouldn’t let Sam in to visit me!”

There was no answer except for the sound of the door at the end of the hall as it closed.

“Damn you!” Kait cried. Then Sam touched her arm. Kait started, turning to face her.

Sam looked frightened. The next thing Kait knew, they were hugging one another hard.

“Don’t worry,” Kait whispered roughly. “Everything will be fine, just fine.”

Sam pulled away. “The sirens woke me up. I thought Ben Abbott had lied and they were coming for me! I went to the window and saw them taking you instead. I had to come see you.”

“Thank you,” Kait whispered, touched. She thought about Trev, who would not talk to her now, who was in another room, only a few doors away. “How is Gabe today?”

Sam seemed surprised by her question. “If he continues the way he is, they’re moving him out of ICU this afternoon,” she said.

“That’s great!” Kait was thrilled. “I’m so glad, Sam.”

Sam hugged her, and this time, she clung. It was a moment before she pulled away. “How could anyone think you’re her?”

Kait hesitated. “I’m her twin. I switched places with her, Sam, and what I did was very wrong.”

Sam regarded her. “Dad said she lied to you just the way she lied to all of us. He said you thought she was in trouble, and you switched places only to try to help her—not to hurt us.”

Kait almost swooned with relief. “He said that?”

Sam nodded, smiling a little. “Yeah, he did. Your name is Kait?”

Kait nodded, flooded with another wave of relief. Trev had defended her behavior to his own daughter. Did that give them a chance?

But why did he doubt her identity now?

“That’s a nice name. It suits you... Kait.”

Kait smiled back and sat down on the bunk. Sam sat beside her. “Why aren’t you angry about my lie, Sam? I know you know that what I did was wrong. The end doesn’t justify the means.”

Sam shook her head stubbornly. “I’m glad you lied! I’m glad you came into our lives the way that you did! And Marni’s glad, too!”

Kait tensed. “Does she know?”

“No. She’s at school. I guess Dad will tell her what he told me.”

“Are you and Trev talking now?”

Sam hesitated. “Sort of. I guess.”

“Don’t blame him for loving you so much,” Kait said softly.

Tears filled Sam’s eyes. “See? That is why I’m glad you lied and pretended to be her! Can’t you stay, Kait? I mean, after you get out of jail? I know it’s odd, but we want you to stay.” She was vehement in spite of her tears.

Kait wet her lips. “I want nothing more,” she whispered unsteadily. “But I can’t. I hurt your father—he deserves so much more, Sam.”

“He loves you.”

Kait started. “How can you say that?”

She shrugged, smiling slightly. “It’s, like, obvious.”

Kait didn’t correct her and tell her that she was wrong. “He won’t talk to me.”

“He’s upset. When Dad’s upset, he can get pretty cold. And he’s
really
upset.” Sam’s hazel eyes held hers. “But he’ll come around. He always does.” She hesitated. “He never loved her the way he loves you.”

Kait jumped to her feet. She didn’t dare have any hope. Sam was only sixteen, and believing what she wanted to believe. At her age, she couldn’t fathom loving someone and being so betrayed that walking away forever was the only adult choice.

“Don’t be sad,” Sam whispered, reaching for her hand as she also stood up. “I know you’re innocent. Soon everyone will figure that out. Dad included. He’ll take you back, Kait. I know he will.”

Kait had to hug her, hard. How she had come to love this confused teenager. “Sam? I do need your help.”

“Anything,” Sam said cockily.

“I need a lawyer. A really good criminal lawyer.”

Sam nodded grimly. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you one. I’ll start making calls the minute I get home.”

The door at the end of the corridor opened. Kait stiffened, turning; Sam said, “D.C., right? There should be plenty of really good lawyers there.”

The deputy was strolling in with another woman. “Got visitors lined up to see you, Mrs. Coleman,” he said.

And the moment he spoke, they had come close enough for Kait to realize that it was Alicia. She gripped the bars. It seared her mind that whoever had shot at her and run her off the road and then set fire to the barn was still out there, and word had just gone out that Lana had been arrested. Alicia was smiling. Kait’s grip on the bars increased.

She told herself that she was safe because she was in jail.

The rationalization was not reassuring.

“Time’s up, Sam,” the deputy said, unlocking Kait’s cell door. Kait met Alicia’s eyes. Sam stepped out. “Don’t worry,” she said to Kait.

Kait couldn’t nod. Alicia stepped into the cell, the door closing behind them. Kait faced her warily as Sam and the deputy left. The door at the end of the corridor closed resoundingly. Alicia said, “Finally. You’re finally getting all that you deserve.”

She lifted her hand; Kait shrank back, for one heart-stopping moment thinking she held a gun.

Instead, the redhead’s palm struck Kait with a loud crack across the face.

Two days later.

It was only noon. Sarah Selman sighed with annoyance, having checked her watch for the hundredth time as she stood behind the Delta counter at Reagan National Airport. She was a newlywed; in fact, she had been married exactly three days. She could not wait to get home to her husband, and the mere thought “husband” made her break into a grin. Home was Three Falls, Virginia. She had grown up there, and Jason had instantly fallen in love with the small, quaint town, so that was where they had decided to live. Jason ran a small business on the Internet, so he could live anywhere.

They were going on their honeymoon in June. They had decided on Paris, the most romantic city in the world.

“Excuse me, I would like to check in. I do have a flight to catch,” a woman said.

Sarah realized that she had been daydreaming. She smiled at her customer, accepting her ticket and passport, and then she did a double take.

The beautiful brunette waiting for Sarah to check her in was immediately familiar—her photograph had been on the front page of the tiny local newspaper, the
Three Falls Sentinel,
two days in a row. Jason read the
Wall Street Journal,
the
Washington Post,
and the
New York Times
—Sarah read the
Sentinel
front to back every day.

“You’re staring,” the woman said, still smiling a bit curiously now.

“Oh!” Sarah started, feeling herself flush. “I love your haircut. Who did it?” she asked quickly, but even as she spoke, even as she looked at the woman’s ticket—her destination was Mexico City—all she could think of was that this woman looked exactly like Lana Coleman, a burglar who had finally been caught by the police after preying upon Skerrit County for six years. But the name on the ticket was Kait London. Clearly, Lana Coleman had escaped, and she was using an alias!

“I had it done in New York,” the brunette said patiently.

Sarah was sweating. “Would you like a window seat?” Oh, God, she was face-to-face with an actual thief—and an escaped felon!

“No, aisle, thank you.”

Sarah gave her an aisle seat, telling herself to breathe, and praying her hands would not shake. “Two bags?” she asked, glancing at her customer’s baggage.

“Yes, and one carry-on,” the woman smiled warmly.

She seemed like a nice lady—hardly like a conscienceless thief. Sarah looped the baggage claim tickets on the bags and hefted them onto the conveyor belt. She handed the woman her tickets with another smile. “Enjoy your flight. The gate is to your right,” she said.

“Thank you.” The woman smiled, picked up her carry-on, and left.

Sarah finally was able to breathe. Gulping down air, she ignored her next customer, slapping a closed sign on her countertop, and dashed into the back room, where she called the police.

Lana flipped through a fashion magazine, admiring first a Dolce & Gabbana dress that would be perfect for Puerto de Raya, her final destination that day. She was smiling, an image of herself and Colin on the beach, sipping celebratory frozen drinks coming to mind. God, no one looked better than Farrell in his tight little Speedo swimsuit. Other images came, of her and Colin in bed in their bungalow, tearing each other’s bathing suits off.

It had been so easy
.

Not that she wished a prison term upon her sister. Truly, Lana didn’t. But there was no way she was ever going to jail, just as there was no way she would give up the life she now lived. The tiny beach community where they would briefly linger was only their first stop in a series of small, desolate Caribbean communities. By the New Year, they would be in Rio de Janeiro, and if all went well, it would become their new home for years and years to come.

Kait was so naިve. And so desperate. Lana loved her, but she also felt sorry for her. Any woman who could fall in love with a man so quickly was hopeless. And as for the fall she would take, she would get a good five years, but then there would be parole. It wasn’t that bad, and as Kait had always had it so easy, Lana felt that the time she spent behind bars would be good for her. It would give her some character.

Lana had the oddest feeling that Trev Coleman would wait for her, too.

Annoyed now, she slapped her magazine closed. She told herself not to be annoyed, because they were perfect for one another, but she couldn’t help it—in a way, it was unfair. She didn’t love Trev and she never had, but Kait was always the favorite with everyone. Her mother had held Kait’s hands and told her how proud she was of her when she lay dying, but her words to thirteen-year-old Lana had been quite different. She hadn’t been proud of Lana, not at all. She hadn’t told her what a wonderful student she was, or how kind she was, or anything like that. She hadn’t even told her how beautiful she was. Instead, she had chastised her for her latest sport, motocross, and then she had begged her to stay home more, to help more, to be with Kait more. She hadn’t even told her that she loved her, but she had managed to tell that to Kait.

Kait had been their father’s favorite, too. After their mother had died, Lana had always felt like an outsider in her own home, a home that belonged to the two of them. It had always been Kait and Dad in the kitchen preparing supper, or working together in the yard. And all through high school, every single teacher had doted on Kait, the perfect student and class valedictorian.

Lana had had any boy she wanted, but secretly they had all been in love with Kait, and what they had done with Lana hadn’t had anything to do with love.

But who cared? Lana stood and stretched lazily, instantly aware of a dozen pairs of male eyes veering toward her, especially as her sheath dress rode high up on her thighs. She smiled then. She was insane to be even slightly jealous of her meek and mild sister. She was wearing a pale blue sleeveless dress that clung to her curves and was several inches above her perfect knees and she knew that every man at her gate wanted her.

She looked carefully at them all.

A muscular blond who was not even twenty-five caught her eye and gave her a suggestive look.

Lana smiled back, because the flight would be a long one and she was bored and she particularly enjoyed the mile-high club.

Besides, it would be another full day before she met up with Colin at Puerto de Raya.

And then instinct made Lana stiffen.

She quickly turned.

Two men were approaching on the other side of the gate. They were wearing business suits, but Lana knew they were cops.

She told herself to remain calm. They could not be after her. No one knew where she was, except for Colin, and even if he had been caught, he would never betray her, not in a million years—just as she would never betray him. She picked up her purse and carry-on, then glanced carefully up at them again. They were entering the gate.

Her gaze took in the entire area, and she saw two policemen in uniform several paces behind the undercover cops.
There was no way she could make a run for it.

Kait.

Lana blinked and thought about how willingly Kait had agreed to remain at Fox Hollow as her twin, about how easily she had accepted the ring. She thought about the newspaper headlines in Three Falls, baldly announcing Lana’s arrest. Comprehension flooded her, and with it came sheer disbelief.

Her sister had done this? Weak, naިve, hopelessly vulnerable Kait? She had been outwitted by Kait?

Then she began to laugh. This was a joke!

The two plainclothesmen stopped before her. “Lana Coleman?”

She smiled seductively at them. “I’m afraid you are mistaken,” she said. “My name is Kait London.”

“You’ll have to come with us,” the younger one said. His expression was ice cold and he gripped her arm firmly. Instantly Lana knew he was indifferent to her as a woman.

“Would you care to see my ID?” she asked sweetly.

“We know you’re carrying Kait London’s ID,” the older, portly detective said. He wore a wedding ring. “I’m afraid you will have to come with us.” He gave her a kind smile. Lana’s heartbeat quickened when he glanced down at her bare thighs.

“What have I done?” Lana asked as if surprised as she was escorted from the gate area. “This has to be a mistake! I’m not Lana—she’s my twin! I’m Kait London and I can prove it.”

The older detective met her gaze. “We really don’t know what this is about, but there is an APB out for Lana Coleman. Just relax. We’ll sort all of this out when we get to the precinct.”

Lana smiled gratefully at him.

There was no way that Kait was going to win.

Kait heard the door at the end of the hall opening. She leapt to her feet and ran to the edge of her cell, gripping the bars. Her heart felt as if it were wedged in her throat. Hope renewed itself, but the fear of never getting out of jail remained. The past two days had been the longest of her life. And being accused by Alicia of stealing her husband hadn’t helped.

But that was all that she had done, other than to strike Kait once across the face. And she had been as stunned as Kait by the blow. She had then choked out how much she hated her and, sobbing, she had left.

The only bright side to the two days she had spent in jail was that Alicia had not returned and that Sam had found her a top criminal lawyer. They’d spoken twice on the phone and were meeting first thing tomorrow there at the county jail. Kait could hardly believe that she needed a lawyer to defend her against the charges that should be leveled against Lana. She could hardly believe that this was really happening after all...

Kait pressed her face to the bars.
If only Lana had been arrested,
she thought wildly. And then she realized that it was Rafe Coleman sauntering down the corridor toward her. Kait tensed, rigid with sudden, real hope. And even before he paused at her cell, their gazes locked.

Kait wet her lips. “What’s happened?”

His expression was mild. And then he smiled. “Your sister was caught at Reagan National just before boarding a flight to Mexico. I don’t know the details yet. Your plan worked.”

Kait almost collapsed. Instead, she backed up and sat down on her cot, breathing hard.
She had done it.
Lana had intended to set her up to take a very hard fall for her criminal ways, but she, Kait, had figured it out and she had actually outwitted her sister.

There was no glee. There was relief, and there was regret. “Farrell?” Kait asked harshly.

“She was traveling alone. Unless she talks, I think he’s already out of the country. I don’t think we’re going to grab him.”

Kait simply looked at him, unable to move or speak or even think clearly. She was in the throes of exhaustion now.

He unlocked her cell door. “You okay... Kait?”

She met his oddly neutral expression now. “No. No, I’m not.”

He hesitated, standing in her cell doorway. “You did the right thing.”

Kait spoke, but her mouth barely moved. “I know. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s my twin. She’s twisted and ill, but she’s my sister. Nothing will ever change that.”

“She brought you down here to take the fall for her,” he remarked flatly. “It was her or you. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

She finally met his eyes. “Does this mean that you don’t hate me?”

He started. “I don’t know how I feel about you. You lied to my brother, Sam, and Marni, but without your help, we wouldn’t have brought Lana down. I’ve done a bit of checking. You’re as well liked in New York as Lana was disliked down here.”

Kait got to her feet, weary in every fiber of her being. “What I did was wrong. And the more I fell for Marni, Sam, and Trev, the harder it was to justify what I was doing and to continue the lie. She told me Marni’s life was in danger. That was a crock, wasn’t it?”

“She played you,” he said softly. “But she’s good at playing her cons, now, isn’t she? That’s what she does. She knows how to find a man’s—or woman’s—weakness, and then she goes for the jugular, all with an easy smile on her face.”

Kait stepped out of the cell. “Why do you hate her so much? Did she try to seduce you?”

He laughed briefly, without any mirth. “She was too smart to ever try to put me in her sights. I hated her from the day Trev brought her home, because I could read her like a book. I know a con when I see one, Kait. But she’d gotten Trev good and he refused to even speak about her with me.” He was grim. “We didn’t speak for six months after the wedding, actually. It was pretty bad.”

“I’m sorry,” Kait said, meaning it. “I know how much you love him and your nieces.”

He didn’t respond. But he stared at her oddly.

Kait knew what he was thinking. “I am different. I’m not her. We only look alike.”

“Actually, you don’t look alike, not at all. Your eyes are different from hers. Gentle. There’s a smile there, even now. I never saw a smile in Lana’s eyes, not once in six years.”

They walked down the corridor slowly. Each step felt like a vast effort for Kait now. “You were so convincing that I was afraid
you
had set
me
up, Rafe,” she said, searching his face.

“I believed you—but not completely. I had some doubt. I mean, after all, why should I trust you? You could have been the one robbing us all of these years. She could have been the honest one. I figured we’d bring her in and then sort it out. But Sam claims you are who you say you are—and most importantly, Trev seems able to tell the difference between the two of you with his eyes closed.”

Kait flushed. She hoped Rafe didn’t mean what he had said literally, but he was precisely right. “I’ve been really scared,” Kait said. “I was scared you’d never find her and I’d go to jail in her place.”

“Trev wouldn’t let that happen,” Rafe said. “And I was pretty sure you were who you said you were—I had to overdo the theatrics so no one would ever think we had concocted up such a crazy scheme in order to apprehend Lana.”

Kait halted and gripped his arm. “Really? Trev wouldn’t let me go to jail? How can you say that? Did he say something?”

He smiled in that slight, understated way she was becoming familiar with. “Why don’t you go home and find out?”