Chapter 37

Six hours later.

Time: Saturday, January 19, 2013 2:07 PM

Melanie called Patricia and Jim Saturday morning to tell them the news about us getting back together. We all wound up planning to go see an early movie and then have a late lunch and go shopping in Boston. On our way to their Brookline home, Melanie informed me that Patricia was eight weeks pregnant.

The movie was fun, but as we left the theater the weather was beginning to turn ugly and Patricia was feeling fatigued. We changed our plans. Jim and Melanie went to go food shopping and I drove Patricia back to her home. We got in a little after 2 PM, just as the snow was starting to fall.

Patricia burped as she took off her coat. "Oh boy. I had no idea my stomach would get so queasy from eating popcorn. I'm glad we're back! Eric, make yourself at home. What would you like for lunch?"

We were soon sitting down to soup and sandwiches. Patricia was grinning at me from ear to ear. "I'm absolutely astonished how quickly you and Melanie got back together! Eric, what happened?"

I gulped. "Well, it was an intensely personal issue. Uh..." I stared at Patricia for the longest time, trying to figure out what to say.

She finally let me off the hook. "It's okay Eric. I've been trying for two years to get Melanie to tell me what the problem was, and she was as tight as a clam. I respect your privacy." She gave me a beaming smile. "I'm so happy to see you two together again!"

I nodded, grateful that my sister-in-law didn't press for details. We chatted about our lives. Eventually the topic drifted to her pregnancy.

Patricia talked as we washed the lunch dishes. "Melanie is so cute! Before the movie, she asked me if I would consider her to be my doctor, as an extra pair of eyes on me. I know it's not her specialty, and I know how busy she is in her resident program. But she really wants to take the time and keep a medical eye on me too. I agreed to call up my ob-gyn and release my records to her."

I smiled. "Melanie has an incredibly sweet and caring personality."

"Oh yes. Generous too, to go shopping with Jim. She knows how much I wanted to talk with you. Eric, I haven't seen you in what, a year?"

"Yeah, pretty close." We chatted about me for a while. There was so much I couldn't talk about, I wound up talking mostly about my job. Patricia probably thought I was a bit of a workaholic. I finally wound up boasting about my skills as a penny stock picker.

"Oh yeah? What was your best trade?"

"Oh, Golden Colorado Mining, no question. I bought a million shares at 1.7 cents in March of 2011. Last year I sold it all for an average price of $3.25"

"What?! You're joking!"

"No, not at all. They hit a prime vein of gold a few months after I bought in, a super high quality ore. Everybody in the company got filthy rich, including me."

The topic eventually drifted back to Patricia and her parents. She shrugged her shoulders. "Still no clue where they are! I spoke to the Sterling investigator last fall. He was pessimistic about finding my parents or all the money they stole. There's still over two million dollars missing. The detective is sure though that their disappearance was a deliberate act on their part."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"There were too many witnesses who swore they heard my dad shouting something about not knowing about a key, seconds before my aunt opened the kitchen door. She was extremely surprised to find the kitchen empty. The only possible explanation is that my dad dashed to the basement right after shouting. There was absolutely no time for a struggle that forced him out of the room. Also, whom was dad talking to?"

"Huh?"

Patricia laughed. "My dad never shouted at my mom! Never! He wouldn't dare! My mom was definitely the alpha-wolf of the family. So my dad was either shouting to someone else at the party, or to no one at all. But all the other guests were with each other. They weren't all lying! My dad had to be shouting at no one, as a joke. And the police tore the house apart, eventually even inspecting the eves and rafters. And you remember C.J., don't you?"

I gulped. "Uh, yeah." How could I forget?

"Well, get this. Last November a story appeared in the Sterling Daily Gazette. Quoting unnamed sources, they wrote the police found my parents transferred $7,000 into C.J.'s bank account on December 28, 2010, just three days before they disappeared. Jason's car and credit card were traced eastward right after that."

"Oh yeah?" I tried to act nonchalant. "To where?"

"The trail ends in Albany, New York, the morning of December 31, 2010. After that, nothing! The theory is Jason was my parent's agent. Maybe he set up some international flights for them, somewhere on the East Coast. They were all either brilliant or incredibly lucky covering their tracks. There's been no trace of any of them."

Patricia shook her head in wonder. "My parents pulled a real Houdini! I didn't know they had it in them. Melanie didn't either. She was quite upset by what they did. And then you two had your breakup right afterwards. My poor sister!"

I nodded. "I was glad that you and Melanie still had each other."

Patricia nodded back. "We've spent a lot of time, over the last two years, talking about our childhoods. My God Eric, our parents were monsters, true monsters. The things they used to do to Melanie and me. Vile, awful stuff, against defenseless children! They'd probe for a weakness, a fear, and then exploit it. Use the fear as a weapon, as a means of control. I've always had a fear of being locked in pitch-dark places. My parents used my fear to control me."

"That's so sick! Did you and Melanie ever figure out why? What drove them to be so cruel?"

Patricia sighed and thought for a long time before responding. "Not directly. We did figure out a few things. Both my parents, but my mother in particular, knew how to be charming, knew how to influence people, knew how to be shrewd negotiators. But there was no real kindness, no warmth or concern behind their actions. They were incredibly self-centered and controlling people. They might not have been particularly smart. Pulling off their Houdini disappearance was a completely unnecessary risk, and they left a lot of money on the table when they took off. But what they did have was the ability to influence people, and a passion for manipulation."

Patricia frowned. "And they manipulated me, guided me into loathing my sister. Melanie and I both realize this now. I was part of my parents' sick mind games. When Melanie would step out of line, my parents would play their Melanie-has-no-memory game. Change something in the house, and then we'd all pretend the change had always been there."

"Huh?"

"Oh, it was stupid stuff Eric, so horribly easy to do. Change a lamp from blue to green in Melanie's bedroom, and then just stare at her when she would ask about the change. It sounds so stupid, but we were all doing it, and it frightened Melanie greatly. I'm so ashamed of myself now, about how gleeful I was in torturing her. Melanie was to be my obedient slave, and it was okay for me to abuse her with mind-games if she resisted her slave status. Abuse her in other ways too."

"Why?" I whispered. "My God Patricia, why?"

"That is the question, isn't it? We don't know. Melanie and I did a bit of exploration last year. It's been an eye-opening experience for both of us. Jim has really been sweet to give us so much time together, and Eric... I must say, I think our exploration might have helped Melanie think of you differently. I'm not sure about this, but I think she blamed you somehow for our parents' disappearance. I can't imagine why. But it's only in the last month that she's finally accepted what monsters they were."