The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers (the little red hen ebook TXT) 📕

that someone might have thrown these away. What if she had not come to Paris? They would have been lost to history. What if her mother had never brought the painting over to her? What if Gaston hadn’t noticed the EG? There were so many things that nearly led to her not being on this quest.

“Did it help?”

“Merci.” She nodded. “I should probably head back.”

The man walked toward the door. “Taxi?”

Lara followed him back to the office. Her pulse quickened as she got a last look at Cecile Cabot while he dialed the phone on the desk.

Barrow had said there were three paintings: The Ladies of the Secret Circus. Now she knew the location of two of them. She was closing in on the mystery. One more painting to find, and she had a good hunch it was of Esmé.

An idling taxi waited for her at the front entrance.

“Merci.” She shook the man’s hand. “For helping me.” She held up the composition books. “And for these.”

He bowed. “I’m at your service, mademoiselle.”

Arriving back at her hotel, Lara kept her ball cap low and her blond hair pulled into a low bun. The lady with the ponytail was nowhere to be found, but she quickly got into the elevator and hit the button for the fourth floor. The elevator was old and came to a creaking stop on the second floor. Lara held her breath as the door opened, but there was no one there. The whole scene reminded her of the eerie elevator with a mind of its own in the Doris Day film Midnight Lace. At the fourth floor, Lara hurried to her hotel room and slammed the door behind her. Turning on the lights, she checked the bathroom and the closets, even ruffling the drapes.

The phone was blinking with a message from Audrey. She was frantic.

Lara, It’s your mother. You used the protection spell. I could feel it. Are you okay? Let me know as soon as you get this message. I knew that I should have come with you. I knew it. Call me!

Picking up the receiver, she got out a calling card.

Audrey picked up on the first ring. “Are you okay?”

“How did you know?”

“I know when you use magic.”

“That answers so many questions for me now,” quipped Lara.

Audrey wasn’t in a humorous mood. “What happened? Tell me.”

“A woman chased me in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. I think it might have been the she that Shane Speer meant in the she wants you dead prediction.”

She could hear her mother gasp. “Did you get a good look at her?”

“No. She’s about my height, but she was wearing a wig. Oh, and she’s in great shape; she chased my ass all over Paris. I used the spell and found a place to hide. A circus of all places.”

“Where are you now?” Audrey was clearly ready to pepper her with questions. “Are you safe?” She was nearly shrieking. “I can’t get ahold of Gaston, but you need to call the police. I knew I should have come with you.”

“I’m fine. I’m back in my room.”

“Don’t leave. Call Gaston if you go anywhere.” Audrey was speaking rapidly. “You need to come home. Barrow has the painting now—”

“Mom.” Lara cut her mother off, trying to sound composed, but her heart was pounding. She really wasn’t safe here, but she couldn’t go home yet. As she held the phone, Lara checked under the bed and behind the closet, then pulled back the shower curtain and even the heavy drapes that led to a balcony—all empty. “Barrow thinks it’s a rare painting. I also saw its twin today. A painting called Cecile Cabot Takes Flight. Our Cecile—I don’t think she was the real Cecile, Mom.”

“What do you mean?” Audrey seemed to struggle with what to say next. “Who was she, then?”

“I don’t know,” said Lara, twirling the phone cord. “But I can’t come home until I find out. The spell protected me today. It will keep protecting me.” It wasn’t just the spell. While she couldn’t admit this to her mother, Althacazur knew she was in Paris. He’d orchestrated this entire day, she knew that. He’d promised her answers, a “scavenger hunt,” but he’d also protected her today. That was one of the reasons she wasn’t banging on Gaston’s door right now.

Her mother audibly sighed. “Do you have enough candles?”

“I do. I feel such a connection to this woman and this mystery. I need to do this.”

She hung up and contemplated her next call. Finally, she picked up the hotel phone and punched in the numbers.

The voice picked up on the second ring. “Archer.”

Oh, that voice. Lara felt she could breathe again, and she closed her eyes, sinking into the pillow. She’d missed him. “It’s me.”

“How is Paris?” He had taken on an intimate tone. She could imagine him turning away from the door so Doyle couldn’t hear him. The last time she’d seen him—on their first date—she’d told him that she’d imagined Todd at the gala. Sinking a little from the memory of it, Lara thought she must have been an idiot to tell him that.

“Weird things are happening.” Flicking off her shoes, she grabbed the remote volume to turn down the oddly comforting atmospheric music that had been playing when she’d come in the room. Lara couldn’t believe that she’d just blurted that out to him.

“Like what?” His voice took on a concerned note.

“I was chased through the Père Lachaise Cemetery today by a woman.”

“Really?” The register in his voice rose.

“You think I’d make that up?” She sank into the pillow and crossed her legs.

“Did you call the police?”

Lara sighed. Of course he’d tell her to call the police. Perhaps she should call the police. “No. I was rescued by a man at the circus.”

“You really need to start at the beginning.” He was clicking a pen; she could hear it snapping.

“I ran, like, two miles.”

“You can run two miles?”

She loved that he could calm her down with his banter. “Yes,