the Third Twin (1996)

The key to the mystery must lie with the hospital where Dennis and Steven were born, Jeannie mused as they took off. Somehow, identical twin brothers had ended up with different mothers. It was a fairy-tale scenario, but something like it must have happened.

She looked through the papers in her case and checked the birth information on the two subjects. Steven’s birthday was August 25. To her horror she found that Dennis’s birthday was September 7—almost two weeks later.

“There must be a mistake,” she said. “I don’t know why I didn’t check this before.” She showed Lisa the conflicting documents.

“We can double-check,” Lisa said.

“Do any of our forms ask which hospital the subject was born at?”

Lisa gave a rueful laugh. “I believe that’s one question we didn’t include.”

“It must have been a military hospital, in this case. Colonel Logan is in the army, and presumably ‘the Major’ was a soldier at the time Dennis was born.”

“We’ll check.”

Lisa did not share Jeannie’s impatience. For her it was just another research project. For Jeannie it was everything. “I’d like to call right away,” she said. “Is there a phone on this plane?”

Lisa frowned. “Are you thinking of calling Steven’s mother?”

Jeannie heard the note of disapproval in Lisa’s voice. “Yes. Why shouldn’t I?”

“Does she know he’s in jail?”

“Good point. I don’t know. Damn. I shouldn’t be the one to break the news.”

“He may have called home already.”

“Maybe I’ll go see Steven in jail. That’s allowed, isn’t it?”

“I guess so. But they might have visiting hours, like hospitals.”

“I’ll just show up and hope for the best. Anyway, I can call the Pinkers.” She waved at a passing stewardess. “Is there a phone on the plane?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“Too bad.”

The stewardess smiled. “Don’t you remember me, Jeannie?”

Jeannie looked at her for the first time and recognized her immediately. “Penny Watermeadow!” she said. Penny had done her doctorate in English at Minnesota alongside Jeannie. “How are you?”

“I’m great. How are you doing?”

“I’m at Jones Falls, doing a research project that’s running into problems. I thought you were going after an academic job.”

“I was, but I didn’t get one.”

Jeannie felt embarrassed that she had been successful where her friend had failed. “That’s too bad.”

“I’m glad, now. I enjoy this work and it pays better than most colleges.”

Jeannie did not believe her. It shocked her to see a woman with a doctorate working as a stewardess. “I always thought you’d be such a good teacher.”

“I taught high school for a while. I got knifed by a student who disagreed with me about Macbeth. I asked myself why I was doing it—risking my life to teach Shakespeare to kids who couldn’t wait to go back out on the streets and get on with stealing money to buy crack cocaine.”

Jeannie remembered the name of Penny’s husband. “How’s Danny?”

“He’s doing great, he’s area sales manager now. It means he has to travel a lot, but it’s worth it.”

“Well, it’s good to see you again. Are you based in Baltimore?”

“Washington, D.C.”

“Give me your phone number, I’ll call you up.” Jeannie offered a ballpoint and Penny wrote her phone number on one of Jeannie’s file folders.

“We’ll have lunch,” Penny said. “It’ll be fun.”

“You bet.”

Penny moved on.

Lisa said: “She seemed bright.”

“She’s very clever. I’m horrified. There’s nothing wrong with being a stewardess, but it’s kind of a waste of twenty-five years of education.”

“Are you going to call her?”

“Hell, no. She’s in denial. I’d just remind her of what she used to hope for. It would be agony.”

“I guess. I feel sorry for her.”

“So do I.”

As soon as they landed, Jeannie went to a pay phone and called the Pinkers in Richmond, but their line was busy. “Damn,” she said querulously. She waited five minutes then tried again, but she got the same infuriating tone. “Charlotte must be calling her violent family to tell them all about our visit,” she said. “I’ll try later.”

Lisa’s car was in the parking lot. They drove into the city and Lisa dropped Jeannie at her apartment. Before getting out of the car, Jeannie said: “Could I ask you a great big favor?”

“Sure. I’m not saying I’ll do it, though.” Lisa grinned.

“Start the DNA extraction tonight.”

Her face fell. “Oh, Jeannie, we’ve been out all day. I have to shop for dinner—”

“I know. And I have to visit the jail. Let’s meet at the lab later, say at nine o’clock?”

“Okay.” Lisa smiled. “I’m kind of curious to know how the test turns out.”

“If we start tonight, we could have a result by the day after tomorrow.”

Lisa looked dubious. “Cutting a few corners, yes.”

“Atta girl!” Jeannie got out of the car and Lisa drove away.

Jeannie would have liked to get right into her car and drive to police headquarters, but she decided she should check on her father first, so she went into the house.

He was watching Wheel of Fortune. “Hi, Jeannie, you’re home late,” he said.

“I’ve been working, and I haven’t finished yet,” she said. “How was your day?”

“A little dull, here on my own.”