"Something wrong with your food?" Caris St. John reached over and speared a roasted vegetable from her twin sister's plate. "Hmm..." she chewed enthusiastically, "tastes fine to me." Caris shrugged and turned her attention back to her own plate, which was heaped with food. "You want to try some of this?" Caris scooped up a forkful of creamy butternut squash risotto. "A very knowledgeable patient of mine said that this was among the best he's ever had."
Ellyn St. John gave her younger twin a hard stare. Caris had showed up unannounced at the law firm where Ellyn worked and dragged her off to lunch at a trendy new restaurant. She claimed it was an apology for her rude behavior of the day before. "What's going on, Caris?" Ellyn nodded toward her sister's plate. "You only eat like this when you are coming off an adrenaline high."
Caris flashed her twin a cryptic smile. It was one Ellyn recognized with some dread. In all their lives, nothing good had resulted from that smile. Not when they were 4 years old and Caris had produced a large box of matches for them to try, or when they were 14 years old and Caris 'borrowed' their father's car for them to go to the store, or two years ago when Caris arranged for the two of them to slip into Cuba for some contraband cigars for a birthday gift for a client. That smile hadn't been a good thing, Ellyn conceded, any of the countless times in between.
"Maybe," Caris replied between bites of her steak, "I am just in a good mood. I'm in such a good mood," she continued, "that I have changed my mind about your Thanksgiving invitation. I am going to come."
"Don't come if you plan on giving our mother a hard time, or making her new husband feel unwelcome."
"Oh, I will be on my best behavior. Promise." Caris made a show of crossing her heart.
Ellyn felt a familiar sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. Caris' words said one thing, but bitter experience had taught Ellyn that her twin had no good intentions where their family's Thanksgiving gathering was concerned. She also knew that to push Caris for more information would just result in the younger woman's increased determination to have her way.
"Caris-"
Whatever Ellyn planned to say was interrupted when her sister pushed abruptly away from the table. "I see Councilman Siders over by the door," Caris announced. "I am just going to go over for a minute and say hello."
Ellyn sighed. She could feel the beginnings of a throbbing headache just behind her right eye. With Caris in her current mood, Ellyn was sorry that she had pushed so hard for her younger sister to join them for Thanksgiving dinner.
The attorney jumped when Caris' phone began to skitter wildly atop the linen-covered table. She reached over and grabbed it, almost instinctively unlocking the screen via the four-digit code that Caris had used in every aspect of her life for as long as Ellyn could remember.
A cryptic text scrolled smoothly across the screen. 56674...Cliff...Oakburn...Now
Cliff and Oakburn was the site of a major hotel construction. Ellyn was familiar with the address; the senior partners of the firm where she worked had handled a majority of the legal work involved in getting the project up and running. Why would Caris be receiving a text regarding an unfinished hotel?
Ellyn quickly scrolled through the previous messages on her sister's phone. She paused when she found an almost identical text from the day before. Ellyn realized that this had been the reason for Caris' abrupt - and unexplained - departure from her office.
Ellyn's gaze darted across the restaurant to the Councilman's table. Caris stood with her back to Ellyn, laughing deeply at something the Councilman said. Ellyn glanced at the text just long enough to memorize it then deleted it from Caris' phone. Maybe its arrival was fate's way of revealing to her just what was going on in her twin sister's life.
"The Councilman sends his regards." Caris slid back into her seat. She made a face at the now-cold food and pushed it away. "We're gonna repeat our order." She gestured for a waiter to approach the table. "It's not like you really touched yours anyway."
Ellyn began to gather up her things. "Sorry," she offered. "I can't. I've got to go and handle something." Her mouth quirked. "A text just came my way."
"Well, give me a minute to take care of the bill and I'll drop you back at the firm."
Caris began to wave the waiter away. "No," Ellyn stopped her. "Stay and enjoy your lunch. I'll take a cab. That will give me a chance to organize my thoughts."
"You sure everything's alright?" Caris asked.
"Cross my heart." Ellyn had no trouble meeting her sister's gaze. She had been a successful attorney long enough to know how to lie the truth.
'Lie the truth'. That was a phrase she had been taught by a favorite college law professor. It was a simple concept that involved mixing enough truth in with the lies so that the story you were telling seemed plausible.
"Okay, then." Caris grabbed her phone and purse. "I'm gonna go join the Councilman's table. Maybe I can put a good word in for the mental health center that's awaiting funding." Whatever her flaws, Caris was dedicated to her profession and her patients. "Call you later?"
Ellyn nodded. "Yes, later." She made her way out of the restaurant. Because it was the latest culinary attraction, she had no difficulty hailing a cab.
"Where to?"
Ellyn bit the inside of her lip. She was very uncomfortable invading her sister's privacy this way. Still, she might never have a better opportunity to find out what was going on in Caris' life.
"Did you hear me?" The taxi driver's impatience showed. "Where am I taking you?"
"Take me to Cliff and Oakburn. Quickly."
