Boy, am I excited!

One more chapter before the very, absolutely last chapter of The Hipster Tipster!

•

             “WHAT IN THE world?” Larry commented, as he looked at the two twins lying on the ground before him. He lowered his gun.

               “What in the world is right,” Fred's hand holding on to the gun firmly. “Who's whom? Which twin is Bailey? And the other, Dawn?”

               “This is Bailey! I'm Dawn!”

               “No, she is Bailey! I am Dawn!”

               “Damn,” Johnson cursed, before running a hand through his hair. His right hand still held his gun. He walked round in a circle.

              Unfortunately for everyone else, Bailey's plan was in action. Her backup plan was that if things went south, she would forcibly make she and Dawn switch identities.

             It was the oldest trick in the book. Dawn would take her identity and Bailey would take hers. Therefore, all Bailey needed to do was to convince the police that she was Dawn, and Dawn was Bailey and thus, as a result, Dawn would go to juvenile instead of Bailey.

              But no one would know it but the two twins themselves.

              “Perez? Ideas,” Larry glanced uneasily at the brunette. “How do we tell who is whom?”

             “That's easy. We ask them questions. Whoever is Bailey is under arrest for multiple acts of murder and kidnap,” Perez replied, taking a step forward.

             Her eyes examined the two girls, as did Johnson's and Jack's.

            “They both have scars,” Jack muttered, unhappily. “I can't tell who is whom,”

           Jack had brought Perez into the crime scene. After that, she called Johnson using her wrist watch, along with Larry and Fred.

            “I can,” Perez said, astounding everyone. “But we need to be certain. Mr Anderson, you know them best out of all of us here,” Perez said, looking at the Prime Minister's son. “Why don't you ask them the questions?”

             “Alright. I'll try,” Jack also took a step forward. “I know Dawn better than Bailey, though, so my questions will be directed at Dawn. Dawn, what's your favourite colour?”

            “Emerald green,” The two twins both answered, simultaneously.

           “What do you want to become when you are older?”

           “I'm not sure yet,” They both responded.

           “Where did we have our first date?”

            “In your imagination,”

             “I don't know what else to ask. The answers they are both giving are correct,” Jack shrugged his shoulders, looking at Perez.

              “I've got it!” Johnson snapped his fingers. “Who is your father?”

              “George Harris,”

              “Frank Johnson,”

              “That's Bailey,” Johnson pointed at the blonde on the left.

              Bailey turned to Dawn, her eyes widened. “What do you mean our father is Frank Johnson? Have you lost your marbles?”

             “Our father is the investigator standing before us, Bailey. You would know that, if you were, well, me,” The beauteous blonde turned her head at her twin. “Madison remarried after the death of our father, and the man she married, is Frank Johnson,”

              “You are our father?” Bailey asked, finally looking at Johnson with an emotion that wasn't negative, for the first time.

            “That would be accurate,” Johnson said, nodding his head. He raised two fingers and pointed them in Bailey's direction. “And as your father, I hate to do this but as a man working for the police, you are under arrest,”

             Fred and Larry had already handcuffed Bailey before she could even blink. “What? No! You can't be! Our father was killed! Madison killed him!”

             Perez moved closer to Johnson to whisper in his ear. The two looked over at Bailey who was being dragged away and at Dawn who was hugging Jack.

             “The important thing is that Bailey is under our custody,” The male investigator said. “We need to round up the rest,”

            “How are my parents?” Jack asked, suddenly realising the position he was in. His arm unconsciously remained wrapped around Dawn's waist. “I heard their plane coming in. Are they alright?”

             Perez smiled. “That wasn't an actual plane, Mr Anderson. It was the simulation sound of one. Your parents are actually arriving here around thirty minutes from now,”

            Jack's dropped jaw made Perez and Johnson laugh. Dawn chuckled, before she attempted the close the gap, by placing the palm of her hand under his chin and pushing it up.

            That seemed to snap Jack out of his thoughts, as he turned his focus back to Dawn. His face finally relaxed. The past couple of days had been rough for him, more than the weeks that he had been imprisoned by Bailey.

             “You,” He said, to Dawn, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

            “We have to help rescue the others, Jack,” The beauteous blonde rolled her eyes. She intertwined their fingers together, before she took off with him behind her, to the right.

             Perez smiled, as she watched them go. “Those crazy kids. I'm glad they are alright,”

           “Indeed,” Johnson nodded his head. “Were your suspicions on the identities of Dawn and Bailey correct?”

            “Yes. They were,”

            “How did you know?”

           “The scars. Bailey's were fresh. Dawn's are healing,”

            “Do you think Bailey's statement is valid? That Madison killed George Harris, her husband?”

            “With Bailey, I can't tell,” The brunette admitted, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. The two began to walk, with Fred and Larry behind them. “But Dawn didn't seem to interject to her statement. There may be a possibility that it is true,”

            “Then there is only one way to find out. We have to interrogate her as soon as possible after we find her and everyone else,”

•

             It took some time but the police emerged victorious. They successfully captured every single ally to Bailey without anyone getting severely injured or dying.

             The Prime Minister and his wife sincerely thanked the police for protecting their son and keeping him alive, as well as protecting them. Johnson, Will and Perez, on behalf of the team accepted their token of gratitude, simply stating that that was their job.

            The Martinez's were utterly devastated to hear the death of their daughter, Isabella. Perez watched with pity as the colour slowly and gradually drained from their faces once they were informed of the gruesome news.

             Bailey's persecution was scheduled to be held the next week. However, everyone knew that with the crimes that she had committed, she would be behind bars for quite some time.

            The same went for her accomplices, although Johnson figured that their sentences and penalties would be less harsh compared to Bailey.

             It was absolutely horrible for him to arrest his own daughter, but he had to do it. And now, he feared that he would have to do the same with his former wife.

           It was two days after the airport fiasco, as the press had named it. Inside a cubicle at the police station stood Johnson with Perez by his side. Madison was seated on a chair with her head bowed low and her hair covering her face completely.

             On the other side of the glass was Will, who was placing his hand on Dawn's shoulder. They listened in and watched Johnson and Perez question Madison about Bailey.

             Perez, Johnson and Madison couldn't see Will and Dawn, though. However, Perez and Johnson were alert and aware of their presence.

             “Moving on, Madison. By any chance, have you committed a crime of any sort, in the past eighteen months?” The male investigator walked around the table, observing the blonde.

             From the corner of Perez's eye, she could see Madison tensing up slightly.

             “A crime, perhaps like,” Johnson paused to think. “Shoplifting? Or jaywalking? Littering?”

            Madison remained silent, keeping her eyes on the ground. 

           “You do know that the phrase ‘You have the right to remain silent’ is only applicable in litigation situations, right?” Perez asked, removing the hair tie from her head. She proceeded to hold up her hair in a ponytail. 

            “Perez!” He glared. 

            “What? I just wanted to make sure that she knows this,” 

            “Alright, alright! Yes. I did commit a crime,” Madison finally spoke. It sounded like she was having an internal battle with herself. “Only, it wasn't a crime. It was multiple acts of the same crime,”

             Dawn bit her lip. 

             “Did any one of the crimes involve Mr. George Harris?” The male investigator pressed. He stood across from her, with his hands on the table. 

            The blonde was silent. 

            Dawn's heart was beating twenty times a second as Madison eventually whispered “Yes,” 

          “Unfaithfulness,” Johnson stated. His heart was a little heavy, because that was the case for their failed marriage. 

           Results were the same as before. Madison's silence was gnawing on Dawn's brain, as she unconsciously pressed herself on the glass window, almost as if she wanted to catch every single word that Madison uttered.

             Then, Madison ducked her head towards the left.

             Johnson raised an eyebrow, before giving Perez a look.

           “Murder,” Perez mumbled, audible enough for the five to hear.

            Madison inhaled sharply, training her eyes on the ground, before bringing her clasped fingers in front of her. “Both,” She tucked a strand behind her hair.

             Dawn couldn't believe it. Madison was unfaithful to her former father and was directly responsible of his death. It was something that she and Bailey had claimed quite often, but hearing it from her rendered the beauteous blonde speechless.

            Dawn blinked, once, twice, before her eyes became slightly watery. Her heart throbbed harder and harder. Everything seemed to dissolve before her, even her mental strength. She wanted to look away, but something within her made her continue staring at Madison.

             “Could you please elaborate on that Miss Meyers?” Perez inquired, her face as blank as ever.

               The blonde began to twiddle with her fingers. “When we got married, I never married George out of love. I was after his wealth. He was rich, I wasn't. And I had just gone through a rough breakup where my previous boyfriend took everything from me,”

             “When we got married, I knew that the only way to get his fortune was to kill him. I was pretty desperate and George wasn't the first man I had killed for money. I would say he wad the third. Men are untrustworthy, cruel, indifferent and selfish,” Madison looked up to meet Perez's eyes for a second or two before she lowered her head once more.

              “When we got married, I knew he had children and I knew that in his will, he would somehow include them in it. So I tried what I could to woo him into giving me what I wanted, but his love for Dawn and Bailey was strong. It was after some time that I got fed up and I decided to poison his food,”

             “But I made sure to do it after he wrote his will. He wouldn't write his will unless he was on his death bed, so I did a couple of things which I regret to make him fall seriously ill. I paid off the doctor to exaggerate his sickness until George believed that it was his time,”

             “When he was convinced, he wrote the will. When he was through and he had handed it to me for safe-keeping, for Dawn, Bailey and I to read. I read it before he died, but when I saw that all his money was being passed down to Bailey and Dawn, I was vexed. So I killed him by poisoning his food,”

               “Bailey and Dawn got the wealth, but they will only access it when they are eighteen years old. Until then, their grandparents will keep it. The reason I was angry was that, in the will, he gave me his ‘crown jewels’. It was stupid of me to think of actual jewels and not to stop and ponder for a second that he was referring to his daughters, the two that he cherished in his life,”

             “He thought I loved them, but the truth was I didn't, and at the moment, I don't know what my feelings are towards the two especially after the past few weeks. I tried making the twins persuade their grandparents into giving me the money they inherited because shortly after George's death, I lost my job and the money I had was limited. The twins refused. I was unable to raise them and take care of myself at the same time so I gave them up for adoption,”

             “I lied to their grandparents pretty often, whenever they called to check in on Bailey and Dawn. I said that they were in boarding school, or out with their friends. I used up every excuse in the book. It was working well,”

               “I got another job and remarried. I cheated on Johnson for almost two weeks when he found out and divorced me, before I could execute my plans once more. He was always out doing some work related activity and I was home most of the time on my own. I guess my boredom turned into curiosity and I went after othet men,”

              “After the divorce, life was a little difficult because I was alone once again, but it was happening so often that I got used to it. My life seemed to stabilise as I went in search of another potential man of interest again, because I thought that I was single for far too long. My aunt who is Dawn, Jace and the other children's Biology teacher, gave me an extra job to do because she could see how I was struggling to make a living, but she didn't know why. That's when I met Jace and I got to know him. He spoke of his father a lot, but all I kept hearing were the six digits that he earned,”

             “I was working towards making Jace steal the money for me, pretending to be hopelessly in love with him as Juliet was with Romeo and I did what I could to try and make him get the money for me. But Jace loves his father too much to betray him, and further on, I could tell his heart belonged to Dawn and not me. I swear, if it were Dawn asking him to do that favour, he would have probably killed himself because those are the two people he cares about most in the world at this point,”

              “Jace broke off things with me once he realised my motives. It was back to the drawing board for some time when a friend of mine set me up for a blind date with a guy she met at The Killmans concert. My friend doesn't know my history with men, either. The ticket was already paid for and so I decided, “Why not?”. Well, as you know, that was when I was kidnapped, by D.A.B,”

             “I know it's too late to say this, but being abducted by Bailey really made me ponder over my actions and the decisions I've made. I regret killing all the men that I have married, with the exception of Johnson, and I'm prepared to accept all responsibility for my actions,”

             “I made horrible decisions and I want to for them, even if it takes me decades to do so. I just...” Madison sighed deeply, running her fingers through her hair. “I want to renew myself. I am turning over a new leaf, I guess,”

              She looked up at Johnson. “I'd like to sincerely and personally apologise to you, Frank Johnson. I know I said what I said about men, but you defy all those adjectives. You were a committed and loyal husband and any woman in the world would be lucky to have you,”

              “I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the twins. I didn't want you to know what I had done because I knew of your profession. It was also partially why I didn't kill you, like all the others. When I married you, I married you to steal your wealth, but not to kill you because I thought you would be smart enough to figure out my tactics, as a man working for the police and all,”

            Madison sighed again. “Speaking of the twins, do pass on my apology to them. I was a horrible mother and a horrible person in general to them. Their father wanted them to have a motherly figure in their life due to the disorder which came up after their real mother died. Unfortunately, I wasn't the ideal mother and wife to have,”

            “Also extend it to Jace and my aunt. In a way, Jace made me start thinking differently about my actions, but not to the same extent as my abduction. And my aunt was a kind soul. She just wanted to help me make a couple of extra dollars,”

             “Thank you, Miss Meyers,” Johnson stated after a moment of silence passed by. “We shall discuss this case, the jurisdiction and the penalties, later in the future, most likely after Bailey's prosecution. However, you are under arrest on the account of murder of Mr George Harris and all the deceased men before him,”