Dead Ringers (29 page)

Yet he knew. He saw the duplicity in the double's eyes now.

Revenant,
he thought.
Dead man
. The world seemed too solid and ordinary for that to be true, but his skin crawled with the idea of it.
Inhuman
.

“Nick,” said the anxious one, the one who'd been so keen to lead him away.

“Fuck you,” Nick said again, practically whispering it this time. Driven by terror, he grabbed the skinny, balding man by the front of his coat and slammed him against the stone façade of an office building. The doubles were strong, so Nick knew he had to be fast. He smashed the bastard's skull off the wall three times in rapid succession. “What do you want, asshole? What do you
all
want?”

The double inhaled, stood taller somehow, and pushed away from the wall. He swung a punch that Nick barely saw coming. The blow crashed into his cheek with a crack he hoped wasn't bone and for an eyeblink he just reeled backward, forgetting where he was. Aaron's double followed and hit him again. Nick threw an arm up to block and nearly managed to dodge his head out of the way. The double's fist clipped him on the temple and he staggered off the sidewalk and into the street. A car horn blared and he saw a red compact swerve to avoid hitting him.

The double hit him again, and this time he went down, lip split, mouth bleeding. He sat in the middle of the street and stared up at this man who looked so much like Aaron that Nick could feel his understanding of the world collapsing beneath him. A dead man he might be, but the double had substance. Flesh and bone.

The double crouched by him, head cocked, studying him. “We want what you want, Mr. Devlin. What anyone wants. We want to live.”

The man with Aaron's face stood. In a hundred little ways he no longer looked like Aaron at all. He was too confident, too strong, and too cruel.

“I want to thank you,” the double said. “I heard your friend planning to meet you here right before I got my hands on him. When he got away from me, I thought I'd come in his place, get you out of the way, and then finish him off when he came seeking help, as I knew he would.”

He smiled and turned toward the shadows in the lee of the building, where the daylight had already abdicated its hold.

“And here he is.”

In the shadows, the fading Aaron took a step forward. Nick saw the terror on his face, but also a determination he would never have expected.

“Run!” Nick snapped at him.

The double marched toward the fading Aaron.

Nick shook his head to clear his thoughts and forced himself to stand and go after him. “Damn it, Aaron, take off! Get the hell out of here!”

His voice seemed to snap Aaron out of whatever ridiculous bravado had come over him. He stared at his double and took a step back, then two. Nick picked up his pace, knowing Aaron would not be able to run far or fast enough now, not as weak—as insubstantial—as he had become.

When the double came to a startled halt, just at the edge of the sidewalk, Nick nearly collided with him. He grabbed the back of the man's jacket, wondering what had stopped him, but then he saw the shadows deepening behind the faded Aaron. The darkness swirled and took shape, building itself into a figure, and Nick swore under his breath as his grip on the double gave way.

The raggedy man stood just behind the real Aaron, wearing the same tattered clothes and the same filthy blindfold.

“Aaron … come this way!” Nick said. “Now!”

But Aaron only frowned in confusion, staring at his double as he shook his head and took a step backward … toward the raggedy man.

The double turned and fled on foot, running swiftly across the street and toward a narrow fire lane between buildings. Nick watched him go, just a glance, and he shouted for Aaron again.

The raggedy man sniffed the air, moving his head back and forth. Then he smiled.

“No!” Nick shouted, but he took only one step. Just one step, and he wondered if Aaron might have always been the braver of the two of them.

The raggedy man grabbed the fading Aaron with one hand and opened his coat with the other. Aaron shouted, beating insubstantial hands against the raggedy man's arms and chest, but the blind man thrust him into the darkness inside his coat. A susurrus of voices, a cascade of satisfied groans, rose from inside that coat, and then Aaron screamed as he was dragged further inside, as if something had been waiting for him in the tattered folds of that black coat. A dry tearing noise followed, and Aaron vanished inside the raggedy man's coat with no shape or bulge that would indicate anything at all had changed. He was simply gone.

Numbed, Nick stared at the raggedy man in disbelief, until the coat twitched and billowed and went still, and then the raggedy man put his head back and sniffed the air again. He frowned as if unsure whether or not he had found a new scent, and Nick knew he couldn't worry about Aaron anymore. He had a daughter, and that meant he had to worry about himself. The raggedy man cocked his head, sniffing and considering, and Nick turned and darted across the street. A truck rolled by, then a taxi, and several cars. He ran toward Commonwealth Avenue, glancing back at the gray shadows in the lee of those buildings and beneath the autumn-leaved trees. Every turn, he caught a glimpse of the raggedy man sniffing curiously at the air, until at last he reached the corner at the end of the block and turned, and there were only shadows again.

No raggedy man. No Aaron.

But though he was sure Aaron was gone, he had no doubt he would see the raggedy man again.

In his pocket, his cell phone began to vibrate. Heart thundering, he answered it.

 

SIX

Tess sat on the edge of her daughter's bed, one hand on Maddie's back. The room was silent except for the ticking clock on the nightstand and the creaking of the house as the wind blew outside. Simply being in her daughter's presence, comforting her little girl, had restored much of her strength, making her feel more solid and real and alive, but she was more worried about her daughter than she was about herself.

“I just don't understand,” Maddie said. She glanced up at her mother, lower lip trembling. Her eyes were red from crying but her tears had dried. “I mean … they looked exactly like you guys. Are they related to us?”

“No,” Tess said quickly. “They're con artists or something, trying to rip us off.”

“Criminals,” Nick said from the doorway. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, as if he was afraid to come farther into the room. A dark bruise had swollen his mouth and another had turned a deep purple on his temple. “But we're going to get the police involved, honey. You'll be safe. I swear.”

Maddie took a deep breath and sat up straighter, gazing defiantly at her father. “I don't want just me to be safe. I want you guys to be safe, too.”

“We will be,” Tess said. She hated to lie to her daughter, but the truth would terrify the girl even more than this lie. “We'll take care of this, honey. Your dad and I may not be married anymore, but we're still on the same team. We'll back each other up, just like we'll back you up, always.”

Nick came into the room, taking his hands from his pockets. He went down on one knee in front of Maddie.

“Sweetie, Mom and I need to talk to Aunt Lili and our friend Audrey in the kitchen—”

“About the weirdos?”

“Yes, about the weirdos,” Nick agreed. “Are you going to be okay here in your room for a little while? Can you read or watch some TV for a bit, or are you scared to be by yourself?”

Maddie exhaled. “I'll be okay,” she said bravely. “You guys aren't leaving, right?”

“Not without you,” Tess promised. “We just need to handle this situation as quickly as possible, and it's—”

“Grown-up stuff,” Maddie said. “Probably with swearing.”

Nick laughed. Tess felt a twinge in her heart. He wasn't her husband anymore, but she would always love the way he laughed when the wonder of having a daughter caught him by surprise.

“Lots of swearing,” Nick admitted.

“Can I just ask one question?” Maddie turned to her mother. “How did they do it? Make themselves look so much like you? They talked like you and … Mom, the lady even kind of smelled like you. Like your body lotion, I mean.”

Tess felt a twist of nausea in her gut. Fear skittered along her flesh like a hundred crawling spiders. Keeping that fear from showing on her face might have been the hardest thing she'd ever done, but for Maddie, she had to be brave. Whatever might happen to her, she had to protect this little girl, who was the greatest gift that either she or Nick had ever received.

She grabbed Maddie and hugged her tightly. “This is me, kid. Right here. If you ever have a question about that someday in the future, we need a password. Something only you and I and your dad will ever know. We tell nobody.”

Tess held Maddie away from her. “What do you say? Pick a word.”

The little girl knitted her brow, thinking hard, and then she giggled a little.

“You have a word, Mad-girl?” Nick asked.

“Linguini.” Maddie smiled softly and gave another quiet giggle. “It's such a funny word.”

“Linguini it is,” Tess said, kissing her forehead.

Nick stood and did the same. “Okay, honey. Give us half an hour or so.”

A moment of worry creased Maddie's forehead, but then she nodded. “No problem.”

Tess clicked the TV on for her and handed her daughter the remote control, kissed her one more time, and then followed Nick out of Maddie's bedroom. She shut the door behind her, wanting to be sure the girl could not overhear the conversation the adults would be having.

As she walked into the kitchen, Lili was just finishing a phone call. Nick had gone immediately to the counter to pour himself a fresh cup of coffee and Tess found that she did not mind him helping himself. This wasn't his house, but they were in this together, whatever came next. She would not begrudge him making himself at home.

If it was really Nick.

He could've had the other Tess punch him a few times to make them believe his story. Anything was possible. People said that all the time, but now Tess understood what it really meant.
Anything
was possible. So she liked having Nick around right now, needed him there, but she had to remember that Maddie was the only thing that mattered.

“Audrey,” she said, “do you want another cup of tea?”

Hollow-eyed, Audrey shook her head and turned to Lili. “Well?”

Lili stuffed her phone into her pocket. She had been pacing while finishing up the call and had ended up in front of the refrigerator. Now she leaned one hand on it, as if for support.

“I reached Frank Lindbergh,” Lili said. “I only gave him a snapshot of today's insanity, but he's on his way over. Half an hour or so, he said.”

“I thought he had a new job,” Tess said, sitting at the kitchen table beside Audrey. “He can just leave like that?”

Nick brought his coffee over and sat down. “How much did you tell him, Lili?”

Lili shrugged. “That you got your ass kicked. That Aaron might be dead. That your doubles basically abducted Maddie but we got her back. That Audrey got a reading at the hotel that made her want to run screaming from the fucking building. How much more do you think I'd have to say for him to be willing to help? He's part of this too, remember? He said he saw his double.”

“I wonder if that's all of us,” Tess said, glancing around the kitchen. “I mean, we don't really know, right? Nick contacted most of the others involved with the Harrison House project, but if we see any of them at this point—”

“We keep our distance,” Lili agreed.

“Whatever happens, we stay together until this is over,” Nick said.

Audrey shifted uneasily. “Look, I get it. I'm … not okay. Just being in the same room with the psychomanteum today messed me up pretty badly. But I have a pregnant wife at home. I can't just abandon her for however long it takes to—”

Tess stared at her. “What you
can't
do is put her in danger if you can avoid it. You want to bring her into this?”

Seconds passed as little waves of frustration and anger swept over Audrey's features. Then she shook her head and stared in disgust at the floor.

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” Lili said. “That's one word for how I'm feeling. There are others, though. Terrified. Confused. Fucking furious.”

Tess felt her heart racing. She stared at Lili, surprised that there wasn't one more word in that string of emotions, because she herself had a terrible feeling growing inside her that she felt sure the others must have shared.
Suspicious
. She wished that she had a password with each of them like the one she and Nick had just set up with Maddie.

“Audrey,” Nick said, “please tell me you have some idea of what we should do next, because if we just sit around here and wait for these things—these people—to decide to just kill us and be done with whatever game they've been playing, I'll lose my mind.”

Tess was about to reply when she hesitated. “Did you all hear that?”

Nick frowned, but Audrey had pricked up her ears, too.

“Is it Maddie?” Lili asked.

Tess shook her head, slid back her chair, and started out of the kitchen. “No. I think someone's at the door.”

“Hang on,” Lili said quickly. “Don't go alone.”

Tess waited for Lili to catch up, and a moment later all four of them made their way to the door. Nick went to look out the window to try to get a glimpse of the front steps, but Tess did not wait for him. If the doubles had returned, she intended to fight them. It would be four to two, now, and she thought that might make the difference.

Unless they've brought reinforcements,
she thought, too late, as she opened the door.