Jack stammered as he pushed his way in. "Oh do, please come in," Jack said sarcastically closing the door after them. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I’m not the only one who's been out late, am I, Jack?" Cavanaugh said, giving the dimly lit room a cursory glance.

"I just came from the benefit dance," Jack said defiantly.

"No, I just came from the benefit dance. You came from the Rillieux house."
Jack looked uncharacteristically flustered but gathered himself quickly. "You can't prove that."

"You only got in a minute ago," Cavanaugh reasoned. "You haven't had time to hide the sapphire pendant."

Jack smirked. "Are you going to frisk me then detective?"

"I don't have to," Cavanaugh replied, stepping right up to him and promptly unzipping Jack's pants. He reached into Jack's white briefs and pulled out the Rillieux pendant. "Care to explain this?"

"You still have nothing on me detective," Jack said coolly, moving away toward the balcony doors. He opened them, letting in fresh air. "I could say you came in here unannounced with the sapphire in your possession and threatened me with this false arrest. It will be your word against mine and I can guarantee a few hundred witnesses willing to swear that I was at that dance all night."

"Now that I don't understand," Cavanaugh said. "I left you at that dance. How did you get to the sapphire?"

"No detective, you left me at the dance," a voice announced from behind.
Cavanaugh turned around to the now open door and to his astonishment saw another Jack Mondejar. He swung back to look at the one to whom he was speaking and then looked back to the newcomer. Identical! Identical twins!
"I know what you're thinking, Cavanaugh but no," said the first Jack taking off his shirt, his smooth body glowing in the lamp light. "There's only one Jack Mondejar, which is why you'll never be able to prove I had any part in this robbery. And no, he's not a twin or an identical double. He's me, or rather a purer version of me."

"What the hell do you mean?" Cavanaugh asked.

"What he means is that I'm a duplicate Jack Mondejar," the second Jack said, mimicking the original's movement of taking off his clothes.

"Have you heard the legend behind the Janus Diamonds, Cavanaugh?" the first Jack said moving to his left while the other Jack closed in on his right.

"It was supposed to have cured your great, great, great grandmother," Cavanaugh said as two pairs of hands began to pull his T-shirt off.

"That's what people thought. It didn't. The ring created a purer version of my great, great, great grandmother. The real or rather the first Dona Maria Luisa did die. Her duplicate took her place," explained the first Jack, his hands now roaming sensuously across Cavanaugh's naked, hairy chest.

"How?" Cavanaugh asked, relishing the feeling of both pairs of hands lazily moving up and down his body.

The second Jack spoke, "I…we don't quite know. Whoever wears the ring can, well, summon a duplicate. An almost exact duplicate with the same memories and thoughts and feelings and desires."

"Almost exact?" Cavanaugh echoed questioningly while somebody unbuttoned his jeans, although he couldn't tell which one was doing it.

"A purer version, that's what the Indian guru told