Doppelgangster

by Laura Resnick

  The strangest thing in the room, however, was…

  “An Elvis impersonator?” I said blankly.

  “What’s an Elvis impersonator?” Max asked.

  “I’m not an impersonator,” said the man seated at the piano. “I can’t help the resemblance.”

  “You could try dressing a bit less like The King in his declining years,” I suggested.

  The man was overweight and wearing a white leisure suit with silver trim. His red shirt was open halfway down his chest, revealing thick gold chains nestled in black chest hair. The hair on his head was coal black and thick, with long sideburns; I thought it looked like a wig. He wore a pair of rose-tinted glasses over his puffy, lined face.

  “Show some respect,” Lucky said to me. “This is the boss’ nephew.”

  “Which one?” I asked. The Shy Don had a big family.

  “They call me Johnny Be Good,” the man said.

  I blinked. “You’re Johnny Be Good Gambello?”

  “You heard of me, huh?” he sounded pleased.

  I had never seen him at the restaurant, because Stella had banned him from there years ago. She said Johnny Be Good was a very bad boy. He had notorious problems with drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Wiseguys disapproved of divorce, and he was on his third marriage. He’d even been caught embezzling from the Gambellos. The only reason he was still alive was that he was a nephew of the don himself, so only Victor Gambello could order his death. And the Shy Don, Stella said, had a soft spot for his blood relatives.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of you,” I said.

  “But I’m afraid I have not had the pleasure of hearing about you,” said Max.

  “Who’s this jerk?” Johnny asked Lucky.

  “This is Doc Zadok,” said Lucky, “who’s got specialized knowledge that might be useful to our situation.”

  “And the girl? She’s the one who saw Charlie go down for the dirt nap?”

  “Yep.”

  “The one who saw his double, along with you?”

  “That’s right,” Lucky said.

  Johnny regarded me. “She’s a looker. You didn’t mention that.”

  “Did he mention that my boyfriend is a cop?” I said, not liking the oily way Johnny was assessing me.

  He flinched. “You date a cop?”

  “Why are we here?” I asked Lucky wearily.

  “Johnny, tell these two people what you told me,” Lucky instructed, setting out a couple of the folding chairs for me and Max.

  Johnny nodded and cracked his knuckles. As he began his tale, I draped my wrap over the back of a folding chair and sat down. Max sat next to me.

  Johnny Be Good began his tale. “I was in a friendly little establishment uptown last night—neutral turf, you understand—enjoying a social game of cards.” He eyed us, as if daring us to mention his famously bad luck at all forms of gambling, including poker. “One of the other guys at the table was Danny the Doctor.”

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Danny ‘the Doctor’ Dapezzo,” said Lucky. “He’s a capo in the Corvino family. Mean son of a bitch.”

  “And he’s a doctor?” Max asked. “Medicine or philosophy?”

  “They call him the Doctor,” Johnny Be Good said, “because of the surgical way he cuts up bodies into nice, neat little parts. I’m telling you, Danny can get fifty pieces out of one skinny corpse.”

  I said to Max, “You had to ask.”

  Lucky said with reluctant admiration, “Yeah, it’s very hard for the cops to identify a corpse after Danny gets done with it. They can’t find enough parts.”

  “So you’re playing cards with Danny,” I said loudly to Johnny. “And…”

  “And Mickey Rosenblum, from Las Vegas, is at the same table, and he’s having as great a night as Danny’s having a bad one.” He paused and added, “You oughta know Mickey. He’s Jewish. Same as you.” When I didn’t say anything, Johnny prodded, “You know him?”

  “No.”

  He looked at Lucky. “Didn’t you say she was Jewish? How come she don’t know Mickey?”

  “So Mickey cleaned out Danny the Doctor?” I prodded.

  “Yeah. And Danny, well, he goes away in a real bad mood, pockets empty, bitching about how he don’t even have cab fare left to go visit his girlfriend before he goes home to the missus.”

  “Uh-huh.” Who married these men, I wondered?

  “And two minutes later… Guess who enters the club and sits down at our table, fresh as a daisy? You got it! Danny the Doctor. And his pockets are full of dough! What’s even stranger is, he don’t remember a thing. He thinks we’re nuts when we talk about what just happened with him, right at this very table. And us, well, we figure he’s nuts, going senile or something. But his cash is real.” Johnny smirked and added, “And you know what? Mickey Rosenblum cleaned him out all over again!” Johnny guffawed long and loudly, occasionally pausing to repeat this last bit. Several times. “Cleaned him out all over again!”

  Max and I looked at each other. Then we both looked at Lucky.

  He nodded. “What did I tell you? We got us another doppelgangster somewhere out there. Only this one’s a Corvino.”

  It proved to be impossible to have an intelligent conversation with Johnny Be Good Gambello in the room, so it was a relief when he suddenly asked Lucky to loan him some cash so he could go enjoy himself elsewhere while the night was still young.

  After Johnny left, Lucky said to Max, “I put the word out after talkin’ with you and Esther yesterday morning. I know you thought Charlie’s doppelgangster was a one-time thing, Doc, but my gut told me otherwise.”

  “And your gut seems to be very wise,” Max said respectfully.

  “So by this morning, the whole famiglia knew to report anything unusual to me. And since Johnny ain’t never been able to keep his yap shut,” Lucky said, “it didn’t take long for me to hear about him seeing two Danny Dapezzos last night. That’s when I figured I better get you two together with him in someplace discreet.”

  “Like the crypt of a church?” I muttered.

  “Well done!” Max beamed at Lucky.

  “I don’t see what’s wrong with meeting in an ordinary coffee shop,” I said.

  “You are so naive,” Lucky said dismissively.

  I decided to shelve that argument and move on to an obvious question, one that I felt sure Lopez would bring up if he were here. “Look, it’s no secret that Johnny Be Good has killed a few billion brain cells with booze and narcotics. So why shouldn’t we assume that Danny Dapezzo simply went to an ATM and returned to the poker game, and Johnny has fantasized the rest of the incident?”

  “Wiseguys don’t use ATMs!” Lucky said, looking shocked. “Not for our own money, anyhow.”

  “Okay, so maybe Danny had a stash nearby. Or mugged someone outside the club. Whatever,” I said. “And then maybe he pulled Johnny’s leg a little when he saw he could get away with it. My point is, how do we know that Johnny’s story is accurate?”

  “Because after I talked with Johnny, I talked to Mickey Rosenblum,” Lucky said. “We grew up in the same neighborhood, I known him all my life. His family is where I learned some Yiddish words.”

  “Ah,” I said.

  “Mickey’s sharp as a knife,” Lucky said. “And his story is exactly the same as Johnny’s.”

  “Why isn’t he here?” I asked.

  “It’s a parole violation for him to be out of Nevada, so he’s on his way back to Vegas right now. Before some nosy cop finds out he’s been here.” Lucky gave me a warning look. “Which I’m sure we can assume won’t happen.”

  “You need to stop telling me things you don’t want my boyfriend to know,” I said firmly. “I don’t like being put in the middle.”

  “So I gather Mickey Rosenblum is a reliable witness,” Max said, “and we can rule out the possibility that Mr. Be Good is speaking out of delusion?”

  “That’s right,” said Lucky.

  I said, “So if they both saw
Danny the Doctor’s doppelgangster…” Then Lopez was wrong, I realized. Chubby Charlie had not been having a manic episode. He had really seen own his perfect double. And I had seen it, too.

  “This Danny the Doctor,” I said to Lucky. “He’s an enemy of yours? An enemy of the Gambello family?”

  “Yeah. Like all the Corvinos.”

  “But Chubby Charlie was one of your own,” Max mused.

  “Which means,” said Lucky, “that someone’s hiring these doppelgangsters to whack made guys on both sides of the street.”

  “If you’re right, if that is what’s going on here… Then why is someone doing this?” I wondered.

  Lucky shook his head. “It don’t make no sense.”

  I thought about Lopez’s primary theory. “So you think that whatever is going on, it’s not another Gambello-Corvino war?”

  Lucky shook his head. “I don’t know who killed Charlie, but I do know that we haven’t put out a contract on Danny Dapezzo. So if his doppelgangster’s walking around now cursing him with death, well, it ain’t us that ordered the hit. That’s a guarantee. So this ain’t no Gambello-Corvino thing. We ain’t going to the mattresses with them. Not yet, anyhow.”

  Max frowned. “Going to the mattresses?”

  “Going to war with another famiglia,” I translated. “It involves sleeping in hideouts where your enemies can’t find you. So that you won’t wake up dead.” I’d learned a lot working at Stella’s. “Going to sleep on different mattresses, in other words.” Often rather unsanitary ones, I gathered, in a grimy flop shared by several soldiers from the same family.

  “Fascinating!” Max murmured.

  Returning to the point, I said, “So if it’s not an inter-family war, could the Corvinos just be doing some housecleaning, so to speak?”

  “That’s out. They’d know they couldn’t whack Charlie without starting a new war with us,” Lucky said, shaking his head again. “And Danny’s one of their top guys, so he’d have to screw up big to get himself whacked by his own family. I ain’t saying it can’t happen. I just think it’s too big a coincidence that, like Charlie, he’s suddenly got a perfect double.”

  “Coincidence does seem too improbable to consider seriously,” Max agreed.

  “So could this be personal?” I asked. “Do Charlie and Danny have something in common?”

  Lucky shrugged. “Well, they’re both assholes.”

  “Something more specific,” I said.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Max?” I prodded. “What should we be looking for? What does this mean?”

  “And what should we do now?” Lucky added.

  “Well, first of all,” Max said, “I think we should warn Doctor Dapezzo. We must assume that he’s been marked for death by whatever entity marked Chubby Charlie for death.”

  Lucky nodded. “I can’t say I’d be sorry to see Danny take the big sleep, but I suppose we gotta warn him. Anybody could be next, after all. Even me.”

  Which was why I wasn’t in a cab on my way home right now, wisely washing my hands of this whole business. Without more facts, as Lopez would say, I couldn’t assume that these mysterious doppelgangsters would only portend the deaths of violent felons whom I either didn’t know or wished I didn’t know. What if Lucky or Stella got duplicated next?

  I was fond of Stella, a nice lady who employed hungry actors. I was even fond of Lucky, though he was a killer and not very wise about women. If Lopez got evidence on Lucky and arrested him, I wouldn’t interfere; but I certainly wouldn’t just stand by idly while some supernatural thing cursed Lucky with death.

  If there’s one thing I had learned from Max, it’s that once Evil comes to the party, everything goes haywire. So you’ve got to kick its butt out the door and down the street as soon as you encounter it or you’ll regret it later.

  “In addition to warning Doctor Dapezzo,” Max said, “I need to interview him. Actually, what would be most helpful would be if I could interview his doppelgangster. Er, ganger.”

  “You want to talk to the doppelgangster?” Lucky sounded appalled. “Speak with that thing?”

  “Well, obviously it does talk,” Max said reasonably. “And in a sentient, naturalistic fashion. Mr. Be Good does not seem to be the most lucid and insightful of men—”

  “Now there’s an understatement,” I said.

  “—but it does seem likely that he’d have noticed if the doppelgangster was puppetlike or transparent.”

  “And you and I,” I said to Lucky, “couldn’t tell Charlie apart from his double. So obviously these doppelgangsters are as lifelike as the real thing. At least when seen in limited doses.”

  “But since they aren’t the real thing,” Max mused, “it’s possible that interviewing one of them will help me understand their purpose. Are they self-aware? Or do they actually believe they are the individuals whom they’re merely mirroring? Are they appearing in an attempt to warn the doomed individuals? Or are they, in fact, assassins?” He tugged on his beard as he added, “Based on what little material I’ve currently got access to, I do know one thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “The fact that others can see and interact with these entities… that is most unusual. Traditionally, the person destined to die by nightfall is the only one who sees the perfect double. Whereas in the two cases we’re dealing with, other people not only see and interact with the ‘double walker,’ they even do so before the mirrored individual is aware of the double’s existence.”

  I blinked. “That’s right! Whichever Charlie Chiccante was the real one the night I first saw his doppelgangster, he didn’t seem to be aware of its existence. Both versions of Charlie were in a normal mood that evening. It was only on the night he died that he was scared, anxious, and talking about his perfect double.”

  “So Esther and I saw Charlie’s double before he did,” Lucky said pensively.

  “And now we may know about Doctor Dapezzo’s double before he does,” Max added.

  I checked my watch and gasped when I saw the time. “I have to go! I’m going to be late for my date.”

  “How can you think about your love life at a time like this?” Lucky demanded.

  “How can you pursue a woman whose husband you whacked?” I retorted.

  “We can’t accomplish anything more until we can meet with Doctor Dapezzo,” Max said. “And I gather that, based on the enmity between your famiglie, that can’t be accomplished this very moment?”

  “No,” Lucky admitted. “It’ll take a little time and finesse to arrange a sit-down.”

  “So Esther might as well go enjoy the evening she has planned with her young man,” Max said, rising to his feet and gesturing for us all to leave the crypt.

  “The way she’s dressed,” Lucky muttered as I started up the stairs, “I can guess what she has planned.”

  “He’s taking me to an expensive restaurant,” I said primly, speaking over my shoulder.

  Lucky snorted. “In that case, there ain’t no question what he has planned.”

  “As long as it doesn’t involve murder or perfect doubles,” I said sincerely, “I’m all in favor of it.”

  At the top of the stairs, I could hear that Father Gabriel had started the evening service, so I shushed my two companions. The church smelled of incense as we entered it and quietly turned down the side aisle to make our exit.

  The priest and congregation were chanting liturgical prayers together. I was surprised by how many people were attending a regular Monday twilight service. Then I noticed they were mostly women, and they were almost as dressed up for vespers as I was for a date. They were also gazing at Father Gabriel with expressions of devotion that did not strike me as entirely spiritual.

  I glanced at Lucky and couldn’t repress an amused smile. Whether or not he knew what I was thinking, he scowled at me and nudged me toward the exit.

  Outside on the street, I said, “Rabbis can get married, you know. In fact, they’re expected to. B
ut I don’t remember ever seeing one as dishy as Father Gabriel.”

  “You shouldn’t talk that way about a priest,” Lucky said. “They’re above matters of the flesh.”

  Given what the news headlines and law courts had revealed about priests in recent years, I rolled my eyes. But I wanted to stop short of really offending Lucky, so I dropped the subject and checked my cell phone. I hadn’t been able to get a signal in the crypt, and now I saw that I had missed a call from my agent, as well as one from Lopez.

  Since I was going to be a few minutes late for our dinner reservation, I decided to call back my date first.

  Lopez answered on the second ring. “Esther! Are you okay? Where are you?”

  I blinked, realizing that when he’d called without getting an answer, it had made him worry about my safety again. “I’m fine,” I assured him. “Are you at the restaurant already?”

  “No. Look, I tried to call you a little while ago—”

  “I know. I was out of range. I’ll be a few minutes late,” I said, “but I’m looking for a cab right now.”

  Actually, Lucky was trying to get me a cab, but I decided that fell under the heading of Too Much Information.

  “That’s why I called,” Lopez said. “I’m really sorry about this…”

  “What?”

  “I have to cancel.”

  “Oh.” I looked down at my sexy dress as my heart sank. “You do?”

  “I just got called in to work,” he said.

  “I could wait for you.” A cool evening breeze drifted across my bare shoulders, and I realized I’d left my wrap down in the crypt. “Or meet you somewhere later?”

  “I don’t want you to do that,” he said with obvious regret. “I think this is going to take most of the night.”

  “What happened?”

  “Johnny Be Good Gambello was just found dead.”

  “What?”

  Lucky and Max looked at me.

  “Yeah, they just fished him out of the East River,” Lopez said. “The initial estimate is that he’s been dead for twenty-four hours.”