Page 85 of Disturbing the Dead
There isn’t anyone manning the booth, but after we stop there, a young woman approaches from her own browsing. She’s dressed in an off-white gown suitable for a moderrn bride, complete with headpiece and a veil drawn over her face. Raven-black hair falls over her shoulders.
The stall keeper doesn’t rush over, as the others did. As she approaches, she dips her chin and says, “Mab.” I haven’t heard anyone else call Queen Mab that. Even I don’t mentally reduce her name. It seems too disrespectful. There’s no disrespect in the woman’s musically high voice, though, and Queen Mab inclines her own head, murmuring a greeting, as if they are equals.
“I hear you have a shipment of Egyptian blue lotus,” Queen Mab says.
Through the veil, I can only make out dark eyes and bright red lips, and those lips curve in a smile.
“I do, and if you did not come this evening, I would have sent my girl around to see whether you wanted any. I admit, half my reason for buying it was in hopes of drawing you out. It has been too long.”
“It has indeed. You do not need blue lotus to draw me out. I am always available to you, dear lady, to discuss herbs and medicines. In return for the lotus, I presume you wish the usual?”
“If it is not too much to ask.”
“Never. I will take the lotus then, and perhaps a few other things. But I come tonight for a secondary reason. You will have noted my young friend here?”
“I have.”
“She is on the trail of an ingredient you no longer carry.”
The veil turns my way. “If I no longer carry it, then it is not useful.”
“It is not useful,” Queen Mab says. “She realizes that and has another reason for seeking it out. More specifically, she is interested in knowing where one might sell such an ingredient. To those who still trade in it.”
“Ah. That is another thing altogether. Tell me what it is, and I will tell you whether I can help.”
“She is looking for those who might purchase the remains of an Egyptian mummy.”
“Mummia?” The woman hesitates. Then her veiled face rises sharply. “Is this in regards to the murder of that baronet?”
“I would not bring you anyone involved in a murder, dear lady. Or, perhaps more correctly, I would not bring you anyone involved in the committing of it.”
Silence. I feel the veiled woman’s gaze on mine, and I keep my expression open and still.
“You wish to know where someone might sell a mummy?” she says finally. “The human remains within, rather than the trappings or the mummy itself.”
“Yes,” I say. “If someone had those remains, would they be easy to sell? Or would finding a buyer require specific knowledge and connections?”
“It is a rare ingredient, little used these days. For it to be at all valuable, one must indeed know where to sell it. I know where you might find information on that.”
“Thank you.”
“That information does not come free.”
“She has something to trade,” Queen Mab says. “Show her, please.”
I lift the bag onto the booth front and open it. The woman peers inside. She lifts a gloved hand to open the bag further, but then makes a grumbling noise, as if she still cannot quite see. Very carefully, she moves the veil. She doesn’t lift it entirely. In fact, I catch only a glimpse of her neck, and I bite back an inhalation of surprise. From the high voice and the jet-black hair and the white dress, I was certain we were speaking to a woman about Catriona’s age. What I see, though, is a neck so lined that she must be older than Queen Mab.
It’s a disconcerting dichotomy, with that bridal gown, and my first thought is Miss Havisham, I presume. I bite my tongue before I say it aloud. That’s a literary reference that would be understood… and not appreciated. The woman’s age does explain why she greeted Queen Mab as an equal, though.
The lifted veil only reveals her neck for a moment before it drops again.
“May I remove the hand from the bag?” she asks.
Queen Mab looks about.
“Back here,” the woman says, nodding to the counter behind her. “If I may.”
At Queen Mab’s nod, I move around the stall and set the bag on the back counter. Then I discreetly remove the hand and set it down on the cloth the woman has laid out. She moves in to block the view of anyone passing, and Queen Mab and I do the same on either side, while Mrs. Wallace stays on the other side of the booth.
