“But Sir—” Lucy started to go after him, when a voice stopped her.
“Lucibelle?”
She whirled. A lanky, red-haired man looked at her uncertainly.
Lucy stared.
“Phips?” she whispered.
“It really is you.” A big grin spread over his face. “I’d recognise you anywhere, even though you’re all grown up.”
“So are you.” The last time she’d seen Phips, he’d been a teenager with pimples. “How are you?”
“Not too bad. Could be worse. Still travelling about. Still acting. Getting better. But look at you. All lady.” He grinned.
Lucy teared up. “It’s been so long.”
Phips put his hands in his pocket. “Aye. Things’ve changed since you left.”
Phips nodded at the pot-bellied man, who barked instructions at someone. “He ain’t as good as Joris and Jerry, but he keeps the business running. There’s no one left of the old troupe. Only me and Maia, and she quit the stage years ago. I still don’t get to play Hamlet, but now and then they let me have the side roles.”
“Joris and Jerry?” An icy hand squeezed her heart.
“Oh, no.” He looked at the ground. “I thought you knew.”
“Where are they?” She pulled him behind the wagon, out of the pot-bellied man’s view. “What happened, Phips?”
“They—” He shook his head.
“Tell me. Where are they? They usually perform during the break,but I haven’t seen them.” Jolly and Jerry had always been the real attraction.
“They’re dead, Luce,” Phips said gently.
“Dead.” Lucy looked at him blankly.
“I’m so sorry. No one told you, then?”
She shook her head mechanically.
“There was a fire. At the inn where we stayed. We lost everything except for the wagon here. Joris and Jerry…they died in the fire. They were heroes. Rescued every single soul. When Joris didn’t come out, Jerry went back in. Then neither came out again, and the entire structure collapsed. Right on top of them.”
“When?” Tears glideddown Lucy’s cheeks.
“A while ago.” Phips calculated. “Maybe five years.”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” She grabbed his arm for support.
“No, you didn’t. And how should you?”
“Where?”
“Up north. Near Inverness. They’reburied there. The entire village came for their funeral.”
Lucy cried into her hands. Phips gathered her in an awkward hug.
“Do they have a proper grave?” she asked after she cleaned her face with her sleeve.
“Aye, a nice, big one. Paid by the mayor himself.”
