ILLUSION
Volume One of the Dead Ringers Serial
Darlene Gardner
Dead Ringers Serial
All nine volumes now available
The complete collection: 1-9 boxed set
Volumes 1-3 boxed set
Volume. 1: Illusion
Volume. 2: Invertigo
Volume 3: The Spider
Volumes 4-6 boxed set
Volume 4: Shell Game
Volume 5: Pitfall
Volume 6: Tilt-A-Whirl
Volumes 7-9 boxed set
Volume 7: The Mentalist
Volume 8: Freak Show
Volume 9: Hall of Mirrors
Copyright 2013 Darlene Gardner
Cover by P.K. Gardner
All rights reserved. Except for the use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means is forbidden without permission in writing from Darlene Gardner.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To my multi-talented daughter P.K. Gardner, who listened to the germ of an idea for this serial and helped make it a reality. I couldn’t have done it without you. You’re not only well loved, you’re amazing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Afterward
More Dead Ringers
Other eBooks by Darlene Gardner
About the Author
CHAPTER ONE
Four months ago
When the police find me, I’m stumbling out of a deserted carnival. The place is boarded up for the season, awaiting the fresh swarms of tourists who descend on Midway Beach every summer like Alfred Hitchcock’s birds.
I trip on a crack in the pavement and pitch forward onto my knees. The sound of laughter resonates in my ears and the back of my head throbs. I reach up to touch my skull, half-expecting my hand to come away bloody, but the wound’s nothing more than a bump.
The dizzying spin of police lights and the accompanying thud of footsteps against the frosty ground intensify my headache. I wrap my arms around myself to try to stop my shivers. It may be North Carolina, but even southern beach towns feel the chill in February.
“You’re not supposed to be here.” A flashlight shines in my eyes before angling back to the ground as the cop bends down to put a hand on my shoulder. The voice is much softer as he takes in my state. “Are you all right?”
It’s a fight to force the words past my chattering teeth. “H-h-how did I get here?”
Another beam of light hits me in the face as a second, shorter cop jogs up behind the first. “Hey, Wainwright? Isn’t that the Greene girl?”
Why would a Midway Beach cop know who I am? The answer slowly penetrates my fuzzy brain. My stepfather’s a felon now, and these must be the two cops who came to the house asking questions about him. The surge of anger is preferable to the headache, but only barely.
“Yeah, it is,” Wainwright says. He’s so ripped he looks like he’s wearing a muscle suit. He loops a strong arm under my shoulder and helps me to my feet. The ground spins, but he doesn’t let me fall. “Your name’s Jade, right? What are you doing here, Jade?”
“I was walking to Becky’s house.” I’d set out for my best friend’s house at dusk, but judging by the darkness shrouding our surroundings it seems much later than that now. “And then I was here.”
A terrible realization sweeps over me. I’m missing time. It’s the sort of thing that happens in movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. For all I know, there’s a pod Jade hiding in the carnival, waiting to invade our peaceful little town.
“What happened to me? Where have I been?” I ask the cops.
Wainwright peers over my head at his partner. “We better take her to the hospital. Looks like she has a whopper of a concussion.”
At the hospital, I discover things are worse than I thought. Much worse.
I haven’t just lost hours. I’ve been gone for days.