The Doppelgänger: A Psychological Thriller (14 page)

“Can you manage until tomorrow morning?”

“I informed my colleague that I wouldn’t be coming in tomorrow,” Dan said. “This is so sudden. I hope everything is fine.”

He exhaled into the speaker.

“It will be. I’ll be there.”  Darcy said. She hung up and stared into the distance. Her hollow eyes looked at the door. Tears pricked her eyes. She held the railing for support as she ascended the stairs. As soon as she reached her apartment, she began packing for the trip.

She looked through the list of flights to New York. The earliest one was the next morning at eight. She couldn’t wait that long. She wanted to see dad as soon as possible. The guilt of neglecting him all these years made her feel guilty.

She called a car rental service after she finished. She picked up the car thirty minutes later and began her long drive to New York. 

Chapter 17

Remnants of darkness wilted into the bright orange horizon. A long patch of grass stretched before Darcy’s eyes. The images were hazy. Darcy rubbed her eyes to keep them from drooping. Darcy’s stomach growled. In a state of trance, her dug her fingers into her belly. She winced. Her neck hurt where it met her head. Her body was sore. Her muscles begged for rest.

Wilderness greeted her. By this time, she was probably halfway to Scotland. She stopped for refueling at a gas station last night. Her wallet lay on the seat next to her. Thank god she had her credit card.

She turned the radio on in an attempt to distract herself. A dancey pop song burst through the speakers. She turned it down. She flipped radio stations.

Her hands clutched the steering wheel tightly. She abruptly braked. The words faded into a song. It was time for the commercial break. A high-pitched recorded voice began advertising detergent. Darcy turned the radio off. He shoulders rested on the steering wheel. She was breathless.

Her blurry vision clouded to grey. She raised her head. There was no end in sight. She needed something to eat. Her eyes darted to the gas meter which inched perilously close to 0. She searched the GPS for the nearest gas station. There was one less than a mile away.

“After 100 meters, please turn left.” the GPS recited. Not that she could measure 100 meters.

Darcy pulled up next to a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere. The pungent smell of gas mingled with the air. Her eyes stretched to the convenience store beyond the gas station.

The attendant emerged and began refueling the tank. He was a middle-aged man with greying hair. His gaze was fixed on the car behind her. Darcy tapped her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. Her stomach growled. The attendant stared at her. She turned away.

After the refueling was done, she parked the car by the road and stepped into the Tesco Express that lay next to the gas station. A young boy was busy stacking products. He chewed gum. One of the products fell down. His tongue clicked. He picked it up and put it back on the shelf.

She made her way to the transparent refrigerator at the end of the aisle. She scanned the contents and picked up a bottle of coke. She passed through the candy aisles next. The shop assistant had moved on to the next shelf. He shot her a look.

Darcy turned her gaze to the candy bars. She picked the first one she saw. On her way to the cash register, she grabbed a some potato chips. She put the items on the counter. The boy scanned the barcodes. His hands tapped on the counter constantly.

“That’s six-fifty.” he said. Darcy handed him her credit card. She tapped her feet on the floor while he swiped the card. A sharp beep sounded.

“This one ain’t working,” the assistant said.

“Try again,” Darcy said. Her concerned eyes looked at the swipe machine.

He swiped it again. He tapped his fingers on the computer screen, waiting for a response. Another beep resounded.

“Sorry, the bank declined it,” he said, chewing gum. “You got another one?”

Darcy titled her head. She received the card and looked at it. She dug into her purse for her debit card. Had the bank stopped her card because she hadn’t paid the bill? But she paid last month. She scrunched her nose, confused. She handed the debit card to the assistant.

“Try this one,” Darcy said. She looked over his shoulder. He swiped it. He sighed.

“This one ain’t workin’ either,” he said. His tilted head examined her. His eyeballs surveyed her from top to bottom. “It says your account has no balance. You got cash?”

Darcy dug into her pocket. She heard the chiming sound of coins in her pocket. She pulled the coins out. She placed them on the table. The cashier counted them. He shoved them into the cash register. It closed with a ring.

“Thank you,” he said. The assistant handed her a bag. He looked at her suspiciously. Darcy collected her items and walked out of the store. The deserted gas station stared at her.

Her eyes looked at the big picture. Acres of wilderness lay before her. The endless highway stretched to nowhere. A McDonald’s lay next to the gas station. She had no idea where she was.

She stopped by the ATM outside the convenience store. She inserted her card into the slot and carefully entered the PIN. She checked her account balance. There was no money in her account. She rubbed her sleepy eyes. She couldn’t believe what she saw.

Account Balance: $00.00

Sweat formed on her hands, making them sticky. She hurriedly counted the change in her purse. A few notes and coins surfaced. They added up to twenty-two dollars and twenty-seven cents. That wasn’t enough to pay for refueling and meals. Her sweaty palms shoved the notes into her pocket. Where had her money gone overnight?

The guy at the gas station glared at her. She pulled her card out of the machine and hurried back to the car. She sat in the car and shut the door. Her breaths flowed out unevenly.

The uncomfortable realization sank in. Somebody had stolen her money- somebody that had access to her account. Darcy’s heartbeat fogged her brain. Fear dripped through her system. Who could it be? Nobody knew her bank account details, not even her brother.

She remembered Detective Jones’ warning. No, it couldn’t be him. He didn’t have access to her bank accounts. She just met him yesterday. He’d have said something. Her head hurt from all the thinking.  Had her card details been misused over the internet?  She jogged her memory and remembered that her last purchase was from Amazon. Amazon was a safe site. Nobody could’ve hacked her credit card details from there.

She scrolled through her phone’s message inbox. A notice from her bank caught her eye. It had been sent fourteen hours ago.

$75,492.79 was debited from your account no. xxx-xxxx-xxxx.

She stopped reading. She re-read the sentence, holding her breath.
She
had withdrawn that money? Her eyes popped out with disbelief. She settled into her seat, letting cold sweat condense on her forehead. Why did she remember nothing about withdrawing her life savings? Where was the money?

She inhaled, trying to recall the events of last night. Her credit card worked fine during lunchtime. The money must’ve been withdrawn sometime between then and now. She checked the time of the message. It had come in at 9:00 PM last night. She was in her apartment at that time. She had called the car service soon after and left for New York. 

Then, she suddenly got an idea. The blog. The blogger. The Doppelgänger. She inhaled sharply. That was the only answer she could think of. Nobody else knew the intimate details of her life except D. What if she had withdrawn all the money in Darcy’s account? Darcy rubbed her chest, trying to ease the discomfort that rose within her heart. She looked out of the moment, in an attempt to distract herself. 

The sun was out. The dark sky was a bright blue. She saw the green farms that lined the ends of the roads. Spotted black and white cows grazed on green pastures. The buzz of activity disappeared in Upstate New York.

The cells in her tired eyes took a few minutes to accustom themselves to the light. Her stomach muscles relaxed a tiny bit.

Her phone lit up with a message again. 

Darcy clicked on the new message. Her gaze lingered over the new message that she had received.

We will meet soon.

-D

The enigmatic words twisted into circles. She drank some water.

Her throbbing head reeled from the overload. She re-read the words. It was confirmation of her hunches. The blogger did have something to do with the disappearing money. The enigmatic message played in her mind. What did D know that she didn’t? Did she have something to do with Dr. Williams’ murder too?

Darcy began dialing the bank. They had to have answers. How did they let a stranger withdraw all that money without asking her for a confirmation?

A bored phone operator with a foreign accent answered the phone. She asked Darcy for her details and security questions.

“How may I help you?”

“All my money is gone,” Darcy said. “My savings account is completely empty. I checked my account now and there’s nothing.”

“Hold on for a moment, let me check,” the phone operator said. “Umm…I can see you made a withdrawal on Wednesday.”

“I didn’t withdraw any money,” Darcy said. “I was away on Wednesday.”

“I’m sorry but our records show that you personally requested to withdraw the balance in your account.”

“But- but I didn’t go to the bank on Wednesday.” Darcy insisted.

“I’m sorry but our information shows that you made the withdrawal request and signed the release.”

“It wasn’t me,” Darcy said. “I need to get the funds back.”

“Ummm…did you lose your debit card?”

“No. I used it the other day.” Darcy said.

“That’s strange….” The operator said. “I suggest you contact your branch manager to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

Darcy hung up. She opened her bag and pulled out her wallet. Her debit and credit card were inside her purse. She sighed. Where had the funds gone? She checked the time on her phone. She decided to get to home first. Darcy ignited the car engine and began to drive. The car moved away from the gas station. Her phone buzzed. She slid her finger across the screen.

“Hello?” Darcy’s voice was tense.

“It’s me Mike.” Mike’s familiar voice burst through the speakers.

“Mike -”

“I found something interesting,” he dashed off.

“What?” she asked, her throbbing eyes fixed on the rear view mirror.

“Uh…where are you?” he asked.

“Uh…I…” Darcy hesitated.

“Are you in Chicago?” Darcy remained silent for another moment.

“No…I’m on my way to New York…my father had an emergency.” Darcy said. It was Thursday already. Darcy had been taking quite a few days off from work. She saw the reflection of one of the guys in the gas station. He was rapidly moving toward her. Darcy’s heartbeat raced. She ignited the engine. She pressed the accelerator. He stopped. She began to drive, holding the phone in place with her shoulders.

“I hope everything is okay?”

“I’ll know when I get there.” Darcy said.

“Jillian saw you in Michigan Avenue last evening.” Mike pushed the sentence through before she had time to think.

“Me? In Michigan Avenue? What was I doing there?” Darcy’s eyebrows shot up. The car glided on the empty road. She steered toward the hills. Darcy struggled to balance the phone between her right ear and shoulder blade.

“It wasn’t you?”

“What time was this?”

“Nine in the evening. She said you were near the Bank of America. She said you were carryin’ a large bag.”

Darcy abruptly halted. She pulled the car to the corner of the road and calmed her heartbeat.

“It wasn’t me.” She said, after a moment of deliberation.

“You sure? She was worried about you.”

“I didn’t go to the bank yesterday evening.” She was busy packing and looking for flights to New York at that time. 

“I wonder why she thought it was you….” Mike said.

“Did this person look like me?” 

“That’s what Jillian thought.” 

Darcy cleared her throat. Red traffic lights flashed before her face. She applied the brakes.

“It wasn’t me.” Darcy confirmed.

“It wasn’t you, huh? Maybe Jillian was sleepy…” her dragged the sentence out. “Maybe it was somebody that looked like you.”

Darcy’s heart thudded. Somebody that looked like her. Her doppelgänger.

“Maybe,” Darcy said. Green light. She re-ignited the engine and drove. “Listen, I’ll call you later. I’m driving.”

“Oh, okay.” Mike hung up.

The phone line went dead. Darcy’s tense shoulders let go. The phone slipped and fell to her feet. The blank screen reflected her feet.

With her hand on the steering wheel, Darcy read the signs for the nearest town. She needed to rest. She pressed the accelerator harder. The car sped up. The pastures and hills on her sides became disjointed lines of brown, green, yellow and blue.

She was tired and disoriented. She continued to drive, her mind trying to sort all the details that she had compiled from the conversation.

The doppelgänger had gone to the bank and withdrawn the money. That was the only rational explanation she could come up with. But why? Why did D take her money? Lack of finances left her debilitated. What was D trying to achieve by making her stay still?

Maybe she wanted revenge. Was she out there to get Darcy? She remembered Jillian’s theory, all of a sudden. The doppelgänger was her evil twin. She was trying to replace her in this world. Darcy’s heart rate shot up at that thought.

She jerkily applied the brakes before a red light. The scenery before her eyes blurred. Droplets of rain beat down on the car window. Rain was unusual in this weather. The blurry red turned to orange and then green. The car wipers began wiping away the droplets that settled on the car window. Darcy turned to the GPS and looked at the remaining distance. She’d be there in thirty minutes. That meant eight-thirty in the morning.

Darcy bit off the wrapper of the candy bar and ate some, steering with one hand. She didn’t doubt that the person who knew the most intimate details of her life would know her bank account details. Darcy remembered the video Detective Jones had shown her. Suddenly, everything aligned.  It was the doppelgänger that killed Dr. Williams. She didn’t know why or how but that conclusion seemed highly likely in the light of recent events.

Darcy drove further until she reached Smithtown half an hour later. Dan had texted her the address of the hospital. She went there straight away. After parking the car in the lot, she rushed into the hospital. The hospital was busy on a Thursday. She called Dan.

“Hello? Dan? I’m at the hospital. Where are you?”

“I’m right behind you,” he said.

Darcy turned. Dan stood behind her, his expression neutral. His eyes were hollow due to lack of sleep. The last time she saw him was a year ago. He had put on some weight since and dyed his hair black. Darcy walked toward him and hugged him.

“How was the drive?” Dan asked.

“It’s over, that’s all. How’s dad?” Darcy said.

“It was a minor heart attack. The doctor said he needed some rest, and he’d be okay.” Dan said.

“That’s a relief. Can I see him?”

“Sure.”

Darcy followed Dan down the corridor.

“How does it feel to be back in New York?” he asked.

“Things have changed.” Darcy said. She didn’t know why she felt anxious. It was as though an impending sense of doom was pounding on her head. She brushed the feeling aside and opened the door to the room dad was in.

She saw him lying on the bed looking frail. Emotion hoked Darcy’s throat. Her father had changed. His hair was not grey but cotton white. His veins were more prominent.

Darcy saw a bottle of blood hanging by his side. The red flowed through the narrow tube into his hand. A throbbing headache overtook Darcy’s mind. The red bottle of blood intensified in her vision. The beds, the windows, the faces-everything in the room began to swim in red liquid. Darcy inhaled deeply, shutting her eyes. She saw images of two men for a split second. They were followed by a splatter of blood. She visualized the red barn. She was standing inside, surrounded by stacks of hay. Before her, stood the two men.