My Twin Stole My Fiancée and Life novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Front Door

Cars lined both sides of Alder Street at a quarter to six.

Every window of number fourteen glowed yellow, and behind the glass I could see the long tables, the casseroles and eighty people holding paper plates.

I stood at the foot of the walk with Lark on my left in her uniform.

My father stood on my right.

My mother stood behind him in her church coat, with the notary journal in her hands.

The executor came last, carrying a leather briefcase. Beside him Monique pushed a wheelchair, and the midwife sat in it wrapped in her quilted robe with a scarf over her hair.

"Don't dawdle," the old woman told me. "I've waited thirty years. I'd like to see the end before I die of cold."

"Yes, ma'am."

I climbed the steps.

I took the key out of my pocket. It was the same brass key I'd had since high school.

Through the front window I saw my sister.

She stood in the hall in a dark green dress with her phone already at her ear.

She saw me on the porch. She smiled.

"Yes," I heard her say, clearly, through the glass. "An intruder. He's at my front door right now, and I'm terrified."

On Lark's shoulder the radio crackled.

"Marlow Falls units, caller reports an intruder at fourteen Alder."

Lark pressed the button.

"Carmody, on scene. I have the call. Cancel the second unit."

"Copy, Carmody."

Through the glass, Natasha's face changed.

I turned the key.

The lock went over smoothly, with no force, just as it had on Tuesday.

I pushed the door open and stepped into my own front hall.

Eighty heads turned.

My sister stood three feet away with her phone still raised, and the dispatcher's voice came out of its speaker, tinny and calm.

"Ma'am, the officer is already there. Ma'am? Are you still on the line?"

Natasha lowered the phone.

The silence in that house was complete.

"Good evening," I said. "I used my key."

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