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Authors: Laura Resnick
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I wrestled with the Mystery of the Vanishing Ladies, unwilling to succumb to Max’s mutterings about curses and black magic. Could Golly, Dolly and Clarisse have vanished voluntarily? Since coincidence seemed astronomically unlikely, that would mean they had planned this together. That seemed equally farfetched. How would they have met in the first place? A magicians’ convention?
No, I decided. Even if Dolly, the Texan mistress of a multimillionaire condom cowboy, had met an uptown society girl like Clarisse at such a function, I doubted Golly Gee had ever attended anything like that. Before meeting Joe a couple of months ago, she couldn’t even spell the word magician. (And wherever she was now, she probably still couldn’t). Besides, Dolly had only arrived in New York yesterday, and according to Duke, it was her first time here.
And what about the magicians? Duke reported experiencing a strange sensation during the vanishing; like Joe and Barclay, he knew Dolly was gone before it became apparent to anyone else. There had been no press coverage of the Urban Cowboys affair. Clarisse’s disappearance was so far the only one that had appeared in the news—and, as far as I knew, even that had received only the brief paragraph Max had sent me. If the magicians were somehow responsible, they weren’t doing it for publicity. Quite the opposite, in fact; Joe couldn’t bear the merest mention of Golly’s disappearance, Barclay was terrified his father would find out, and Duke just wanted Dolly back.
Of course, that could be mere pretense. Perhaps the magicians had found a brilliant way to murder their assistants? No, that didn’t make sense. There was no need to go through elaborate rituals in front of an audience just to kill someone.
Did the three women have any enemies? Hard to say. I gathered Lopez thought I might be Golly’s enemy. Barclay had mentioned Clarisse had a bitter enemy, some society girl. And Dolly? Who knew? Maybe Dixie knew Dolly was sleeping with Duke and hated her for it.
Did the magicians have enemies? Aha! Now, that was a good question. Certainly their lives were being disrupted by these strange events. Indeed, if we couldn’t find out what happened to the women, the men’s lives might even be ruined.
The carriage finally pulled to a stop outside a coffee shop on Sixth Avenue. I was relieved to get out; I didn’t think we’d made many new friends by taking up a whole lane at our speed. My eyes bulged when Max paid the driver. Like I said, horse-drawn carriages aren’t cheap. Whoever Maximillian Zadok was, he evidently had plenty of money.
I was still wearing Virtue’s costume, which was gaudy enough to draw a few curious glances even here in the West Village. I brushed some flaking glitter off my flowing skirts and sighed, wishing I had thought to grab my clothes before fleeing the theater. The last thing I wanted right now was to attract attention or be memorable.
At my insistence, Max and I approached the New View Venue indirectly, by walking down West Tenth Street and creeping up behind it. Along the way, I suggested, “Perhaps we should sit down with the magicians involved. All together, I mean.”
“Good idea,” Max agreed.
“They may have a common enemy.”
“That would make things considerably easier.” He frowned. “On the other hand, they may simply have different enemies who are all clients of the same sorcerer.”
“Uh-huh.” I had no idea how to respond to such bizarre comments. Nonetheless, I couldn’t deny that Max was the only person in New York who had discovered and made the connection among all three disappearances. Undecided about how to handle him, I followed him to the stage door of the New View Venue.
Luckily for us, the theater didn’t employ an all-night security guard, and Matilda was too cheap to hire one to guard Joe’s equipment. But that didn’t mean that breaking in would be easy. Not only were the double doors locked, they were bound
No, I decided. Even if Dolly, the Texan mistress of a multimillionaire condom cowboy, had met an uptown society girl like Clarisse at such a function, I doubted Golly Gee had ever attended anything like that. Before meeting Joe a couple of months ago, she couldn’t even spell the word magician. (And wherever she was now, she probably still couldn’t). Besides, Dolly had only arrived in New York yesterday, and according to Duke, it was her first time here.
And what about the magicians? Duke reported experiencing a strange sensation during the vanishing; like Joe and Barclay, he knew Dolly was gone before it became apparent to anyone else. There had been no press coverage of the Urban Cowboys affair. Clarisse’s disappearance was so far the only one that had appeared in the news—and, as far as I knew, even that had received only the brief paragraph Max had sent me. If the magicians were somehow responsible, they weren’t doing it for publicity. Quite the opposite, in fact; Joe couldn’t bear the merest mention of Golly’s disappearance, Barclay was terrified his father would find out, and Duke just wanted Dolly back.
Of course, that could be mere pretense. Perhaps the magicians had found a brilliant way to murder their assistants? No, that didn’t make sense. There was no need to go through elaborate rituals in front of an audience just to kill someone.
Did the three women have any enemies? Hard to say. I gathered Lopez thought I might be Golly’s enemy. Barclay had mentioned Clarisse had a bitter enemy, some society girl. And Dolly? Who knew? Maybe Dixie knew Dolly was sleeping with Duke and hated her for it.
Did the magicians have enemies? Aha! Now, that was a good question. Certainly their lives were being disrupted by these strange events. Indeed, if we couldn’t find out what happened to the women, the men’s lives might even be ruined.
The carriage finally pulled to a stop outside a coffee shop on Sixth Avenue. I was relieved to get out; I didn’t think we’d made many new friends by taking up a whole lane at our speed. My eyes bulged when Max paid the driver. Like I said, horse-drawn carriages aren’t cheap. Whoever Maximillian Zadok was, he evidently had plenty of money.
I was still wearing Virtue’s costume, which was gaudy enough to draw a few curious glances even here in the West Village. I brushed some flaking glitter off my flowing skirts and sighed, wishing I had thought to grab my clothes before fleeing the theater. The last thing I wanted right now was to attract attention or be memorable.
At my insistence, Max and I approached the New View Venue indirectly, by walking down West Tenth Street and creeping up behind it. Along the way, I suggested, “Perhaps we should sit down with the magicians involved. All together, I mean.”
“Good idea,” Max agreed.
“They may have a common enemy.”
“That would make things considerably easier.” He frowned. “On the other hand, they may simply have different enemies who are all clients of the same sorcerer.”
“Uh-huh.” I had no idea how to respond to such bizarre comments. Nonetheless, I couldn’t deny that Max was the only person in New York who had discovered and made the connection among all three disappearances. Undecided about how to handle him, I followed him to the stage door of the New View Venue.
Luckily for us, the theater didn’t employ an all-night security guard, and Matilda was too cheap to hire one to guard Joe’s equipment. But that didn’t mean that breaking in would be easy. Not only were the double doors locked, they were bound
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