Let Me Go (28 page)

“Ugh! I hate that you’re right. This just
feels so wrong. It’s like I’m betraying her, and I don’t know if
she deserves it.”

“Did she lie?”

“Yes?”

“Did she hurt Mason?”

“You know she did.”

“Do you love him?”

“With all my heart.”

“Then she deserves it. And besides, it’s not
betrayal if what you are doing is right.”

“I knew I loved you for a reason,” Kat said
as she hugged Trent.

“Because of my awesome style?” he joked.

“Because you are an amazing friend.”

Kat got a small tape recorder and even
figured out how to record on her phone. She figured two recording
devices where better than one. And she set out to get her sister to
confess. Now, four days later, she was on the verge of a breakdown.
Katherine was like a freaking ninja. No matter how hard Kat tried,
she couldn’t find her or corner her. It was like she had
disappeared into thin air. She had stalked her apartment; she had
stalked the places she was told Katherine frequented. Trent even
started his detective work again, but it was with no luck.

Kat was crying to Trent about what a failure
she was and didn’t know what she was going to do. She worried that
it might take them another month or so until they found her
again.

“So, then it will be another month,” Trent
responded.

“How could you say that? I’ve waited so long
already.”

“Good things come to those who wait.” Trent
laughed, trying to make the situation better.

“I miss him.”

“Then maybe you should forget this. He loves
you and you love him and all this crap is in the past. Maybe it’s
worth it to just let it all go.”

“No!” she cried.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t think I can handle being
with him knowing he thinks I ruined his life. How long until the
happy honeymoon stage wears off and he starts to resent me? What
then?”

“That’s not going to happen.” Trent spoke
adamantly.

“You can’t know that. And besides, he
deserves to go free. He deserves to have his life back, to have his
name cleared. Maybe he could go back to being a doctor. Maybe he
could have his prestigious life back.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want that anymore,” Trent
countered.

“Maybe, but that should be his choice, not
because he was forced to stop. Even if that means we might not be
together.”

“Now why would that stop you from being
together?”

“Because I don’t fit into that life.”

“First off, you fit in anywhere, and I mean
anywhere. And second, then he’ll choose you and it’s settled.”

Kat was just about to counter Trent when her
phone rang. She looked down and saw Benny.

She showed the screen to Trent and he
nodded. He knew exactly who Benny was and he knew Kat needed to
talk to him just to check in and see how things were going every
now and then.

“Hey Benny,” she answered.

“How could you?”

“How could I what?” Kat asked, completely
confused.

“He loves you, Kat. How could you betray him
like that?”

“Benny, what the heck are you talking
about?”

“Don’t play coy with me, Kitty Kat. I know
exactly what you did yesterday. He was such a mess. He wasn’t
answering any of my calls, so I went over there today and he was a
mess. He was stuck to the floor, crying silent tears because there
were no wet ones left. Apparently, he’s been like that since
yesterday when you left.”

“Benny, I don’t understand what you’re
saying. Yesterday? When I left? From where?”

“Oh, now you suddenly don’t remember? You
were here yesterday, talking to Mason.”

“What?”

“You have memory issues again?”

“When was I there? What did I say? Please
Benny, this is important. Tell me what happened.”

“It was hard to put it all together from
Mason’s ramblings. Basically, you came by yesterday and you were
all strung out demanding money.”

“That fucking bitch!” Kat screamed. “Benny,
shit, I have to go. I’m going to fucking kill her!” she said more
to herself than anyone.

“Kat?” Benny asked.

“I’m going to make this right, Benny. But I
got to go to do that. I’ll talk to you soon.” And she hung up. She
told Trent what happened and then rushed out to find Katherine. Oh,
she was going to pay. She didn’t want to clear Mason’s name, fine,
that was one thing. But she had no fucking right to mess with her
life. Suddenly, all of Kat’s reservations about betraying her
sister were gone.
She was going down!
And if Kat had to be
the one to take her down, so be it.

Twenty minutes later, when she knocked on
Katherine’s door and the young boy answered again, she didn’t
bother waiting or even saying anything to him. She pushed past him
and went to Katherine’s door.

She pounded on it, but there was no
answer.

“I know you’ve been avoiding me and I know
you’re here, you lousy excuse for a human being. I also know what
you did yesterday, you bitch. Open the damn door or I’m breaking it
down, you coward,” Kat screamed while still pounding on the door,
her knuckles hurting from the pressure.

But still Katherine didn’t open the
door.

“Fine, sister dearest, you give me no
choice,” she sneered at the closed door.

And then she brought her foot up and kicked
and kicked until the door gave in. And when it finally swung open,
Kat inhaled sharply.

There, lying on the bed, was her sister, her
eyes open, but unseeing. Kat walked slowly toward the bed, wary of
what she might find, but in her heart, she knew. There was suddenly
a chill in the air as it seemed to take hours for her to reach
Katherine.

“Katherine,” Kat called out softly. There
was no response.

She reached for her hand, but it was cold
and Kat drew back sharply. She saw a needle by her on the bed and
her worst fears were manifesting. She reached out to check for a
pulse, but she knew she wouldn’t find one.

She screamed and collapsed. She hadn’t
actually wanted for Katherine to die. It hit her, Katherine was
dead. And she sat on the floor by her bed, dazed. And when the
young boy came to the door, she screamed again. “No, don’t come in
here. You don’t want to see this. Just call the police. Tell them
Katherine Gingham is dead of an apparent overdose.” She said the
last sentence in defeat.

The boy just nodded and left. And then the
tears came along with the knowledge that everything was lost.
Katherine, her only family, was gone even before she really got to
know her. Yes, she was a horrible person, but that was because of
her life and drugs. Maybe one day she could have cleaned up, and
they could have had a relationship. But not anymore. And now her
connection to free Mason was gone too.
Oh God, what was she
going to do? Could she just live with this knowledge and be happy
with him?
She couldn’t think about this right now. She didn’t
want to think about it right now. She had a sister to bury, whether
she wanted to or not. That was her duty, her responsibility.

After what seemed like an eternity, the
police came. She answered their questions, and they took the body
away.

She called Trent to come get her. And all
the way home, she cried. She cried at so many injustices. She cried
for her sister, for herself, for Mason, and even for the life she
wasn’t sure she could get back now that her sister was gone.

When Trent got her settled in bed and she
told him everything, he stayed by her side, telling her everything
was going to be okay. They would figure things out. He was there
for her and everything would be just fine.

*****

Benny had gotten off the phone with Kat and
was thoroughly and completely confused.

“Mason, Mason,” he yelled and even smacked
him a bit. “Get it together. I need you to calm down and tell me
exactly what happened yesterday, word for word.”

Mason looked at him with unsteady eyes, but
nodded, took a breath and repeated the situation.

“You don’t understand. It was like she was a
completely different person. She didn’t even fully look like
herself, but I guess drugs will do that to you.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“A few days ago, you know that.”

“And you think drugs could fuck her up so
quickly?” Benny asked incredulously.

“It’s highly unlikely, but not impossible.
And given her history, anything is possible.”

“Things don’t make sense,” Benny mused.

“I know. One day, she’s telling me she loves
me and to wait for her, and then she is fucking breaking my
heart.”

“No, that’s not it. And I just spoke to Kat
a little while ago.”

“You did?” Mason interrupted. “What did she
say? How did she sound? Is she okay? Is she ready to get help?”

“See, that’s the thing. She had no clue what
I was talking about when I confronted her about yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah, great, another fucking memory
lapse,” Mason snorted.

“No, it didn’t sound like that. And then,
what she said at the end didn’t make sense.”

“What did she say?”

“She said, ‘That fucking bitch.’”

“Huh?”

“You see? She was either referring to
herself in third person, has a split personality disorder, or she
was talking about someone else.”

“What are you getting at?” Mason asked.

“I’m not sure, but things aren’t adding
up.”

“They haven’t been adding up for a while. I
mean, if you listen to her talk about her life, she was never a
drug addict, and she had never met me. She went to college and had
a good education. I mean, when the hell did she have time to even
accuse me of rape?”

“She had been in that minor car accident a
few years back. She told me about it a while ago, remember? We
chalked it up to why she couldn’t remember anything. Bump on the
head causing amnesia or some shit. Now, I’m not so sure. I looked
into her stuff after she left just to be sure, and Mason, she did
go to school and she did get an education. Kaitlyn “Kat” Gingham
got a degree in Social Work. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t
want to say anything about her until whatever she was working
through was settled. But things haven’t been sitting right with me
this entire time.”

“What are you saying, Benny? That she didn’t
lie about her past?”

“No she didn’t, and we both know you
believed she hadn’t lied either. You just refused to see how it all
fit together.”

“So what are you saying now?”

“What if Kat’s been right all along? What if
she had nothing to do with your rape accusation?”

“I know, I know. I’ve been thinking about
things and they don’t seem to fit, but I pushed my thoughts
aside.”

“Why?”

“Because Kat is the one who accused me. I
saw her! And her name even matches!”

“But, I’m telling you, things don’t
fit.”

“I know. But then what? She was part of a
cloning experiment when she was a baby? She’s got some doppelganger
out there that we don’t know about? Wait, holy shit! Benny…you said
she got a degree, but what did you say her name was?”

“Kat.”

“No, tell me her full name.”

“Kaitlyn Gingham.”

“No, her name is Katherine.”

“That’s what I thought Kat stood for too,
but it’s not, it’s Kaitlyn.”

“No, no, no.” Mason shook his head. “Her
name is Katherine. Damn! Shit. Benny, when you talked to Kat, what
did she say? Tell me again what she said?”

“She talked about another person. She called
her a bitch and said she was going to kill her,” Benny said as
things started to dawn on him too.

“No! Can’t be! Wouldn’t she know? How could
she not know?”

“She told us once she was abandoned as a kid
and went from foster home to foster home.”

“So she didn’t know her family,” Mason
confirmed as he nodded his head.

Benny’s phone broke through their thoughts.
“Kat,” he said silently as he looked at the caller ID.

“Pick up!” Mason yelled.

“Uh, hey Kat,” Benny answered, still unsure
how to speak to her after his earlier outburst.

“Hi, Benny, right? This isn’t Kat. My name
is Trent and I’m a friend of Kat’s,” Trent said.

“Who the hell are you and where the fuck is
Kat? If you’ve done something to her, I’m going to hunt you down
and kill you.”

“Whoa. Calm down there, Benny. I’m honestly
a friend of Kat’s. I’m her neighbor and I was helping her with some
stuff, so we got close. And before you try to beat me through the
phone, I’m gay. You can tell Mason that so he doesn’t threaten to
kick my ass too. But that’s not why I’m calling. Kat finally fell
asleep, so I could steal her phone. She’s hurting real bad right
now and she could use some friends. I’m calling you because I know
you are her friend and I know she’d want the extra comfort.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“She’s burying her sister in two days. Don’t
tell her I told you if you talk to her between now and then, but
I’m letting you know so you can be there.”

“Her sister?” Benny asked, still
shocked.

“Yeah, her sister.”

“A twin?”

“Yep.”

“Her name’s Kat, isn’t it?”

“You got it.”

“Holy fucking shit!” Benny cursed
loudly.

“My thoughts exactly. Now, I should go
before she wakes up and realizes I’m giving you the heads up.” And
then he gave Benny the address and all the details.

“Obviously it’s up to you, but she’s having
a rough time of it. So I thought you should know if you wanted to
be there.”

“We’ll be there,” Benny stated.

“Good, just don’t let her know.”

“I won’t. And Trent, thanks.”

“Welcome,” he said before hanging up.

Benny simply stared at Mason after the call.
He didn’t have to say anything before Mason nodded.

“You heard all that?” Benny asked.