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Be
She walked through the door to another gray corridor, this one with a set of doors on the left, each leading to a gray cubicle. Inmates entered the cubicles from doors off a secured hallway on the other side, and all the doors locked automatically when they closed. Each cubicle, about four feet by six, contained two chairs facing each other and a beige wall phone for calling the guard. Only a Formica counter divided felon from lawyer. Though it had never bothered Be
“Are you Alice Co
“Yes,” the inmate answered with a cocky smile. “Surprised?”
Be
Co
2
Be
“No, not at all,” Co
Be
“You’re just surprised. I know, I was, too. But it’s true.”
“It can’t be.” Be
“I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, you wouldn’t have come. You’d have thought I was nuts.”
“You are.”
“You didn’t know about me, huh? I didn’t know about you either, until the other day.” Co
“This is crazy. I don’t have a twin.” Be
“Yes, you do. Give it time. It’ll sink in. Look, we’re built the same. I’m six feet tall, and I can see you are, too. I weigh a hundred and forty-five pounds. You’re heavier, but not by that much, right?”
“I’m heavier. Leave it alone.”
“You’re kind of muscular. Do you work out?”
“I row.”
“Row boats?” Co
“No, thanks,” Be
“Look, it’s weird for me, too, seeing you. Trippy. Somebody who looks like me, without makeup. You’re another me.”
“I’m not another you,” Be
“This isn’t that. Look at my face. Don’t you believe your own eyes?”
“Not necessarily. I’m a trial lawyer, the last thing I believe in is appearances. Besides, I know who I am.”
“You only know half the story. I’m the other half. Listen. I even sound like you. My voice.” Co
“You could be doing that on purpose.”
“You mean, fake it? Why would I do that?”
“To get me to take your case.”
“You think I’m lying to you?” Pain creased Co
“What else can I think?” Be
Co
“My birthday? You could find that out anywhere. It’s listed in my alumni directory, Martindale-Hubbell, Who’s Who of American Lawyers, a hundred places.”
“We were born in Pe
“Most of Philadelphia was born at Pe
Co
Be
“Not the time of your birth, what you weighed. That’s not public.”
“It’s the information age, everything’s public. Or maybe it was a lucky guess. Christ, you can look at me and guess I weighed ten pounds at birth. I’m an Amazon.”
“Okay, how about this?” Co
Be
“It’s the truth. Our father took off before we were born. Carmella gave up her second-born twin. Me.” Bitterness puckered Co
“I asked you, how do you know my father’s name?”
“Bill and I are friends. Good friends.”
“Bill? You’re good friends with my father?”
“Yes. He’s a very nice man. A caretaker. You didn’t know that, did you? Bill told me he never met you and that Carmella was too sick to visit. What’s the matter with her, with our mother? Bill won’t talk about it, like it’s a secret.”
Our mother? Be
“Hear me out,” Co