Assumed Identity

7

“But how is such a thing possible?”Sounding frustrated, Holly drove rapidly along the busy expressway. Headlights blazed in the opposite lanes. “Sure, Montgomery had a double in the Second World War. Movie stars use doubles all the time. These days, theatrical makeup is so realistic that actors can believably change their appearance. But Montgomery wasn’t showing up at society charity benefits. As far as the movies go, cameras can play a lot of tricks. This is different. We’re talking about a critically acclaimed opera singer. I don’t care how good the makeup was, no one could imitate that once-in-a-generation voice.”

“But Juana didn’t have to,” Buchanan said, still frozen by the implications of what he’d discovered.

Holly steered quickly around a truck and drove faster.

“The newspaper articles are emphatic,” Buchanan said. “Maria Tomez retired from performing after she finished the cruise on Drummond’s yacht. She went into seclusion in New York, except for brief public appearances, none of which involved singing. In some of these articles, she complains about having had pneumonia, about recurring laryngitis. The reporters note that her voice was hoarse. Since that’s the one thing Juana couldn’t have faked, she removed the problem by pretending to have problems with her voice. Otherwise, both women are Hispanics, with the same general build and facial characteristics. Maria Tomez kept changing her appearance in gradual ways, after all, so if Juana didn’t look absolutely like her, it wouldn’t have attracted attention. It would have been just another case of how Maria Tomez continued to change. As long as Juana’s special makeup guaranteed that the similarities far outnumbered the differences. How many people know Maria Tomez intimately? Her ex-husband, whom she refused to see. Her other business contacts, whom she shut out after she retired. Her entourage, which she apparently changed after the cruise. Alistair Drummond, who continued to see her after the cruise and accepted her as Maria Tomez. We’re talking about a woman who guarded her privacy to begin with. All Juana had to do was take a few phone calls from time to time, complain about a cold, appear briefly in public, get her picture in the paper, and no one would suspect that she wasn’t the person she pretended to be.”

“Except you.” Holly steered around another vehicle, squinting from the glare of headlights. “You suspected.”

“Because I had a reason to suspect. Because I’d seen the makeup room in Juana’s house. Because I became more struck by Juana’s resemblance to Maria Tomez as I looked at the photographs. Juana was on my mind, so I made the connection. What she did was brilliant. I can’t get over what a genius she was at impersonating. I could never have done the equivalent.”

“The question is, Why?” Holly said. “Why did Juana impersonate her?”

“One common denominator is Alistair Drummond. The retirement, the need for seclusion, came after the cruise on Drummond’s yacht. Drummond accepted Juana as Maria Tomez, and it was someone working for Drummond who paid Frederick Maltin to stop talking to reporters about his ex-wife. The disappearance. . I think I understand,” Buchanan said quickly.

The tone in his voice made Holly shiver. “What?”

“There were two disappearances.”

“Two?”

“It wasn’t Maria Tomez but Juana who disappeared a few weeks ago. Drummond’s doing his damnedest to find her. Why? Because if I’m right, nine months ago Maria Tomez never got off Drummond’s yacht. That was Juana, and Drummond doesn’t want anyone to know about the switch.”

Holly clenched the steering wheel. “What in God’s name happened on that yacht?”