Mirror Mirror

I kept my post as long as there was a haze over the mirror and seconds later a new image started to emerge. I could feel my self getting tired from the tension and the concentration and I doubt that I even blinked through it all. As before the image started at the bottom of the mirror and I knew early on it would be two

people this time. I couldn't tell if I was hearing sounds at first or if I was imagining it but then night sounds came to me. A cricket chirping, an owl hooting in the far distance and then no sound but the image started to come together and I saw Mom and Dad's bedroom. I couldn't see them but somehow I knew they were in bed and asleep. The images continued to unfold with enough clarity that I now knew who killed my parents, I knew how they were killed and I knew what the weapon was. My body became a tightly coiled spring but I held my position until I was certain there was nothing more to see.

The mist dissolved and I jumped up and made it halfway to the door before Paige opened it wide. "I'll be right back" and I ran out the front door and home. It took me a few minutes of searching but I found the numbers and made the calls and then took a chance that Renee still had her cell phone in her purse and called her. "Renee I'm working on something that will take me maybe fifteen minutes or so but the three of you stay there because I'm going to need your help over there pretty soon." I hung up before she could get into her questioning mode and I stood by the front door and watched and worked out the details of the last part of my plan. My plea of urgency must have worked because my plan was coming together just as I'd hoped. I saw my opening and ran across the yard and called out. "Ryan here I am."

"Oh hi uncle Don what's the emergency?"

"Come inside and I'll show you." As we went in I told Paige, "Paige this is Ryan my nephew. With his help we're going to make magic. While we're doing that listen for the front door because two other people will be coming and I need to have the first one put in the guest room and the second one can wait in the living room if I'm not quite done. The first one will ask questions but just say I'm on my way and I have all the answers. Be very nice to him but whatever you do don't let him leave okay? The second one will just have to wait a couple of minutes and it will be worth the inconvenience. Come on Ryan I have something to show you," and I led him into the bedroom and to the mirror. He didn't want to be there that was plain to see. "Relax nephew the room is clean as new. Sit in front of the mirror." He looked at me and his face put me in mind of a cornered rabbit trying to decide which way to try and escape. I made a big show of it and slowly chanted, 'mirror mirror' and pointed at it drawing his eyes to it. The fog appeared almost instantly and began to coalesce again. It was faster and clearer than I'd ever seen it before. As soon as the image became clear enough he sucked in his breath and stared. I stood behind him and watched the mirror again for some time until it slowly faded away.

He continued to stare at his own reflection and muttered, "How did you do that?"

"Ryan I didn't do anything but you did."

"No I didn't do that, I didn't kill anybody."

"You just saw it with your own eyes. I know the how, the who and the weapon used. Now the question is will you tell the detectives the truth and save your own life?"

"I can't."

"You have no choice really unless you want to die in prison."

"But I'll die anyway."

"We both know that won't happen, not now. Well it's up to you. But I'm going across the hall and make the same offer to your co-conspirator. The only question left is who will talk first to save their own ass?"

"But I didn't do it."

"You will still be charged the same way. You've had almost a year to think about this, but now you have less than a minute to tell me your decision. You know it's kind of funny in a way. You looked so hard for their money but you didn't find much did you? The funny part is the only thing of real value, the only thing that would end up being so very important to your future was right in front of you the whole time. Had you only taken this mirror with you. Then you would have something nearly priceless and you would have gotten away with the crime too. The wealth you were searching for is the very thing that has caught you trying to steal their wealth." It only took him seconds to nod his head in agreement. "You'll tell the detective everything he wants to know?"

"Yes."

"Then stay right here." I closed the door behind me and whispered, "Keep the door closed" and went to the living room. "Hi I'm Don Connelly."

"Hi I'm detective Merritt. You have some information for me?"

"I have the guilty parties actually and at least one of them wants to confess."

"Please don't tell me you forced a confession."

"Oh not at all. I just slowly connected dots you might say and when I was sure I had enough I confronted him with the details. He wants to talk about saving his own life now."

"And this would be..."

"Ryan Wilson my nephew."

"How old is he now?"

"He'd be about...nineteen now I think give or take a year."

"You connected the dots when that's what we've been trying to do for almost a year?"

"I got lucky. I meditated in front of a mirror." He looked at me like my mind had left me and I just smiled.

*

Chapter Twelve

When the detective went in to see Ryan I went next door. "Well if it isn't Andrew my nephew's buddy. Remember who I am?"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on? Why are you keeping me prisoner?"

"You're going to be arrested for murder."

"What? That's bullshit."

"Oh no. What's bullshit is what you did to my parents. Oh I know everything. In fact Ryan is very nearby singing his heart out even as we speak."

"You're nobody man and I don't have to tell you a damn thing."

"Oh so true, so I'll tell you what happened okay? You don't even have to say anything because I have it figured out and that's why Ryan is giving up. He didn't have to tell me either but he's talking to the detective now. Here's how it went. You and Ryan decided to rob my parents of cash. It was a stupid idea to start with. To expect two old people with not a lot to show for a lifetime of labor to have enough money to make it worth while just shows what an amateur you really are. A real number one loser." Andrew acted like he was going to bolt for the door so I stood in front of it and just smiled as I wagged my finger at him. "You see I also know it was all your idea and you used your usual domination of my meek little nephew to get him to help you. I know also for example that you hit my father first. Oh and the weapon? A simple two by four about four feet long. Which by the way is mixed in with all the lumber out in the barn with blood and your finger prints on it. Then you hit my mother but you had to hit her three times before you went back around and hit my father again just to make sure he was dead. How am I doing so far?"

"Fuck you."

"I love the way your small mind works, simple and defective, nothing over two syllables. Okay let's continue. You rifled his pants pockets and found his billfold with all of forty eight bucks in it. Maybe by your standards not bad pay for a nights work not counting two murders of course. I'll bet that cash lasted you all of two hours afterwards. Now with your nights work complete you put the weapon in the barn like I said and the two of you beat a hasty retreat and became each other's alibi. Neat and tidy right? Well fuck you and the horse you rode in on because you're going down for murder with special circumstances. That's the death penalty ass hole, you know, needle in the arm and then bye bye juice?" "Oh one more thing before I turn you over to the detective. Just as I told Ryan, the one thing of very serious value in this house was staring you right in the face the whole time. Not only did you leave it behind but also it became the witness to your awful crime. I almost have to laugh when I think about that. Damn that's funny. Have a good death Andrew". I went out closing the door

behind me and stood next to Paige as I held Andrew's door shut behind me. I quickly whispered, "I've been standing here next to you ever since I let the detective in to see Ryan." She just nodded and smiled.

I had put a brave face on until it was over and the two boys were removed in handcuffs. I thought Detective Merritt would never leave but he did at last and I dropped back against the couch exhausted. Merle was in the side chair and Renee was sitting on the arm of the chair next to him as Paige leaned back next to me and asked, "How do you feel honey?"

"So very tired, so sad and angry I want to scream and so happy and free I want to dance and get drunk."

"Maybe we should just go home and rest. We can go dance and get drunk another time."

"No we can't I don't know how to dance."

"If you get drunk enough that won't stop you."

"Damn you're smart."

"I know."

Renee and Merle stood up and gave us a wave and said, "We're going home. We need to get together next Saturday though."

"Sounds great give us a call." I hardly moved as they left but Paige pulled me up and we went home and I took a nap. I'm not sure what Paige did.

When I got up about five o'clock Paige had a light meal waiting and we ate almost in silence as I slowly came back to the land of the living. "Damn I feel better."

"Really?"

"I really do."

"Well I hate to tell you this but I have to get home. I still have to earn a living, as meager as it is, and that process starts bright and early tomorrow morning." I walked her to the door where we shared an embrace and a kiss. "Honey I have so much to thank you for but can it wait until next weekend?"

"I don't know can it?"

"I think I'll make more sense then."

"It would help to make sense that's for sure."

It helped that I was pretty busy all week but I still thought about all that had happened. The whole science fiction thing with the mirror still chewed on me, how did it work, why did it work, where did it really come from...on and on. All questions with no hope of answers like why didn't it warn my parents of the danger? Or maybe they did but they ignored it. Hell that monster process had more and larger tentacles than a giant squid. Every question branched out into more possibilities and more questions. By Thursday I had given up thinking I could ever understand it so I decided to just form an opinion and leave it at that. Nobody would ever know anyway because I wasn't crazy enough to tell that story to anybody else and be laughed off the planet.

Paige and I met Merle and Renee for an early dinner and of course the topic was the mirror. Renee, as unique as she was, I preferred that to weird, had a perfectly good theory as did Merle and I couldn't say they were wrong at all. But since it was my mirror I was sticking with mine. Well until Paige spoke up. "I'm convinced your mother knew about the mirror's properties but what did she

see in it? Truth, dreams, perhaps a happy childhood. Her visions might have had a totally different meaning, a different purpose than what we experienced. I see no reason to think she saw their impending danger. I also think it was tapping into Don's energy and that's why it didn't work as well when we were in there, it either confused it or perhaps drained some of his energy. That's why when he was alone it worked so much better."

I had to ask, "What about Ryan though, that mirror lit up like a movie screen."

"I think the fact that he had a hand in the crime had something to do with that."

"Okay so what will the mirror do now?"

"I have no idea, perhaps go back to just being a mirror." "That might be kind of nice too."

"Don you haven't said what you think."

"I think my grandfather was the link. I think he was watching out for his daughter and wanted justice. And I think that if it weren't for you and Renee I'd still be sitting at home wasting my life and my future while their house slowly crumbled. With all due credit to you Renee I have to say Paige has become my sage, my advisor and the love of my life."

Paige looked at me and I just smiled back at her. "Did you just say you love me?"

"Yes I did."

"In front of them?"

"I'll bet they aren't offended at all."

"Damn it that's supposed to be a private intimate moment between us."

"Ask them if they already knew that I love you."

"I will not. It's me that's supposed to know that."

"I agree and that's why I just told you."

"Oh my God."

Merle was almost laughing out loud and said, "Renee and I have an announcement to make. We're getting married." Needless to say that distracted us from our childish behavior and that announcement brought loud and repeated congratulations and the ordering of an expensive bottle of wine.

We were just nicely into that bottle of wine as Paige asked, "Okay now when, where and so forth?"

"We're still working out the details but in three months or so and we haven't decided on the location for the ceremony or where to honeymoon."

Paige's face lit up and she asked, "Would you consider a double ceremony?"

In a matter of seconds Renee's eyes lit up and she said, "Of course I think that would be fantastic."

I raised my hand and looking at Paige said, "Okay wait a minute. I know I'm just a guy and all but doesn't it usually require two couples to have a double ceremony?" Paige smiled at me and said, "Well of course it does honey."

"Okay Merle and Renee and...oh shit. I...no I mean...wait you have to love me."

"Well of course and I do love you."

"But...you do?"

"Of course I loved you first."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

Merle sat over there and covered his face with his hand and just said. "Oh my God" as I continued.

"But it's my job to propose to you."

"Oh and why is that?"

"And besides, that's a very private and intimate moment and...I'll be damned you did that on purpose."

The End