CODA

The Dead Ringer

Maggie

Seven Months Later...

I was rushed off my feet when the phone rang. Between our daughter pulling my hair every time I tried to feed her and Alaric's sister wanting to take over and have a try even though the last time we let her she tried to feed the baby through her eye, I was already frustrated. The last thing I needed was bad news. Or even for the phone call to be for me.

"It's for you." Alaric called over to me as I struggled to suppress a scream of rage. "It's the Agora." What the hell did they want? I'd paid all the bills they sent me! I took the phone from Alaric and swapped places as he moved to pick up where I left off.

"Kwong-Garcia residence. Maggie speaking."

"Ms Garcia." The concierge's acknowledgement was one I accepted from them. That was something they'd asked about specifically once I was married and my name changed. Officially in person they used my full last name but for ease over the phone Ms Garcia was fine. I would also accept Mrs Kwong-Garcia if they weren't in a hurry or Ms KG in absolute emergencies. The variety could help me tell the tone of this phone call. From the fact he'd used Ms Garcia, I could tell he had a point and needed to get to it. "This is Oliver from the Agora hotel. I'm calling because someone has shown up here claiming to be an associate of yours." That perked my interest up.

"Describe him." I ordered, my mind already running through my vast collection of faces that I'd committed to memory.

"Well he's in appalling condition." Oliver replied. "Looks like all his hair's been ripped out, his teeth are smashed up, his hands are so badly damaged that he couldn't even use a standard field kit test, he looks emaciated and we couldn't even scan his retinas since they've blown out, apparently from continual exposure to harsh sunlight. He has an ID bar code cut into his collar bone that we're grabbing the scanner for now, but he claims to be an employee of After The End Times and was hoping to cover the costs of any help he needs on the company insurance." Okay, now I was angry. I hadn't heard of anyone getting in any serious accidents lately and certainly not surviving afterwards. And to instantly try to leech off our insurance...!

"What a cheek!" I snapped. "Not even Jake Townsend himself would have been that audacious!"

"Wait... So you know him?" The concierge's question caught me off guard. Perhaps he'd seen Jake's vlogs when he was alive.

"Yeah, I know Jake." I replied casually. "He was a cheeky shit but he was loveable with it. KIA over in India as of... Oh, Christ! It would have to be about seven years ago now! Damn, that flew in."

"But Ms KG-" There it was. The emergency name. I was now instantly on high alert. "That's the name this man has given. He says he's Jake Townsend. And he says he's got one hell of a story to tell." My mind went numb. I couldn't think. There was nothing else for it. I had to verify this personally.

"Is he near you now?" I asked. "Put him on the phone, will you please?" I heard a plastic click as the receiver moved. The next voice I heard caused hot tears to rise up from nowhere and stream down my cheeks.

"Maggie? It's me. It's Jake."