Chapter 13
The case against Alex Addison was closed very quickly.
No identification was made of the man who had shot him or the getaway driver.
There was nothing distinctive about them on the hotel security videos.
They’d gotten a license plate, but it proved to be a stolen vehicle.
So the murder case was dead. Alex died intestate, without heirs or a will, so all his possessions would be sold and added to the eleven million dollars he had in the bank.
Each of the five women would get about three million dollars.
It wasn’t adequate compensation for their ruined faces, but it was something.
All of them were satisfied that justice had been done, and no one shed any tears over Alex, except his most devoted patients and his staff.
Mickie shed none, in her suite at the Beverly Wilshire, with a stack of Alex’s luggage full of her clothes that she had retrieved from his home.
Billie texted Mickie several times to be sure she was all right, and she didn’t respond. She had nothing to say to her. She didn’t need an older sister anymore. She didn’t need anyone except herself.
She had called the Hong Kong investors whose card she’d retrieved from the evening bag she had worn that night.
The four men were still in L.A., doing business and meeting with companies they wanted to invest in.
They told her they were sorry about Alex’s untimely death, and didn’t make a point of mentioning his exposure as a fraudulent doctor.
It was a shocking and fascinating story that he had gotten away with it to the degree he had.
He had incredible charisma and was amazingly bright.
Michaela told them when she spoke to them that she would still be interested in a job in their beauty center, or in one of their fashion investments.
They had extensive ownership in several high-end shopping malls of luxury brands.
They made an appointment to meet her at the Beverly Wilshire for a drink, to discuss it further with her.
They came with an open mind. She was honest with them about how old she was because she couldn’t hide it from them if she wanted a job.
She had written up a CV for them, including what her goals were.
She thought it would be exciting to live and work in Hong Kong.
She was interested in fashion and beauty, and they were impressed by how stylishly she was dressed.
She would be a good representative of any of their brands.
Two weeks later, they offered her a position as a junior executive in marketing for their best shopping mall, and they were willing to groom her as a buyer.
They would supply her an apartment in The Peak section of Hong Kong, with a starting salary of two hundred thousand dollars a year, which was high, but she was an unusual woman.
She could start as soon as she was ready to leave, and she said she was.
She said she had no family ties, and no reason to stay in L.A.
She called Patricia Scott after she accepted the offer, and asked if she was supposed to notify the police.
As a courtesy, Patricia called Lieutenant Kelly and told him that Michaela had accepted a position out of the country in Hong Kong, and wanted to get a fresh start.
He said he had no problem with it and she was free to leave.
Patricia called Michaela and reported to her, and Mickie booked a ticket after that. She was ready for a new life.
Dan Kelly mentioned it to Jason the next time they spoke, that Michaela was leaving for Hong Kong and had taken a job there.
Jason told Billie about it that night, and she was surprised. “She’s moving to Hong Kong? Why?”
“She got a job offer there, and maybe the whole mess with Addison burned her out. Seeing him murdered right in front of her must have been pretty awful. He would have gone to prison if he’d lived, probably for a long time. Maybe Hong Kong will be good for her.” Billie listened quietly, and nodded.
She tried to call her again the next day, and texted her that she wished her well and would like to say goodbye.
“Why? We hate each other,” was her response by text.
“I don’t hate you. I love you. You’re my sister,” Billie said.
“I was switched at birth,” Michaela answered.
“Me too. So what?” Billie persisted.
“I’m not like you. I don’t need a family, or even want one,” Michaela said.
“I don’t have feelings like you do. I don’t need anyone.
” It was the most honest she had ever been with Billie.
She had already called their father to say goodbye.
He was surprised she was leaving and sounded sad.
She told him her boyfriend had died and not the rest.
“Do you miss Alex?” Billie asked her, curious, still by text.
“No.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“If you give me your flight number, I could say goodbye at the airport,” Billie offered. She needed closure. Michaela didn’t care.
She texted her flight number, and turned off her phone.
Billie told Jason the next day at breakfast that she was going to the airport to say goodbye to her sister.
“Did she say you could?” He was surprised.
“She texted her flight number, and I offered to say goodbye to her at the airport. Who knows when I’ll see her again.” Maybe never.
“That’s how she wants it,” he said gently. Billie was such a caregiver and so brimming over with love that she couldn’t accept the fact that Michaela wasn’t like her and was hollow inside. “I’ll drive you,” he volunteered. He wanted to be there for Billie. He was afraid it would be hard for her.
They got to the airport in plenty of time, put the Jeep in the garage, and walked into the international terminal. Billie looked for Mickie and didn’t see her, and texted her.
“I’m here. Where are you?”
“In the first-class lounge.” Mickie’s new employers were paying for a first-class ticket for her.
“I went through security early. You can see me from the observation deck when I go through to board the plane.” Billie felt it like a blow.
Mickie had put an airport and a glass wall between them, knowing Billie couldn’t get through security without a ticket.
She didn’t want to be close to Billie and hug and kiss goodbye. She felt no emotion to be leaving her.
“Okay, I’ll be watching for you from the observation deck.
” Michaela wanted no personal contact, but their mother had left her in Billie’s care.
And if this was the best she could do, she was doing it.
Billie had held up her side of the deal to the end.
It was up to Michaela how much she wanted, and how much she could tolerate, how human she could be.
Mickie didn’t pretend to feel anything for her sister.
Billie was watching when the passengers started to board.
She watched for her sister, but she didn’t see her, and wondered if she’d missed her.
Then she saw her, one of the last to board.
Michaela looked stylish and grown-up in a black wool coat, tall boots, and a big tote bag for the long flight.
Billie watched her, without taking her eyes off her, willing her to turn around.
Michaela looked straight ahead, never looking up.
She knew Billie was there. She was punishing her for the differences between them, for not understanding who she was.
She didn’t want to love or be loved. She and Alex had never told each other they loved each other, because they didn’t.
They had sex, they didn’t make love. Love was too painful for Michaela.
There was something missing inside her and she knew it.
She didn’t feel the things that other people did, or need them.
Billie’s shoulders sagged as she watched her sister.
She could tell Mickie wasn’t going to turn around.
She would rather hurt Billie than please her.
It was the eternal dance between the two sisters.
One loving, and the other unable to love.
Just like Alex, she was a sociopath, with a profound need to hurt others.
Michaela was just about to go through the last door to the plane when slowly she turned, and looked up.
Their eyes met immediately, in spite of the distance.
Michaela looked at her sister for a minute and never smiled.
And Billie touched her heart. Even if she couldn’t reciprocate it, Billie could send her a sister’s love to do with as she chose.
Michaela stood there and nodded. She acknowledged it, even if she couldn’t send it back.
She wasn’t evil all the time. She was empty and she knew it, and Billie was brimming with love for her, and for Jason.
She had loved their mother and would have loved their father if he had let her.
Michaela took a last long look at her sister, and walked through the door to her new life, free from all her past lives and the people in them, as Billie stood watching the door until they closed it, and she saw the plane pull away from the gate and wished her sister well.
She forgave her for all the pain Michaela had given her in their childhood, for all the mean things she’d done to her, for all the love she couldn’t give and the things she had blamed her for.
She watched the plane take to the skies with her sister on it. The sister who didn’t want to be one, the sister she had been, and the one Billie wished for and never had.
Jason gently put an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go home,” he said softly. Billie nodded and tucked herself under his arm. She felt liberated and lighter. She had finally understood and accepted who Michaela was.
She looked up at Jason and smiled. He kissed her.
She was free now. Michaela couldn’t hurt her anymore.
Leaving her was Mickie’s final gift to Billie, and the only way she knew how to love.
They would be released now from the burden they had been to each other, and the pain it had caused.
Billie had a good life ahead of her with people who knew how to love her and return the love she gave so generously.
Michaela would have the life she chose, whatever she had to do to get it, just as she had always done, and knew how to do so perfectly, no matter what it cost, or who it injured, as long as she got what she wanted in the end.
The only person Mickie loved was herself.
Jason kept a strong arm around Billie’s shoulders as they walked out of the terminal together.
They had a whole life to look forward to, as Michaela’s plane disappeared, taking her to her new life, as far away from Billie as she could get, which was a blessing for them both.
And all Billie could do for her now was wish her well.