Ditto

By Karen Spowal- McKitrick

Ditto is a suspense novel paralleling the lives of eleven-month-old twin baby girls. I am asking you to run with me in different directions and meet me at chapter 25. One of the girls is taken from her stroller in New York. The baby girl is then transported to California by desperate teenagers. The remaining twin is physically unharmed and remains in New York with her affluent biological parents.

Ditto has intriguing components: a missing baby girl, serious conflicts, suicide, murder, survival, and the loss of people central to the storyline.

Thank you for your interest in Ditto.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886541007

Book preview

Ditto

Karen Spowal- McKitrick

Copyright © 2023 Karen Spowal-McKitrick

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-094-9 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-107-6 (hc)

ISBN 979-8-88654-100-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dear Reader,

This is the second book I have written using literary symbols as the title of the book. The first book that I published is titled My Dash, a memoir. You were asked in My Dash to walk with me down a captivating road. Ditto is a suspense novel, and I am asking you to speed up the pace, run with me in different directions, and meet me at chapter 25.

Ditto is a book paralleling the lives of eleven-month-old twin baby girls. You will notice that every other chapter is titled Ditto. One of the girls is taken from her stroller in New York. The baby is transported to California by desperate teenagers. The remaining twin is physically unharmed and resides in New York with her affluent biological parents. Ditto has intriguing components: a missing baby, serious conflicts, suicide, murder, survival, and the loss of people central to the story line.

Thank you for your interest in Ditto.

Sincerely,

Karen

Dedication

To the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to John Walsh.

The children in this book are fictitious, but the problems are real. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) tirelessly recovers and protects our children.

John Walsh experienced firsthand the tragic loss of his son, Adam. The sentiments I wish to convey to Mr. Walsh are gratitude and admiration. He dove into the ice-cold water of grief and came out of the other side with resolve, determination, and a quest to help victimized children.

I mentioned in My Dash that losing a child would bring me to my knees. I wrote about Sandy Hook and the parents who are making a difference. Ditto is a work of fiction, but it may help us understand what the loss of a child can do to a family.

John Clifford McKitrick

June 10, 1937–February 7, 2013

Science Memorial Scholarship

My husband, John, received a science scholarship when he was in high school. That scholarship paved the way for his dream of a career in microbiology. John ended his career, after thirty-one years, at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was the director of microbiology at Montefiore and a professor of clinical pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

On June 13, 2018, two students from Brewster High School in Brewster, New York, received the John C. McKitrick Science Memorial Scholarship. Both Elizabeth Kelmenson and Matthew Scipioni shared John's passion for science. Ten students were added to the list of scholarship students since 2018. My husband would have been pleased with the selection of these stellar science students.

A portion of the profits from this book will continue to fund the yearly John Clifford McKitrick Science Memorial Scholarship at Brewster High School.

Preface

Your dash: book 1

Chapter 1

Missing

Chapter 2

Ditto: Missing

Chapter 3

Master Plan

Chapter 4

Ditto: Master Plan

Chapter 5

Action

Chapter 6

Ditto: Action

Chapter 7

Reality

Chapter 8

Ditto: Reality

Chapter 9

Deception 101

Chapter 10

Ditto: Deception 101

Chapter 11

Dreams

Chapter 12

Ditto: Dreams

Chapter 13

Giant Steps

Chapter 14

Ditto: Giant Steps

Chapter 15

Till Death Us Do Part

Chapter 16

Ditto: Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 17

A Grave Day

Chapter 18

Ditto: A Grave Day

Chapter 19

Family Business

Chapter 20

Ditto: Family Business

Chapter 21

Arrest

Chapter 22

Ditto: Arrest

Chapter 23

Unspoken Truth

Chapter 24

Ditto: Unspoken Truth

Chapter 25

Meeting of the Minds

Postscript

About the Author

Dear Reader,

This is the second book I have written using literary symbols as the title of the book. The first book that I published is titled My Dash, a memoir. You were asked in My Dash to walk with me down a captivating road. Ditto is a suspense novel, and I am asking you to speed up the pace, run with me in different directions, and meet me at chapter 25.

Ditto is a book paralleling the lives of eleven-month-old twin baby girls. You will notice that every other chapter is titled Ditto. One of the girls is taken from her stroller in New York. The baby is transported to California by desperate teenagers. The remaining twin is physically unharmed and resides in New York with her affluent biological parents. Ditto has intriguing components: a missing baby, serious conflicts, suicide, murder, survival, and the loss of people central to the story line.

Thank you for your interest in Ditto.

Sincerely,

Karen

Dedication

To the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to John Walsh.

The children in this book are fictitious, but the problems are real. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) tirelessly recovers and protects our children.

John Walsh experienced firsthand the tragic loss of his son, Adam. The sentiments I wish to convey to Mr. Walsh are gratitude and admiration. He dove into the ice-cold water of grief and came out of the other side with resolve, determination, and a quest to help victimized children.

I mentioned in My Dash that losing a child would bring me to my knees. I wrote about Sandy Hook and the parents who are making a difference. Ditto is a work of fiction, but it may help us understand what the loss of a child can do to a family.

John Clifford McKitrick

June 10, 1937–February 7, 2013

Science Memorial Scholarship

My husband, John, received a science scholarship when he was in high school. That scholarship paved the way for his dream of a career in microbiology. John ended his career, after thirty-one years, at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was the director of microbiology at Montefiore and a professor of clinical pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

On June 13, 2018, two students from Brewster High School in Brewster, New York, received the John C. McKitrick Science Memorial Scholarship. Both Elizabeth Kelmenson and Matthew Scipioni shared John's passion for science. Ten students were added to the list of scholarship students since 2018. My husband would have been pleased with the selection of these stellar science students.

A portion of the profits from this book will continue to fund the yearly John Clifford McKitrick Science Memorial Scholarship at Brewster High School.

Preface

A special thank you to my daughter, Karina McKitrick Linehan, her husband Michael Linehan, family, and friends for their loving support.

Your dash: book 1

Everyone has a significant event in their life that should be written and read. I encourage you to write your own dash about your life. There is no financial gain from submitting your dash for publication, just the opportunity to convey a message. Your dash should be a short story about something you wish to share with other readers and be forever in print. The topic may be happy, sad, informative, or any combination of these. I am sure you have a story to tell and share. The submission will not be edited and will require that you include your name, the city and state where you reside, and your permission to publish. Submissions in either email or hard copy will be considered. Your story may be selected for publishing for Your Dash, Book 1. The selection process will be based on the time of receipt of your story, the content, and the variety of stories submitted. Currently, I have received twenty-three stories from all walks of life. Don't be concerned if your story is not selected. It will go to the top of the list for Your Dash: Book 2.

Email address: [e-mail]

Mail hard copy to:

Your Dash

Post Office Box 130

1511 Route 22

Brewster, New York 10509

Chapter 1

Missing

A loud, piercing scream bellows! She is startled to realize it is coming from herself.

Zola Woodward is the English nanny for the identical eleven-month-old twin baby girls Randy and Regan. The names were chosen because they could be girl or boy names. The girls came into this world on June 17, 1981. Their father, Brent Stone, was secretly disappointed. He tried very hard not to expose his disappointment with the circumstances. He was happy that they were healthy, but they just weren't boys. Sara, Brent's wife, knows her husband well and could sense his reserved excitement upon their birth. They went through the pregnancy not knowing their genders. Maybe that was a mistake. Deep down inside, Brent struggled with his feelings and was not very proud of what he was thinking. The delivery was complicated for Sara. The doctors informed both Brent and Sara that they could not have more children. This ended the dream of boys for Brent. He understood that more time was needed to get accustomed to his disappointment.

Zola had been hired weeks before the birth of the twins and is totally in love with them. She is on a student visa and is enrolled in night school at New York University. She is working on her master's degree in psychology. Zola is stunning with shoulder-length sandy-brown hair and blue eyes. Her beauty is accented by a perfectly oval face and a stature of five feet and seven inches. She is bright with high energy and the perfect match for the Stone family. Zola lives with the Stones in their beautiful six-thousand-square-feet, seven-bedroom home. It is located in Westchester County, Cliffside Manor, New York, with a view of the Hudson River. NYU is some distance from Cliffside Manor, so the Stones gave Zola a car and are paying for her parking on campus. She is twenty-two years old and exhibits a maturity level way beyond her years. Zola's parents are both teachers in London with stellar reputations. They live in Cranbrook, about thirty-eight miles southeast of the London Bridge. The train is their mode of travel to London, where they teach at the same prestigious high school. Zola had attended a local private high school and then went away to Cardiff University.

Simon Shaw and Zola first met in kindergarten; it was the beginning of a long-term relationship. He was cute back then, and by the time they graduated from high school, he had become a tall, athletically built, handsome man with curly brown hair. They graduated from high school together and chose the same university. They were inseparable and in love. It came as no surprise when Simon asked Zola for her hand in marriage. She chose her college roommate and best friend, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Ashton, to be her maid of honor. Simon and Zola had decided that their engagement would be no longer than six months. They thought it would give them enough time to graduate from college, secure jobs, and find an affordable apartment near Cranbrook.

Saturday was the one day that Lizzy and Zola enjoyed not setting their alarms. They woke to the ringing phone at 8:00 a.m. one Saturday and thought, This is not going to be good. Zola jumped out of bed and rushed to the phone. She answered the phone to hear her crying mother. Her mother was having a difficult time speaking, but what Zola understood was that her grandmother (Gran) had passed away. Now they were both crying. Her father took the phone from her mother and continued the conversation with Zola. Zola was very close to Gran. She had taken care of Zola when she was young, and Zola shared all her secrets with her. Her father said, Gran was baking a cake for the church bake sale. Your mother called her this morning to inform her that she would pick up the cake at 7:30 a.m., but there was no answer. Your mother went next door to see if Gran was all right. Your mother found Gran on the kitchen floor, the oven door still open and the cake upside down on the floor. She called 9-9-9 for emergency services. They were there within minutes, but Gran was already dead. The cause of death has not been determined, but they suspect it may have been a stroke or a heart attack. Hearing her father say those words moved her from life to death in a split second. Zola was seriously shaken by the news, but she told her father she would leave school and would be there by noon. She ended the call with the emotions that go together with death. Lizzy moved to Zola's side and wept with her. Three years ago, Lizzy had been welcomed into their family with open arms. She was like the sister that Zola never had, and Gran was like the grandmother Lizzy never knew. She shared her secrets with Gran just as Zola did. Gran always said, Your secrets are safe with me. I will take them to my grave.

Lizzy helped Zola pack and walked with her to the car. They hugged each other, and Zola asked Lizzy to call Simon and tell him what had happened. Zola didn't request or expect either of them to attend the funeral. They were behind in their assignments and were worried about their final exams. Zola was clearly the better student of the three of them, and she tried to help them with their biggest problem: time management.

Zola drove home in shock and sadness. She cried off and on during the trip. She thought about Gran and how much she had loved her. Zola's arrival home ignited many emotions. Her mother and father engaged with her in their traditional family hug. This time tears rolled down their cheeks.

Time moved quickly over the next few days until the day Gran was laid to rest. Later that evening, Zola announced to her parents that she needed to go back to school. She said her assignments were piling up. She had firsthand experience of lagging in her studies. Gran would have said, There are no excuses for an excuse. Zola left after dinner and arrived back at school a little after midnight. She drove into the parking lot close to her dorm and went into the four-story building with her handbag and suitcase. She pressed the number 3 on the elevator panel and exited the elevator. She went two doors down on the left and opened the door. She tried not to make any noise. Lizzy had been pulling all-nighters, studying, and it was late. Zola decided to sleep on the sofa. The creaky bedroom door was a sure way to awaken Lizzy. Zola made herself comfortable on the sofa and, before she knew it, was asleep.

The next morning, the creaky door interrupted her deep sleep. She looked in the direction of the sound. She thought she was having a bad dream. Walking toward her were Lizzy and Simon. Simon was holding Lizzy by the hand, and they were both smiling. Lizzy was dressed in a sexy negligee that Zola did not remember ever seeing. Simon was adorned in boxer shorts. Zola abruptly stood up and faced them. Zola was only a few feet away from them, and she looked Simon in the eyes. His eyes expressed shock, betrayal, and guilt. Simon managed to address Zola, saying, I can explain. Zola said, You can't, and you won't. Zola took off her engagement ring and gave the ring and Simon's promise back to him. Zola turned her eyes to Lizzy and said, Lizzy, as of noon today, you will be out of this dorm room. The dorm manageress might help you with your request for another dorm room. I want to make one thing clear. If you are not out of this room and my life by noon today, I will notify the ethics committee. Both you and Simon have committed serious ethics violations. The ethics committee has the power and responsibility to expel the both of you. Zola turned her back to Simon and Lizzy. She went to the sofa, took her handbag, hastily went to the entry door, opened it, and walked out. She quietly closed the door behind her and went to the university chapel, and there she cried her eyes out.

Zola graduated from university, drastically changed her expected course, and traveled to America. Her promise to her parents was to continue her education in America and eventually return to England. Brent's promise to Zola's parents was to do everything possible to make sure that Zola would always be safe. He added to his promise by offering to help Zola with the continuation of her studies.

Brent is committed to making sure everyone living under his roof is safe. He suffers from a fear of loss and shoulders the responsibility for his family. He knows that sorrowful life events are not his fault, but he cannot balance his head with his heart. One month before Randy and Regan were born, he upgraded the existing home security system. He carefully selected Line Security Inc., an innovative, high-tech, world-class security system. Brent's plan was to guard against fire, burglary, and any type of intrusion. He considered the idea of installing cameras, but the neighborhood is safe, and he didn't think Sara would agree. She already thought Brent was a little over the top. Shortly after his babies were born, Brent decided to get a puppy. He chose a male Irish setter, which he named Rusty, and told Sara it was for the girls. He felt compelled to have one more layer of protection for his family. He knew the dog was not an attack dog, but his barking would alert them if anything significant happened. He will never admit to anyone that somehow the male dog makes him feel complete. He can't explain that, even to himself. Protecting his family is critical to him even if Sara thinks it is excessive.

When his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he felt helpless and guilty yet somehow responsible. As he watched his father mentally decline in a long-term care facility, he tried to convince himself it was not his fault, but he still felt the heavy weight of responsibility. It was possibly due to the many regrets he had concerning his father, regrets like not spending enough time with him and then arguing with him over inconsequential topics when he did. During that same time, his mother was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Both of his parents passed away seven years ago, just a few months apart. Again he tried to understand it was not his fault.

The gated entrance of the Stones' home holds a bronze plaque, and on it was engraved "The Three Rs"—representing Randy, Regan, and Rusty. Brent fell in love with his baby girls and is happy things have worked out as they have. Having a boy isn't as important as he thought it was going to be. Brent and Sara have a joyful, complete life that is totally enhanced by their precious daughters. The twins are adorable with their cherub faces; auburn, curly, unruly hair; and hazel eyes. They seem identical in every way except their personalities. Randy is outgoing with an infectious laugh. Regan is reserved and deliberate in her actions. Based on personality alone, it is easy for Zola and everyone else to tell them apart.

Zola's bedroom is adjacent to the twins' room. The baby monitoring system receiver is housed in Zola's room. Sometimes she needs to tend to them during the night, but not often.

The twins share a beautiful and functional bedroom. The colors in the room are pale yellow and gray, not pink as may have been expected. Sara chose bunnies as the theme for the room. The accent that she added to the room was a stuffed bunny five feet tall, standing in the corner of the room. The bunny has soft gray fur with a big smile, so it will not scare the children. Adding to the beauty of the room are the names Randy and Regan on the wall. The names are above their yellow cribs, mounted on a bunny-shaped yellow wooden frame. The draperies are in a yellow-and-gray bunny print. There are three rocking chairs. One rocker is for an adult, and the other two are for the twins. The cushions are of