get to Jill's apartment in a hurry, so she might as well familiarize herself with the route.
The stairwell wasn't air conditioned. There were two sets of wooden stairs with rubber treads, with a tiny landing in between so the steps could make their angled turn. Nothing she couldn't negotiate in a hurry. She opened the door to the seventh-floor hall and a noticeable movement of somewhat cooler air.
There was Jill Clark down the hall, in jeans and a yellow T-shirt, just stepping into the elevator.
'Jill!'
But the momentum of her step caused Jill to disappear into the elevator. Pearl wasn't sure if she'd heard.
Pearl hurried toward the elevator. 'Jill! It's Jewel!'
The elevator door was closing.
It was almost all the way closed when Pearl looked in and saw Jill staring out at her.
'We were supposed to meet.'
Jill looked startled and fumbled with the elevator's keypad to stop the door. Pearl tried to hold the closing door with her hand, but mechanics had taken over and wouldn't be denied. Pearl yanked her hand out of there before she got a finger pressed in the rubber seal.
As the door growled shut, Jill looked out at Pearl with a helpless smile and shrugged. 'I'll be right back up.'
The indicator above the elevator doors said the elevator was dropping.
Pearl was alone in the hall. She didn't have a key yet to Jill's apartment, so she decided to walk down and stand by the door.
She'd taken two steps when she heard the other elevator door softly rumble open behind her.
She turned around and saw Jill step out into the hall.
Pearl stepped toward her and realized suddenly that this was impossible. There was no way Jill could have ridden the elevator down to the lobby, and then returned on the second elevator. And why would she have taken a different elevator back up?
And why was she wearing different clothes?
Her hair was the same color as that of the woman in the other elevator, and worn in the same style. Her face…It wasn't exactly the same, Pearl realized. The first Jill had somewhat broader features, and something about her neck and jaw wasn't quite the same.
Pearl called up the image of the other Jill, commanding her mind to re-create the woman in fine detail. She was sure the other Jill, smiling helplessly out at her as she seemingly tried to stop the elevator's closing door, but was probably holding in the button to close it, had the same light pattern of freckles along and above the bridge of her nose. Nothing you'd call a flaw. A minor distinguishing feature only a cop would notice.
My God! Even the freckles!
'I saw her,' Pearl said.
Jill looked confused. 'Saw who?'
'The other you. She was riding the elevator down to the lobby while you were coming up. You had to have passed each other. She must have been in your apartment and seen you approach out the window. Or maybe somebody called from outside and warned her.'
Pearl dug her cell phone out of her blazer pocket, then put it back. Too much time had passed. The other Jill would be out of the building and putting distance between it and her. She'd be blocks away within minutes.
Jill had gone pale and was leaning with an arm against the wall.
Pearl steadied her. 'It's okay. It was quite a shock to me too, and I'm not even you.'
'She must have been learning about me, seeing what was in my refrigerator, my bedroom drawers, maybe trying on my clothes…'
'Maybe stealing some of your clothes.'
'I don't think it would be the first time.' Jill stood away from the wall and Pearl released her hold on her arm. 'A week ago I blamed the dry cleaners for something they lost, something I couldn't find the receipt for. And there've been a few other items, even some jewelry, that seem to have disappeared.' She gave Pearl a wan smile. 'At least you believe me now.'
'Oh, we believe you,' Pearl said.
Jill looked around as if suddenly realizing they were in the hall. 'C'mon, Jewel. Somebody's liable to overhear us and think we're nuts.'
At first Pearl didn't know who Jill was talking to. She almost glanced around. Then she realized she was Jewel and followed Jill down the hall to her apartment.
The door was unlocked.
'She must have left in a hurry,' Jill said. 'Maybe somebody did call and warn her.'
Pearl edged in front of Jill. 'Let me go in first.'
Jill seemed to resist at first, then moved aside.
Pearl drew her 9mm Glock from its belt holster and used her free hand to push the door almost closed. She motioned for Jill to stay in the hall, and then Pearl was inside.
She was in a modestly decorated living room with cheap or old eclectic furniture. Covering most of the hardwood floor was a threadbare fake Persian rug that was mostly maroon. The blinds on one of the street-side twin windows were angled down, as if someone had been peering between the wooden slats keeping an eye on the street. The blinds on the window next to it were slanted to admit light from above. Sunbeams stenciled angled shadows over everything.
The apartment was quiet. It felt empty. But Pearl knew that could be deceptive. People who knew how to hide could be as silent and still as the furniture. With the gun pressed against her thigh, she made her way past a small galley kitchen on her right, then the opened door to a bathroom with chipped gray tile and old but clean white fixtures. There was a bunched plastic shower curtain, pulled all the way open to the faucet side of the claw-foot tub. Nowhere to hide in the bathroom. Pearl continued down the hall to the bedroom.
It was surprisingly large, with a double bed covered with a blue and gray duvet. On the wall near the foot of the bed was a tall chest with some of the wood veneer starting to peel. There was a small TV on a table near the chest. On another wall was a dresser with a mismatched framed mirror. A bench by the windows. The blinds were both half open to admit yellow sunlight. The room was bright. Pearl saw that the closet door was hanging open. A light beige dress, maybe something you'd wear someplace nice, was carefully spread out on the bed.
Pearl approached the closet cautiously, gun at the ready, then parted the clothes.
No one was hiding behind them.
She checked under the bed, the only other place in the room someone might find concealment, and saw only a few dust bunnies. The floor was bare wood in here, too, like the living room floor under the faux Persian rug, only in here there were throw rugs scattered about. Throw rugs. The most dangerous things in a house or an apartment-usually.
Still holding the gun against her thigh, she returned to the living room.
Jill had of course disobeyed her instructions and was standing just inside the door.
'I didn't hear anything,' Jill said. 'I thought something might have happened to you.'
'And you came in so it could happen to you too?'
'It was dumb,' Jill said. 'I'm sorry.' She hung her head like a kid who'd just been admonished.
'Well, that's one reason I'm here, to teach you how not to take risks,' Pearl said.
'I'll learn,' Jill assured her. 'Really I will.'
'Did you leave a dress on the bed when you walked out of here? Beige, lacy neckline, sexy?'
'No. I wouldn't have. I'm sure I didn't.'
'But it is your dress?'
'It sounds like one of mine.'
Pearl led her back to the bedroom and showed her the dress spread out on the bed, the closet door hanging open.
'It's mine, all right.' She glanced around, angry and scared. 'I didn't leave things like this,' she said. 'She's been here, handling my stuff, wearing my clothes.'
'We might have gotten here just in time to save your dress,' Pearl said wryly.
'Why would she steal my clothes?'
