Dead Ringer Part 1

Robbie sat by her sister on the small, well-used chartered plane that was taking them from the capital city of Chile, Santiago, to the small town of Arica in the north. Arica sat close to the Peruvian border and according to Aliki it was one of the nerve centres of forensic anthropology.

Robbie had wisely done her own research. Arica was the ends of the earth. Sitting on a desert coast line with the dubious distinction of having had less than three inches of rain in the last forty years, Arica did command a wonderful view of the South Pacific Ocean across miles of pristine beaches. Unfortunately, the Humbolt current straight from the Antarctic depths made the sea so cold that wet suits were needed to survive a dip in the waters.

"Aliki needs you," Janet had explained to Robbie when she grumbled and so Robbie had come along. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Aliki reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle of medication. Her hands were bony and almost translucent and they trembled as Aliki tried to shake out a pill. Robbie took the bottle from her sister's hand and dropped one of the small pills onto her sister's palm. "You okay?"

Aliki popped the pill in her mouth and took a slug from her water bottle. She nodded but said nothing as she wedged the bottle back into the seat pocket in front of her and took the pill bottle back from Robbie to put in her pocket once again. Robbie looked at her sister with worried eyes. Aliki had lost a lot of weight. She was skinny no more than that, Robbie decided, she was gaunt. Aliki's breakdown had taken its toll both physically and mentally and had put Aliki's relationship with her partner, Dawn, in jeopardy.

Robbie shuddered. She couldn't imagine life without her wife, Janet. Reaching over, she placed her hand over Aliki's and squeezed her sister's hand gently. To her surprise, Aliki's hand wrapped around her own and held on tightly. "It won't be long now," Robbie reassured.

Aliki swallowed and tears welled in her eyes only to be blinked back bravely. "I didn't think the flights would bother me," she croaked out in a hoarse whisper.

Robbie felt her own guts contract suddenly, understanding that Aliki had been suffering in silence through four flights and twenty hours of flight time reliving the horrific events of the jetliner crash she had worked last year. Robbie couldn't think of anything to say. She squeezed her sister's hand in understanding one more time and held on, glad that Janet had made her come. Aliki did need her.

The Arica Hotel was a pleasant surprise. Not the Ritz by any means but it was situated on the beach and as advertized afforded a lovely view of a frigid but beautiful ocean. Better still, the fish meal factory, second only to the deep harbour fishing fleet for employment, was down wind.

Robbie, her Tilley hat pulled low and sporting her 'I'm not a famous actress sunglasses' booked them into their room while Aliki stood silently beside her. Then, steering her sister by the elbow, Robbie headed across the small lobby to the rhythm of Indian pan-pipe music drifting in from the pool area.

They had almost made the elevators when a large, loud man loomed up in front of them and scooped Aliki into his arms. "Alberta! Damn it's good to see you!" his voice boomed out drowning out even the persistent pan-pipes. "Hell look at you! Have you been sick? You look half dead. Hey, you'd better be careful, Victor's here and you know how he loves to cut up cadavers!"

Robbie put the cases down with a decisive thud and was just about to wade in and pull her sister free from the insensitive, loud mouth when she was stopped by the sound of Aliki's laugh. She hadn't heard her sister laugh in a long time. "Put me down, Jed. I'm breakable. Jed, this is my sister, Robbie Williams. Robbie this is Doctor Jed Philby, head of the palaenotology department at Kings."

A big meaty hand shot forward and lifted Robbie's sunglasses up off her nose and Robbie found herself nose to nose with the massive doctor. "Damned if you are not right, Alberta! It is the actress Robbie Williams!" The glasses dropped down on Robbie's nose again and much to her surprise she found herself air borne in one of the doctor's hugs. "Nice to meet you, Robbie. I had no idea that you were interested in mummies. Not that I don't understand. It is hard not to get wrapped up in this work." Jed laughed, enjoying his joke as he set her down remarkably gently.

Extracting herself from Jed's iron-band arms, Robbie muttered sarcastically, "Actually, I came for the surf."

Rather than discouraging the doctor this remark seemed to hit his funny bone. Another powerful laugh exploded into the lobby and Jed slapped Robbie on the back so hard she almost ended up in a side table arrangement of orchids. "Surf! That was a good one! You'd freeze your tits off out there, woman! We're all meeting at the Restaurant of the Dead at six, Alberta. See you there!" and with another laugh the mountain of a man moved off.

"Please tell me they are not all like him," Robbie stated, watching the large form disappearing out onto the terrace.

"No. Most of them are not that retiring," Aliki stated seriously and stepped into the elevator without another word. Robbie grabbed the remainder of the bags and followed, a smile on her face. Aliki had made a joke. Things were looking up.

They stood shoulder to shoulder in the elevator, staring at the floor indicator over the door. "Did he say we were meeting at six at the Restaurant of the Dead?" Robbie asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"He did," Aliki responded, as the elevator came to a jerky halt and the doors slid open. Aliki stepped out and headed down the hall with her share of the bags.

Robbie followed. "Please let it just be a silly name," she muttered with a sigh.

Sometime later, after Aliki had slept for several hours, the two sisters had made their way down the street to the restaurant. Robbie looked at the large graveyard across the street and then back at the restaurant. "I'm not having an ice cubes in my drinks until I find out if they use well water," Robbie stated.

Aliki shrugged. "It will put hairs on your chest."

"Hey great! That will really help my career," Robbie responded dryly.

They walked into a loud and crowded room. At the back ,wedged around six tables that had been carelessly drawn together, sat some of the greatest names in archaeology and forensic anthropology. The mountain rose like Vesuvius erupting. "Alberta! Over here. Didn't I tell you she looked half dead? Honest to God I hardly recognized her. Victor stop drooling. Guys this is Robbie Williams the actress. She's into mummies too and she's going to read Tidwell Jennings' paper tomorrow so we can get the damn thing over with."

"I'm what?" Robbie asked, over a round of applause and Hear! Hears!

"Two pineapple margaritas over ice," Philby ordered to a passing waitress.

"Does this place get its water from a well?" Robbie asked, as she collapsed into the seat that had been rammed into the back of her knees by a man who looked old enough to be her great, great grandfather.

"Don't think so, cutie," he said. "I think it's run off."

"Oh shit," Robbie muttered and the table broke into gales of laughter.

The old man resumed his seat several places over. "Who was he?" Robbie asked, leaning over to whisper in her sister's ear.

"That's Doctor Gerald Flex. He's a pathologist. His area is the analysis of keratin. The stuff hair and nails are made of."

"You are scaring me, Aliki."

"Philby is a palaeontologist with an interest in mummification methods. And Doctor Hilda Katz", Aliki explained, pointing to a quiet woman with lean, well-toned features and heavy framed glasses, "is a palaeopathologist, the study of ancient deaths."

"Boy, I knew things were bad but do you police have unsolved murders that old?" Robbie asked in feigned wonder.

"The pineapple field is just down the hill from the graveyard," Aliki countered, and watched Robbie choke on the slurp of margarita she had just taken.

Aliki smiled and Robbie pulled a face at her. "Okay, so who is Tidwell Jennings, who volunteered me to read her paper, and why can't she read the damn thing herself?"

The tall, distinguished looking man to her right put down his beer neatly on its paper coaster and answered. "That would have been me. Doctor Archie Fenwick, Davenport University," he stated offering his hand. The handshake was brief and firm. Robbie returned it in kind, liking the man immediately.

"Tiddy was a fellow colleague. A doctor of internal medicine at Dormer University. I don't think I would be wrong in saying that she was a considerable authority on intestinal enzymes."

"Bloody authority on near everything," someone murmured sarcastically, in the sudden silence that had descended on the crowd around the tables.

Fenwick shot a look down the table and continued. " She was to present a rather interesting paper on the suppression of post-mortem actions of body enzymes in the mummification process. Awkwardly, she has disappeared. We thought, seeing you are here, you wouldn't mind reading her paper."

"Awkwardly? What does that mean? When did she disappear?" Robbie probed, feeling that she was not being told all the facts.

"During the last convention actually, three years ago. It was...er...awkward. Anyway, during all the...aah...awkwardness her paper was over looked and we felt it only fitting to come back this year to Arica and see that her paper is read."

"She disappeared from here?" Robbie tried to clarify, pointing to the table.