The Night Beat

that section of town on the Night Beat. They knew all their denizens. So, why Anthony Tomio as the doppelgänger of choice, over anyone else?
    “What does Tomio have that none of the others have?” I asked.
    “More money?” Jack shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like any dealer doesn’t probably make more than the police.”
    “And poor hookers don’t exactly meet the better johns.” I thought about Sexy Cindy’s comment -- that she’d get to go to school where the rich johns lived. It was a safe bet neither she nor Freddy had ever been there before. A good bet no one in that alley had ever been uptown, other than the junkies, possibly, before they went into full addiction.
    I thought about what I’d seen of Tomio. He was mixed race, normal looking, one of those people who could blend in easily as long as he was wearing the right clothes. Unlike the others, he didn’t look like anything much good or bad. He looked average.
    It clicked. “He was two things the others weren’t.”
    “And that would be?” Jack sounded impatient. He wasn’t normally impatient. I took a close look. He looked as tired as I felt. I forgave the snap.
    “He’s the one who was the most normal, so the most likely to be able to go anywhere and blend in, and he’s also the one who has the biggest network of people he knows or know of him.”
    “How is a drug dealer normal? And what would his network of drug addicts matter? Couldn’t evil find them without a problem?”
    Martin nodded slowly. “That makes sense, Victoria.”
    I could tell Jack wasn’t convinced, angelic approval or no. “Cops radiate authority, no matter how they’re dressed or where they are. Hookers radiate whatever it is hookers radiate, and the cheaper ones pretty much stand out the moment they leave the crap parts of town. Bums and junkies, same thing, and people see them and radiate away from them. In fact, people tend to try to get away from all four types unless they’re a john looking for a quickie, and that doesn’t make up the majority of the population.”
    Realization dawned on Jack’s face. “But people search a dealer out. And if you don’t know he’s a dealer or a criminal, if he’s just walking down the street, he looks like a regular guy, no one to avoid.”
    “And dealers don’t always work just one part of town. For all we know, last night was just Tomio’s day to do his Old Downtown route. And dealers have a large network of people they deal through and with, let alone meet. After all, you can’t sell the drugs unless you have a buyer, and the more buyers the better.”
    “Tomio’s file indicated he wasn’t a user,” Jack added.
    “So, not as close to the Prince.” Martin looked thoughtful. “That also makes sense.”
    “How so?”
    “If, as you suggested, this is all being done to distract us and allow Mister Tomio’s doppelgänger free run in Prosaic City and Necropolis both, choosing a vessel none of us would have had our eyes on makes sense.”
    “True that.” I thought some more. “There were five trails, six victims who are supposed to recover, and three bums, two hookers, and two junkies who didn’t make it and also didn’t make the leap over to the undead world.”
    “That’s eighteen,” Martin said. He sounded worried. Because he was a wise being.
    Jack looked at Martin’s expression then back to me. “Am I guessing right? You both think there are eighteen doppelgängers out there, wandering around?”
    I nodded as I activated my wrist-com. “Count?”
    “Agent Wolfe. We’re not using standard procedure why?”
    “Because you know who it is and I don’t have time for my call letters. I need two things. First, an All Being Alert -- we have, potentially, nineteen Anthony Tomio’s wandering around, and all of them need to be apprehended with extreme prejudice and more care.”
    The Count sighed. “May I run this by H.P. and Edgar before I panic the entire community?”
    Martin leaned in. “I’m sorry, Vladimir, but no.”
    “Ah, Martin, didn’t realize you were still with Agent Wolfe. Your will and all that. What was the other issue, Agent Wolfe?”
    “I need H.P. and the newest recruits assigned to me as soon as possible. I’d like to keep Edgar along as well.”
    “May I ask why?”
    “H.P. and Edgar because of what we’re dealing with. Freddy and Sexy Cindy because they were in the alley, in Slimy’s stomach, and around for the entire ordeal, and yet they were clean enough to be