Willie the Actor extract
‘Hello, Willie Sutton,’ she said.
What he had feared most hit him like a battering ram and he hoped the shock didn’t show on his face.
‘Willie who?’ he said nonchalantly. ‘What are you talking about?’
She showed him the newspaper. A big jewelry store had been hit for $200,000 and they were pointing the finger at Willie the Actor. Bill took in the information at a glance and laughed lightly.
‘That’s a lot of money. If I were Willie Sutton, you think I’d be at Farm Colony on eighty a month?’
Ethel was staring closely at him. Then she took the paper back and studied the photograph. ‘You must admit, you look very like him.’
‘You’re right. I do. But then I believe we all have a doppelganger somewhere.’
Ethel looked blank. ‘A what?’
‘Sorry. A double. Like a twin.’
‘Oh, I see what you mean.’
Bill decided his best bet was to pursue this line of reasoning.
‘You must have mistaken someone for a close friend or relative before now. It’s happened to me quite a few times. You see someone you think you know, you approach them, and it turns out to be a complete stranger.’
Her face lit up as she remembered an incident. ‘Hey! I know what you mean. I remember one time, years ago, I thought I saw my boyfriend staring into the window of a delicatessen, and I prodded him in the back. It was so embarrassing. The man was as surprised as I was. Only he was nothing like my boyfriend. Just from behind.’
‘Some people do bear an uncanny resemblance to other people, though.’
Ethel laughed. ‘Like you and Willie Sutton.’
‘He’s an ordinary looking guy,’ Bill said. ‘I’ll bet there are lots of men who look like that.’
‘And, as you say, you’d hardly be working at Farm Colony if you’d robbed all those banks.’
Bill grinned at this foolish notion and said, ‘I must get on to see, Mr Calman.’
As he walked away, she called after him, ‘I can’t see a bank robber looking after the sick like you do. You’re a good man, Eddie.’
He thought he’d convinced her. But the incident had shaken him, made him feel insecure. He hoped and prayed she didn’t gossip and show the newspaper to anyone else, discussing his uncanny resemblance to Willie the Actor.
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