The man with the two faces, Textfreak1 [100 best novels of all time TXT] 📗

questions!”
“Park Avenue, next to a café called ‘La maison du chocolat’”, and with these words he mashed on the gas pedal and raced around the corner.
“Is uncle Victor going to jail? I don’t think it was him who –“, Nicole stopped abruptly.
“You don’t have to think about it, Niki. He’ll get what he deserves. I just can’t believe it. Which moron shoots a man at Christmas? Adam would you please fasten!”, Dominic said with a look into the rearview mirror.
“We are almost there, aren’t we?”, Adam replied furiously.
“Still! The last thing we need is another person hurt!” Dominic turned into a quiet street. He owned a little house with a big double garage. It was white, fenced and the front yard looked manicured. The flower beds were covered with snow just like the rest of the property.
Adam and Nicole walked through the snow trance-like and they weren’t aware of the world around them, they didn’t care about people around them, anymore. They lost everything they had once loved.
Nicole’s hair wasn’t tied together elegantly any longer. It looked ruffled and her white dress showed spots of blood. Tears were running over her face, but she didn’t make a sound.
Adam looked confused. He couldn’t quite understand what had happened. His entire world caved in within seconds. His mother gone, his father gone, no grandparents. Uncle Victor was the only real relative they had, but he may be going to jail. ‘It’s a cruel world, we live in’, Adam thought full of anger.
It was midday. The sun was smothered entirely by white clouds. The trees were all leafless, no flower dared to reflourish. In this cold winter everything seemed to be frozen. Not just nature, people, too. Their actions
were inexplicable, their feelings touched bottom. In that kind of world, it seems every person acts for selfish reasons and their excuse is simple: “I want to live an easy life!”
It smelled of coffee. Apparently, Dominic had had breakfast before he had arrived at the scene of crime. The thought of breakfast made Adam nauseous. Dominic took their coats and pulled them away. The two siblings sat down and gazed into space.
“I know it’s hard to lose your parents. And to loose your parents in that kind of way is all the worse. If you want to talk about it, I’ll be there”, Dominic looked at the two of them with a serious expression.
Adam and Nicole just nodded. They didn’t know what to say and for the second time in their life they were speechless. First they had to realize what had happened and what it meant for them. Slowly they stood up and didn’t want to look at Dominic once.
The guest room was tiny and two beds were squeezed into it. The walls were painted blue, the ceiling was white and the floor was covered with awful-looking carpets. Dimly sunlight flooded through the only window of the room.
Nicole closed the door and both lay down on the beds. It became quiet. Adam couldn’t hear anything, except the humming of Dominic who was in the kitchen. ‘I bet he thinks about a way to cheer us up’, Adam thought. ‘The only thing I need is silence. And I think Nicole does, too. She doesn’t look well. Of course given the circumstances, it’s no big surprise’, he thought.
Nicole was exactly thinking the same thing and it was a shame that they talked just a few words to each other, because they had more in common than they could imagine.
Hour after hour passed. Adam and Nicole were lying on their beds, thinking about their future lives. The golden sunlight turned into a light red, filled the tiny guest room with a warm atmosphere and the two went to sleep.
It was in the dead of night when Adam woke up again. He looked around and tried to remember where he was. Reality hit him like a punch in the face. “Am I doomed? Maybe I’m not meant to be happy. Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve a punishment this hard?”, Adam whispered into the darkness, desperately hoping to get an answer. Unfortunately, the room kept quiet and Adam fell asleep within a few minutes.
When Nicole opened her eyes, she instantly felt a horrible sadness inside her. Nothing mattered to her and she wondered if her brother felt the same. She sat up and found Adam’s bed empty. Nicole put on her socks and walked through the room up to a mirror. A fourteen-year old girl, with shiny blue eyes and dishevelled-looking hair looked at her. ‘You look horrible’, she thought to herself. She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to straighten it. She got dressed and looked into the mirror, once more again.
“What are you doing?”, Adam’s voice said from behind.
Nicole turned around and watched her brother walking through the room, curiously. “Nothing? Why are you asking? And how long have you been standing there, spying on me?”, she asked.
“Nevermind. Dominic drove away, fifteen minutes ago. He left a note that he’d probably come back in an hour”, he replied and looked out of the window. The world looked innocent at this early hour. Adam could only laugh at that thought.
Both went into the living-room and wanted to watch TV. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the remote controle. They searched everywhere.
Adam opend a door of a huge, brown cupboard and was surprised of what he found in there. “Nicole!”, he said hoarsely.
She kneed next to Adam and looked into the cupboard. It was stuffed with letters, all adressed to Dominic Young. And the sender was no other than Nicole’s and Adam’s mother Emilia Sanders.
Adam got the first letter and unfolded it. It was posted 20 years ago and written in a neat hand writing. Both recognized the writing, at once. It was a letter from their mother, indeed. Adam’s hand began to shake and he read out loud:

“Dear Dominic, my love,
We only met a couple of weeks ago, but it feels as if I have known you forever. I don’t know what to say, because you make my heart beat faster. I can’t think when you look into my eyes with your dark green loving eyes. You are the wittiest, most charming and chivalrous person I have ever met. I can’t tell you this in person that’s why I am writing to you.
I love you Dominic and I always will. I just wanted you to know that.
Please write back as soon as you can,
Emilia

Silence followed these words. Seconds passed and they just stared at this sheet of paper and couldn’t believe what they just read. Nobody had ever mentioned that Dominic and their mother had a relationship.
“Here’s another letter. It was sent 16 years ago. You want to read it?”, Adam asked uncertainly and looked into Nicoles eyes.
“I don’t know. On one hand it’s private and I really don’t want to nose around but on the other hand I want to know what happened between them.” Nicole sounded seriously. She took the letter, unfolded it and began to read:

“Dominic,
I’m sorry for not calling you back. It’s as I told you. I met another guy and I want to marry him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him, so would you please stop stalking me! You been really acting odd, the last few weeks. It’s hard to lose someone you loved I know, but please, life goes on!
James Sanders is the man I love and I want you to leave us alone!
Emilia

Again it became quiet. Neither Nicole nor Adam could understand why their mother had reacted that way. Her words sounded hate-filled.
“August the twenty-first, 1994”, Nicole whispered and suddenly it became so clear. Their mother had been pregnant, at that time. Adam was born, just two months later.
“Adam. Do you think Dominic killed our dad, because he didn’t forgive him for taking the woman he once loved away from him?”, she sounded frightened and panicky.
He didn’t answer promptly, because he was distracted by a car key. He took it and looked more precisely.
“Get up!”, he shouted and ran out of the room, followed by Nicole. Adam ran outside and stopped in front of the garage. “Help me please!”, together they heaved the garage door into the air. Carefully they walked inside.
If you looked out of the big window of the garage you could see the front yard. A big steel door leaded into the backyard. If you opened the garage door, light flooded through the room.
Two cars were kept in Dominic’s garage. The red BMW and a black Mercedes like Victor’s. Adam and Nicole didn’t move. Their eyes were focused on the black car.
“This is a nightmare!”, Adam stuttered bewildered. ‘This can’t be true! Dominic is the nicest person in the world. He didn’t kill my dad!’, Adam thought with a shake of his head just as though to banish the horrible imagination.
“Why did you poke your nose into other people’s business?”, Dominic said cold-blooded.
Paralysed by fear both stood motionless in the middle of the garage. Slowly Dominic appeared in front of them, aiming a gun at Adam.
“You did it, didn’t you?”, Adam asked tensed.
“What? Oh, you mean I killed your father? No”, he said with a giggle. “Someone else took the load off me. But I would have done it! Your father took away what belonged to me. And he deserved to die”, Dominic said and with each word his grasp around the gun tightened and so did his face.
“You miserable, pathetic lunatic!”, Nicole cried.
“Oh, Niki, don’t!”, Dominic said in a honeyed tone and aimed the gun at her. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“The hell I do!”, she shouted and tears were running down her cheeks.
“It’s a shame. I don’t want to kill you, though. But I have to. It’s the only way to get your inheritance. Of course, I have to kill Victor first!”, Dominic laughed.
“Burn in hell!”, Adam yelled, but didn’t say a further word, because Victor aimed his gun at him again.
“You know. I never really liked you. You’re too inhibited, because-“, Dominic’s eyes widened.
Nicole and Adam had heard a strange noise like glass splintering. Both turned around and the window of the garage showed a big hole, indeed. Adam looked around and saw Dominic slumped down. His shirt bloody red.
Steps were audible. Ten, perhaps twenty armed policemen were running into the little garage and with them, Victor!
“Uncle Victor?”, Adam asked in disbelief and looked away from Dominic’s dead body.
“I don’t want you to see that!”, he replied with a serious voice and took them by their hands. “Go to the officer over there”, he said after a few minutes when the garage was empty. The policemen had left the garage area and were waiting for forensics to arrive.
Adam and Nicole nodded silently and ran to the officer. Victor smiled. But when he turned around, his face became stiff. He looked down at Dominic and said with a cold smile: “Thank you very much, Dominic!