I take it, scrub a hand over my face. I’m tired. It’s been seven days since Mercedes disappeared. Well, since she took off. I’ve had additional men on Georgie and Solana. Ones they don’t know about. I’ve been to see them both, but they’re not cracking. Even though I know for a fact the masked man who carefully trashed Mercedes’s house was Georgie. And neither of them is exactly denying what they did. The glares and strange looks I’d been getting over the last few weeks, though, were nothing to the cool reception I’ve received from them since.

Neither Georgie nor Solana are criminals, though, and they’re not very good at covering their tracks. So far, they’ve only succeeded at one thing, the most important thing. Hiding Mercedes. Which is the only reason I haven’t gone completely mad this last week. At least I know she’s safe and not in the clutches of Vincent Douglas who, despite having given his word to Hildebrand, rented a car at the Reno airport and drove straight back to the city. At least I’ve been able to track him, though.

“Thank you for doing this, Ezra. I am sure you’d rather be in bed.”

“It’s no problem, Judge. This is a priority.”

“You found her?”

He nods, turns his laptop around and brings up a photo of a woman I vaguely recognize although I can’t place her right away.

“This woman is known in the Quarter as Madame Dubois.” It takes me just one more minute.

“The psychic who has a table at the apothecary?”

“One and the same.” He pushes a button, and another image comes up, this one of an elegant woman in a Chanel suit. “Madame Dubois is Claudine Dubois Bernard.” He clicks to another photo of her at an event with some sort of European royalty. “Heiress of the Bernard empire.”

“Bernard? I’m at a loss.”

“High-end leather goods, specialty merchandise. Better known in Europe than here perhaps.”

“And she works as a fortune-teller?” I’m confused.

He chuckles. “I’m guessing she’s passing the time. Probably having some fun. I hear she’s pretty good, though,” he says with a grin.

“If you believe in that sort of thing. What does she have to do with Mercedes?”

He turns the laptop around and starts typing again. “I’ve been able to pick up some conversation between Solana and Georgie about a mysterious M.”

I roll my eyes.

“Exactly. These two aren’t calculating criminals.”

“No, they’re not. And I suppose that’s a good thing for Mercedes.”