Afterthoughts (16 page)

Dr. Southerland continued, “The
sufferer may also have a form of split personality or Multiple
Personality Syndrome. They may cause the personality to split into
sub personalities, also known as alters. The alters have their own
memory, and they usually don’t know of each other. Consequently,
the sufferer has episodes of amnesia whenever an alter has taken
over. The development of a split personality is usually brought on
by some sort of severe abuse, including sexual abuse.

During the abuse, the person becomes
dissociated from the experience. In other words, becomes ‘not
there’, and an alter personality takes over. For every traumatic
experience an alter is created. I would strongly suggest you
helping your friend. You can try to get them to see me or I can
recommend another doctor if necessary.”

“
Thank you, Dr.
Southerland. I’ll do what I can. I don’t know how to approach them
about it, but I will try.” Jay hung up the phone and sank down into
the porch swing. He sat outside for quite a while, thinking about
what Dr. Southerland had said. He didn’t know what to think. He
spoke out loud, just in case, “Is Paige schizophrenic? Is that what
was going on? Could all of this be a result of her
kidnapping?

Could Junna be an alter? Is she
paranoid in thinking the man she kept seeing was following her? And
the voices? God, I kissed her after all.

She knew I loved her. She hears what
others are telling her. Is it all in her mind? Oh, God, she’s seen
herself do things, the rope, the hands.”

Jumping up from the chair, he took off
running through the yard until he reached the fence. Not wanting to
think she was guilty of anything, he tried to wipe the thought out
of his mind. He knew he needed to help her, one way or another. He
took a deep breath and decided to go in and check on
Paige.

She was still asleep, but not
peacefully. Jay looked around the room and saw the journal, laying
open on her night stand and began to read from it.

“
It’s been a day from
hell. I’m still having trouble remembering things and the things I
can remember, I don’t want to. I see things that I shouldn’t see
and hear things I shouldn’t hear. What’s wrong with me? Why won’t
the pieces fit together? I told Jay tonight. I told him everything.
He’s going to think I’m crazy. Why not? I’m still wondering that
myself. Am I? I’m so angry with David and Aileen. How could they do
this to me? How could they do this to Jones? I can feel the hate
build up inside of me and I don’t know how to handle it. If Jay
were not here, I don’t know what I would do. I am glad he is here
and that he loves me. I am afraid of falling asleep but I know I
must. I have to rest so that I can figure everything
out.”

She tossed her head from side to side
and shot up in the bed screaming. He ran to her and held her to try
to calm her down. “What happened? It’s a dream, only a dream. What
was it about?” he said as he was stoking her long brown
hair.

She blinked her eyes and looked at
him. “I was in the room.” She was sobbing, her breath leaving her
as she spoke. “I was in the room. He was there. I couldn’t see him
but I could feel him there. I was killing cats with my bare hands,
strangling them. He was watching me … laughing … telling me what a
good job I was doing. I couldn’t stop. I was so scared. Oh God Jay.
What does that mean?” Paige began sobbing hysterically. Jay didn’t
know what to do. He just held her and let her cry.

“
What if it’s Junna? What
if she is putting these thoughts in your head?” Jay asked her.
Paige thought about that for a moment.

“
I’ve considered that. I
don’t even know where she came from. I’ve even thought that she
said enough to me to make me think these things.”

“
Did she tell you her last
name?” he asked as he rubbed her shoulders.

She was beginning to breath normally
again.

“
Yea … her name is Breck,
Junna Breck.”

“
How hard would it be to
track down someone named Junna?” Jay stood up and went to the phone
in the living room. Maybe if he could prove she didn’t exist, he
could convince Paige to go to counseling. She needed
help.

Paige looked around her
room. “What if it is Junna?” she whispered to herself. She then
wondered if Junna was the one who broke into the Steckler Estate
and wrote
Death to you all
on the wall. “What are you trying to do to me?”
she whispered.

Jay returned to the room. “I have Adam
looking into anything he could find on a Junna Breck. We’ll see
where she’s from and if she has a history. We’ll find out if she’s
doing this to you. Meanwhile, I’ve called in to work for the both
of us. We have the day off. What do you say to us getting breakfast
somewhere?” he said trying to lighten the mood. He thought again
about taking her to see Dr. Southerland. If he could prove that
Junna Breck was not a real person, he may be able to persuade her
to go. How could he bring this up without upsetting her?

“
She’s so worried that I
would think she’s crazy,”
he thought to
himself.
“But I have to. I have to
help.”

“
Okay. I just need a quick
shower,” she sighed as she threw back the covers.

“
Take your time,” he
helped her out of the bed. She looked up at him and kissed him
lightly. He smiled, patted her on the shoulder, and sent her on her
way to the shower.

Chapter 29

Paige and Jay decided to have
breakfast at Pauline’s, a small restaurant on Bardstown Road.
Pauline’s is a cozy little place that touts southern style
breakfasts like scrambled eggs and potatoes served in a hot skillet
and grits with biscuits and gravy.

While they were eating, Paige again
told him about her dreams and how she felt like she was there,
strangling the life out of the helpless kittens. She knew what she
was doing was wrong and she didn’t want to be doing it, but it
seemed beyond her control. She had no control.

“
I couldn’t stop. I was
crying for them but I still killed them, one by one. What’s going
on with me?” she asked as she desperately fought back the tears
that threatened to flood down her cheeks.

Jay took both of her hands in his. “I
don’t know, but I am determined to find out. Do you think you were
remembering something or was it just a nightmare? Where were you in
this dream?”

Paige thought for a moment. “All I
remember is a mattress, a bloody mattress, the kind with the blue
and white stripes,” she motioned up and down with her hands to
signify the long stripes and to show the width of the stripes with
her fingers about three inches apart. “What if I have done those
things? What does that mean?”

“
Paige, I don’t believe
you did. You are not capable of doing such a thing.”

“
Are you sure about that?
I’m not anymore,” Paige hesitated. She remembered telling Jay about
dreaming her hands were around Anthony’s neck. Was she capable of
killing kittens? Had she killed Anthony? Overwhelming sorrow over
took her and enveloped her with fear. “I need to walk …” she
whispered as she got up from the table and ran out of the
café.

Jay paid for the bill and went after
her. By the time he stepped outside, she was nowhere in sight.
“Paige …” he shouted up and down the street with no answer. Then he
got into his car and drove around.

He couldn’t find her
anywhere. He decided to go back to her place and wait for her
there.
“Maybe she just needed
time,”
he thought to himself as he worried
about her.

Dazed, Paige walked from corner to
corner, up and down alleys, wandering aimlessly, and thinking about
her dream. Had she killed Anthony? What about Richie? She
envisioned the rope in her hand.

She dreamt of the rope in
her hand! “Oh my God!” she screamed as tears poured down her face.
She paced in a circle in an alley and sat down by a rusty
dumpster.
“I’ve killed them both. I’ve
killed them both!”
she thought as she
curled up in the fetal position and rocked back and forth. “Junna,
why did you help me remember this?
Why?
Did I kill Sarah too?” she
screamed looking up at the sky as if Junna were looming over head.
She then buried her head between her knees and sobbed so hard she
couldn’t breathe.

“
Paige,” a deep voice
resonated above her. As Paige looked up, she heard a loud thud as
something hit her hard on the head. The world she was in turned
black.

Chapter 30

As Jay arrived at Paige’s, John
Waters, the Chief of Police was waiting at the door. “Hey John,”
Jay nodded to him as he walked up.

“
Morning, Jay. Where’s
Paige?” he asked tersely.

“
I don’t know. We were
having breakfast at Pauline’s Café when she said she needed to
walk. I haven’t seen her since. Why? What’s up?”

Jay asked as fear began to take
over.

“
Jay, let’s sit down,”
John said as he pointed to the porch swing. Hesitantly, Jay lowered
himself onto the swing. John sat in a chair across from him. “Why
did she need to walk?” he asked as he crossed his arms on his
chest.

“
She had a really bad
nightmare that was sticking with her this morning. She needed to
clear her head, I guess? What’s going on, John?” Jay pleaded with
him.

“
The Homeowners
Association of Gellendale Estates had security cameras installed
shortly after the Steckler boy’s suicide. We reviewed the tapes,”
John said as he looked down at his feet while he shuffled them
under the chair.

“
Go on,” Jay was afraid of
what was to come next.

“
We have the license plate
on the motorcycle. It’s registered under the name of Jeanne Arozo.
She lives right there,” he pointed across the yard to Paige’s
neighbor, the redhead with the Norfolk terrier.

“
So we have her then?” Jay
asked hopefully, holding his breath.

“
There are a couple of
things. Miss Arozo was on a plane coming back from Mexico last
night. She came home and reported her motorcycle stolen. It was
found around the corner.” John then stood up and paced across the
porch. He took a deep breath and continued.

“
The person coming out of
the house on the tape looks something like Paige but we could not
see her clearly. It’s a bit coincidental that the motorcycle was
within reach.”

“
You don’t think Paige
would do that, do you?” Jay asked as he stood and walked beside of
John.

“
I’m not sure yet. It’s
just that too many things are coming together. Paige’s
disappearance a couple of years ago, she’s really close to the
family, has full access. It’s amazing she has selective memory
during the last couple of years don’t you think?”

“
You do think she did it?
You’re crazy man. Paige isn’t capable of anything like that!” Jay
then remembered her dream of killing the cats.

A big black cloud of doubt formed over
him.

“
Look, man, I’m sorry. I
know she’s your partner and all, but even you have enough sense to
put two and two together. Can I count on you to help with the rest
of the pieces? Can you talk to her and try to figure out what is
going on? She may confide in you.” John sat back down in the chair,
“Keep her here until we figure this out and we can arrest her if
the pieces fit.”

Jay breathed deeply and sat back down
as well. “Sure. We’ll figure this out,” he said quietly as he whole
body began to feel numb.

“
There’s one more thing,”
John placed his hand on Jay’s arm. “We’re trying to keep this out
of the press right now. Aileen Childers was found dead near her
barn a short time ago. She had been hit in the head with a shovel.
Her husband, Jones, found her.”

Jay felt as if he were melting through
the seat cushion. His head was swimming so fast he thought he would
pass out cold. John patted his arm. “I need to get back to the
station and file my report. Please keep her here. Don’t let on.
We’ll do what we can to keep our suspicions a secret until we have
more information. Let me know when she returns, will ya?” he said
as he started down the stairs. “Remember don’t say anything to her
about Aileen just yet. If it’s possible that she’s guilty of that
one too, we want her to stick around.”

Stunned, Jay watched him walk away.
Thoughts were racing through his head faster than he had time to
process them. How could Paige be capable of these things? The woman
he fell in love with is not capable of these things. “But she
dreamt of killing cats,” he whispered to himself as he stood up
from the swing and began to pace around.

“
She’s a smart girl. Maybe
she is setting up an insanity defense? Mind reader? Anyone in their
right mind could figure out I love her. Hell, I kissed the
woman!”

“
What about Junna? I need
to know about Junna!” He said to himself as he fumbled for the key
that Paige had given him and unlocked the door. He dropped the
phone as he reached for it. He picked it back up and dialed the
number to the station and asked for Adam.