twenty-nine

“You’re forgetting one very important thing,” I said. “I know what Perenelle looks like. And Isabella Magnus is not Perenelle Flamel.”

“But as you admitted,” Dorian said, “plastic surgery and psychology—”

“Neither can make people a foot taller.”

Dorian’s nostril’s flared. “But … But I was so certain! It was such a perfect solution. Are you quite sure?”

“I am. I haven’t seen Perenelle Flamel anywhere since 1704. Not over the years, and not here in Portland now.”

“That is a long period of time,” Dorian said, his wings slumping. “You could have forgotten, no?”

“No. But she could be trapped inside a painting as well. That would explain things, if they were both imprisoned. If I can get him out of the painting and help him with the important task he wrote of, I can also help him find her again. He was never happy when she wasn’t at his side.”

“I hope she wasn’t involved with whatever Nicolas was trying to stop,” Tobias said, grabbing his leather jacket from the coat rack. “Perenelle has got to fit into this somehow. You said she and Nick were inseparable. So where is she?”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m the only one who can do something beyond play armchair detective today,” Tobias said. “Looks like it’s up to me to figure out whatever else I can from the Magnus family. What other alchemy-related paintings do they have in their mansion?”

“You can’t go back there. Isabella had poison—”

“You’re not the one the police are most suspicious of, Zoe.”

“Exactly. You can’t go investigating—”

“It’s my neck on the line. I know the cops mean well, and that I explained away my past, but there are some blank spots and inconsistencies that won’t be so easy to explain if they go digging … I want the murder solved as quickly as possible, as well as help to get Nick back to you.”

“He makes a good point,” Dorian said. “I am less clear on why Monsieur Freeman refers to the alchemist as ‘Nick.’”

Tobias and I looked at one another. “Do you remember, Zoe?” he asked.

“What does she remember?” Dorian asked, jumping up and down.

“The man who once owned Tobias,” I said softly. “His name was Nicholas.”

“Merde,” Dorian said.

Tobias grabbed my keys from the glass bowl next to the door. “I promise I’ll take good care of your truck.”

“But you can’t just barge in—” I began.

“She’ll let me in,” Tobias said. “I have a good reason.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he was out the door.

“He is an enigmatic one,” Dorian said once the front door had shut behind Tobias. “What do you presume he has in mind?”

“I don’t know. But I’ve learned not to doubt him.”

“Bon.”

“Could you help me up?”

“If you can wait a few moments,” the gargoyle said, hopping onto the first step of the stairway leading to the second floor, “I have a better idea.”

He returned a few minutes later holding a stack of my clothes and an ornate wooden cane that I hadn’t thought about in years.

“Now you understand what it is to be housebound,” Dorian said as he handed me the antique Chinese cane. “Yet you also observe how it gives your little gray cells more incentive to work. But this cane will help you move around the house. At least on the ground floor.”

“You know my inventory better than I do,” I said, smiling at the dragon carved into the smooth handle. It reminded me of the phoenix pendant. Fierce, symbolic creatures that rose from flames.

“Where are you going now?” I asked, noticing Dorian was already halfway up the stairs again.

“My work station is set up in the attic.”

“Your work station?” I’d been wondering why he’d set up my old printer in the attic.

He pointed at the books surrounding me and the laptop on the coffee table. “You should get to work as well.”

Before returning to the books, I took a bath in the downstairs bathroom to give myself a chance to think about what we’d learned. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that Perenelle was a missing piece of the puzzle. Why hadn’t I thought more about that? I knew a big part of the answer. Perenelle and I had never been close. Nicolas was the mentor I needed, but Perenelle had never seemed fully comfortable with my presence in the house. I don’t think she was jealous of me. It was something else. Something I never understood at the time, and didn’t have a chance to learn before I fled.

I’d also been terribly selfish. I hadn’t thought about how worried Tobias must be feeling, knowing the police were looking into him.

Tobias shook me awake from where I’d accidentally fallen asleep curled up on the couch.

“You could have texted,” I said, stretching my kinked neck. “I was getting worried.”

“I didn’t realize how late it was. But it looks like the gargoyle took good care of you.” He pointed at a tray of food on the coffee table. I hadn’t even realized Dorian had brought it out. “That spread explains why you’re dressed like this. Couldn’t fit into your other clothes? No judgment. I’ve been there.”

I looked down at my pink sweatpants, hand-knitted green sweater, and yellow sun-and-moon socks and laughed. “No. Actually I’m wearing these because Dorian went upstairs to get fresh clothes for me before I took a bath downstairs. I didn’t want to try the stairs yet.”

Tobias laughed so hard a tear rolled down his cheek.

“It’s not funny,” I said, gasping through my own laughter. “I think he might be color-blind.”

“Where is the little guy, anyway?”

“He should have heard us talking. I expected he’d be down by now.”

Tobias hefted a satchel onto the floor. I hadn’t noticed it in the dim light. I would have assumed it was more baking supplies for Dorian except that it bulged at sharp angles.

“What on earth?” I asked.

“Gift from Isabella.” He lifted a two-foot metal sculpture from the canvas bag. Like the ones I’d seen in front of the Castle, it was a series of twisted iron beams.

“A gift? You’re friends now?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the sleek and beautiful lines of the sculpture.

“It’s two intertwined crows,” he said, following my gaze. “When the light hits them just right, they look like they’re flying.”

I sniffed the air.

“What are you doing?” Tobias asked. “Do you need a tissue?”

“I’m making sure there’s no poison on the statue or in the bag. Stop looking at me like that. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Tobias sighed. “Why is it so hard to believe she’d be generous?”

“She’s a murder suspect.”

“So are we. Crows were Rosa’s favorite. They’re arguably the smartest non-human animal.” He paused and gave me a pained look. “And loyal.”

“Rosa. That’s why you two bonded.”

“We both know what it’s like to lose a spouse. Especially so recently.”

I’d felt that pain before, but time had done its job healing the sharp edges of grief.

“That’s why you guessed she’d see you.”

“I gave Isabella my condolences and told her about Rosa. She already knew who I was. She knew the police had questioned me in relation to the case because of the misunderstanding at your house. She was horrified about it, especially since I’d been coming to visit after Rosa’s funeral. That detective questioned her about me as well. Wondering if I’d crossed paths with Logan at some point in my ‘spotty past.’”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t know I’d be arriving in Portland so soon. You had no way to know they’d pick me up.”

“I’ve failed spectacularly at giving you the relaxing break you needed. And for not trusting you.”

“Zoe.” Tobias scooted my feet on the couch over to make room to sit down. “We need to talk.”

“Conversations beginning with those words never end well.”

Tobias nodded. “You know there are these rumors that an art forger was somehow connected to Logan Magnus? Isabella says she found information proving that an art forger murdered her husband.”