Dead Ringers by Christopher Golden

the art gallery last night, though, it became more than that. Tess felt her skin crawl as she kept her eyes on Theo. Unless Nick and Lili both had identical twins from whom they’d been separated at birth, the existence of Theo and Devani Kanda felt impossible.
    Impossible means impossible, she told herself. So obviously they weren’t. But still this act of tailing him had an air of unreality about it that made her feel a bit queasy, and she was glad to have Lili with her.
    The pedestrian traffic thinned out considerably and they had to drop back, worried that the man might notice them, but the rain fell harder and Tess realized this was an empty concern. Under his umbrella, with the gray sky and the hammering rain and the daylight fading, he wasn’t going to be paying any attention to the city around him, only his destination.
    Unless he’s worried about being followed.
    For half a minute she let this idea trouble her, but she realized that he hadn’t turned to glance back even once during the long minutes they’d been trailing him. He barely paid attention when crossing the street, as if his thoughts were entirely elsewhere.
    When Theo turned down Charles Street, they hung back fifty yards. Two blocks farther, he stepped under the awning of an elegant old brownstone and shook out his umbrella. Lili tugged Tess to a halt and they stood watching for a few breathless seconds, wondering if he had figured them out. Then he walked up the four steps at the front of the building and went through the revolving doors.
    â€œShit!” Tess hissed. “Hurry!”
    Together they bolted along the sidewalk, dodging around a pair of older, wool-coated men. Tess splashed through several more puddles until her feet squelched in her shoes and she knew they would be ruined. Their umbrellas bounced along above them, sparring together, until they ran under the brownstone’s awning and came to a huffing stop. Heart pounding, Tess shook off her umbrella and closed it, wet and cold in spite of its protection. Six o’clock had come and gone, perhaps half an hour left before night fell, but with the storm raging it had grown dark already.
    Warm lights glowed beyond the frosted glass doors and windows at the front of the building. Stenciled on the glass panels on either side of the revolving doors were the words:
    NEPENTHE—A BOUTIQUE HOTEL
    Tess glanced at Lili, hesitating, but when Lili nodded they went up the steps together. Theo had seen Tess before, so she nudged Lili ahead of her and they went through the revolving door, which spilled them into the warm golden glow of a lobby full of marble and brass and red velvet, a pristine elegance that belonged so completely to another era that it felt like stepping back in time.
    The Nepenthe Hotel took Tess’s breath away.
    â€œDo you see him anywhere?” Lili asked.
    Tess forced herself to ignore the Victorian elegance of the lobby. Professionals in business suits moved in clusters from the elevator foyer across the marble floor. An elderly couple in earth-tone wools sat in chairs and entertained a boy of nine or ten, their grandson no doubt. A pair of teenage girls made up to look older hurried ahead of several adults, maybe headed out for a night of theater, wanting to be noticed for themselves instead of as part of a family unit.
    No sign at all of Not-Nick. Theo, she reminded herself.
    â€œCheck the bar,” she told Lili, hurrying off toward the entrance to the elevator foyer. If Theo was staying in this hotel and hadn’t gone into the bar, he would have headed for his room.
    â€œText me if you see him,” Lili called back as she strode for the little pub restaurant just off the lobby.
    Tess wore a small purse across her chest. She tapped it, feeling the comforting weight of her cell phone inside almost like a talisman, and then she picked up her pace. The elevator foyer was actually a short corridor that led to restrooms and an