So You Think You're a Sleuth? by A. A. Albright

Author:A. A. Albright [Albright, A. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-21T22:00:00+00:00

‘Essie.’ The captain stood calmly before me, but I could see a glimmer of panic in her eyes. ‘I don’t quite know how to tell you this, so I’ll just come out and say it. See, I don’t think you ever met the real Mrs Danby. I don’t think any of us did. That woman we met, she might not even be a woman.’

‘But … you said you’d tested her. That she was her.’

‘That’s true. But then we tested the second Mrs Danby at the morgue tonight. My healer is certain about it – the dead woman had identical DNA to the live Mrs Danby. I’ve had an alternative theory of things brewing for a little while now, and now that I’ve seen the portal leading from Pendulay to Trent Manor, I think I might be right. Portal magic is a magic which the Púca specialize in. They’re a kind of supernatural from the faery realms, but they have been known to visit other realms from time to time – and they usually cause a lot of trouble wherever they go. Another kind of magic they specialize in is transformational magic. They can impersonate a person so perfectly that there is simply no way to know you’re looking at an imposter. Even blood, DNA, magical signature – they’re able to replicate it all. Testing proves nothing. The Púca have gifts with shifting that we can’t even begin to contemplate. Although it’s also worth mentioning that throughout history, they’ve rather enjoyed pranking humans by shifting into the form of a goat.’

‘The laughing goat,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘That picture was there as a taunt.’

‘I think so,’ Gretel agreed.

‘You think she – the fake Mrs Danby – she’s really a Púca?’ Marbles asked.

‘It’s possible, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say no,’ said Gretel. ‘You see, you don’t have to be a Púca to do the spell. You can have a Púca do it to you – they can transform you into whoever you want to be. Flawlessly. Undetectably. You would need to have a lot of money and influence to even know about this sort of magic, let alone find a Púca to do it, but I think we can agree that the Trents have all of the above.’

‘Oh.’ My voice was barely above a whisper, as the implications raged through my mind. ‘So you think that she – she was never a she. She was one of Julian’s brothers, pretending. Posing as Mrs D while the real Mrs D was held captive somewhere. That’s … that’s mad. And yet I think you might be right.’

‘Me too,’ Marbles agreed, sitting up a little straighter in my lap. ‘It explains so much. Fake Mrs D messed with your head, Essie. She worked with Devlin and made you mistrust Julian. Maybe tonight, the faker got word about the morgue being searched and decided it was time to do a runner. The Wayfarer guards heard him moving around in the room and checked to see what was going on.

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