All Chapters of The Crescent Birthmark Secret I Almost Married my Twin : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Mariah told Zara on a Tuesday.She hadn't planned to lead with it. She had called to talk about something else entirely and then Anthony's name came up the way it always did, naturally and without warning, and suddenly that was the whole conversation."He's coming here," Mariah said.Zara was quiet for exactly two seconds."What….To Seattle.?""Yes”."Oh…my…gosh…”Mariah laughs at Zara's surprise.“I'm just making sure I have the full picture. When?" Zara asked, sitting down to hear the gist."This weekend.""This weekend.?" A pause. "Mariah. It's Tuesday. You're telling me this now..”"I know. I'm sorry, I had to tell you now, I got too excited.”“We need to get you ready. What are you even going to wear?? You need to make yourself look pretty.”“No, I'm fine. I don't think I need those makeup things.”Zara said something funny that made Mariah laugh so hard. Then her voice shifted from mock outrage into something warmer. “You know I'll be busy this weekend.”“Yeah, I know. Well… Yo

Anthony's bag was by the door at ten in the morning.Mariah had known it was coming. A week was always going to end. But that didn't make the ending part easier.She came downstairs to find him in the kitchen saying goodbye to Angela, easy and warm, the kind of goodbye that happens between people who have decided they like each other without making a big thing of it.Marcus appeared from the living room."Safe drive," he said. He shook Anthony's hand the way he had greeted him. The handshake of a man who had made up his mind about someone.Anthony picked up his bag and Mariah followed him out.~ ~ ~They walked to his car slowly, neither of them was in a hurry to get there.She said something and they both laughed, and by the time they reached the car they were both still smiling at nothing and holding hands.He put his bag in the trunk.Then he turned around and she was already there and he pulled her in without saying anything and she let him."Come back soon," she said into his sho

Sarah had been sitting in her car outside the Portland Police Bureau for eleven minutes.She knew because she had watched the clock without meaning to, the way you watched things when your mind was somewhere else entirely.Angela had said “Not yet, just give me sometime.”Sarah had held on to this secret for Eighteen years. Life was perfect without, until the investigation started.Sarah got out of the car. She held her breath and released it, walking towards the building.The building was ordinary. Grey and official and completely indifferent to the weight of what she was carrying through its doors.She approached the front desk as the officer looked up."Can I help you?"Sarah set her bag on the counter. She had rehearsed this moment in the car, and she can't afford to be useless.Now that it was here the rehearsed words were gone.She took in another breath."I need to speak to Detective Reeves," she said. "It's regarding the Cascadia General case. The infant disappearance."The of

Detective Reeves stood up when Lucy walked in.His face was calm, neutral and professional."Ms. Donalds." He gestured to the chair across from his desk. "Thank you for coming in.""You said you had something." She sat down. "Show me."He appreciated that. No small talk, Just the directness of someone who had been waiting eighteen years and wasn't interested in wasting another minute of it.He turned his monitor toward her."This is the corridor camera," he said. "East wing. Timestamp 01.14am. The night in question."Lucy looked at the screen.She had seen versions of this footage before. It was grainy and inconclusive. A figure moving through a corridor that could have been anyone.“But this version was different.” She said.“The enhancement software had done something to the edges of it. Sharpened what was always there without anyone knowing how to find it.” Detective Reeves responded.The figure in the footage was clearer.Not the face though. The angle was still wrong for that and

Angela pulled up behind Sarah's car in front of a motel six streets away from the police station.Sarah was already getting out when she saw Angela's face through the windshield.Angela got out and walked toward her without slowing down."How long?." Angela asked."Angela…" Sarah said, feeling stunned. Not expecting to see her here."How long have you been going behind my back?""It's not what you think." Sarah held up her hand. "Just listen to me for one second.""I sat in that car park for almost an hour." Angela's voice was low and shaking. "I drove all the way to Portland to make a decision of turning myself in without involving you. I couldn't bring myself to do it, and then I looked up and there you were. Walking out of that building with the detective.""I went to see the detective, he's a friend." Sarah said. "That's all. I also went to….""Oh, so you are now friends with the detective, huh.? The one on the “case.” You didn't tell me.""That's what I'm trying to explain, but