Chapter 26

Tim sat on the commercial jet while Emma slept with her head against the window. He was nursing a beer thinking what Morris Chambers told him. Both Lena Limpa and Shasta Collins were murdered in her condo. Lena by strangulation and Shasta with several knife wounds. The police already had a suspect, Becky Stone. According to Morris she had confessed to both slayings.

They were both in the throes of passion when Stone struck. She had broken into the place hours earlier and hid in Lisa's almost empty walk in closet until she felt the time was right. She stabbed Shasta who was on top then strangled Lena with her own bra. They both fought furiously but the stronger young woman won out.

Once Lena breathed her last, Lisa woke up feeling a disconnection with her sister. She called at three a.m. but there was no answer. She waited another half hour before calling again. Lisa dressed and drove over to the condo and let herself in with the key she never discarded. It was a bloody scene with Shasta draped all over her sister. She must have let out an ear piercing scream because several people in robes and night wear came running into the apartment.

Someone called 9-1-1 and the police were there in minutes along with a team of paramedics. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Lisa was in such a state of frenzy, she was taken to the hospital and sedated. They wheeled her into a room where she managed to give out Morris' cell phone number.

Lisa had a multitude of visitors from the church checking in on her shortly after she talked to Emma. Though she was happy to see them, she felt something had left her soul. Being connected to Lena all of her life she now missed her sister terribly. She regretted having Lena die without them ever making up.

"We there yet?" Emma awoke.

"A couple of more hours," Tim replied.

"I have to go wee wee," she said, getting up from her seat. She was back in a few minutes, grabbed his hand and went right back to sleep. Tim was still shaken by the death of his sister. If Emma wasn't in his life, he wouldn't know what to do. He was shocked to the point that it was Emma who made the flight arrangements, packing and checking out.

Lisa viewed the remains of her sister and left the morgue in tears. Morris took a week off to look after his fiancee'. He slept on the sofa listening her cry herself to sleep the night before. He didn't realize how twins were bonded together despite of their lifestyles. Lisa saw that Lena was about the same except for the red mark about her neck.

Lisa cried all the way out to the airport. Morris just drove saying nothing. What was there he could say? He didn't know the way to comfort someone who lost a person so close to them. She had told him about Lena and her being selfish brats. It was their way or no way. They only thought of themselves and didn't care about the feelings of others.

Now that Lisa turned her life around, she thought more about others than herself. It gave her a sense of satisfaction that made her feel good as she did little things for people. She now knew what it was to give instead of take. Lisa and Lena were takers all of their lives. Now she was a giver and it made her happy to see a small smile on the face or a sincere 'thank you' for coming from their mouth.

Lisa had the person she loved most taken from her. She didn't hate this Becky Stone. She imagined that Lena had done something to her to cause the woman to seek revenge upon her. Her and that girl Shasta. She had met Shasta before her conversion and found her to be a pleasant young girl. She caught her looks of lust toward her but she maintained her sense of distance never asking to have sex with her. Lisa believed that Lena hooked up with Shasta since the sisters broke from each other.

Tim and Emma could hardly believe their eyes seeing his surviving sister dressed so conservatively and beautifully at that. Her yellow sun dress with matching purse and white heels made many men in the reception area of the airport gazed hungrily at her. Lisa had stopped being so vain and wore her wire framed eyeglasses. The tall man at her side was dressed in a dark blue suit and looked quite handsome in Emma's eyes. He was a rarity. He was taller than she and it felt good having to look up at him as they shook hands.

"I'm so happy you came," Lisa cried on her brother's shoulder. She seemed to have an abundance of tears still left to shed. Tim wept too as well as Emma. Morris felt bad because Lisa was not happy and he had no idea how to turn her sadness around.

"What happened?" Tim asked.

Lisa pulled away, taking his arm and unconsciously mashing her breast against her brother's muscular arm. "From what I hear, she insulted this girl named Becky Stone a few weeks ago. I never met the girl but I hear that she has an awful temper. Somehow she broke in, stabbed Shasta to death then choked Lena to death with her panties. Lena was legally drunk from the blood they drew from her. Shasta just had a small about of alcohol in her." Tear still streaked down her face. Emma was on the other side of Lisa holding her hand while Morris quietly brought up the rear.

After retrieving their luggage and getting into Morris' Mercedes, Tim, in the passenger's seat, started talking to Morris. Emma and Lisa sat in the back with Lisa doing most of the talking. By the time they reached the Hilton San Diego, all four had made friendships. Emma liked Morris and the new Lisa. Morris and Lisa sat on the couch holding hands while Tim and Emma groomed themselves then dressed up to go to the funeral parlor to view Lena's body.