The Doppelgänger: A Psychological Thriller Read online

  A distant beam of light moved toward her. History was repeating itself. A car moved toward her at full speed. The lights grew brighter until their blurred. Darcy lost consciousness.

  Chapter 27

  “Are you all right?” Detective Jones asked. His eyes examined her with skepticism. Darcy opened her eyes fully. She noticed her body was covered with a blanket. Detective Jones stared down at her. His eyes were filled with concern. Darcy stood by the river where the car had fallen. It was still dark. The police car with noisy sirens stood near her. The other detectives

  “You disappeared. We looked for you.”

  “How did you know where I was?” Darcy asked.

  “You sent me a message.”

  Darcy’s eyes widened. She didn’t remember sending him any message.

  “I found out where she lived,” he said, turning to the police. “She’s been living in a house in Evanston two blocks away from your mother’s.”

  Darcy met his gaze.

  “We found the revolver at her house,” he said. “The bullet size fits Dr. William’s perfectly.”

  “You mean….”

  “That’s not the only thing I found,” he said. “She left a video confessing her crime.”

  “What!?” Uneasiness churned in Darcy’s empty belly. Why would the doppelgänger do that? An odd feeling overtook her senses. Detective Jones went on about the evidence he found at the doppelgänger’s house. Her eyes trailed to the sea. It extended to nowhere.

  “Well, that means you’re off the hook,” he said. “I spoke to your lawyer. He’ll contact you soon.”

  Darcy wanted to breathe with relief but the discomfort in her stomach made it impossible.

  “Why did she do it?” Darcy asked.

  “She said she wanted revenge. It seems she always envied you.” he said.

  “But I don’t know her.”

  “She seems to know you, though,” he said. “She’s been stalking you for a year.”

  “But why Dr. Williams?” Darcy asked.

  “He was her psychotherapist,” he said. “She blames him for her psychopathic tendencies.”

  “She’s a…psychopath?”

  “That’s what I concluded from watching her video. She made detailed plans for all those murders…she must’ve been planning this for a long time,” Detective Jones said. “And that’s not all. She even had reports of her diagnosis in her drawers.”

  “Do you think I was her last target?” Darcy asked.

  “Yes but luckily, you escaped,” he said. “Did she say anything during the drive?”

  Darcy swallowed. “She admitted to killing my mother and Dr. Williams.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “She said she wanted me to know the truth before we died.”

  “We? She was planning to kill herself?”

  Darcy nodded. “She seemed to think we had the same destiny.”

  Detective Jones’s eyes widened.

  “She was delusional. She saw things that didn’t exist.” Detective Jones’ voice dropped to a whisper.

  “She was schizophrenic?”

  “Not just that. She was also paranoid, bipolar and depressed.” he said. A policeman waved from the distance. Detective Jones waved back. His words made Darcy uneasy.

  “Did you confirm-”

  “Yes. I checked up from old hospital records.”

  “What was her name?” Darcy asked, to her surprise.

  “Darcy,” he went on. “She even took your name. She must’ve been obsessed with you.”

  “What about her childhood?”

  “Childhood? She graduated from a high school in Chicago.”

  “Chicago, huh?”

  “We found her high school and university transcripts.” he said.

  “Does that mean I’m free?”

  “It will be official once I close the case. I still need to confirm a few details.” He said.

  Darcy’s eyes skimmed over the body that had been pulled out of the river. It lay under a white bedsheet. The bed sheet was wet. She closed her eyes. For a fleeting moment, she felt sympathy. What a miserable life.

  She blinked and took in the sunlight. After many grey days, the sunshine was finally visible.

  But, Darcy’s heart was uneasy. She hid her uneasiness behind a smile. Everything was fine. Everything was the way it was supposed to be. Except her mother. Her mother was gone forever. Remnants of the scene pricked her mind. Now, she knew everything. All the pieces of the puzzle came together. She knew the truth- all of it. Yet, the picture before her eyes didn’t seem convincing.

  Monday morning arrived. The rhythm of life droned on. Darcy found a new solace in her routine. She stepped out of her apartment at 7:20 AM clutching her brown tote.

  She marched past the row of apartments and shops. The Red station was filled with strangers. Darcy passed the crowd. Her eyes glazed over the crown, her lips curving into a smile. They were busy waiting for the train. An eye turned toward her. Paranoia pricked her.

  When Darcy reached the library, Jillian was already there. Jillian’s head rested in her palm. Her eyes were closed. The opening of the door woke her up.

  “Good-good morning,” she said, half asleep.

  “You didn’t sleep last night?” Darcy asked.

  “I was really excited about Mike’s article. I stayed up all night and looked at it.”

  “How does it look?”

  “Really good. I’m sure it’ll change the magazine’s fate.”

  “Optimism,” Darcy remarked.

  “Hmmmm…” Jillian said. “By the way, they found the killer in the Dr. Williams case.”

  Darcy stiffened.

  “There was no photo of her but her name was Darcy too. Isn’t that strange?”

  “It’s a common name…” Darcy said, hanging her coat up on the stand.

  “Maybe that’s why the detective came around here and asked about you.”

  “It’s all sorted now…” Darcy said, coughing.

  “That’s good. They say she was a psychopath. She also murdered a woman in Evanston who lived to blocks down her house. This city isn’t safe anymore.” Jillian muttered.

  “Hmmm… be careful on your way home.” Darcy said.

  She got on with work. In the afternoon, she got a text message from her lawyer saying he wanted to meet her that evening.

  Darcy took the Red line to his office after work that evening. Paul Adams’ office was located in a swanky building in the Loop. Darcy took the elevator to his firm, Adams & Associates, on the tenth floor. Darcy waited at the reception for five minutes before Paul Adams came for her. He escorted her into his room. It was a spacious, modern room that overlooked the cityscape. The glamorous skyscrapers of Chicago rose against the sky. Darcy placed herself on an egg shaped white seat that faced the desk.

  “As detective Jones told you, we found the real culprit,” he said. “It seems like the woman, who looked like you and shared your name was stalking you. She was a psychopath and came up with this notion that she wanted to destroy everything around you.”

  “There were two of us in the camera footage.”

  “We all thought that the one who signed the guestbook was you but in fact, it was her. It was you that was at the window.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “The DNA on the murder weapon matched hers,” he said. “She also knew where each of the victims lived and their schedule. You mother registered a stalking case before she passed away. We found out that she was behind it. The CCTV ourside your mother’s building captured her on multiple occasions. Her neighbors said she was…ummm….a little off.”

  Darcy was quiet.

  “Anyway, this means yo
u’re free. I will handle the formalities.”

  “Thank you for helping me.” Darcy said.

  “That’s my job.” Paul said, with a shadow of a smile. “I’ll get the paperwork done for you. You just need to sign a few things I mail you.”

  “Thank you.” Darcy said, rising up. Adams flashed a weak smile as he escorted her to the door. She turned abruptly.

  “Ummmm….do you happen to have a copy of the recording?” she asked.

  Her raised his eyebrows.

  “I wanted to look at the both of us together.” Darcy said, nonsensically. Paul Adams cleared his throat.

  “It must be here somewhere,” he said. He opened the drawers. “Here it is.”

  He came toward Darcy with a CD. He gave it to her. Darcy thanked him again before leaving. She took the train back home.

  Darcy reached home at 8:30 pm. She made dinner and ate it while watching TV. She headed to her bedroom next. Her eyes fell on the drawer which contained the image of her mother. She didn’t open it.

  Instead, she headed to her bag that lay on the couch and dug into it. The DVD that Adams had given her was in the bag. She pulled it out and stared at it blankly.

  With trembling fingers, she inserted the CD into the laptop. A loud, winding sound followed. The scene became clearer. Random people walked in and out of the apartment building for almost five minutes.

  She remembered the dark night, the never-ending road and the tragedy. Goosebumps broke out on her flesh. She closed her eyes. The doppelgänger was dead. She had nothing to fear.

  The first scene came on. D. Her familiar honey eyes looked up at the CCTV. They looked just like Darcy’s. Memories were rewound by the tape. This would be the last time Darcy would see her face. The truth was in the video that she had never seen.

  The first scene continued to play. Clad in a familiar dark hoodie, the person in the movie walked into the apartment building. She headed to the reception. The receptionist said something. The doppelgänger nodded.

  The man behind the counter pushed the guestbook toward her. She picked up the pen and signed.

  Darcy’s eyes froze. Unable to tear her gaze away from the screen, her shallow breaths came in a slow rhythm.

  She rewound. The ugly scene played again. Her heartbeat grew in crescendo and exploded when she signed. She saw fingers curl over the red pen. She wrote down her name. She paused the movie. The image froze. Darcy’s eyes hung over the image.

  It was her right hand. She signed with her right hand.

  She sucked her breath. Her fear-laced eyes remained on the image. It wasn’t the doppelgänger. It was her.

  Darcy’s fingers trembled violently. It couldn’t be. D told her she had committed the murders. Was she lying? The dark cloud of doubt expanded in the pit of Darcy’s stomach. It sucked in her organs.

  Her eyes trailed to the frozen image. It was the right hand. Again. Darcy slammed the laptop screen shut with a thud. The screen hit the keyboard and blanked out. She took some time to re-adjust her breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

  Nothing changed. The laptop was silent but her mind was noisy.

  Her sharp heartbeat played in the background, stifling her deep breaths. She opened the screen again. She minimized the movie and typed the name of the blog in the search engine.

  My Diary opened. A large notice hung over the website. It was going to be taken down by the end of the week.

  Notice

  I thank you all for joining me on this journey. I feel it is time for this journey to end. I have decided to shut down this blog permanently. I hope you understand. It is time for me to move on to another life.

  Thank you again for all your support.

  D

  The message stung her. D knew. D knew she was going to die. D had all this planned out. She planned to take down the blog in advance. She knew. She knew the truth.

  Darcy opened her mailbox next. Nestled in a flood of spam messages was an e-mail from D. Darcy gulped. She clicked on it.

  A long letter followed. Her eyes moved from left to right, reading each word of the letter.

  Dear Darcy,

  If you’re reading this, it means I’m dead. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth when I was alive. I wanted to.

  Numbness enveloped Darcy. Tears streamed down her cheeks, without her realizing it. She wiped them with her bare hand.

  I assume you’ve seen the video footage. That means you know the truth. I’ll start from the beginning.

  You asked me who I am. I am another you. I am your mirror reflection in another world. Though my right hand is your left, our destinies are entwined- hopelessly entwined.

  Why did I come to this world? To protect you. That is my answer. I wanted to stop you from making the mistakes I made.

  But, that didn’t happen. And, I saw it all happen before my eyes. You made the same mistakes I did. I couldn’t stop you just like I couldn’t stop myself.

  Why did I write the blog? I wrote it to help you. I couldn’t meet you so I had to find a way to talk to you. I wrote the lies you saw. When you deleted the first post, I knew you had found me. I followed you. I made sure you learned of the truth slowly.

  I followed you everyday. I hung outside your house. I went inside while you were gone. I wanted to stay by you and stop your delusional mind from taking over. The only way I could do that was by staying close to you.

  You probably know by now that your Schizophrenia relapsed. That’s why you began seeing those visions again. The divide between reality and your delusions disappeared. That’s when you committed the first murder.

  While I was away, he came. He was the trigger your paranoia needed to explode. Your memories of him were stained with blood and pain. You didn’t know the truth. When he came around the second time, you lost it. You wanted him to be gone because the voice in your head said it would be either you or him that lived.

  So, you followed him home. You wanted it to be over. You wanted your pain to be over. I know because that was what I wanted too.

  You know what happened there.

  When I reached your house that night, you were missing. I immediately rushed to Dr. Williams’ apartment. I stuck my face on the window and saw you coming out. When I saw you, I knew what had happened. You had the same expression I had when I did not too many years ago- guilt, confusion, hopelessness and freedom.

  So, I began exposing the truth. The red barn. Your illness. Your memories. I wrote the truth so you could find it and alter the course of your life. I had to be quick. It was a countdown to the second murder.

  I did the next best thing I could do. I got the police to look for you. You couldn’t find out about your mother if you were preoccupied with the first murder.

  Again, I underestimated destiny. You fled and found out the truth. You met her again. Her coldness aggravated you like it aggravated me.

  I began to follow her after your disappearance. I never thought I’d see my mother again-the mother I killed. This time, I wanted it to be different.

  Then you began looking for your medical records. I was relieved. I thought you’d piece it all together and figure out how much your condition had worsened. When you left for New York, history began to repeat itself all over again.

  I knew you would find out the truth there. I wanted to be sure you wouldn’t do anything. So, I stole your money to keep you off track.

  I hung around her house, waiting for any sign of you. That night, you came. You saw me. You knew I was around her.

  I thought you had patched up, but I was wrong. I only realized how wrong I was when she died the next day. Everything I wanted to accomplish was gone. Our mother was dead.

  I lived under the shadow of the sadness for a day. That was when Detective Jones found out abou
t me. He found out that I existed. It gave me hope. I failed to stop you but I could give you a second chance. I could give you the second chance I never got.

  The eight years I spent in prison ruined me. But your life was different. You didn’t go to jail at twenty-two. You lived a normal life until thirty. Most of all, you had me. You had me to protect you.

  So, I did what I always dreaded I’d do. I framed myself. I had planned it out before I came. It was the worst case scenario. I left Detective Jones clues that pointed to me. He found the alibis I planted. I confessed the day before I came to meet you. I set the stage for my arrest.

  Now, only one thing remained. I had to meet you. I had to see you once before I left forever. We met at the parking lot on Thursday. To be honest, I’d expected you to tell Detective Jones about our meeting. But you didn’t. So, I did. I sent a message from your phone telling him where you were. I assume he got the message, and he found you. That’s why you’re reading this.

  I ask you that once you finish reading this, delete it. Delete it from ‘trash’ too. Make sure nobody knows what happened. That will be the end of my plan. And, the fulfilment of my destiny.

  You must be wondering why I did all this. Why did I frame myself for a complete stranger? Why do I want to protect you? The answer is, I don’t know. I was thrilled when I received your e-mail. You gave me a reason to live.

  You gave me hope. That hope became my happiness. It became the reason for my existence. I wasn’t alone because you existed. I could save you. I could protect you the way I wanted to be protected.

  So, I hope you understand. This is my last gift to you. The only thing I can do for you is give you a second chance. I hope you use this chance to find happiness.

  D

  Darcy curled into a ball. Salty tears flowed down her cheeks and lips. She quivered. The words on the screen blurred. Her heart constricted, drawing in more tears. Her sobs reached Smokey’s ears, and she began to meow.

  The voice of the news anchor faded into nothingness. Darcy’s fingers moved over the screen. She pulled the laptop closer and hugged it. Those were the only memories of her doppelgänger.