Ken Douglas - Dead Ringer

“I’m going to need all the help I can get.” Maggie couldn’t believe how different Debra was from her first impression of her.

“I’ll make some excuse why Margo and Jasmine couldn’t come out to the airport. I’ll have dinner with them, tell them how wonderful Margo’s getting on and how great Jasmine’s doing in school. I probably won’t get back till 2:00 or 3:00. But first thing in the morning, I’ll pack and come by. Lord knows I’d rather stay with you than in this modern art mausoleum. I wanted to do that anyway, but Margo was afraid Jasmine wouldn’t get any school work done.” She smiled. “We do like to play.”

“Really?”

“I’m her other best friend. We’re the Three Musketeers, Jazz, Sonya and me.”

“I used to be in the Three Musketeers-me, Nick and Gordon.” Maggie sighed. “I should be getting back.” She wasn’t quite sure what she thought about Debra moving in. “The bus can be unpredictable and I want to be there before Gordon notices I was gone.”

“You took the bus?” Debra got up. “I’ll drive you.”

Maggie was hardly aware of the time as Debra negotiated her Mercedes through the traffic on Pacific Coast Highway. In what seemed like only seconds, Debra was signaling a left turn into the Sand and Sea Condos, Maggie’s new home.

“Mrs. Kenyon,” Danny said to Maggie, “your friend Gordon told me you lost your clicker, so I gave him one, I hope that’s okay.”

“It is,” Maggie said.

“My, we’re looking sharp today,” the guard said as he stepped out of the shack and looked in at Debra.

“Back at ’cha, Danny,” Debra said.

“Gonna be staying awhile?”

“I was gonna stay in the new house till it sold, but I just couldn’t pass up seeing you every day, so I’ll be staying here till it’s off my hands.”

“Debra, you’re ’bout the best looking woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Danny laughed, deep from the belly.” And now that your mourning time is over, we should give some serious thought ’bout stepping out, me and you.”

“What about Darnelle and the kids?” Debra laughed, too.

“Ah, them.” Danny was still laughing as he waved them on by. He turned. “How ’bout if I get an okay from the wife?”

“In your dreams.” She put the car in gear and drove through. Then, to Maggie, “Danny’s an old scoundrel, but he wouldn’t flirt with me if he didn’t know I enjoyed it so much.” She reached up to the visor and pushed a button on a garage door opener and waited while the gate slid open.

“You have your own clicker?” Maggie said.

“The condos come with two parking spaces. Margo only had one car, the spot next to it’s mine.” Debra parked next to where the Porsche should have been. Maggie was secretly thankful the parking space was empty. It meant Gordon, wasn’t back yet. She wanted a little time before she had to explain why she’d been out running around, when she’d promised she’d stay inside with the door locked.

“You really drove the car into the bay?” Debra said.

“I really did.”

“Margo would have freaked.”

“Yeah, well don’t think I didn’t.”

“I don’t know, it sounds like you handled yourself okay.”

“It was more reaction than anything else.” Maggie got out of the car.

“Okay, I accept your modesty,” Debra said. Then, “We’ll put our heads together in the morning, me, you, Gay and your friend Gordon.”

“Okay.”

Debra backed out of the space. Maggie stood and watched till she was through the moving gate and turning onto PCH. She was a nice person and Maggie thought she was going to like her.

Gordon paced the living room, doing his best to hold his temper. He hadn’t been in the apartment ten minutes when Maggie told him about the excursion to Debra’s and what she’d learned.

“I know I shouldn’t’ve gone out, but when I saw her mother was living so close, I just had to.” She leaned forward on the sofa, hands in her lap like a little girl.

“You could’ve wound up like Margo.” Gordon stopped his pacing, cut Maggie with a glare. What could she have been thinking?

“I said I was sorry.”

“Okay, you told me about your day, let me tell you what I found out. Your pal Norton was right about Nighthyde. He was arrested for breaking and entering when he was twenty-two. Striker was the arresting officer. He put in a word with the court and Nighthyde got probation.”

“We already knew that,” Maggie said.

“Here’s something you didn’t know. I did a check with DMV. Striker drives a black BMW.”

“So, he was the one who chased me into the bay,” Maggie said.

“Looks like it,” Gordon said. “And it seems pretty obvious Nighthyde is still working for him.”

“Brrr.” She crossed her arms in front of herself.

“So, I figured I’d talk to Nighthyde. I got his address from DMV and his number from the book. The guy’s some kid of hit man and he’s listed. Go figure. I called and his mother answered, apparently he lives with her. She said he wasn’t home. I told her I worked for the IRS and wanted to schedule an audit and needed to talk to him as soon as possible. She told me he was a process server and worked for the district attorney’s office, maybe I could get him there. Not only does he not work for the DA, there’s no record of him having ever worked anywhere. I called her back and she told me she’d just got off the phone with him. She said he was on his way to Mexico with a girl named Sadie and he wouldn’t be back till the day after tomorrow.” Gordon sat in one of the rattan chairs, looked Maggie in the eye. “So, it looks like we have a couple of days to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“I hate the thought that there’s somebody out there who wants to do to me what he did to Margo.”

“Maybe we should go to the FBI. I have friends in the Los Angeles field office. We could say you’re Margo and your twin sister Maggie was killed and that you think the killer’s coming after you. You could identify Nighthyde from the picture you saw in the mug book.”

“Nick would find out. He’d want to meet his dead wife’s twin. How would I face him? I’m already treading on thin ice as it is. I don’t think I could pull that off. And Bruce Kenyon would see right through it and take Jasmine. No, I don’t like that idea.”

“I thought that’s what you’d say, so I guess we’ll go with plan B.”

“Which is?”

“Tomorrow morning I’ll pay a visit to Striker at Nakano. I’ll tell him everything we know. I’ll tell him it’s all written down and in a safe place and, for added emphasis, I’ll tell him if anything happens to you, I’ll personally come by and cut his balls off.”

“I like this plan better.”

“But to make sure nothing happens to you or Jasmine, I’ll also have to tell him you’re letting it lie.”

“What do you mean?”

“They grabbed Margo here. They dumped her body behind the Whale. They followed you from the police station when you were Margo. They followed us from my house, where Maggie lived. Let’s face it, unless they’re stupid, they’ve made the connection between you and Margo. And they know they killed Margo. They know you’re Maggie and they know you’re masquerading as your sister.”

“I hadn’t thought it through that far.”

“I’ll have to tell Striker if he stays away from you, you’ll forget anything you might’ve learned about him, Nishikawa, Nakano and Nighthyde.”

“They get away with Margo’s murder?”

“And you get away with Margo’s life.”

“What about Norton’s mother?” She got off the couch, started for the kitchen. Stopped, turned back. “And… and, what about Wolfe’s little boy and his wife? What about them?”