Identical Stranger

by Alice Sharpe

She thought for a second. “Yes. He’s my boyfriend. Sort of. Probably not anymore. He asked me to marry him this morning and I kind of...left. That’s no reason to kill someone.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Jack said.

  “Come on,” she joked as she resisted the urge to elbow him. “Look at me. I’m not the kind of woman to excite men to grand passion.”

  “You underestimate yourself,” he said. “Okay, we’re going to the police.”

  “Why would we—”

  “Because you look exactly like Sabrina. If someone wasn’t going after you specifically, then it figures they mistook you for her. The next step could be a great big rock falling on your head. Don’t argue with me.”

  She broke into laughter. “You know, that whacko might have been after you, not me or Sabrina.”

  “He didn’t aim at me,” Jack said softly.

  “Oh. Well, since Sabrina is missing, I think going to the police is a reasonable thing to do.”

  “So glad you agree,” he said with sarcasm and she laughed again. She never laughed like this. Obviously the day’s events were catching up with her.

  They took Jack’s car and within minutes were speaking to an anxious-looking police sergeant who kept glancing at the clock. Jack and Sophie both produced their identification and the sergeant looked it over without much interest until he got to Jack’s PI license. “Just out of curiosity, were you formerly military or civil police?” he asked.

  “I was a cop in Los Angeles for seven years before going out on my own,” Jack said.

  “I know a guy who did that, too,” the sergeant said as he handed back their papers with a quick peek at the wall clock. “What can I do for you folks?”

  Sophie was content to let Jack explain her garage encounter. He didn’t mention that they’d been searching for Sabrina’s vehicle but she figured he’d get around to it eventually.

  “Ah, this stuff happens all the time,” Sergeant Jones said with another glance at the time and a general shuffling of papers. When he saw their interest in his obsession with the clock, he smiled. “It’s my tenth anniversary,” he confided. “I completely forgot about it last year, and let me tell you, my friends, that is not a mistake I am ever going to make again. I made a reservation at her favorite restaurant but I keep thinking I should do something else. She’s always complaining about how old her mixer is—”

  “Don’t get her an appliance,” Sophie interrupted.

  “Really?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “Buy her flowers,” Jack said, and Sophie looked at him in surprise. He smiled. “Red roses for passion,” he added as he met her gaze.

  The sergeant grinned. “Yeah, and I can pick those up at the grocery store on my way home. Now, what was I saying?”

  Sophie spoke up. “Jack just told you about the driver who almost—”

  “Oh, yeah. I remember. Thing is, some stupid kid gets all excited because he sees a pretty girl and wants to impress her but he’s not nearly as cool as he thinks he is and goes too far.” He glanced at Jack and added, “And you feel protective, of course, because she’s your girl.”

  Sophie opened her mouth, but Jack jumped in. “I hope that’s all it is,” he said. “The guy could have killed her, you know.”

  Now the policeman glanced at Sophie again. “I wouldn’t worry about this, Ms. Sparrow. You aren’t hurt, right? And without an ID on the car, there’s really not much I can do. I mean, do you have any idea how many newish white sedans are running around in this city?”

  Sophie thanked him—for what, exactly? she wondered—and started to stand. That’s when Jack brought up Sabrina and revealed what she thought must be the minimal amount to drive home the fact that the woman felt threatened enough to elicit Jack’s help. “We were searching for her car when the incident with the wild driver occurred. It’s important to remember that Sabrina Cromwell and Sophie Sparrow look very much alike and that Sabrina seems to be missing.”

  The sergeant once again checked the clock before stifling a sigh. “Did you find her car?”

  “No.”

  Sergeant Jones made a few notes. “Do you have her plate number?”

  “It’s her husband’s SUV so run Daniel Thorne Cromwell, Astoria, Oregon.”

  “Okay,” Jones said as he jotted notes. “We’ll keep our eyes open, but honestly, people like this are usually off looking at the beach or shopping or something. You know this, Mr. Travers, from your own experience both as a policeman and as a detective. Chances are good she’ll show up. She’s an adult, right? No law says she can’t get a wild hair. There was no sign of a struggle?”

  “No,” Jack said.

  “Nobody at the hotel is alarmed?”

  “No.”

  “Did you check the hospital?”

  “Earlier today.”

  He made a note. “I’ll check again just to be on the safe side. If I learn anything, I’ll let you know.” The sergeant looked over at the wall clock and they finally took the hint.

  Once again they found themselves outside as overhead lights glittered on falling drops of silver rain.

  “Why didn’t you tell him about Sabrina and the rock?” she asked as he opened the passenger door.

  “Because I promised her I’d keep everything she told me quiet as long as I can. I’m doing my best. She’s concerned about her husband finding out. He’s a long ways away right now.”

  “In Antarctica,” Sophie remembered his saying. “Doing what?”

  “He’s part of an international team of biologists and other scientists investigating climatic changes. He’s been gone a couple of months. Sabrina doesn’t want him to worry.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “I feel that the stakes have changed. I feel Sabrina needs help and it’s clear to me that it’s not going to come from Sergeant Jones. He’s right that most people who leave suddenly and without explanation usually have a good reason. But most people haven’t been followed for days or felt invaded enough to ask for professional help.”

  “She must have been terrified,” Sophie said softly.

  He ran a hand through his gorgeous hair and looked her in the eye. “The bottom line is that right now it’s clear we represent her best chance of being found.”

  She noticed he used the word we, and as good as it made her feel inside, it frightened her, too. Was she up to the task? Well, she would just have to be. “You’re really worried about her,” she whispered.

  “Yeah,” he said, “I am.”

  Chapter Three

  “I forgot about the photos,” Jack said as he took his phone out of his jacket pocket. They had just entered the hotel again; maybe that’s why he’d finally thought about all the pictures he’d taken earlier today. He and Sophie sat in the lobby once again, only it was now wine and cheese happy hour. While he called up photos, she jumped up to peruse the selection. He also called the hotel Sabrina had mentioned staying at the previous night after her encounter with the rock. What if she’d returned to it for some reason? But the hotel hadn’t seen or heard from her since she left earlier that day. Another dead end.

  “Things are really picked over,” Sophie said as she returned with a tiny cluster of grapes and a couple of crackers. “Tell me about these photos.”

  “While Sabrina supposedly napped,” he explained, “I took pictures of every male I saw. Maybe you’ll recognize the driver who almost ran you down. If I photographed him earlier today. He may be a guest here and we may be able to get a name.”

  She perched on the arm of his overstuffed chair as he scrolled through the more than four dozen cameos he’d taken. “Wow, you didn’t miss a beat,” she said when a picture of a ten-year-old kid with his mother showed up.

  “I thought it might amuse Sabrina. She was so upset I was hoping to get her to smile.”

  “
How well do you know her?” Sophie asked.

  “I met her when Buzz and she first got serious and then again at their engagement party. I was Buzz’s best man at their wedding and then I stayed with them one night while I was on my way up to Canada on a case. That was last November, before Buzz left for Antarctica. So, to answer your question, not real well. Today was the longest time she and I have ever talked without someone else around.”

  He’d been scrolling while they spoke and now she said, “Stop. Go back one. One more. There.”

  “The guy in the hoodie?”

  “Yeah.”

  He looked up at her, alarmed by how often he had to fight the urge to touch her hand or bump her shoulder. It had been a long time since he’d been flooded with impulses so old-fashioned and innocent yet fueled by such desire. Years in fact, ever since Lisa.

  Did Sophie remind him of Lisa? Is that what drew him to her? He didn’t know for sure.

  Now was not the time to give in to retrograde musings. He put aside random thoughts as he casually said, “This is the man who attempted to run you down?”

  “No. This is the guy I saw upstairs outside Sabrina’s room right before the maid opened the door for us. He came around the corner behind her. He looked at me for a second and then acted as though he’d forgotten something. He turned around and went back the way he’d come. He wasn’t wearing a hoodie then. I think he had light brown hair.”

  “Sounds pretty innocuous,” Jack said.

  “Yeah. But there was something kind of strange about the whole thing, too,” Sophie said. “The more I think about it, the more I get the feeling he recognized me.” She shook her head. “Maybe he’d just seen Sabrina enter her room earlier in the day and thought I was her.”

  “Sabrina talked about seeing a man in the restaurant this morning,” Jack mused. “She was sure she recognized him but she also mentioned he had a beard.”

  “This guy was clean shaven.”

  “Beards can be shaved off or fake ones can be applied with adhesive,” Jack said.

  “That’s true. So we’re at...nowhere?”

  “I’m not sure. The first thing to do is ID this guy.”

  “How?”

  “The valet, the people at the desk. If the guy was upstairs in the hall, then he probably has a room here. We’ll knock on every door if we have to.”

  “Or try the maid,” Sophie said.

  “That’s good. I don’t recall her name.”

  “Bonnie,” Sophie said immediately. “Fiftyish, fading red hair, green eyes.”

  Jack whistled softly. “I have to admit I barely remembered what she looked like.”

  “That’s because you were busy trying to hide your attempt to break into Sabrina’s room. Let’s split up and question people. It’ll be faster that way.”

  He smiled as he got to his feet. “Let’s just do it together. Maybe one of us will pick up things the other misses.”

  They started with the valet, who was a different guy from the one who had helped them earlier. As many of the conference attendees were calling for their cars in order to leave the hotel for dinner elsewhere in town, he didn’t have time to ponder the photo. Because he hadn’t been on duty since the day before, it seemed a moot point. The housekeeper had gone home for the day, and though Jack protested, they split up with Sophie taking the front desk and Jack going down to the basement to try to find the handyman he’d glimpsed when he and Sabrina first went to her room. Maybe he saw or heard something.

  “Ask if Sabrina called or has any messages,” he told Sophie before he left her side.

  “Will do,” Sophie said.

  Jack was pretty sure the reason he didn’t want Sophie out of his sight was because she was his sole link to Sabrina. At least it felt as though she was. No two women could look that much alike and not have very close connections.

  The truth was, however, he suspected it also had to do with the fact that he was worried she was in the line of fire that he felt partially responsible for creating.

  The basement was a brightly lit network of rooms portioned off for conference seminars and was all but empty now. He made his way to the housekeeping, kitchen and maintenance facilities and found a small room labeled Maintenance.

  “Hank Tyson never showed up today,” Jack was informed by a harried-looking man wearing a badge proclaiming he was Jerry Able, head of housekeeping. “I’m filling in for him. I don’t know how he handles this job all by himself. With the hotel this crowded, the list of complaints is longer than Santa’s naughty list.”

  “I saw someone in coveralls carrying a toolbox up on three a few hours ago,” Jack said.

  “Wasn’t me. I called in a local guy to help out. Had to. With this many guests, we’ve got dozens of heater failures, clogged sinks, stuck windows, issues with dead bolts—you name it. Brad Withers and the new guy he hired, Adam something, tried to stay on top of everything. You must have seen one of them.” He frowned as he added, “Wait, do you have an emergency? What kind?”

  “No emergency,” Jack said. He called up the picture of the man in the hoodie. “Is this Brad Withers or Adam?”

  “I don’t know,” Jerry said. “I mean it’s not Brad for sure but I’ve never actually seen Adam.”

  Jack retraced his steps to the lobby, where he found Sophie. He told her the little bit he’d learned. “How about you? Did the desk have any information? Does Sabrina have any messages?”

  She shook her head. “Most of the staff has turned over. No one recognized the photo of the man in the hoodie that you sent to my phone. Only one woman remembers Sabrina and that was just because she checked her in this morning. She thought I was her and issued me a new room key. I let it ride.”

  “We need people to be looking for her,” he said.

  “Well, it was the only way I could learn anything about messages. I’ll go clear it up.”

  He caught her arm. “Let me think for a minute.”

  “I thought I could stay in her room tonight,” Sophie explained. “If she comes back, I can let you know. Are you on the same floor?”

  “I don’t have a room here either,” he said. “The hotel found me a place a mile or two down the road. It’s called Pine Lodge or Pine Lane or something.”

  “Pine Ledge,” she said and shuddered dramatically. “You don’t want to stay there.”

  “I’ve probably stayed in worse,” he said. “As for you in Sabrina’s room...are you forgetting she more or less disappeared from there?”

  “I haven’t forgotten. She must have answered the door to someone who enticed her away—”

  “Or snatched her,” he said and even he heard the despair in his voice. This could not be happening, not to Buzz and not on Jack’s watch. He was the one who insisted she take a nap and then left her alone. Where was she? Was he wasting time staying in this hotel?

  “Wait a second,” he said aloud. “How did the guy terrorizing Sabrina get a room here if he was just following her? The hotel has been booked for well over a week. He would have had to already have a reservation, which meant he was privy to her plans and that probably means he’s someone Sabrina knows.”

  She looked uneasy, as though a thought had occurred to her that she was reluctant to voice. “Go on, say whatever it is you’re thinking,” he prompted her.

  “Don’t they say it’s usually the one closest to a person who—”

  “No,” he interrupted. “Buzz would never hurt Sabrina or engage someone else to do it for him.”

  “But—”

  “No. The man is as good as a brother to me. I know him. I know how he feels about his wife. Whoever is terrorizing Sabrina is breaking into her house, dropping rocks on top of her, following her and, maybe now, stealing her out of her room. No way does Buzz have anything to do with any of this.”

  “Okay.”

 
He made a sudden decision. “There’s a chair in the hall,” he announced. “I’m going to park myself in it. I know I won’t sleep if I’m three miles away no matter how good or bad the hotel is so I might as well fidget the night away where I can keep an eye on the door to your—her—room.”

  Sophie stared at him a second. “I’ve known you for about three hours. You confronted me in the lobby, called me a nutcase, more or less, and then showed me a picture of a woman who looks a lot like me.”

  “Identical to you. You keep shying away from that.”

  She waved an impatient hand. “That’s not the point. I’m not sure why, but I trust you. If you knew me you’d realize how crazy that is because I’m one of those cautious people who drive the rest of the world to drink. Anyway, stay in Sabrina’s room with me. If she does come back in the middle of the night, at least she’ll recognize one of us.”

  “Actually, she’ll recognize both of us.”

  “Are you taking the offer or not?”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive. I plan on calling room service for dinner. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry and tired and I have a lot of deep thinking to accomplish. You in?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “Just let me get my suitcase out of the car. Can I get yours for you?”

  “I don’t have one,” she said. “I believe I may have mentioned I left kind of spontaneously.”

  “Wait right here,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”

  * * *

  THEY ATE CHICKEN sandwiches while they watched the local news. It wasn’t until it was over that Sophie realized Jack had been waiting for some kind of a horrible report that a female body had been discovered on a lonely beach or at the bottom of a cliff. She was glad she hadn’t thought of that.

  The room came with two queen-size beds so where to sleep didn’t pose an issue. A bigger problem was the fact that Sophie didn’t have anything to change into. Jack solved that by handing her his pajama top, which brushed her knees, and then putting on his bottoms.

  “I saw this very scenario in one of my mother’s old movies,” Sophie told him as they stood a few feet apart looking each other over. “I believe it’s time for you to string a clothesline between our beds so we can drape a blanket to preserve my modesty.”