by Kathi Daley
“Okay. That works,” Jeremy said. “It’s a casual question, so asking it won’t cause suspicion.” He sat back in the chair and looked off into the distance as if mulling something over. “You know, you might want to speak to Ethan.”
“Ethan?” I asked. Ethan Carlton was a retired history professor who filled in part-time at Zimmerman Academy. He was also casually dating Phyllis, so he was actually on the campus quite a lot.
“I ran into him Monday afternoon, and he asked me if you were okay. I told him I hadn’t seen you since the previous week, but that you’d seemed fine the last time I saw you. He mentioned that you’d stopped by the academy that morning and asked Phyllis to let you into Zak’s office. Phyllis knew Zak was in Italy, so she obliged, but Ethan told me that you seemed strange.”
My heart sank. Fake Zoe had been in Zak’s office at the academy. “Strange? How?” I asked.
“He said that you seemed confused. You seemed to know who Phyllis was, but you didn’t seem to know who he was. Ethan also said that your voice sounded funny — like you were coming down with a cold. He was still worried when he ran into me later that day, so he asked about you. I assured him that you’d seemed fine the last time I’d spoken to you, but I really think you should follow up with him.”
“I will. Thank you, Jeremy.”
“Let me know if you figure out who’s doing this,” Jeremy said as I got up to leave. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with the situation.”
“I will. For now, just remember our code word, your safety question, and my response if I show up without Charlie.”
“I will. I have to admit, this whole thing is freaking me out.”
Chapter 6
I tried to call Zak to let him know that I was heading over to talk to Ethan, but he didn’t answer his cell. I was sure he was knee-deep in defensive moves with Pi trying to keep Fake Zoe out of his system. I wondered why, if Fake Zoe had broken in on Tuesday, which is when Alex reported she’d seen fake me in Zak’s office, the virus hadn’t kicked in immediately. Maybe there was something amongst the items stolen from the safety deposit box this morning that she needed to make the whole thing work. If that were true, it would explain why Fake Zoe had tried so hard to get into the box in the first place.
I wasn’t actually certain where I might find Ethan, so I texted him and asked if we could meet. He texted back to let me know that he was sitting in Phyllis’s office at the academy, chatting with her about their plans for the weekend. I asked if he would wait there for me if I headed in that direction, and he indicated that he would.
And then I remembered Catherine. I was supposed to pick her up in less than twenty minutes. I’d already tried to contact Zak and had been unsuccessful, so I called Ellie and asked her if she could pick Catherine up when she picked Eli up. She agreed to my request and arranged for me to pick Catherine up at the boathouse when I’d completed my meeting with Ethan.
When I arrived at Zimmerman Academy, both Ethan and Phyllis greeted Charlie and me warmly. Although, Ethan did seem to be treating me with kid gloves as if he wasn’t quite sure of my reaction. I took a seat across from the sofa where Ethan and Phyllis had been sitting and chatting and began filling them in on my long and complicated story. I could see that both Ethan and Phyllis were shocked by my news. Neither friend was young, so I hoped the shock of what I was telling them wouldn’t give either of them a heart attack.
“I thought something was off,” Ethan said after I’d filled them in on the details relating to Fake Zoe. “When you came in that day, I could sense something was wrong. It even entered my mind that you might have suffered a stroke.”
“It is true that this Zoe look-alike seemed to know who I was and had been expecting to find me in my office, but was shocked and dismayed when she realized Ethan was in the room too,” Phyllis said.
I shifted and looked at Phyllis. “Jeremy told me that Fake Zoe asked you to let her into Zak’s office.”
“That’s true. You did ask me that. Or I guess I should say she did. I was sitting at my desk, chatting with Ethan when a woman who could be your twin poked her head in the door. She smiled and greeted me by name. She explained that she needed to get something out of Zak’s office, but had forgotten her key. She asked me if I could open the door and let her in. I, of course, agreed to her request. I needed to get the key out of my file cabinet, so I invited her into my office. When she saw Ethan, she sort of froze. I don’t think she realized anyone other than me was in the office, and she did seem to stumble around a bit when he greeted her.”
“So she’d done her homework and knew she would have to ask you to let her into Zak’s office,” I said. “She must have familiarized herself with your name and photo, but she hadn’t been expecting Ethan, so hadn’t looked him up and didn’t know who he was.”
“That seems like a good theory to me,” Ethan said.
“So, what did she want?” Phyllis asked. “Why did she want access to Zak’s office?”
I supposed that was the million-dollar question of the day.
I glanced at my phone. Zak hadn’t texted me back. I knew he was busy, so I figured asking him what this person might have wanted from his office at the academy could wait.
“What can you tell me about this woman?” I asked. “Other than the fact that she looked like me. What was she wearing? What did she say? How was her voice? Did she have an accent? What, if anything, was she carrying?”
“She was wearing a large down parka and baggy wool pants,” Phyllis said. “I remember this because, at the time, I thought that her outfit didn’t look at all like the sort of thing you would wear.”
I remembered she wore a large and bulky parka in the video from the bank as well, even though it hadn’t been cold this morning. I could only guess that her frame was somewhat different from mine, and she was trying to cover up that fact. “How about her height?” I asked.
“The same as you or close to the same,” Phyllis provided.
“Her hair was dark and curly like yours, but it was pulled up and knotted on top of her head, so the length wasn’t really noticeable,” Ethan added.
“What about her eye color?” I asked.
“She had tinted glasses on,” Phyllis said.
“Didn’t you think that was odd?”
She shrugged. “I suppose, but keep in mind that we had no reason to believe this woman wasn’t you. For all we knew, you might have had one too many drinks the night before and were nursing a hangover, which might account for the glasses and the less than put-together appearance.”
I supposed Phyllis had a point. It had been quite a while since I’d gone out drinking with Levi and Ellie, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that a friends night out might have occurred if Levi and Ellie had been able to arrange for a sitter, although we would never have gone out on a night when Levi had work the following day. I decided not to say anything since it really wasn’t important at this point.
“Okay, so this woman who looks enough like me that you didn’t question that it was me showed up here Monday morning and asked to be let into Zak’s office. You knew Zak was in Italy, and it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that he’d asked me to come by and get something, so when this woman asked to be let into Zak’s office, you obliged. She had on a heavy coat and heavy pants, which isn’t the sort of thing I’d normally wear, but the overall image she presented was close enough that my identity wasn’t questioned.”
Both Phyllis and Ethan agreed that my statement was factual.
“Jeremy told me that Ethan had mentioned to him that my voice sounded odd,” I said.
“It did,” Ethan agreed. “Sort of deep and raspy. Almost the way a heavy smoker would sound. Since I know you don’t smoke, I just assumed you were either coming down with a cold or had something lodged in your throat that you couldn’t quite get free.”
“Ethan and I did speak about it after I let you into the office,” Phyllis said. “We considered
that you might be getting sick, but combined with the odd clothing, we also discussed the hangover possibility.”
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Okay, so the woman who came in wasn’t exactly like me, but close enough. Was there anything you can remember that stood out as being odd other than the clothes and deep raspy voice?”
“The sunglasses indoors and the bare ring finger,” Phyllis said.
“Bare ring finger?” I asked.
She nodded toward my left hand, where the huge rock Zak had given me when we became engaged still rested. “The woman didn’t have your ring, but based on the clothes and hair, it really did look like you’d rolled out of bed, pulled on a big coat, and came straight over. I just figured you’d taken the ring off to sleep or wash up and had forgotten to put it back on.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
Both Phyllis and Ethan agreed they couldn’t think of anything else.
Given the fact that Fake Zoe had worn a bulky coat and baggy pants, I supposed she might be either thinner or heavier than I was, but both Phyllis and Ethan agreed she was about the same height. Who was this woman, and how is it that she happened to have my face?
I glanced at Phyllis. “Zak’s busy with Pi, trying to get the virus that infected the computer in his home office under control before all the data he has secured on his system is compromised, so I doubt he’ll want to come down and look around in his office. Why don’t you and I take a look?” Phyllis looked uncomfortable with my request. I supposed I didn’t blame her. She might be feeling bad about letting Fake Zoe into Zak’s private space. I reached into my purse and pulled out my keyring. I held it up. “I have a key, so there’s no need to wonder if I’m the fake me trying to pull something over on you.”
Phyllis looked relieved. “I know this is the real you. Now that I know there’s a look-alike out there, I realize I should have noticed the differences.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Ethan asked.
“Not that I can think of offhand. I figure Phyllis might notice if something is missing, although Zak came in on Wednesday, and he didn’t mention that anything was missing, so whatever Fake Zoe was doing, she must not have been stealing anything that would be immediately missed. I sort of doubt we’ll be able to figure out what she was after, but I feel helpless to help Zak with his real problem, so I figured I’d do what I can.”
“Does Alex know what’s going on?” Phyllis asked. “I suspect she has the right skill set to help Zak and Pi.”
“I’ll call her. She’ll want to help if she isn’t already at home doing just that.”
As it turned out, Alex was already at home helping Zak. While Zak didn’t feel like he could take a break long enough to call me back, Alex took a minute to speak to me, letting me know that things didn’t look good. I told her I was going to stop by Levi and Ellie’s to pick Catherine up but would be home after that. She assured me she’d tell Zak before ringing off to go back and help him.
As I suspected, my search of Zak’s office at the academy didn’t net me any new information. I didn’t know what I was looking for and hadn’t really spent enough time in his office to know if anything was missing. Phyllis spent more time in the office than I did, but she didn’t notice anything missing or disturbed right off, so in the end, we decided there wasn’t a lot we could do. I was on my way out when I noticed an envelope on his desk. It looked suspiciously similar to the one I’d received at the Zoo with the strange symbols. I picked the envelope up and opened it. Again, inside was a single piece of paper with a rectangle containing symbols.
I showed it to Phyllis. “Do you know what this is?”
She looked at the shapes on the page. “Not offhand. I suppose it might be some sort of code. The shapes are familiar, but they don’t really mean anything to me.”
“I received a piece of paper at the Zoo that’s similar to this,” I said. “The shapes are different, but the overall feel of the shapes is the same.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the first note I’d found and never had remembered to ask Zak about.
“Do you think the Zoe look-alike left this here?” Phyllis asked.
I looked at the envelope I’d found on Zak’s desk. “Actually, yes. There isn’t any postage on the envelope or a date or tracking stamp such as would be found on an envelope that was delivered.” I slid the envelope and the note in my bag, along with the first note I’d received. “I’m going to see if Salinger can dust these for prints. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Is there anything Ethan and I can do?” Phyllis asked.
“Not at the moment, but I suspect things might get more complicated before we figure this out. I’ll call you tomorrow with an update.”
Chapter 7
After I left Zimmerman Academy, I headed toward the sheriff’s office. I’d slipped the note I’d found at the Zoo in my bag with the thought of asking Zak about it later, although I’d discarded the envelope that had come with that first note not knowing it was important. I made a copy of both sheets of paper with the shapes but left the original notes and envelope with Salinger. He promised to dust them for prints and let me know what he found. I then headed to the boathouse to pick Catherine up. I hadn’t seen Ellie since Wednesday, so I had quite the story to share.
“Oh my gosh. Are you serious?” Ellie demanded after Charlie settled in to play with Eli, Catherine, and Alya, and I filled her in on Fake Zoe and the series of events that had taken place over the past few days.
“I’m afraid I am,” I said. “To be honest, the way everything has unfolded, I feel like I’m caught up in a whirlpool that I can’t find my way out of.” I took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “The one good thing to come out of this is that we found Marlow safe and unharmed, but I hate to even consider what Zak might be going through. I’m not sure what is going to happen if he can’t find a way to shut down the virus.”
“Can’t he just shut down the whole system?” Ellie asked.
“No. I have to be honest, I don’t really understand how the whole thing works, but Alex tried to explain it to me in simple terms when I spoke to her on the phone. According to Alex, Zak’s security system is set up with a series of barriers or gates. The virus, which we believe was planted by Fake Zoe, is systematically working its way through the system, opening each gate, and then moving onto another. Once all the gates are open, the person who planted the virus will theoretically be able to access everything Zak had secured behind those gates.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It is bad. Not only does Zak have sensitive information relating to his business customers, but he works with the government as well, which means that a breach of the system could be catastrophic.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should get home. There’s nothing I can do to help, but I feel like I should be there.”
“Is Alex working with Zak?” Ellie asked.
I nodded. “Zak, Alex, and Pi are all working as hard and as fast as they can. I suppose that if they aren’t able to stay ahead of it, Zak knows others in the field he can call in to help, but I suspect he’s trying to keep this quiet so as not to cause a panic.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Ellie said. “A bunch of customers up in arms and demanding an explanation, as well as assurances, will only serve to distract Zak from what he really needs to be doing.”
I felt a twinge of panic as I glanced at Catherine, who was helping Eli build an impressive tower out of blocks. “I think we need a code word or phrase,” I said to Ellie.
“A code word?” she asked.
“There is someone out there walking around with my face. Someone who looks enough like me to convince Alex, Jeremy, Phyllis, Ethan, and the bank manager that she was me. I can’t help but worry that this someone who looks like me isn’t done doing whatever it is she’s doing. I want to be sure that if someone shows up to pick Catherine up, you know for certain it’s me doing the picking up.”
“Of course, I’ll kno
w it’s you,” Ellie argued. “You’re my best friend. I would be able to tell the difference.”
“Maybe, but I want to be sure. I want to come up with something that you can ask me, and I can answer that will prove I’m who I say I am. Something that won’t necessarily alert the fake me that you are onto her should she actually show up here at the boathouse.”
Suddenly, Ellie looked worried. Really worried. A lot more worried than she had been even a minute ago. “Do you think she will show up? Here, I mean?”
I slowly shook my head. “No. Not necessarily, but I do think we should be prepared. Just in case.”
Ellie sucked in a breath. I could see that the ramifications of having a Zoe look-alike out there were beginning to really sink in. She was scared. I didn’t blame her. Heck, I was terrified. What if this woman kidnapped me and then managed to insert herself into my life? Would anyone be able to figure it out? Zak? Catherine? Charlie?
I supposed that even if this look-alike was good enough to fool everyone else in my life, Charlie would know. Charlie not only knows the look of me but the smell of me as well. He wouldn’t be fooled. At least that was the story I was telling myself.
“Okay, what sort of code should we use?” Ellie asked after having had the chance to think things over a bit.
“Jeremy is going to ask me about Lambda. That seemed like a simple question that wouldn’t raise suspicion. But I want you to use something different. It has to be something that we both know the answer to, but Fake Zoe couldn’t learn by researching me.”
“How about I ask you about your grandmother’s black bean soup recipe that I duplicated seven Christmases ago?”
I lifted a brow. “My grandmother’s soup recipe was for potato cheese soup, not black bean soup.”