“Er, yes.” I hadn’t any idea how else to respond, so I forged ahead. “I would ask Mr. Flaherty to look into Irene’s disappearance, but he’s left for Kansas with Dr. Whyborne.”
I wasn’t at all clear why Dr. Whyborne seemed to require a private detective to accompany him on all of his expeditions, but the two seemed to travel everywhere together. Ordinarily I would have expected a landlord and boarder to want some time apart, but they were utterly inseparable. Mr. Flaherty even attended the museum galas. And I couldn’t count how many times he’d turned up to share lunch, or else walk with Dr. Whyborne to dinner.
It must be nice to have such a close friend.
“Time is usually of the essence when it comes to disappearances,” Mr. Quinn said thoughtfully. “Do you think this might be a matter for Widdershins?”
I shifted my weight uneasily. “I’m…not sure what you mean.”
“Widdershins.” He made an impatient gesture. “The maelstrom; the vortex; whatever you wish to call it. Dr. Whyborne is the most easily accessible to those of the land, but there is another.”
I’d always heard that the unusual architecture of the library drove the librarians mad, but I’d never actually believed it until now. “Those of the land?”
“One for the land, and one for the sea.”
“Oh!” Finally, I thought I understood. “That was the line of poetry—”
“Prophecy.”
I gritted my teeth, but tamped down my annoyance. “Of course. When you say there is another, you mean Dr. Whyborne’s sister.”
“The one given to the sea, yes.” Mr. Quinn nodded gravely. “They are both Widdershins.”
I still didn’t know what he meant by the rest of it, but he seemed unlikely to give me a coherent answer. “You think I should go to Persephone and ask her for help?”
It would be an excuse to see her. I thrust the thought away sternly.
“It is much more difficult to contact her, for those of us of the land,” he mused. “But if I sacrifice one of the junior librarians on the night of the new moon, near the reef…”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary!” I exclaimed. “I have a summoning stone.”
Mr. Quinn’s pale eyes bulged from his head. “Widdershins entrusted you with a summoning stone?”
“Yes?” I said tentatively.
His hands clenched…then relaxed, as if a deliberate effort on his part. “Well. It is for us to serve, not to question. Widdershins knows its own.”
“I’ll…think about it,” I said, backing toward the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need to get back to work. And I should probably lock up, so…”
“Of course.” Mr. Quinn took out his handkerchief, ran it over Dr. Whyborne’s chair, where his hair would rest, and tucked it back in his pocket. “We all have our duties to attend to.”
*
I was still undecided when I returned to the boarding house that evening. Mr. Quinn no doubt meant well with his suggestion, but how could Persephone possibly help when it came to Irene’s disappearance? She lived in the ocean, after all. She might be the chieftess of the ketoi, but that didn’t make her a detective. It only meant her time was far too valuable to waste on my problems.
Oliver awaited me in the parlor; when he heard what had happened, he was full of concern. Perhaps sensing I wasn’t in the mood for company, he kept his visit short, though he did ask me to dinner the next day.
Mrs. Yagoda served dinner soon after he left. Once we’d all helped ourselves from the sideboard, Mrs. Yagoda said grace. As we tucked in, she cleared her throat.
“The mystery of Miss Vale’s so-called disappearance has been solved,” she said in a tone of decided disapproval.
I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth. “You’ve heard from the police?”
“Yes.” Her mouth pressed into a harsh line amidst a network of wrinkles. “It seems Miss Vale had a…friend. One Mr. Burton.”
My pulse quickened. “Yes—she spoke to him at the theater last night.”
“Apparently, they were laying plans to elope together. Mr. Burton has vanished as well.”
My hand tightened on the fork. “He’s gone? Are the police looking for him?”
“Why would they?”
“Because Irene wouldn’t elope dressed only in her nightgown!” I exclaimed.
Mrs. Yagoda’s eyes widened in affront. “Miss Parkhurst, control yourself.”
My hand shook. I wanted to shout at her, to make her see it was all nonsense. Instead, I lowered my gaze to my plate. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“As you should be.” She settled back in her chair. “Older, wiser, minds than yours have considered the matter. You must accept our judgment.”
“Of course,” I said to the plate.
“I am as shocked as anyone to think a woman of such morals could have lived beneath my roof,” she went on, apparently mollified by my surrender. “I will discard her things tomorrow and find a more suitable boarder.”
I glanced up in time to see the other ladies cast speculative looks amongst themselves. We were all surviving on the salaries of female clerks and secretaries; I suspected few of Irene’s possessions would remain for Mrs. Yagoda to cast out tomorrow.