Chapter 25
Just when he was starting to be happy again, the ex shows up. He had been working out and saw the flames. It was the hotel of his childhood almost entirely engulfed in flames; and there was his Beth, directing her cameraman. As he fought down his grief, she was there for him.
And then the world tilted and he caught a glimpse of someone he never thought he would see again. Coraline. Even with a different hairstyle, it was Coraline, no doubt about it. He was sure and yet she pretended to not know him. What kind of game was she playing this time?
He smelled her. Not a trace of decay. She was human.
Josef pooh-poohed it, of course. And Mick had to admit he couldn't figure it out. They say everyone has a doppelganger but everything about Morgan was so Coraline: size, weight, hair and eye color. There was even that beauty mark on her face. It had to be Coraline. So when Beth showed up with "Morgan" in tow, talking about having her cameras stolen, he became suspicious. What was she up to and why was Beth helping?
The apartment screamed Coraline and the 1950's to him. There was even her favorite book, Remembrance of Things Past, in French, on her nightstand. He never could understand that book! His brain couldn't help but revert temporarily into the jealous husband. His mind was swirling with the idea of someone in her bed. But she insisted she was alone. Who cared if she thought it was irrevelant! So her story was that she caught an intruder, there was a scuffle after she maced him; the guy got away with her expensive cameras.
Why only the cameras?
Then she showed him the frames shot at the fire. Sure enough, one showed two people locked in a fight to the death with fire all around them.
That one scene in particular would be frozen in his mind forever since it had been the last time he had seen Coraline alive! He looked at Beth's face for signs of recognition but was the only one in the room having a flashback.
Morgan's face showed only mild curiosity, not a venal look anywhere. But she had to be Coraline! Now he couldn't rest until he knew the truth.
He got Beth to dig into Morgan's background but that was a big zero. He smiled thinking of her awkward jealousy. The last thing he wanted was to get back with Coraline! He was haunted by her death at his hands. Or had she really died? He had never gone back to check. Was it possible? But if she survived, how had she come back as a human?
Now, after the scene in the cemetary, he had had to admit it. Morgan was not Coraline. For she had been scared, terrified, of him.
No one could be that good of an actress.