The girl looked around for a moment, startled, eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed in suspicion. "Who, me?"
Lassiter realized then that he'd made a mistake. The face was Rebecca's, beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it was all wrong. The way her eyes were hardened against him; the way she leaned forward; the way her hands were curled, claw-like, at her sides. Everything, her posture and body language, was wrong, defensive. Early Twenties thought he would hurt her, but Rebecca would have known that he could never do anything to harm her. That was when he noticed the other little details that he'd missed the first time: her hair was shorter than Rebecca's, and streaked with hot pink, and her nails were painted and immaculate, a distinction that Rebecca's hands would never be able to claim.
"I'm sorry," Lassiter said after a pause that was far too long to be within the realm of politeness. "I thought you were someone else."
Early Twenties was puzzled, but relaxed and sat back down. "Oh. Okay." Her eyes gave him a once-over that he knew must have been just like the one he'd given her moments earlier. "Can I buy you a drink?"
Lassiter didn't know what he'd expected out of this woman, but it certainly wasn't that. "Are you even old enough to drink?"
Early Twenties raised her eyebrow, a gesture so much like Rebecca that Lassiter suddenly felt even more lonely. "Of course," she said.
"How old are you?" he asked, still unconvinced.
"Twenty-two," she replied, opening her purse and sliding her ID across the bar.
He picked it up and scrutinized it. She wasn't lying. "Lichelle Bennett. You're American," he said, noting that the ID, a driver's license, was issued in Connecticut.
"What gave me away?" she asked, one corner of her lip curling into a crooked smile.
Lassiter passed her ID back to her. "What are you doing in Japan?"
"I work here. A lot, actually. I have a studio down the street." The next item she slid down the bar was a business card.
"Charcoal Heart," he read aloud. "Interesting name."
"I'm an interesting person," she replied with a grin.
"What kind of artwork?"
"This, mostly." She gestured to the pop art prints on the walls of the dinky little restaurant.
"You did these?"
"Unfortunately." Her grin grew wider. "My specialty is portraits. Portraits, and dead winter trees." She laughed, as though somehow that remark was an inside joke. "Just don't ask me to do anything abstract. I'm good, but I'm not that good."
Lassiter nodded, unsure of what to say. "Where are you from?"
"Kentucky, originally. But I don't tell people that often. I usually just say I'm from Connecticut."
"Why tell me something different?"
"I don't know." Lichelle shrugged. "I just get a good feeling about you." The big grin popped up again.
"I'm engaged."
"Way to let a girl down easy. Better than leading me on, I suppose. Can I still buy you a drink? Least I can do after that case of mistaken identity. Who'd you mistake me for, anyway?"
"My fiancée. Which is why I won't be taking you up on your offer," Lassiter said.
"Well, you can't blame a girl for trying. So why are you in Japan? Business?"
"You could say that."
"How long are you in town? You should come by the studio."
"We'll see." Lassiter had no intention of ever seeing this woman again. It was one thing to see copies of himself running around, but copies of Rebecca? He only needed one and he only wanted one. Doppelgängers caused trouble; he knew this from experience, and it was an experience he had no desire to repeat.
"Hope you change your mind," Lichelle said, standing up. "I'm out of here."
As she walked out, she left a napkin on the bar in front of Lassiter. On it was drawn a tiny sketch of Lassiter's face. He folded it up and tucked it into his breast pocket. It wasn't half bad.
Rebecca took the plastic baggie to Woody's morgue as soon as she left the Chief's office. She hoped he didn't have questions, like where she got the hair or what kind of experiment she was doing. She hoped he didn't have questions, because she sure didn't have any explanations.
She tapped on the door, but when she got no answer, she knew her quiet rapping was a little too unobtrusive. She knocked a little harder.
"Come in," the good-natured voice came from inside.
Rebecca put on a smile and opened the door. "Hi, Woody," she said, bouncing in just like she would on any other day, any routine day where she didn't have a random strand of fur from the police chief's left arm in a Ziploc ready to be analyzed.
"Well, hey there," Woody said. "What brings you to the Realm of the Undead?" He chuckled at his own joke before shifting without warning into a somber mood. "That was just a joke. I hope this isn't really the Realm of the Undead. At the moment, I'm unprepared to deal with the zombie menace. I loaned my hatchet to a friend, and he hasn't returned it."
"I hope you get it back, Woody," Rebecca said. "I actually came down here to ask for a favor."
"Ooh, a favor? What can I do you for?" Woody chuckled again, for no apparent reason.
Rebecca smiled. "I'm working on a school project, and long story short, I need you to analyze this hair for me, if you can." She held out the plastic bag and he took it, holding it up to the light with his gloved fingers.
"Hmmm, short, pale in color. Looks like the follicle is still attached. Sure, I can look it over. What exactly are you looking for?"
"I'm not really sure. Just the general information on it, I guess. Where it came from, that sort of thing."
"I can do that. I'll get it to you as soon as I finish the autopsy on this big guy." Woody gestured to the body lying on the table in front of him. Rebecca was glad the dead man was covered with a sheet; after all that time working in the police station, she still wasn't used to the sight of the people brought in to the morgue.
"I'd better go," Rebecca said, sensing that she needed to get out before Woody started getting curious. "Thanks for the help, Woody!"
"No problem," Woody said. "Gummy worm?"
He started to offer her the candy, but she was already out the door.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for being late in posting. My schedule was wonky these past couple of weeks. :-)
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