Read Online Disappearing Nightly by Laura Resnick - Free Book Online

in this case. No, for the time being, my theory—”
    “Is crazy!”
    “Hmm. Do you have a theory?”
    “Not on the tip of my tongue,” I said. “But I’ll think of one.”
    “Very well. In the meantime, there are two things we must accomplish tonight.”
    “What?”
    “If Mr. Herlihy’s crystal cage is cursed—”
    “Oh, for—”
    “Then we must destroy it.”
    I stopped, surprised. “Destroy it?”
    “We can’t risk another woman getting into it. Surely you can see that?”
    I didn’t know what to make of all this, but Max was right. We couldn’t let someone who didn’t know the truth—whatever it was—risk getting into that cage.
    “Okay, agreed,” I said. “And the other thing?”
    “We must determine the source of the latest disappearance.”
    “The latest?” I felt cold seep through me. “But I thought Dolly the Dancing Cowgirl was the latest—”
    “That was last night,” he said. “I didn’t want to alarm Dixie and Cowboy Duke, but while we were in consultation with them this evening, I sensed it again. Unmistakable by now.” He nodded. “A localized dimensional disturbance. Someone else has disappeared.”
     
    Max refused to get into a taxi again. Instead, we walked to the Plaza Hotel at the edge of the park and hired a horse and carriage. I’d never been in one of those things because they’re outrageously expensive.
    To my surprise, all the carriage drivers lined up across the street from the Plaza seemed to know Max.
    “Yo! Doc Zadok! Whaddaya say?”
    “Hey, Doc! What do you hear from the spirit world?”
    “Good evening,” Max said, taking off his fedora and shaking hands.
    “Can I give you a lift, Dr. Zadok?”
    “Hey, you boys get back in line! I’m first. Right over here, Dr. Zadok. Let me help you into my carriage, miss.”
    “Thank you,” I said, taking the beefy hand offered to me. Now this guy could lift ice cream-loving nymphs overhead all night long and not feel the strain.
    “Thank you, Ralph.” Max clambered in beside me.
    Ralph climbed up to the driver’s seat. “You want I should take you home, Dr. Zadok?”
    “No, we’re going to the theater actually. The New— oof! ”
    “Just drop us off at Greenwich and Sixth,” I said.
    “Okay.” Ralph flicked the reins and we were off.
    “You idiot,” I whispered to Max. “If we’re going to break into the building and sabotage valuable equipment, the last thing we need to do is announce our presence to half of Christopher Street by pulling up at the front door in a horse-drawn carriage.”
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t think. It’s so seldom that I break the law.”
    “Oh, really? How about the night you broke into the theater to slip that newspaper clipping under my dressing room door?”
    “That was an emergency,” he pointed out. “Anyhow, I didn’t damage anything.”
    “How did you get in, anyway? ‘Transmutation’ again, I suppose?”
    “No. I only transmute in dire circumstances. It’s much harder than it looks, you know.”
    “I believe that. I’ve seen Joe and Magic Magnus do it, and even Golly and I do a version of it when Virtue appears at the end of Act Two, but you did it in my dressing room. How?”
    “Well, the principles of thaumaturgy rely largely upon the powers of the mind. Naturally, some technical ability is called for.”
    I sighed. He sounded like Joe. “Never mind. How are we going to get in tonight? I’m no lock-picker.”
    He frowned. “It shouldn’t present too much of a problem.”
    Since he apparently wasn’t going to elaborate, I said, “I gather you travel this way—horse and carriage—fairly often?”
    “It’s the only civilized way to get around town.”
    “You don’t like elevators, you don’t like cabs.” He had also refused to take a bus or subway train when I suggested it. “Do you have some kind of phobia?”
    “I just can’t get used to modern transportation,” he said. “Speed kills.”
    We rode the rest of the way in silence.