Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
I shook my head.
“He told me that it was because of his brother,” I said, sounding just as confused as I felt.
Why would he do this? I’d never actually gotten all of the facts.
“His twin brother Joshua is locked up in a facility that specializes in the mentally ill,” Luke answered my unspoken question.
“What does that have to do with anything?” My father asked.
“This,” Booth said, passing over a file folder that was open.
It slid across the counter to where my parents hovered on either side of me.
“Yeah, we know all about Joshua,” my mom said. “He’s been in and out of that facility since he was a young boy. When he was younger, he used to kill the neighborhood animals for fun.”
I shivered.
Yeah, that had been really creepy.
Mom wouldn’t ever let us play with him, and now that I was older, I could see why.
I explained to Luke and Booth that all of the kids in the neighborhood just avoided both of the twins instead of including one of them but not the other.
“That’s probably why nobody ever noticed anything odd about Dash,” Luke said, passing over another picture of Dash.
“The man in the picture in that folder is Dash. This one is Joshua. They are identical twins,” Booth said.
I shook my head in confusion.
“Okay,” I said. “So?”
“So, it’s been Dash who’s been locked up all of this time, not Joshua,” Booth explained carefully, pointedly, waiting for it to click into place for me.
“Ok, ok now, wait a second, here! So what you’re saying is that Joshua, the crazy brother, has been impersonating Dash, the sane brother, who has been institutionalized in Joshua’s place all this time?” I stated, my voice rising to a shrill shout.
Luke and Booth both nodded.
My mouth dropped open.
“I’ve had a psychopath living across the street from me?” I asked, fear skittering down my spine.
Booth nodded.
“Not anymore you don’t,” he interjected. “Dash was released about four hours ago, and Joshua has been readmitted.”
I shook my head.
“This is insane,” I said. “How could the hospital and staff miss this?”
“Joshua has always been one of those boys, according to his parents and doctor, that could keep it together when he needed to. While he always came off as friendly and charming, he wasn’t actually feeling anything behind that. He never felt guilt for any of the things he did, like killing the animals when he was a kid. I don’t think he understood right and wrong,” Luke said, scraping his hands down his face. “He just didn’t care to follow the rules of society. So all this time the doctors just thought he was putting on his game face so he could be released.”
“That’s just fucked up,” I surmised, not knowing what to say to that.
“Agreed,” Booth mumbled with a shake of his head. “I went with Luke to talk with Dash at the station not long after he was released. Dash isn’t being very kind and rational about it, either.”
“And you would?” I countered.
Booth shook his head.
“Fuck no, I wouldn’t,” he said. “I’d be pissed as hell.”
That I couldn’t disagree with. I would be, too.
“So what now?” I finally asked, rubbing my tired eyes.
“Now, nothing. Joshua’s where he’s supposed to be. I’m sure more charges will be filed against him and Dash has already said he’s going to be filing charges as well. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least,” Booth admitted.
My strength seemed to leave me all at once, and I rested my head against Booth’s chest as he continued to speak to my parents and Luke.
I, however, couldn’t hack it anymore, so I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.
Chapter 22
There are two stages to Booth. Cool as a cucumber…and pissed. One is acceptable. The other is not. I’ll let you figure out which one you’d rather deal with.
-Masen to her kidnapper.
Booth
Two weeks later
“You got everything taken care of?” I asked my brother.
Aaron glared at me.
“I’ve got everything ready. Now back the fuck off me,” he said.
I smiled and turned my head away from him so he wouldn’t see the smile.
“Oh, my God!” Masen screeched from opposite side of the house. “Booth, we did it!”
An even bigger smile overtook my face as my brother’s eyes caught mine.
“What’d you do?” He questioned.
“Knocked her up,” I puffed my chest out proudly.
Aaron grinned.
“Y’all have been talking about having kids for a really long time. I’m surprised that you were able to do it so quickly, though. Didn’t you say she was on birth control?”
“Yeah, and she was on antibiotics recently, too,” I shrugged.
My parents, Masen’s parents, and our families were very aware of everything we’d been trying to accomplish.
They knew we would get married as soon as we could both get a week off together. Masen was still on leave due to the injuries she’d sustained at the end of Joshua’s bat. She was still recovering, which was partly why we hadn’t done it yet.