Deja Diva

by Kathi Daley

  My heart sank the following morning when Alex walked into the kitchen with an envelope in her hands. In the past two weeks, I’d come to learn that envelopes delivered by unseen visitors usually meant that something bad had happened to someone I loved. My heart pounded in my chest as I took the envelope from Alex. After opening it slowly, I took out the single sheet of paper. There was a photo of the woman who had been found dead in the graveyard the previous Sunday. She held the piece of cardboard that asked the question: Who am I?

  I glanced at Zak. “Did you fix the security cameras?” We’d tried to view the tape from the cameras the last time an envelope had been left on our doorstep, only to find that someone had hacked into the security system and turned off the cameras.

  “I did.” He stood up and headed toward the computer room.

  I looked at the piece of paper included with the photo. It simply said that I had until midnight to answer the question or someone I loved would die. Alex and Scooter hadn’t left for school yet, so I informed them both they would be staying home that day. I then called my mom and dad as well as Levi and Ellie to warn them about the note I’d received. Levi had a full day at the high school between the pep rally and football game that evening, but Ellie was frightened enough to agree to bring the kids over to the house where there would be others around.

  I then called Pappy and Hazel, Jeremy, Phyllis, Ethan, and Nick. I couldn’t call everyone I knew, but I wanted to be certain to warn those who I felt were the most likely to be selected as a victim of whoever the psycho was who was doing this to me.

  Zak came back into the room with a photo in his hand. He passed the still photo he’d created from the security tape to me. A teenager who goes to the local high school had dropped the envelope on our front porch. I was sure the person behind the note had paid him to access the estate and drop off the envelope, but Zak realized he might have information relating to the person who gave him the envelope, so Zak decided to head over to the high school and have a chat with him.

  Pappy and Hazel showed up shortly after Ellie arrived. Phyllis had assured me that she, Ethan, and Nick were all safe at the academy. Jeremy and I talked about it, and we eventually decided that he should close the Zoo to the public, leaving the part-time employees to care for the animals so he could take his family to the pumpkin patch in the valley. He’d originally planned to go tomorrow, but given my midnight deadline, I was happy to have him safely away from the action in case we failed to identify the woman, and something tragic went down.

  After my parents showed up with Harper, we settled all the kids in the den with Scooter while the rest of us settled around the table in the dining room to discuss the situation.

  “The person who challenged you to identify the dead woman must have reason to believe you can do so,” Hazel said. “The Zoe look-alike must be someone you either used to know or at least had contact with in the past.”

  “So do you think this look-alike is the one who knows so much about you?” my mom asked. “Or was this woman simply a prop who was being fed information by someone else?”

  I thought about my theory that it was Claudia Lotherman behind everything that had happened. I remembered the tall thin woman I’d run into in the pizza parlor yesterday. I remembered that look in her eyes. She certainly didn’t look like the Claudia I remembered, but Claudia could look like anyone she chose, male or female.

  Instead of answering my mom’s question, I turned and looked at Hazel. “I ran into a woman yesterday named Jasmine. She told me she had run into Evelyn at the library, so the two had decided to have lunch. Do you remember meeting this Jasmine?”

  “Sure,” Hazel answered. “Evelyn volunteers for me on a regular basis. She’s the friendly sort who stops to talk to folks who come in. I remember that she introduced me to a writer who was in town to do some research on the history of the area. Her name was Jasmine.” Hazel paused. “Jasmine Devine.”

  “Did you speak to her?” I asked. “Did you answer any questions for her? Tell her any stories? Provide her with any literature?”

  Hazel nodded. “Yes, to all of the above. The woman has been in several times over the past couple of weeks. She had some specific questions relating to old legends and oral histories. I answered the questions I could. I shared a few antidotes, such as the treasure hunt you and I and Pappy, Ethan, and Nick set out on, and I gave her some old journals and news clippings to look through. Why do you ask?”

  “I just had this feeling when I met her that she might be someone other than who she claims to be.” I took a sip of my coffee as I processed the information Hazel had provided. “Whoever is setting up these little challenges seems to know a lot about me. They seem to know about my relationship to specific landmarks in the area. Marlow was found at Henderson House, Scooter was found at Lilly England’s home, and the body of Fake Zoe was found in the graveyard where I discovered Duncan Wainwright’s body. Claudia, or whoever if I’m wrong and we aren’t dealing with Claudia, would be able to find out about the murders at Henderson House and the body I found in the graveyard by Googling old news articles, but the fact that we found the gold at Lilly’s house is something only a few people know.”

  Hazel put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my. I had no idea I might be helping a killer.” She swallowed hard. Pappy put his hand on her arm.

  “You couldn’t have known,” Ellie offered. “You’re a librarian, and it’s your job to share information with those who seek it.”

  “Ellie’s right,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” I then turned to Ellie. “I’ve also wondered how the killer knew about Millie Braydon.”

  “Who is Millie Braydon?” Pappy asked.

  “Millie Braydon is the name of a mail-in mystery subscription that Ellie and I spent most of our allowance on when we were kids. The person setting all this up knew about Millie Braydon, and, in fact, used a cipher included in one of her mystery girl kits. Other than Ellie and me, who else knew about our secret indulgence?” I asked.

  “I knew,” Dad said. “You needed to send in a check or credit card number to get the kit each month, so I let you exchange the allowance you’d saved for a check.”

  “Did you tell anyone about Millie Braydon?” I asked.

  Dad closed his eyes, blew out a breath, and nodded slowly. “Just a couple weeks ago, in fact.”

  “Who?” I asked in a voice that came out sounding a bit more demanding than I intended.

  “The same woman Hazel spoke to. Jasmine. But she was only looking for confirmation of something she already knew. She came in to buy a few odds and ends and brought up the mystery girl subscription. She made a comment about having a niece who had been obsessed with it when she was a child. I said something about my daughter spending all her allowance on it. She made a comment about the whole thing being a ripoff, but then she added that the ciphers they included were actually pretty fun. I shared that you loved those ciphers, and would pore over the little handbook that came with the kit for hours. We chatted for maybe fifteen minutes, and then she left.”

  “When you wrote those checks, who did you make them out to?” I asked.

  “Millie Braydon Mystery Girl.”

  Okay, I supposed it was conceivable that Claudia had hacked into my dad’s very old banking records and found the checks. Wanting to confirm that I was the one he paid the subscription for and not another child, she must have come into the store and struck up the conversation.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I had no idea,” My dad said.

  “It’s not your fault. None of this is any of your faults. The person behind this is not only clever but well prepared.”

  “And patient,” Ellie said. “I mean, it must have taken months or even years to either find someone who looked exactly like you or to make someone into your image through surgery.”

  “Of course, knowing that Jasmine is most likely the mastermind behind this and that Jasmine and Claudia are most likely the same person, doesn’t help us figure out t
he identity of the dead woman who looked like Zoe,” Alex pointed out. “That was the challenge. That is the answer we need if we want to be sure everyone we love is protected.”

  “Alex is right. We need to figure out who Fake Zoe was before she was Fake Zoe,” I agreed.

  “Maybe someone you worked with?” Mom suggested.

  I slowly shook my head. “No. All of the female employees who have worked at the Zoo are still around. We’ve had a lot of volunteers over the years, so I suppose she might have been one of them.”

  “Not a lot of people are five feet tall and slender,” Dad pointed out. “The look-alike was able to convince people you know well that she was you. Her overall shape must have been very similar.”

  I nodded. “That has entered my mind. Even Scooter thought she was me. Phyllis and Jeremy too.”

  “And me,” Alex added, “although we didn’t speak, and it was only in passing.”

  I sat back in my chair. “Maybe we should make a list of everyone we know who is around five feet tall and has a petite frame. Anyone at all. Anyone we know from town. Anyone we know from the clubs, jobs, or committees we’re associated with.”

  “I’ll start the list on my phone,” Alex offered, taking her phone out of her pocket and opening an app.

  I could see that everyone at the table was really thinking about it, but no one said a thing.

  “That friend of yours from Hawaii was small like you,” Alex said.

  “Lani. Lani Pope,” I said. “It’s not her, though. I chat with her on the phone from time to time. She’s working with her father now. They run their own detective agency.” I looked at Alex. “But Lani was a good suggestion. We share a very similar frame.” I paused. “Salinger did say that Fake Zoe was bustier than I am, so I guess we should keep that in mind.”

  “What about that girl who worked at the flower shop near the park,” Hazel said. “Mary. No, not Mary, Maggie. She’s a tiny little thing with a girlish shape, and I know she quit after the summer rush.”

  “She has the right frame, but I just saw her a month ago at the farmers market,” I answered. “We need to figure out someone who shares a body build with me, but hasn’t been seen in the area for at least six months. Maybe longer. For this woman to look as much like me as she did, she would have had to have had multiple surgeries.”

  “I wonder if she was a willing participant,” Mom said. “I can’t imagine being kidnapped and then forced to endure multiple surgeries only to be killed by the person who recruited you in the first place.”

  I paused to think about the comment my mother had just made. “It would be an interesting concept if Fake Zoe was a willing participant. At least to a point. I doubt anyone would allow themselves to be recruited for a sting where they ended up dead, but what if fake me didn’t know she was going to die? What if the mastermind convinced her that they would use the fact that she looked like me to extort money from Zak or to get even with me or something like that? What if Fake Zoe was actually another one of my enemies?”

  Everyone began to murmur. It seemed as if the idea had merit.

  “Shouldn’t Zak be back by now?” Alex asked.

  I frowned. “He should be. He was just headed to the high school.”

  “I’ll text him,” Alex offered since she was already holding her phone. A few minutes later, Alex’s phone dinged with a reply. It was a photo of Zak and Levi talking to Jasmine.

  “Oh no,” Ellie gasped. “We need to warn them.”

  “Call Levi,” I instructed. “Act casual. Tell him not to respond but fill him in on who he’s talking to.”

  Ellie tried to call Levi while both Alex and I tried to text Zak. Neither answered. I then tried calling Zak, but his phone went straight to voicemail.

  “Call Salinger,” Dad said.

  I nodded and dialed Salinger’s number. I briefly explained what was going on. Salinger was just a few minutes from the high school when I called, so he assured me he was heading there now.

  “It’ll be fine,” I assured the others, all the while struggling with the voice in the back of my mind whispering that things would be far from fine.

  Chapter 13

  “Zak willingly left with her,” Levi told Salinger fifteen minutes later.

  “Did he do or say anything to indicate that he might be in trouble?” I asked over the phone line. Once Salinger had arrived, he looped those of us at the house in on his conversation via video chat.

  “No,” Levi shook his head, now addressing his response to me. “I was walking between the main office and the gym when Zak walked up. He told me that he wanted to talk to a student. I asked him who he was looking for, and he pulled up a photo on his phone. Before I could even respond, a tall woman with dark hair walked up. She said she was lost and needed directions to the administration building. I started to give her directions, but Zak took her by the arm and suggested that he would escort her to her destination. The pair walked away. I figured Zak would be back, so I waited, but he never returned.”

  “He must have realized who the woman was and wanted to get her away from you and the school,” I said, struggling to suppress the urge to scream. “Did Zak do or say anything that might indicate that the woman was Claudia? He spent quite a bit of time with her the last time she was in town. If anyone would be able to recognize her despite her makeup, it would be him.”

  Levi paused. “After he took the woman’s arm, he said, ‘How about I see you to your destination,’” Levi reported. “I noticed that he emphasized the word see by quite a lot actually. He said, ‘How about I’ – and then he paused – and then he said the word ‘see,’ at which point he pretty much looked her in the eye – and then he paused again – and then after that pause he finished with ‘to your destination.’ At the time, I remember thinking that the way he said what he did was really rather odd.”

  “He may have wanted you to pick up on his emphasis of the word see, or he may have been letting Claudia know he was onto her,” I said. “Which, to me, means that he confirmed what we already suspected — Claudia Lotherman is behind everything that has happened.”

  “But you’re okay,” Ellie asked Levi. “I mean, totally okay?”

  “I am,” Levi assured her.

  I was relieved that Levi was okay, but I also wanted to scream at the heavens for allowing Zak to be taken again. Instead, I assured the group that Zak would be fine. “I think Claudia actually likes Zak.” I forced a slight smile. “The last time she had him, she treated him well. When I found him, he was angry as all get out, but he was unharmed.”

  “I’m on my way over to you,” Salinger said.

  “Me too,” Levi said. “I just need to let someone know what I’m doing.”

  “No,” I said to Levi. “You have a game. The kids on the team are depending on you. There really isn’t anything you can do. Now that Claudia has Zak, I doubt she’ll be back. I don’t think you or the kids at the school are in any danger.”

  Levi hesitated.

  “Please,” I said. “Go to the game. It’s what Zak would want.” I swallowed hard. “It’s what I want.”

  “Is there anything I can do from here?” Levi asked.

  “The boy in the photo Zak showed you,” I said, “delivered an envelope to the house that we suspect Claudia gave him. Talk to him. See what he knows. Find out how he got hooked up with Claudia. Maybe he knows something that will help us to track her down.”

  “Okay,” Levi said. “I’ll talk to him and then call you back.”

  After I logged off, I looked at the group. Poor Alex looked terrified. Everyone looked terrified, but Alex more than the others.

  “Claudia seems to want us to identify the Zoe look-alike who died,” I said. “I think we need to do that. Once Salinger gets here, I’ll talk to him about a strategy to find Zak and Claudia, but in the meantime, let’s work on answering the question.”

  Everyone in the room murmured their assent.

  “We all agree this woman would have
to have been petite,” I continued. “And she would have to have been someone I knew or at least had a significant amount of contact with, or Claudia would have no reason to believe I could identify the woman. She had my build, although she was slightly bustier.”

  “It would help if we knew if the woman who had been modified to look like you did so willingly or if she was a captive of Claudia,” Hazel said. “If she was working with Claudia willingly, then we could limit our search to individuals who also had a grudge against you.”

  “It does seem more likely that you had an adversarial relationship with Fake Zoe than a casual relationship such as one that would be found between a store clerk and customer,” Pappy agreed.

  I slowly bobbed my head. “I agree. I think we’re looking for someone who might have willingly wanted to help Claudia mess with me.” I tried to think back over everyone I’d ever met in the hope of figuring out who might hate me enough to go to so much trouble, but the list was longer than you might think.

  “Again, we’re looking for someone who is petite,” Mom said. “The list of petite women who might feel that you’d wronged them can’t be all that long.”

  “I wonder if the location of the murder is significant,” Ellie said. “Fake you was killed in the graveyard where you found Duncan Wright’s body. You and Duncan had an adversarial relationship, and while you didn’t kill him, you weren’t all that upset that he was dead. In fact, I remember you being quite happy about it. Was there anyone wrapped up in that particular murder investigation who was petite? Someone you might have angered along the way?”

  “Analee,” I said. I looked around the group. Suddenly, I knew exactly where I’d seen those blue eyes staring back at me from the photos Salinger had taken. “Analee was Duncan’s girlfriend. She was also his killer. She was a petite and spunky little thing with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.” I felt a surge of energy. “It has to be her. I remember her eyes. They were so shockingly blue. It has to be her.”

  “Do you remember her last name?” Dad asked.