Jan squinted, then pulled the glasses that hung from a beaded necklace around her neck onto the bridge of her nose. They both peered at the photo, nearly cheek to cheek.
Jan looked from it to me. “Why do you have a picture of someone when you don’t even know who they are?”
Good point. “She’s involved in a case—what can you tell me about her?”
The women looked at each other.
Biddy crossed her arms, expression flat. “She’s still alive, huh?
Jan smirked. “Pay up.”
Biddy shook her head but fished around in the pockets of her overalls.
Jan grinned at me. “We had a bet. Biddy thought she was for sure dead, but I had a feeling she’d turn up some day.”
I frowned, thoroughly confused as Biddy slapped a gold coin into Jan’s hand. “Well, no, actually. This woman is a murder victim… and possibly also suspect?” I shook my head. This was turning into a thoroughly confusing case. Also, had they not noticed the giant gash running from her shoulder across her chest?
Jan’s shoulders slumped. “You sure she’s dead? One hundred percent positive? Dead forever?” She stiff armed Biddy, who was pawing at her hand to get the coin back.
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Hmph. Fine.” She pushed the coin back at Biddy, who looked vindicated.
“I knew it. Dead.” She seemed to catch herself and grew serious. “Sea rest her soul.”
Jan shook her head. “Thought it was a sure thing she’d be alive still.”
Biddy shook her head, her bobbed hair swishing back and forth. “My intuition. You never listen to my intuition.”
Jan spun to face me. “Well, she was alive until recently, right, Jo?”
I nodded. “We’ve been having a rough time even identifying her. You’re sure this is that woman—Maria Begin, you said? What can you tell me about her?”
Biddy opened her mouth, then shut it again. The women exchanged knowing looks.
Jan frowned. “Hm… my memory is so fuzzy these days….”
Biddy bit her bottom lip. “When you get older, it takes more to grease the wheels, so to speak….”
They both fixed expectant gazes on me.
“Oh, for….” I rolled my eyes, dug around in my pocket, and slapped some gold coins down on the counter.
The women eagerly scooped them up and stuffed them in their pockets, then leaned forward, voices lowered.
Biddy raised her brows. “We haven’t seen Maria Begin around here for ages—what?”
She looked to Jan, who frowned and shook her head slightly. “Probably… over fifty years.”
I narrowed my eyes. Fifty years—the same amount of time that had passed since the last phoenix rebirth event and the disappearance of Malorie Rutherford’s first husband. I had no idea how they were connected, but it seemed unlikely that it would just be coincidence. Then again, Maria looked to be about fifty to me—had she been a baby the last time these two saw her? And if so, how would they have recognized her?
I leaned forward, voice also lowered. “What happened to her?”
Jan shrugged. “Just disappeared one day.”
Biddy snapped her fingers. “Poof!”
I narrowed my eyes. “No one knew anything about what happened to her?”
Biddy lifted a shoulder. “There were rumors, of course.”
Jan nodded. “I heard from Benjamin Hadid’s wife, you know, the fishmonger who got caught up with that awful—oh, what was his name—”
Biddy shook her head. “Nah, you can’t trust those fishmongers—such braggarts.”
I bounced my leg, impatient, and stuck the lollipop back in my mouth.
Jan waved it off. “Anyway, I heard Maria got in over her head with Ludolf.” She barely breathed his name.
I grew still. “She was a shifter?” Had she gone behind Ludolf’s back somehow? Stolen money from him?
Jan scoffed, and Biddy nodded. “And how.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
We were standing with our faces so close that I nearly had a heart attack when Biddy lurched upright and shouted, “You break it, you buy it!”
I whirled around. A young lady curled her lip and slowly replaced a glowing gold potion bottle on the shelf. Biddy kept her eyes fixed on her for a long moment, then leaned back down.
She dropped her voice back to a hushed tone. “It means she was pretty unique, even in the shifter world.”
“Oh, yeah?” I sucked on the candy. “What’d she turn into?”
Jan raised her brows. “A phoenix.”
I nearly choked on the lollipop. “A—phoenix?”
The ladies nodded. Jan shrugged. “It’s why I bet she was still alive, even after all this time—whole rebirth thing, you know?”
Biddy patted her back consolingly.
I couldn’t breathe. A phoenix? Holy snakin’ shell. My mind raced. That meant that the mystery woman, Maria Begin—she hadn’t broken into the cage the other night—she was already in it! She was the phoenix!
27
THE PHOENIX
I ripped off a hunk of beef jerky with my teeth and paced around the lobby of Will’s back alley veterinarian clinic. Will, on his stool, rolled closer to Heidi, who sat behind the tall front desk, picking through the brown paper sack I’d brought with me from the bodega. She pulled out a jar of olives, and Will made grabby hands. She passed it over to him, then shoved her entire arm into the bag, fished around, and pulled out a bag of potato chips.
“Nice.” She grinned and settled back onto her stool, then ripped the bag open and went to sea, crunching away.
I rolled my eyes and kept pacing—glad to see all the junk food I’d bought was going to good use. On second thought… “Bust open that wine while you’re at it?”
Heidi grinned and nodded, mouth full.
Will held up a long finger. “I want a glass, too.”
Heidi cringed as she waved her wand over the bottle and the cork magically popped out. “No glasses—but we do have beakers.”
Will and I exchanged looks, I nodded, and he turned back to Heidi and shrugged. “They’re sterile, right?”
About half an hour and a bottle of wine later, Peter and Daisy knocked on the door, and I opened it for them, ushering them out of the chilly, drizzly night.
“Finally.”
