The Devil's Doppelgänger

The Obsession of Doctor Pendergrass

By: John David Buchanan

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Madame Esmerelda watched him carefully. "You are distraught, Mr Wright, and very agitated I think."
"You see that in the tarot cards?" asked Henry. "Without looking?"
“No, I read it in your face. The cards often confirm my own suspicions. But sometimes…”

Henry tried to convince his friend he saw an exact copy of himself wandering the streets of London. He was visibly rattled and thought Stephen might help him make some sense of it. Stephen tried to convince him it was just someone who looked like him, but Henry wasn't having it. "It was exactly me. Right down to the type of clothing I wear."

Was it thought Stephen. Or is my friend sliding back into his old habits? Two years earlier laudanum and gin were Henry's everyday affair. Now, Stephen worried his friend was experimenting with hallucinogens. While he worried that Henry was backsliding, Henry worried about what his double might be doing.

Later that morning, Stephen saw Henry walking down Oxford Street. But that couldn't be. He had just accompanied him to work several miles away. Something unnatural was going on and he had a overwhelming feeling it would not end well.

When the murder occurred, Henry went into hiding. Stephen sought help for his friend from the only person he could trust; Doctor Pendergrass. As the body count climbed, Scotland Yard was insistent the only suspect was Henry Wright.

The doppelgänger had one goal - assume Henry Wright's life. But to do that he would have to dispense with all of Henry's associates.