She sat down in the chair beside him. “You going to tell me why you’ve got those abrasions on your wrists? You’re obviously no stranger to handcuffs.”
Frank gave her a playful grin. “Come on, detective. Don’t tell me you haven’t used your cuffs for extracurricular activities now and then. Why don’t you check the damn surveillance videos and see for yourself what happened? Then you can go back to work and I can go and call my date and explain why I stood her up.”
Nunnally rubbed tiredly at her eyes, a little smile at the edges of her mouth. Frank suspected that she knew that he knew there were no cameras in the restaurant. There would be cameras out on the street, of course, but it would take them time to examine that footage. He had no idea what it would show. If they found video of him entering with the others, he would keep spinning lies until he ran out of breath. At worst, they would charge him with destruction of property.
What else could they do? Believe the crazy kid shouting about twins trying to kill each other and people vanishing into mirrors?
Detective Nunnally stood. “You’re not going home yet, Mr. Lindbergh. We’re going to have this conversation again, somewhere quieter.”
Frank got up and the detective took him by the arm. He had let his life unravel to the point where it had ceased to matter to him. When his double had imprisoned him, that had begun to change. Dead bastard or not, the other Frank had shown him that a better version of himself was not out of reach. He intended to become that better version.
Just as soon as the police let him go.
Nunnally marched him toward the sidewalk door, right past a hotel employee who had at last been allowed to begin sweeping up the shattered mirror glass from the psychomanteum. The detective pushed open the door and a cold autumn breeze blew in. In the same moment, Frank paused, frowning deeply. For half a second, he thought he’d heard someone calling his name, the voice panicked but muffled, as if it came from far away.
The detective jerked him by the arm. “You gonna give me a hard time now?”
Frank glanced back at the broken shards of mirror lying on the floor. In some of them he glimpsed his own reflection, but there were fragments of other faces there. He cocked his head and bent a little closer, trying to make them out.
Detective Nunnally groaned in aggravation and dragged him forward, propelling him out through the open door and into the fresh air and the darkness.
Frank shivered, but not from the autumn chill.
He didn’t look back.
TWENTY-TWO
Trapped inside a pile of razor-sharp slivers of mirrored glass, the faded soul of the real Lili Pillai screamed for someone to save her.
No one heard.
They swept up the glass and threw it away.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Snowblind, Tin Men, The Myth Hunters, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, and Of Saints and Shadows. His novel with Mike Mignola, Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, was the basis for the continuing graphic-novel series Baltimore. Golden’s original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. You can sign up for email updates here.
Also by Christopher Golden
Tin Men
Snowblind
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire (with Mike Mignola)
Joe Golem and the Drowning City (with Mike Mignola)
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism (with Mike Mignola)
The Boys Are Back in Town
Wildwood Road
The Ferryman
Strangewood
Straight on ’Til Morning
The Myth Hunters (Book One of The Veil)
The Borderkind (Book Two of The Veil)
The Lost Ones (Book Three of The Veil)
The Ocean Dark (as Jack Rogan)
The Shadow Saga
Of Saints and Shadows
Angel Souls and Devil Hearts
Of Masques and Martyrs
The Gathering Dark
Walking Nightmares
The Graves of Saints
King of Hell
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Epigraph
Monday
Thursday
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Friday
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Saturday
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Sunday
Chapter 1
Monday
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Tuesday
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
About the Author
Also by Christopher Golden
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEAD RINGERS. Copyright © 2015 by Christopher Golden. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover photograph by AMR Image/iStock.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05732-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6106-0 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466861060
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First Edition: November 2015
Dead Ringers Page 31
