THE DOPPELGÄNGER, Chapter 1
She was eating lunch in Gellis' office when Zack came in brandishing a visibly stained first edition of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
Elsie's dropped her fork into her macaroni. "Oh…my…God!"
Gellis' mouth hung open. "Oh, not again!"
Zack set the stained book on the corner of Gellis' desk and ran his hand through his sandy-blond hair.
"I knocked over my coffee," he admitted sheepishly. "Sorry…"
"What were you thinking?" asked Gellis, her cheeks flushing angrily. "Zack, you know the rules, no eating or drinking when handling inventory!"
"I, uh, yeah," said the intern nervously. "My bad."
Elsie slouched back in her chair. She liked Zack, which made his latest transgression all the more frustrating. He was a personable sort, hardworking and generally reliable, but he had the unfortunate curse of having inherited the klutz gene.
This was the second book he'd damaged in the last three months. Elsie and Gellis had miraculously managed to save his previous literary victim, an original edition of Pride and Prejudice, only because the leather binding had been an almost identical hue to the splattered spaghetti. Fletcher had been none the wiser.
But this – the canvas binding was definitely not leather, and it was soaked through, the bottom corner of its light tan cover stained a dark brown. They couldn't possibly slip this one under the rug.
"An ideas?" asked Elsie, looking to her raven-haired friend.
"I don't know," replied Gellis, seemingly at a loss. "We can take it to our binder and see what their people can do, but…honestly, I'm not optimistic."
"I'm really sorry about this," said Zack, shifting uncomfortably. "I thought the mug was spill proof, but the top popped off, and –"
Elsie's phone buzzed. She glanced at the incoming caller.
Lara!
"Sorry guys," she said excitedly as she scrambled from the office and into the hall. "Gotta take this…"
"Wuss!" called back Gellis.
Elsie ran down to one of the gallery's quiet rooms and dashed inside, closing the door behind her.
"Hey girl!" she said brightly as the took the call.
"Hey," said the familiar voice of Lara Croft. "I hope I'm not calling at a bad time?"
Elsie smiled. "Are you kidding? It's never a bad time to hear from you, Lara. What's up?"
"I know it's midday for you," continued Lara, "I don't want to interrupt you in your work –"
"Interrupt away!"
"I just don't want you to get in trouble -"
"Oh, for – I don't work in a gulag!" exclaimed the American. "Come on girl, talk to me!"
She could hear the smile in Lara's voice.
"All right, then," said the Englishwoman. "As it happens, I'm calling to ask a favour."
The blonde slid into the small room's lone chair. "Now I'm intrigued."
"It's…a really big favour," clarified the brunette, her voice hesitant.
"Oooo, even better," returned Elsie, leaning forward in anticipation.
"Seriously, Elsie," continued the archaeologist. "I'm asking a lot…and please don't hesitate to say no if it's not conven–"
"Lara, come on!" lamented the blonde. "Geez, you know I'd rip out my own liver for you girl!"
"I know," replied Lara seriously. "And that's precisely what I'm afraid of. Just promise me you won't automatically agree to what I'm asking, all right?"
Elsie groaned in frustration. "Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll give it serious thought…satisfied?"
Silence.
"Attention K-Mart shoppers," said the American, tapping her phone for emphasis.
A sigh. "I shouldn't be burdening you with this…"
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that, okay?" returned Elsie. "Will you spill the beans already, you're starting to scare me!"
"Fair enough," said Lara. "It's just that…I was wondering if…I mean, if you'd be willing to, of course…and only if it's not too much –"
"I'll do it."
She could hear the brunette gag over the phone.
"Bloody Hell, Elsie! You promised you'd think it over!"
"Yeah, well, I got tired of waiting," countered the blonde. "So why don't you just tell me what I've just agreed to do?"
"You're impossible!"
"Totally incorrigible," agreed Elsie, grinning.
"Fine then…but you might not like what I'm going to say," said the brunette.
"Out with it, already!" returned Elsie in exasperation.
She could hear the Englishwoman take a deep breath.
"I'm hoping…you might be able to help someone," she finally said. There was an earnestness to Lara's tone that worried the American.
"Lara…are we talking about Sam?"
"No, not Sam," said the brunette. "You don't know her. She's…an acquaintance…of sorts…"
"Of sorts?" said Elsie cautiously. "You either know her or you don't?"
"I…ran into her last week during my expedition to Tibet," explained Lara.
"She's in Tibet?" asked the American. "I didn't realize this was going to involve that kind of travel…"
"It won't," assured Lara. "At the moment she's here with Sam and me…but…"
"And this is someone you just met?"
Lara hesitated.
"Well…properly met, yes," said the brunette. "It's just…she has no one, Elsie…no friends or family…nowhere to call home…"
"Ouch," said the blonde truthfully. "That totally sucks…"
"Yes…yes it does," agreed Lara. "And in truth…I feel partly responsible for her…but to keep her here would be, well, problematic."
"And you'd like me to take her in?"
"Elsie…you have a way of reaching people," said the archaeologist. "I don't know how else to say it…and I think that's exactly what she needs right now. I'm not asking that you shelter her long-term, of course, just…until she can figure out what to do with her life…"
"Wow," said Elsie, sinking back into the chair. "I mean, sure, Lara, if you think I can help…does she speak English at all?"
"Oh, yes," clarified the Englishwoman. "Fluently, in fact. She's not Tibetan, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression…"
"What's her name?"
"Er…we're working on that," replied Lara.
"Working on that?" asked the blonde in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? Are we talking about an amnesia victim here?"
"No, nothing like that," returned the archaeologist. "It's…complicated, Elsie. I think she'd be in a better position to explain her situation…"
"Hmm," mused the American. "Now you've really got me intrigued…okay, send her over!"
"You're sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure," replied Elsie. "I'm a sucker for hard luck cases. Just let me know when she comes so I can pick her up at the airport –"
"You won't have to do that," interjected Lara a little too quickly. "I'll make the necessary arrangements to have her dropped off at your door."
The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Is this because of my car?"
"Of course not!" blurted Lara. "Your car is…lovely."
A chuckle. "You're still a pathetic liar, Lara Croft."
A sigh. "Sorry," lamented the brunette. "It's just…this is all going to be new to her, Elsie. I just wanted to minimize the shock…"
"Ouch!" returned the blonde. "I will have you know that my car successfully gets me to work four out of every five days."
That caused the Englishwoman to burst into laughter, a sound that never failed to get Elsie's heart fluttering.
"Oh, I do miss you, Elsie," said Lara.
"I miss you too, girl," replied the American truthfully, curling her toes in delight.
"Thank you so much for this."
"Hey, Lara?"
"Yes?"
"You wouldn't be trying to match me up, would you?"
"Absolutely not!" said the archaeologist. "I would never do that to you, Elsie. Sam, maybe, that's the sort of thing she'd do...but me, no, never."
"Well that's good, then," replied Elsie with relief. "But…just out of curiosity…is she cute?"
The brunette's breath caught in her throat for a moment.
"Er…well…I suppose…you might think so," answered the brunette evasively.
"Why are you saying it like that?"
"No reason," returned Lara.
"Uh-huh…"
"You'll like her, I think," said the archaeologist. "She's….quiet."
"So you're sending me a mute Tibetan amnesiac who somehow speaks fluent English," concluded the blonde. "This should be interesting."
"She's not mute!" exclaimed Lara. "And I already told you she's not Tibetan, nor an amnes—"
"I'm yanking your chain!" laughed Elsie.
"Oh you…you little…"
"Nincompoop, right?"
"Yes!"
"And yet you love me anyway," added the blonde, grinning.
A sigh. "I do," breathed Lara.
"I love you too, girl," echoed Elsie. "Hey, we're still on for Christmas though, right?"
"Absolutely!" replied the brunette. "I'm really looking forward to it, Elsie…that in itself will be a nice change..."
"Okay, then…let's do this."