Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [106]
A chill went through me. “This is creeping me out.”
“So we know the doppelgangster came into being sometime after I received Detective Lopez’s extremely brief phone call and before the creature arrived here.”
“That’s a window of a few hours. Does this mean that’s how long it takes to make a doppelgangster?”
“Possibly. Or perhaps even much less time than that. Alternately, however, the process could have begun well before this afternoon and then been completed this evening.”
My shoulders slumped. “So we haven’t really narrowed down anything after all?”
“On the contrary!” Max said encouragingly. “While we still don’t know how it was done—nor precisely how long the whole process took—we have discerned the moment of Detective Lopez’s life from which his doppelgangster was created: While he was angry about the note and conscience stricken over concealing it, but before his subsequent experiences began distracting his attention from this.”
“All right,” I said. “We know approximately when . . . but we still have no idea why.”
“Why he was duplicated?”
“The other three victims were all wiseguys. Why is the murderer trying to kill a cop now?”
“Because Detective Lopez is his adversary,” Max suggested.
“Wiseguys don’t target cops,” I said with a frown. “So are we looking for a wiseguy who’s violating that custom? Or are we . . .” It occurred to me for the first time. “Is it possible the killer isn’t a wiseguy?”
“Hmm. That’s a theory we’ve overlooked until now. The victims all had enemies in their own, er, profession, so we made the reasonable supposition that the killer is a colleague. However, you’re quite right—that needn’t necessarily be the case.” He continued, “On the other hand, our adversary is creative, devious, ruthless, and clever. Given the unconventional nature of these murders, I find it difficult to believe he abides by popular custom, so to speak, when choosing his victims. Therefore, he may well be a member of Lucky’s profession and yet entirely willing to target a police officer.”
“But if a cop dies . . .” I felt sick at the thought of which cop we were talking about, but made myself continue, “There’ll be hell to pay, and the killer must know that.”
“If so, then he is indifferent to that eventuality.” Max shrugged. “Perhaps he even courts it. It would certainly add to the violent chaos that is now imminent.”
“Yes, it would. And why this particular cop?” I said desperately. “There’s a whole team on the case!”
“Perhaps because the killer has identified him as a greater threat than his fellow officers are? As you are well aware, Detective Lopez is both astute and persistent.”
“I should have conked him over the head and locked him up in the laboratory.”
“No, he would get into mischief down there,” Max said.
“Not if he was tied up,” I said grimly.
There was a pause. Then Max said, “I don’t wish to alarm you unnecessarily—”
“Why bother, when there’s so much necessary alarm to be had?”
“—but before he left to see his superior, Lucky said that it’s not entirely impossible that you and I are now in some danger from the Corvino family.”
“Oh. Right. The thought had occurred to me.” I said, “Also to Lopez. When he got here tonight, he wanted to take us into protective custody. But now I think he wants to put me in a loony bin and you in a maximum security prison.”
“That sounds most incommodious.”
“Indeed.”
“Lucky says that since you’re a dame and I’m an old guy, and we’ve never whacked anyone, we won’t be high on the hit list if the two families go to the mattresses—”
“You’re learning his dialect, I see.”
“—but we should nonetheless take reasonable precautions until he knows exactly what the Corvinos’ intentions toward us are.”
“Such as?”
“He recommends that I keep the bookstore closed for the time being. And since I can ward this building against mundane intruders—as well as their firearms—you are to sleep here tonight.”
Actually, that sounded fine by me. It had been an exhausting day. The tense journey to Brooklyn, Danny’s murder and Vinny’s strange story, followed by a mind-numbing