Think Twice

Chapter Eighty-seven

“Ouch!” Alice pretended to stumble on the sidewalk, hanging on to the heavy messenger bag while she reached down toward her soggy foot. “I slipped, my ankle hurts! I think I twisted my ankle.”

“Oh no!”

“Ouch, help!” Alice fumbled the umbrella, which dipped suddenly. Cold rain drenched them. “Take the umbrella, quick! I need to sit down.”

“Got it!” Judy grabbed the umbrella and covered them. A stiff wind whipped off the river, blowing rain everywhere. “Let’s go back to the restaurant. We can get help there.”

“No, I can’t walk that far.” Alice looped an arm around Judy’s shoulder and gestured toward the loading dock. “Go, there, please, ow! I can’t walk another minute. It’s killing me. Help me get over there and sit down.”

“Where?”

“Over there, on that ledge, at that loading dock.” Alice pointed. “Then you can go back to the restaurant and get help. Carrier, hurry, I need to get weight off this thing!”

“There, you sure? It’s so dark back there.”

“So what? I’m in pain. Ow!” Alice cried out, then slid her hand in her pocket for the gun. “Carrier, hurry. It’s killing me!”

“Okay, hang on.” Judy hustled them across the slick asphalt lot, juggling the umbrella while Alice weighed down her other arm. They staggered to the loading dock, but suddenly a security light went on, probably a motion detector, drenching them in a pool of brightness.

“Oh, ouch!” Alice howled in fake pain. She hadn’t pla

Judy paused. “What? You called me Judy. You never call me Judy.”

“So what? Help me!”

“You’re not Be

Suddenly there came a shout from the street, and they both turned to see a tall silhouette ru

It was Be

Alice seized Judy, yanked her backwards off her feet, and drilled the muzzle of the gun into her forehead. “Stay still and shut up!”

“Help!” Judy cried out, but Alice pressed the trigger, making a fateful click.

“I said, shut up!”

“Please, no!” Judy went rigid just as Be

“Let her go!” Be

“You have a gun, counselor? You go

Judy whimpered, the gun at her temple, her terrified eyes shifting from one look-alike to the other.

“Let her go!” Be

“Drop the gun or I’ll shoot her.”

“No!” Be

Chapter Eighty-eight

“Please, faster!” Mary said to the driver as they sped down Columbus Boulevard. She sat on the edge of the passenger’s seat, with Grady and her parents in the back. Rain pelted the windshield, but Mary finally spotted the red awning of Roux. “There it is! Pull up. Hurry!”

“Okay.” The driver slowed behind another cab, and all of a sudden its back door opened. Fiorella scooted out and scurried toward an empty lot next to Roux.

“Fiorella!” Mary pointed. “Where the hell is she going?”

“That’s her!” her father cried, as Mary flung open her door, blinking against the rain.

“Stop! Let me out! Let me out!”

“Hold on!” The cab lurched to a halt, and Mary jumped out and ran after Fiorella. The cold rain hit her like an ice shower and she could barely see where she was going. There were lights down to the right, toward a loading dock, and Fiorella hustled toward it like a much younger woman, her stilettos stutter-stepping across the shiny asphalt.

“Fiorella!” Mary yelled, into the storm. Rain drenched her face and clothes. Grady and her parents were shouting, behind her.

Mary plunged into a dark aisle between two tractor trailers, ru

Mary froze when the figures came into focus. Be

Mary looked again, in confusion. Suddenly she didn’t know which woman was Be

Then she realized one of the women had to be Be

Because Be

So Be

Judy had been right, all along. And now she was about to die for it.

Chapter Eighty-nine

Be

“Let her go!” Be

“Stop!” Alice moved farther backwards, out of the security light and into the shadows beyond. “One more step and she’s dead!”

“If you hurt her, you’re dead!” Be

Suddenly, the security light went off, plunging them all in total darkness. She could see Alice and Judy only in silhouette, against the fog of the sky and the brightness of the opposite shore.

“Stop or I’ll kill her!” Alice shouted, but the time for talk was over.

Be

In the next instant, there was a scuffle on the dock.

A gun went off, and Judy screamed.

And all hell broke loose.

Chapter Ninety

Alice was dragging Judy off when all of a sudden, the girl kicked her in the shin with her clog.

The gun fired, and the bullet found its target.

Judy screamed, and hot blood spattered everywhere.

Alice shoved her off the dock, sending her over the side, her arms pinwheeling. The girl screamed all the way into the darkness until she hit the water with a splash.

Alice tore down the dock in the rain, the messenger bag thumping at her side. She heard shouting behind her. She heard another splash. She knew what it was. Be

She ran harder. She spotted another pier to the right. She could run that way and double back to the Boulevard. But the cops would be searching there in no time. Her heart was pounding, her chest hurt.

She was almost at the end of the pier, which pointed at the dark water like a finger.

She ran to the very end, took a deep breath, and jumped into thin air.