Chapter Three
The unforeseen even of coming face to face with oneself is not a practice to be recommended. It does something strange to the mind beyond giving it a short sharp unexpected shock. The impact is even greater with the realisation that a conspiracy is taking place. To add to the intrigue, the imposter was holding the arm of a woman who passed herself off as my secretary. In a way, it was rather flattering. I had always considered my personal role in the grand design of life was singularly unimportant, yet someone had taken the trouble to arrange for me to have a double… and here he was talking to me in the street! In the confusion that followed, the effect of the confrontation caused me to become lost for words. To my surprise, Penny picked up the baton swiftly which led to the next development.
‘Commander Spring wants you to come with us to talk to Tomar Duran in a valley south of here,’ she informed them, issuing a statement which was totally untrue. ‘There’s no need to confer with him. He said it was urgent. We haven’t any time to lose.’
The bogus Jason Scott stared at her suspiciously. ‘What’s this all about?’ he enquired. ‘I thought the Commander wanted to brief us on the flight arrangements tomorrow.’
‘You’ll understand when we get there,’ continued Penny in a firm tone that was not to be denied.
The man pursed his lips for a moment deep in thought. ‘That’s odd!’ he muttered. ‘I thought Duran was covering our tracks… in case of need.’ He shrugged his shoulders aimlessly. ‘It’s too bad! They never tell us what we want to know. Well… if that’s the Commander’s decision, so be it!’
We led them to the small Volkswagen and clambered inside before driving along the highway to the path leading to the wreckage. I had no idea what was going to happen when we got there.
‘I understand you play bridge,’ I ventured, testing him out. I had never seen him playing in the major competitions, nor had anyone else for they would have pointed out the likeness to me had he taken part.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I used to play duplicate in the north of England. Then I left for the United States and took part in a lot of tournaments there. Recently, I worked for the management of a couple of clubs… gambling clubs… playing for the house.’
‘Which system do you use?’
‘Quite a few. Acol… precision club… American Standard and a few others. If you’re interested we may be able to make up a foursome.’
I could understand why Commander Spring was so concerned. My double was far too amicable and much too casual. He needed more tutoring in my mannerisms if he was going to emulate me as well as the way I spoke. It baffled me as to the reason why he did not recognise me as the original Jason Scott. ‘ What’s your view of the Vienna Coup,’ I challenged relentlessly, testing him to the full.
‘Great!’ he responded easily. ‘One of my favourites on the right sort of hand of course. I love it when there’s a squeeze.’
‘And the opening of four no trumps in Acol?’
‘Asking partner for aces of course. I say, you seem to know your game. Are you looking for a partner?’
He obviously knew his stuff when it came to playing bridge but why was that the criterion? And why did anyone choose to replace me? At that moment we arrived at the spot where we had picked up the car. ‘We’ll have to walk from here,’ I told them stopping the vehicle in the same lay-by. I tried to fathom the reason why we had returned to this place but without success. ‘It’s only a short walk.’
The second Jason Scott rubbed his eyes as he left the vehicle and blinked a number of times before starting to walk away with us. ‘I’ve got these strange contact lenses,’ he confided. ‘My eyes are grey and the Commander insisted that they should be brown. They gave me a set of brown-coloured lenses but they blur my vision terribly. I think they’ll have to go back to the drawing board or I’ll go completely blind. And this woman’s no help. She may look like Penny Smith but she’s not very bright and she doesn’t speak a word of English.’
So that was the reason why he hadn’t recognised me and why the woman had said nothing. I was grateful to the Commander for small mercies. The four of us continued along the track accompanied by the prattle of the other man as he rambled on for what seemed to be an eternity about the island. He may have looked like me but he was not like me at all.
‘Do you know there are one thousand five hundred varieties of wild flowers on Crete? And three thousand caves and grottoes,’ he babbled liberally. ‘On could come to the island and live rent free simply by becoming a cave-dweller. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that any place which attracts sunshine for three hundred days a year deserves a vote for a place where one could retire at leisure. It’s known as the crossroads between Europe, Africa and Asia and it’s the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. By the way,’ he paused staring directly into my eyes, ‘you didn’t tell me your name.’
It was a game I could play no longer but I had no idea how to end it. However I didn’t need to worry because Penny had an immediate answer.
‘It isn’t necessary for you to know,’ she countered icily, producing a revolver from her handbag. ‘Step aside Jason!’
The last time I recalled seeing Duran’s gun was at the moment Penny let it fall from her hand after she had shot him. In the aftermath of the crash, the fight with Duran, the pains in my body and the throbbing in my head, it had slipped my mind entirely. Penny must have picked it up before we left. I could only imagine that she saw it as some kind of useful insurance if we ever got into trouble. Now she threatened to use it against two other people. I wasn’t too sure of her intention but the opportunity to extract information was too good to be true.
‘All right!’ I snarled. ‘ What’s going on? Why are you pretending to be Jason Scott and Penny Smith?’
‘You’ll have to discuss that with the Commander,’ he replied flippantly, causing me to believe that nothing had been divulged to him either. He peered closely at my face and he began to recognise me. ‘But firstly you ought to tell me why the Commander arranged for another set of people to look like us. Perhaps we’re all dispensable. I wouldn’t be surprised.’
He moved slightly starting to withdraw his hand from his pocket and, without warning, Penny fired the gun. The imposter clutched at the area of his heart before collapsing to the ground. The other woman screamed and started to run away. As she did, Penny fired again. My feet turned to clay as I stood on the same spot horrified at the sight of two bodies laying on the ground. I knelt down painfully to examine them. Both had been shot through the heart.
Whoever they were, they hardly deserved to be the victims of such a wanton killing.
‘Why did you do that?’ I gasped, looking at my secretary who was still pointing the gun at the bodies in case either of them moved.
The pale expression on her face indicated that she was confused. ‘I thought he was going to pull a gun from his pocket,’ she explained, almost in a whisper as her eyes filled with tears. ‘I thought he was going to kill us.’
I drew the dead man’s hand from his pocket to exhibit a large white handkerchief. ‘All he was going to do was to wipe the tears from his eyes caused by the contact lenses.’ I spat angrily. ‘My God! This is turning out to be a nightmare! What on earth possessed you to pull the trigger? And why did you have to kill the woman?’
She started to cry and I pulled an unhappy face deciding not to continue with the inquisition. It was possible to accept that Penny’s nerves were so stretched that she was imagining that death was imminent from every source. After all, she was a petite innocent secretary who, ostensibly, would never hurt a fly. Yet, on reflection, she had killed three people by her own hand within the span of an hour!