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Adrian Ludens
 
I. Conversation
            “Doppelganger,” Detective Jerry Johanson of the Minneapolis Police Department muttered nearly inaudibly.
            He sipped his coffee.  It was too hot and burned his tongue, but he chose not to show it.  He just set the cup back down and rested his hands on his knees.  Johanson kicked himself for drinking too soon.  He was stalling, trying to mentally pre-select his words.  It wasn’t easy.  There was no way to present this case to Lieutenant Nielsen without sounding like an incompetent or superstitious buffoon. 
            “I don’t have all day, Detective,” Lt. Nielsen said, drawing Johanson out of his private thoughts. 
            Johanson started.  He knew that if Nielsen already sounded impatient, he would soon move to patronizing friendliness -a sure sign the lieutenant was pissed.  It was time to spit it out.
            “Got a head-scratcher of a case, Lieutenant,” Johanson began.  “Murdock and I took the call last night, not ten minutes into our shift.”
            Nielsen just sat there pokerfaced, waiting.
            “A lady named Helen Nagle made the call to emergency dispatch. She’d stepped outside for a smoke and witnessed two men struggling in an apartment across the street.  The men disappeared from her view and she called 911 to report what she thought might be a drunken brawl.  It’s turned into a homicide case, obviously.  The responding patrolman, Tim Barrows, called us to the scene.  He found the victim on the kitchen floor, his throat cut with a steak knife.”
            “Barrows found the alleged assailant,” Johanson went on, “hiding in some bushes beside the apartment complex.  He didn’t put up any kind of fight once Officer Barrows asked him to surrender.  According to Barrows, he got the man cuffed and gave him his Miranda warning without incident.
            “The perp was sitting in the back of Officer Barrows’ patrol car when we arrived.  Murdock took a look at the crime scene while I interviewed Mrs. Nagle.  After we got a good look at the assailant and the victim, Murdock says, ‘Looks like an acute case of sibling rivalry.’  I agreed.  We came back to the station to process our guy.  We took his prints, set aside his personal items.  I asked him quite a few questions in the box, but nothing he said made much sense.  He’s in cell seven now.  Figured we’d let him cool down for a while.”  Johanson paused and shot a hand out to his coffee cup. He gulped the coffee and thought, Here’s where the Lieutenant tosses me out of his office. 
            “So while Murdock and I are at our desks catching up on paperwork, the guys from the morgue rang with the victim’s identity.  I had to double check my work up on the perp.  According to fingerprints, the deceased is a Robert Doyle Taylor, birth date 7th of November, 1972.  Social Security number 504-86-XXXX.” 
            Johanson realized that Nielsen had already guessed what was coming next.  He could see it in his lieutenant’s eyes.  Johanson said it anyway.
            “The guy we are holding downstairs is—according to fingerprint analysis—also Robert
Doyle Taylor, birth date 7th of November, 1972.  Social security number 504-86-XXXX.”
            “Dental records?”
             “The Robert Taylor in custody has a crown and one more filling than the one down in the morgue; otherwise, they match.”
            “What does the Robert Taylor that’s currently occupying one of our holding cells have to say about his twin?” Lt. Nielsen inquired mildly.
            “Our interrog—” Johanson began, then corrected. “Our interviews haven’t garnered any concrete facts.  Murdock thinks the guy’s stone crazy.”
            “What do you think of the case?” Nielsen asked pointedly.
            “We essentially have a taped confession, but he’s pleading self defense.  The way things stand now, he’ll get it.”
            “Let’s wait for the forensics report.”  Lt. Nielsen said.  “In the meantime, keep pressing this guy.  There’s got to be something he’s not telling us.”
            Detective Johanson stood.  “Lieutenant....”
            “What more can I do for you, Detective?”
            “Maybe you’d….” Johanson began. “What I mean is, I’d sure feel a lot better if you listened to the tape.’
 
II. Interrogation
            Transcription of the taped interrogation of Robert D. Taylor, from the archival records of the Hennepin County Police Department.
            Interviewing officers: Det. J. Johanson and Det. D. Murdock.
           
            Q. Please state your name for the record.
            A. I am Robert Doyle Taylor.
            Q. Your place of residence?
            A. St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
            Q. What is your relationship to the victim?
            A. He’s me.
            Q. Can you elaborate on that statement?
            A. I learned how to travel through time.  Along my own timeline, anyway.  I thought that by finding a past version of myself, I could pass along information that would better my life.
            Q. Is there any way you can prove your claims of time travel?
            A. Is there any way you can explain why I’m lying on a slab in your morgue?
            Q. Since you brought it up, why did you kill this individual?
            A. Because he intended commit crimes using me as a scapegoat.  Then he threatened my life.
            Q. Please explain.
            A. I explained who I was and offered to give him certain information.  For instance, the winning teams of the Super Bowls and World Series for the next five years.  You can see how this would be profitable to both my self in this time and myself—meaning me specifically— [suspect points at self] in the future.
            Q. So you gain monetarily.
            A. Sure.  And no one gets hurt.
            Q.  Why didn’t the person you contacted agree with your plan?
            A. I’m not sure.  Since he’s me, I thought he would.  I can’t figure that out.  Maybe my arrival in his time was too much of a shock to his system.  Like I tainted him somehow.
            Q. Are you saying his personality was not what you expected?
            A. Yes.
            Q. Please elaborate on the threats.
            A. They started because he had all these other ideas.  He wanted us to rob people.  Like holdups or muggings, I guess. 
            Q. How would you execute these crimes?
            A. Well, I’m telling you this as I heard it from him, remember.  He said one of us would go somewhere, establish a solid alibi.  The other would do whatever the crime was.  In the end, I’d never be charged because of the alibis.
            Q. And you took umbrage to this?
            A. I don’t understand the question.
            Q. You were against it?
            A. Absolutely.  His ideas put other people at risk and opened the door to violence.  I wanted no part of anything like that.
            Q. You told him this?
            A. Absolutely.  In no uncertain terms.
            Q. What happened then?
            A. He started to argue about it.  Called me a few names I’d rather not repeat.
            Q. When did the threats escalate to violence?
            A. When I decided to leave and go back to my own time.
            Q. You believed this would diffuse the situation?
            A. I hoped [suspect emphasizes the word hoped] it would diffuse the situation.  But I was sort of panicking by this time.
            Q. Why?
            A. I hadn’t really anticipated this.  I thought my younger self would just go along with my plan.  By then I just wanted to get out of there.  If I went back to my own time, I thought maybe my past self would just forget I was here.
            Q. ‘Just forget’?
            A. Yeah...I don’t know.  Maybe the timeline would just fix itself or maybe that version of me would just think it was all some crazy dream or something.
            Q. Let’s backtrack a bit here.  How did you intend to travel back to your, as you say it, ‘home time’?
            A. The same way I got here.
            Q. Can you elaborate?
            A. I’d rather not.
            Q. Why not?
            A. Because if a workable method of time travel became common knowledge, we’d have chaos.  If even one truly evil person found out how to do it, he or she could wreak havoc.
            Q. So you refuse to explain how you believe you traveled back in time.
            A. I believe that would be for the best.
            Q. Back to you and...uh...the victim.
            A. Okay. [Suspect nods]
            Q. Describe in as much detail as you can the events that led to your arrest.
            A. When I tried to leave the apartment my younger self blocked the door.  He said I was a fool for not going along with his plan.  I reiterated my objections to committing the types of crimes he suggested.  He became more agitated and threatened me verbally.
            Q. What did he say?
            A. Something like, ‘Maybe you need some sense beaten into you.’  If that isn’t word for word, it’s very close.  Anyway, he came at me and pushed me into the wall.  He tried to choke me, but I twisted free and ran to the kitchen.  He stopped long enough to grab a baseball bat from the front closet and then he came running toward me.  I panicked.  I pulled open the drawer where he, that is, I kept the silverware.  I grabbed a small steak knife and ducked just as he swung the bat.  I heard it smash into the cabinet.  It must have gotten stuck for a second because he didn’t hit me again like I thought he would.  He started screaming, ‘I’m gonna kill you.’  I thought I was going to wet myself I was so scared.  I stood up and as I did he was bending down. 
The blade of the steak knife.... [Suspect is unable to speak]
            Q. Take as much time as you need.
            A. [suspect weeps]
            Q. Mr. Taylor, perhaps we could—
            A. [shrieking]
            Q. Mr. Taylor.  Murdock, grab him before he hurts himself.
            A. I killed myself!  My SELF! Oh sweet Jesus, what will happen to me?  God have mercy on my soul!
            Q. Call for a tranq—
            [End of taped recording.]
 
III. Revelation
            Excerpt from the personal journal of Robert D. Taylor.  Believed to belong to the suspect Taylor, not the victim Taylor.  Journal was discovered by Hennepin County Police Officer Tim Barrows in the same bushes that the suspect had been hiding in.
 
            “...been spinning my wheels for months trying to decipher a variety of magic texts.  I purchased several from a rare book dealer downtown.  All the books either make no sense to me, don’t cover what I am interested in, or the spells I have tried have not had any discernible effect....”
            “My forays into the world of hallucinogenic drugs were exciting but ultimately fruitless.  
Regardless of the drug I used, the trips themselves were too distracting to ever actually make any progress in the goal of contacting an alternate version of myself....”
            “...overall, Western religion provided me with nothing but dead ends.  Eastern religion, particularly the concept of transcendental mediation got me closest to a real breakthrough.  But it didn’t take me long to realize that I don’t have the patience to truly practice any form of spiritual meditation effectively.”
            “So it comes to this.  One simple exercise which is both concise and practical: self-hypnosis. I spent a month just reading, studying and understanding the principles of self-hypnosis.  People use the power of suggestion to lose weight, stop smoking, or gain previously unattainable levels of self assurance.  What if a person could make his mind believe anything?  The power of suggestion made manifold by suspending disbelief.  How many doors of understanding could one open by simply making certain ideas fact through posthypnotic suggestions that were never removed?”
            “...practiced every night after work for three months. I have become so receptive to self-hypnosis that when I mentally speak a simple mantra I became deeply entranced in seconds.”
            “I am rewriting the rules of my existence! They say the average person uses only ten percent of their brain power on a daily basis.  I know I am way above that figure.”
            “While I was under, I visualized a fence.  Then I visualized a gate.  I opened the gate and walked through.   I kept opening gates in my mind.  I’m sure my brain was simplifying things for the sake of my sanity.  I was seeing these ideas and concepts in tangible form.  Once in a while I hit a fence that was electrified.  I wonder what they’re protecting.  I started to worry about finding my way back again, and then I saw it.  It was like a huge conveyor belt that disappeared at the horizon in both directions.  I stepped onto it and instantly my perspective changed.  Now I was on the conveyor belt and there were endless doors moving past me in opposite directions on either side.  One is the future and one is the past.  I felt like I was moving but I was actually standing still.  Time keeps moving.  I opened the door in front of me and walked through it.  I found myself right outside my current home.  I used my key and went inside.  I found myself lying on the bed, still hypnotized.  That’s when I realized two things.  First, that I could be in two places at once safely, and second, I’d have to hypnotize myself and go back through the door to return safely ‘home’ after finishing whatever I came to do....”
            “...I’m going to do it.  I’m going to go back in time.  I’m going to meet my past self face to face.  I’ll explain everything without giving too much away.  If he, I mean, I (ha ha) agree, we’ll be rich.  But no one must be hurt.  I don’t want to hurt anyone.” 
 
IV. Clarification
            Transcription of the additional taped interrogation of Robert D. Taylor, from the archival records of the Hennepin County Police Department.
            Interviewing officers: Det. J. Johanson and Det. D. Murdock.
 
            Q. State your name for the record.
            A. Robert Doyle Taylor.
            Q. We wanted you to know we found your personal journal in the bushes where you were hiding when taken into custody.
            A. I figured you might.
            Q. Is there anything you’d like to address at this time?
            A. If you read my journal then you know everything I do.  It frankly terrifies me that you do.  Part of me wants to act crazy.  Then you’d discount my entries and would be less likely to act on what I have discovered.
            Q. You needn’t worry.
            A. [suspect shrugs] If I had it to do over again, I would never attempt time travel.  It’s too risky.  Like the art of spinning plates.  It looks easy enough but what happens when one of those plates falls and shatters?  I found out the hard way.
            Q. If everything in your journal and previous testimony is factual, why not just hypnotize yourself to get out of this cell and go back to your own time?
            A. I think I would cease to exist if I tried to time travel again.
            Q. Why is that?
            A. If the version of myself that lived in this time is no longer living, how could I return to the future?  My timeline ended here.  It’s my belief that I would simply cease to exist.
            Q. So you remain here out of choice?
            A. No, Detective, I remain here out of necessity.
            [There is a long pause.]
            Q. Would it fair to say that you believe you must stay here in this time and place in order to continue living and that if you hypnotize yourself it is your fear that you will cease to exist? 
            A. That’s it, yes.
            Q. In our previous interview, near the end, you wondered aloud what would become of your soul since you had killed a man.  You seemed very distraught.  You said, and I’m quoting, ‘God have mercy on my soul.’
            [Suspect nods.  He is looking down, avoiding eye contact.]
            Q. Do you still believe in the concept of an eternal soul?
            [Another long pause.]
            Q. Mr. Taylor?
            A. I’m trying really hard to keep it together, Detective.  It’s hard enough accepting what I have done.  But you can’t ask me to deny the existence of the only thing left that gives me any hope.
            [End of taped recording.]
 
V. Dissolution
            “You read the paper?” Johanson asked his partner.
            “Of course I did,” Murdock said, making a face. “Do you thing the judge did the right thing?”
            “By declaring a mistrial?  He did the only thing he could do under the circumstances.  Once the media got hold of this it was over before it began.”
            “You think Taylor’s self defense claim would have stuck?”
            “Who knows,” Johanson shrugged.  “Forensics didn’t come up with anything we could use to disprove his testimony.  The DNA came from the same person.”
            “So he gets no time in prison, no probation, no psychiatric evaluation,” Murdock held up a finger for each item on the list.
            “I hear the guy moved into his victim’s apartment,” Johanson said.
            “Jesus.”  Murdock rubbed his temples.
            Johanson sipped his coffee.  Both men were silent for a time.  The Johanson spoke again, his tone slightly changed.  “If Taylor’s telling the truth about all this, then maybe it’s like he said.  He has to stay behind to pick up the pieces of his life.”
            “Yeah,” Murdock agreed. “The shattered pieces of the plate he tried to spin.”
 

 

Spinning Plates