The Adventure of the Double Image

get you started."

  Despite a mild bewilderment, she nodded and took Sunny by the elbow. The "back" turned out to be an employee lounge. Lockers stood along one wall, and they put their bags in an empty cell. One of the pieces of equipment they carried with them was a combination padlock, and they placed it in the handle to lock the cell door. Several smocks hung from a rack next to a bathroom. They found a couple that fit comfortably and slipped them on before going back out into the main room.

  Melinda nodded her approval. "Come with me." She led them into a private side room, where three attendants worked on two customers, one blonde, the other brunette.

  It was Sister Act.

  She and Sunny hesitated from surprise. Two of the attendants each gave one sister a pedicure, while the third, whom Eile assumed was in charge, attended to their facials, which included cucumber slices over their eyes. The ladies chatted between themselves, and ignored the attendants altogether.

  The facial attendant looked up and spotted them. "You two! Start on their hands."

  Eile glanced sidelong at Sunny, who made a brief nod.

  "Yes, Ma'am!" they said in unison. Sunny took Sonya and she went over to Ellen, and they began as if they had worked there for years.

  After about half an hour, Eile began to wonder if anything would actually happen. Dizzy hadn't shown up yet, and she was just about finished with Ellen's nails. Even as she applied glitter to the last digit, however, the facial attendant removed the cucumbers from the singer's eyes.

  "Alright, let's get you two into the back and get started on your hair." She indicated her and Sunny. "You two, come with me."

  She escorted the entertainers into a room adjacent to the employee lounge as she and Sunny followed, where half a dozen washing and styling stations with chairs had been set up. Only one other customer was present, but when the attendant closed the door she threw off her apron and got out of the chair.

  It was Dizzy.

  "Wash that gunk off your faces," she instructed Sister Act, then she addressed the attendant. "What do you think?"

  She examined her and Sunny up, down, and all around. "They're eyes are blue, so we won't need contacts." She stood next to Sunny. "She should be Sonya, of course. Her hair is a bit dark, and she'll need a beauty mark." She then approached Eile. "She should make a good Ellen, but she'll need her hair cut shorter and fluffed out." She stepped away and stared at them both. "All in all, though, I believe they should do. A little hair styling, and no one should be able to tell the difference."

  "They don't have the right body builds," Dizzy said.

  The attendant waved a hand in a dismissive fashion. "True, but for one night that won't matter so much. If time is of the essence--"

  "It is."

  "Then we can't dye their hair; it would take too long. The right color, near enough, and the right style will be more important."

  Dizzy nodded. "Get started right away."

  Using the singers as models, the attendant worked on them for an hour. During that time, Dizzy briefed them on what she wanted them to do.

  "Once she's finished, change into these clothes." She took a garment bag out of a closet and hung it up on the door. "They're identical to clothes Sonya and Ellen have worn already, so they should help with recognition." She took Sunny's glasses off the counter. "Are these prescription?"

  "No, just over-the-counter reading glasses."

  She pocketed them. "Good. I'll return them to your hotel." She then removed a different pair from another pocket. "Wear these; they're identical to Sonya's, but they have regular glass lenses."

  "What about our behavior?" Eile said. "Won't someone spot that we don't act like them?"

  Dizzy flashed an astonished look, as if she hadn't expected them to be that knowledgeable, but she recovered quickly. "X is not familiar with them, so for this one night it shouldn't make a difference." Then she gave them a small half-smile. "Besides, in my experience, young women pretty much all act the same while having fun."

  She got serious again. "As soon as you leave here, take a tour of the district. Pretend you're on a shopping spree; visit stores, try on clothes, that sort of thing. I think you know what I mean. Just don't do anything to mess up your disguises. The key, though, is I want you to be conspicuous. Try to attract as much attention as you can, especially the paparazzi. Make nuisances of yourself if you have to, but get noticed. I want anyone who's out looking for Sister Act to believe they've found them. Understand?"

  They both nodded. "Yeah, sure, we get'cha," Eile said.

  She removed a credit card from a breast pocket. "This has a $100,000 limit, courtesy of their manager, Maeve. To keep up appearances you will have to purchase a few items, but mostly I intend for you to use it for a different purpose. As evening sets in, I want you to visit the most expensive restaurant you can find; I'm sure the various shop owners can make suitable recommendations. Try not to spend less than ten thousand on your meal."

  Eile jerked from shock. "Holy Jesus God! Are prices really that expensive here?!"

  "For the best restaurants, yes, and be sure to leave a very generous tip. Afterwards, go clubbing. Stay out as long as possible; until dawn would be best. Visit several clubs, and spend lots of money; max-out the card if you can."

  "Sounds like they're gonna have more fun than we will," Ellen said in a sarcastic tone.

  "I'm not being facetious," Dizzy said, throwing her a glance of reproach. "I need you two to be conspicuous--"

  "Yeah, we get it. You want us ta draw attention away from the ball, and keep X and his minions busy. Well, with a hundred grand, we can certainly be the center of attention."

  "That's for sure!" Sunny squeaked.

  Dizzy smiled and nodded. "Excellent. By the way, you can keep whatever's left, but the more you spend the better."

  "Don't worry, we'll certainly give it our best effort!"

  "That's all I have to say. If all goes well, you can go back to your world tomorrow, and we'll never see each other again. Just keep one thing in mind: you will be on your own. I'll be guarding Sister Act at the ball, so you will have to deal with X yourself."

  Eile nodded. "We understand."

  "Then we'll be leaving. We have things to do before tonight. Good luck."

  "Huh, yeah, thanks."

  "I don't know who you are," Sonya said, "or why you're doing this, but we really appreciate it, Ellen and I. Thank you."

  "Yeah," Ellen said, "and if yer still around tamorrow, drop by our mansion."

  "We'll try," Sunny said.

  Dizzy took the singers out a back way, and shortly afterwards the attendant finished her makeover. She gave last minute instructions on how to protect the more delicate attributes, then left them alone. They changed into the clothes Dizzy gave them, retrieved their bags, and Eile pocketed the card as Sunny slipped on the glasses, before they left through the main entrance.

  A man stood on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street from the spa, smoking a cigarette. When he spotted the blonde and brunette exit the shop, he briefly compared them with the photo on the cover of Celebrity Gossip. Satisfied, he tapped his earpiece and spoke.

  "That tip was right; I've spotted Sister Act."

  "Are you sure this time?" X's tone suggested he was in no mood for another fiasco.

  "Yes, sir, they're identical to the photos in the recent magazines."

  "Any sign of their bodyguard?"

  "No, sir."

  His boss paused for a minute. "I don't like it, especially after this morning. I would expect her to watch them like a hawk."

  "Perhaps she's in disguise, or watching from a rooftop. She may be using them as bait, to catch us."

  "Perhaps." He paused again. "Follow them. Report to me their every move. As long as we know where they are, we can take them at any time, but I want to be sure first."

  "Yes, sir." He crushed out the cigarette underfoot and headed down the street, a discreet distance behind the entertainers.

  Eile and Sunn
y played their roles to the hilt, especially Sunny, but then, Eile reflected that she always had been a giant ham. It didn't take them long to attract attention. At the first couple of stores people just eyed them in a curious fashion, as if they couldn't be sure who they really were, but by the third a customer finally got up the nerve to ask for an autograph, and after that it was as if a dam broke. They soon attracted a crowd, which grew larger by the hour as word spread. Few people tried to get autographs or engage them in conversation; most just took pictures or video, or gawked. Although, one admirer asked if they would pose nude for him, even offering them fifty bucks--each!--to agree. Several members of the crowd hustled him swiftly away. The paparazzi arrived by the carload, but by that time the crowd had grown too large for them to get very close. Eventually police came to contain the crowd and maintain order, and three policewomen in uniform formed an escort as their male colleagues kept the crowd back. Eile felt a little unnerved by all the adulation at first, but she grew accustomed to it and even basked in it as she relaxed and enjoyed herself. It didn't hurt that every shop they patronized after the third treated them like movie stars.

  Towards sunset they went to Le Gourmand Cochon, a five-star restaurant recommended by one of their escort, who walked a beat in that area. The Girls knew enough French to translate the name as "the greedy pig", but Eile doubted anyone else would have known. The police cordoned off the entrance to keep their entourage from following them in, but the staff pampered them as if they were British royalty, giving