Part 42 (1/2)

”I think I know!” I followed him as I recalled Elena's appearance that afternoon at St. Monica's. ”Her necklace! That big cross. This afternoon at the church was the first time I've seen her without it.”

Max paused at the door to the cellar. ”And now her doppelgangster is wearing it. Excellent! I think I know what to do.”

He went down the stairs, moving swiftly. I followed him.

Elena's perfect double looked up when we entered the laboratory. ”Is this your entire plan?” she said in exasperation. ”To keep me tied up in a bas.e.m.e.nt? Don't you think-”

”Did Don Michael take your cross?” Max demanded.

”What?”

”I beg your pardon.” Max said. ”I know this is a distasteful subject, but I gather he tried to force himself on you last night?”

”He's a pig,” she said with disgust.

”He manhandled you? Was rough with you?”

”Yes. When I resisted him, he got angry.”

”You struggled?”

She nodded. ”And he pulled my hair, shoved me around, tried to unzip my dress.”

”He is is a pig,” I said. And Lucky would kill him when he found out about this. a pig,” I said. And Lucky would kill him when he found out about this.

”And your necklace?” Max said. ”Your cross?”

”It came off while I fought him.” She scowled, looking furious. ”He picked it up and wouldn't give it back. It was my mother's mother's. It's a sacred symbol! And that stronzo stronzo wouldn't give it back to me.” wouldn't give it back to me.”

”So you kicked him down the stairs.”

”Yes,” she said with dark satisfaction. she said with dark satisfaction.

”And what do you remember after that?” Max asked.

She looked confused. ”After that?”

”After you kicked him down the stairs, and he went away,” Max said. ”What happened next?”

”Next? Next, next . . .” She looked puzzled as she thought about it.

”Tell me the very next thing you can remember after that moment.”

Elena seemed bewildered. ”Next I . . . I came home today and found you in my apartment.”

”Yes,” Max said. ”That is indeed what happened next.

To you you.”

He reached around her neck, grasped the silver chain that hung there, and snapped the clasp.

”Max,” I said as he removed the necklace from her throat. The ornate cross glinted in the lamplight as it swung in his hand. ”What are you doing?”

Elena's eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled back in their sockets. Her head fell backward. Her whole body quivered. There was a small explosion, and a tower of feathers, bird bones, pebbles, and clumps of dirt collapsed all over the chair where, only a moment ago, the doppelgangster had been tied up.

”The token used to create the doppelgangster is the only part of the creature that's real,” Max explained. ”Remove it, and the illusion disintegrates.”

”Is there any more of that sherry?” I couldn't stand sherry, but I had felt the distinct need for a soothing beverage, and sherry was all that Max had. ”Pour me another gla.s.s.”

He did, saying, ”Try to sip this one slowly.”

”Lucky's going to be upset when he finds out we killed it.”

”We didn't kill anything,” Max said patiently. ”We deconstructed a convincing illusion.”

”Well, at least we didn't have to behead it.” The second gla.s.s of sherry was helping my hands stop shaking. With a grimace, I sipped a little more of the revolting stuff. We were back upstairs, sitting at the big walnut table, still surrounded by the filth of Lopez's former doppelgangster. I added with some relief, ”So I guess we don't need to carry a machete around the city.”

”No, I think not,” Max agreed. ”From now on, when Nelli identifies a doppelgangster, we merely need to determine what mystically imbued personal token it possesses and remove the object. That will banish the illusion.”

”You mean make it explode into messy c.r.a.p,” I said.

Max said thoughtfully, ”My reading in recent days led me to ponder the possibilities of psychic transformation, soul possession, animation of physically altered corpses-”

”Animation of what? what?”

”There were some theories I felt it best not to share with you unless I found confirmation of them in our actual experiences,” he admitted.

”Good call,” I said faintly.

”But this this . . .” He made a little sound of admiration. ”This is unprecedented in the annals of doppelgangerism!” . . .” He made a little sound of admiration. ”This is unprecedented in the annals of doppelgangerism!”

”How thrilling.”

”As is the use of doppelgangers to facilitate-nay, to ensure-the success of a.s.sa.s.sination!”

”Remarkable.”

”And at the same time, it's so absurdly simple!'

”It is?”

”Our adversary combined vastly different traditions-competing schools of thought, you might say-to enact his plan. Doppelgangerism is an abstract, elusive, and isolated mystical phenomenon. But the use of personal tokens in the practice of magic is common and widespread among multiple disciplines-all of them entirely unrelated to the highly esoteric mystery of doppelgangerism!” He shook his head in wonder. ”I am forced to congratulate our foe on his imaginative practice of his art.”

”Max, if we could cease the thunderous applause for a moment, I'd like to point out that our imaginative foe is trying to kill me me.”

”Oh! Yes, of course. How thoughtless of me, Esther.” He pulled himself together. ”Do forgive me.”

”Let's look at motive, means, and opportunity,” I said, using Crime and Punishment Crime and Punishment as my tactical guide. ”The motive is evidently to destroy-or at least severely damage-the Gambellos and Corvinos by manipulating them into a new mob war when both families would much rather avoid that.” as my tactical guide. ”The motive is evidently to destroy-or at least severely damage-the Gambellos and Corvinos by manipulating them into a new mob war when both families would much rather avoid that.”