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“Aunt Allison? Where’s Aunt Sophie?”

“What? She’s right where Geoffrey left her.”

“And where’s that?”

“I can’t say. Why are you asking me so many questions?”

For the next few minutes, Beth tried to get her aunt to say where Sophie was but Allison was adamant. She was keeping her secret. She was becoming more and more paranoid and suddenly her temper flared.

Allison stood up abruptly and said, “You can’t treat me like this! Nobody can! I have a contract!”

She ran to her bedroom, slammed the door behind her, and locked it.

Woody and Beth could hear her screaming from behind the door, screaming and screaming and screaming. She was throwing things, crashing them against the walls, and she was banging her fists.

“I’m calling 911,” Beth said.

“You do that and I’ll have a look around.”

As impossible as it was for her to comprehend, Beth was making a 911 call, the first and hopefully only one she would ever make in her life. She knew she had to tell the operator that she was calling to report a missing person, perhaps a homicide, and to ask for help for her aunt who had lost her mind. Was that what she should say? Well, that was the truth, wasn’t it?

“Yes, she’s in her bedroom, screaming and screaming. No, I can’t understand what she’s saying. No, I don’t know if she has a gun. No, I’m not sure if she’s dangerous, but I do know something terrible has happened to my other aunt. Why? Because I just know it.”

If I tell them about all the butterflies in the mirror at home, they’re going to cart me off to a loony bin, she thought.

“Yes, she’s Sophie Hamilton. And it’s my aunt Allison Hamilton who’s locked herself in her room and is…well, she’s deranged. We need help right away. Thanks.”

She gave them the address again, hung up the phone, and Woody, who had remained within earshot, took her hands in his.

“Now look, it’s going to be okay,” he said.

Beth, whose waterworks had discovered a bottomless well, burst into tears yet again.

“No, it’s not going to be okay, Woody. It can’t be okay. My mother is going to die when she hears all this. Oh God! I wish my mother were here.”

“You know what? So do I. But let’s just see what the police say and then we will decide what to do.”

It didn’t take more than a few minutes for the police to arrive and Woody answered the door. Woody and Beth explained who they were and why they were there. The officer in charge was Sergeant Michael Coker, a no-nonsense fellow with a crew cut and a square jaw. He was so muscular and solemn that he could have been an ex-Marine. He sent two of his men to search the house. Another officer, who was trained to deal with psychological trauma, was dispatched to convince Allison to open her door.

There was an ambulance standing by and squad cars continued to arrive. Beth and Woody sat at the dining room table with Sergeant Coker and answered his questions.

“I’m sorry to put you through this. You’re both very tired; I can see that. But I need to know why you think there might be foul play.”

When Beth explained what her aunts did for a living, Sergeant Coker’s eyes lit up.

“My wife uses those DVDs of theirs all the time. That music drives me nuts.”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan either. And now they have this new vitamin business…”

“So you think that maybe your Aunt Sophie might have gotten really sick from them?”

“Yeah, maybe, because she was complaining about chest pain a couple of weeks ago. But until we find her, I don’t know.”

“Has your aunt ever taken off like this before?”

“Never. But Aunt Allison said that her boyfriend Geoffrey has disappeared, apparently with a lot of her money.”

“Enough to make her get this hysterical? Do you know his last name?”

“No, sorry. I never met him. But I’m sure we can find out. He was her partner.”

“Okay, that’s good.”

“She’s not just hysterical, Sergeant,” Woody said. “She’s showing some real signs of psychosis.”

“Are you a
doctor,
son?”

“No, I’m an investment banker.”

“Oh, an investment banker. I see,” Sergeant Coker said, and shook his head. “Well, when they get her out of her room, we’ll take her in for a psych evaluation.”

“She was hallucinating,” Beth said.

“How do you know that? Are
you
a doctor?”

Sergeant Coker had little patience for two young kids, no matter how distressed they were, making a professional medical diagnosis when they didn’t look like they were old enough to know beans about beans. High anxiety made perfectly rational people jump to conclusions. He had seen it a thousand times.

“No, I’m a journalist. But I know hallucinations when I see them. I saw enough kids tripping out on shrooms in college, talking to their imaginary bunnies or whatever. She was staring off into space and having a conversation with someone who wasn’t there. And she told me Hillary Clinton was in the yard this morning.”

“Hillary Clinton, huh? That’s a good one.”

“Hey, Sarge? Can I see you for a minute?”

Sergeant Coker got up and went out to the garage.

“Think they found something?” Beth said. “Should we go see?”

“I’ll go,” Woody said. “You just stay put.”

Two minutes later the sergeant and Woody reappeared. Woody looked stunned and Sergeant Coker’s face told it all. Beth’s heart sank and she prepared herself for the worst.

Woody took her hand and Sergeant Coker said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Hayes. I think we’ve found your Aunt Sophie, and if it’s her, she’s gone.”

“What? Where is she? Can I see her? Are you sure it’s her?”

“You don’t want to see her, Beth,” Woody said.

“Yes I do!” She started to hyperventilate. “That’s my aunt who I love so much! You don’t know!”

“No. Not right now. Do you want some water?”

“No! I want to see my aunt! I want…Oh God! Please make all this stop!”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get some air and a glass of water!”

“Sergeant Coker? I can tell you without question it’s her because Allison is her identical twin.”

“Okay, Mr. Morrison, you stay with Ms. Hayes. I gotta make some calls.”

When he walked away Woody followed Beth to the kitchen, where she was looking for a glass. Beth said, “Okay, Woody? What happened? What happened to her?”

“I don’t know. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay. So, where was she?”

Woody was visibly shaken.

“Maybe I could use a glass of water too.”

Beth poured him a glass and handed it to him. He drank it down to the bottom and refilled it himself. Then he took a deep breath and blurted it out.

“In the damn freezer. Someone stuck her in the damn freezer.”

“The freezer? Oh my God! How horrible! Oh my God! Geoffrey! That lousy son of a bitch. He’s worse than Max.”

“But why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. It’s the most inhumane thing…My poor aunt!”

“Yeah, it’s so wrong. I’m sure it’s against a thousand laws. But no matter how or why she died, why didn’t they just call for help?”

“Maybe because Geoffrey wouldn’t let Allison blow the vitamin business and Sophie was dead anyway?”

“Maybe. But what if the vitamins
didn’t
kill her? What if she just had a freak heart attack or something?”

“Like a stroke? Possible. I mean, they were pretty old to be doing all the aerobics and stuff they did. I guess they’ll do an autopsy?”

“Probably.”

“Oh my God, this is the worst day of my life!”

“It’s up there for me too and I didn’t even know her.”

“Oh, Woody!”

She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard. Instead of crying they sighed and sighed, almost too exhausted mentally and physically to feel anything anymore.

The coroner was called and her aunts’ house became a crime scene, with forensics experts arriving, taking pictures, searching the carpet for hair, and dusting for prints. And when her Aunt Sophie’s body was removed to take to the morgue, Woody held Beth’s face to his chest so she didn’t have to see it happen.

Allison had been screaming for almost an hour. Then there would be silence. Then the screaming would begin again. Finally, she started screaming there were bugs all over her and the police became concerned. In the end, they had to break down Allison’s door, and when they did she was arrested. She put up such a fight, kicking at the officers and threatening them, that they had no alternative but to wrestle her to the ground, handcuff her, and take her away. Beth and Woody couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched Allison’s humiliation.

“But she’s ill,” Beth said. “They shouldn’t treat her like that.”

“She’s a threat, Beth. What can they do?” Woody just shook his head.

Of course, someone had called the local television stations and the newspapers. Allison Hamilton’s departure was fully documented by the media.

“This is too much,” Beth said. “Too much. My Aunt Maggie is going be furious to see our name all over the papers. I mean, why is the public so hungry for this kind of news? It’s no one’s business.”

Her face was so incredulous that Woody knew in that moment Beth was unable to figure out what their next steps should be. His heart was filled with enormous sympathy for her. The events of the last few days were too much for almost anyone.

“Beth, this is a terrible tragedy. Terrible. And you’re right. It’s no one else’s business. But because your aunts were pretty well known, it’s gonna be all over the news in an hour. We’d better call your family before they see it on CNN. The entire news media is going to have a field day with this.”

“You’re right. Oh my God. Who should I call first?”

“Who are you the closest with?”

“My mom, but she’s in France. Uncle Timmy? He can probably get here the fastest and he’s a shrink. He’ll know how to handle this.”

“If he knows how to handle this, then he’s got to be a card-carrying genius,” Woody said. “If you want, I’ll start tracking down Henry.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Oh dear God, Woody. I can’t believe this is happening. I’m so tired I can hardly think straight. Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“So am I, but don’t worry, I promised I’d get you through this and I will.”

“Dear heavenly Mother, Woody. How will I ever repay you?”

For the first time all week, they had a laugh.

“I don’t think you can.”

“For real. Oh Lord! Who’s gonna tell Aunt Maggie?”

Woody looked at her not knowing at all how to answer her, assuming it would be the most difficult call to make.

“Okay, I’ll do it. And you know what? We have to call Cecily.”

Beth walked away from him and dialed her number first.

“Cecily? Hey, it’s me.”

“Finally!”

“I know. Sorry. It’s been very hectic since we got here but it’s a good thing we came.”

“I am so glad to finally hear your voice! You’ve had me sick with worry! Is everything okay?”

“No. Everything is not okay. My Aunt Sophie’s dead.”

“What are you telling me?”

“Yep, and my Aunt Allison has truly gone off the deep end—”

“Sweet Jesus, my King!
Please
don’t tell me this!”

Slowly, slowly, Beth brought her up to date and Cecily, who had burst into tears, causing Beth to cry again, finally said, “Is there going to be a funeral here or there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to be. But as soon as I do, I’ll call you.”

“Well, if it’s here, I’d better start getting organized…Oh, Beth, I am just so sorry.”

Beth walked into the kitchen, where Woody was on the phone with Henry.

“Yes sir. I will. Okay then. We’ll let you know.”

“Did he freak?”

“Of course he freaked, but he calmed down. He’s flying back to Atlanta right away. He wants to know the plans.”

“We haven’t got any plans. I’m calling Aunt Maggie.” Beth took a deep breath and dialed her Aunt Maggie’s cell. She answered right away. “Aunt Maggie? This is Beth.”

“Is everything all right?”

“No ma’am. I have something terrible to tell you. It’s Aunt Sophie, Aunt Maggie. She’s dead.”

“Beth? Child? What in the
world
are you talking about?
Please!
Tell me this
isn’t
true! It
can’t
be! She’s so
young
! Where are you? Oh, dear Mother! Please no! How could this
be
?”

Maggie began sobbing so loudly that Beth stopped talking and then she began to cry again herself. But this time Beth wept quietly and listened to the sounds of her aunt’s heart being torn apart.

“Darlin’? I’m so sorry that you had to make this call. You poor child. How did you find this out?”

“I’m in Coral Gables…”

Beth told Maggie all she knew, leaving out the entire swindle story about Max, and Maggie said, “Well, I don’t give a tinker’s dam what, we’re bringing my little sisters home to Charleston. Poor Allison! That’s her identical twin! Oh my God in heaven! How could this happen to us? Hasn’t this family been through enough?”

“Yes ma’am, we have. I haven’t called Momma because I thought maybe you might want to do that?”

“I’ll call her right away! What time is it in Paris?”

“Um, I don’t know. Uh, nine hours ahead of you?”

“So, it’s cocktail time? Well, I hope she’s got her cell phone with her and that it’s turned on. You know she leaves it off half the time, so I had to learn how to text and email and every kind of thing just to stay in touch with her.”

“Yes ma’am.” Beth thought her aunt wasn’t making good sense then, but she decided she was probably in shock. It was, after all, the largest bomb dropped on the family since Beth’s father’s scandal and death. “I thought maybe I should call Uncle Timmy to see if he could come down here? Because he’s the closest? And because of Aunt Allison’s, um, condition? I don’t know where Aunt Sophie’s papers are or anything like that…”

“Oh! Beth! You can call Timmy if you want but I can get on a plane in the next hour and be there tonight. You know, honey, you’ve never been through anything like this and it might be helpful if you had someone with more experience to, you know…”