“He wasn’t associated with you?”
“Please,” she said with a snort. “Jamie didn’t deal withrealpsychics. I mean, I knew a couple of his girls, and one or two might get lucky occasionally, but that’s about it. Then he screwed up—not sure what happened, but he became indebted to a woman....”
“Renee Baker,” I said.
“I don’t know her name, but she’s bad news.”
“They’re all politicians,” Patience said. “You can’t trust politicians.”
“Do you know her?” I asked.
“No. But I have heard rumors.... She shouldn’t be crossed. She’s got people paying for protection now. Jamie makes the collections.”
“And if you don’t pay?”
“People have gone missing.”
“We’re talking about the cupcake lady?” Patience asked, clearly unconvinced. “Seriously?”
Juna made a face. “Everybody loves cupcakes. Good cover.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “So, Renee is extorting people and Jamie does the collections. Is that right?”
“If people don’t pay, he threatens that his boss will place adomovoiin your store—that’s like a poltergeist—or maybe give your name to the Rusalka.”
“Rusalka?”
“She’s a water demon. Lures people to their watery deaths.”
That reminded me ofLa Llorona, a water demon I’d dealt with not long after I had arrived in San Francisco. It seemed a lifetime ago. I blew out a frustrated breath. None of this told me anything helpful.
“Witches, spirits, demons. They’re what we call unclean forces,” Juna continued. “Generally bad news. We tend to be a very superstitious people, especially the newcomers or the country people. The crossroads, thresholds, that sort of thing, can be zones of danger. It probably has more to do with the insecurity of an immigrant population than anything else, but Jamie knows how to exploit such fears. To tell you the truth, I sort of feel bad for the guy. He used to run a racket, but he was always pretty nice about it. More of a player, a fast talker. Not a leg breaker, like you see in the movies. Jamie’s strictly small-time. He seems almost embarrassed to threaten people.”
“So he’s not responsible for the ‘disappearances’?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t think so. But then again, I hardly know him. The only time I really interacted with him was when he was looking forLepisma saccharina.”
“What’s that?”
“I really don’t know. Some sort of sweetener? I sent him to the little grocery on the corner; they have a lot of Russian specialties. Anyway, he wanted that, and the recipe for my grandmother’s famous meat-and-mushroom pasties.”
“Did you give it to him?”
She nodded. “A man who has an in with the Rusalkagets what he wants.” A cat-and-the-canary smile lit her face. “But you know, my grandmother always left something out of her recipes. The secret ingredient was just that, secret. That way no one could ever copy her. Not even I know it.”
I felt a quick shiver of premonition and glanced at the little window over the desk just as a bird hit the glass with a loudthump.
Juna jumped out of her chair, eyes wide, and crossed herself.
“Death,”she said in a fierce whisper, then pointed at me. “That is a harbinger of death! You have brought death to this place. Unclean forces! You must leave,now.”
• • •
“Gotta hand it to you, Lily Ivory,” Patience said as we were unceremoniously escorted through the jewelry store and out onto the sidewalk. Juna slammed the door behind us, and threw the lock with a clank. “You do have a way with strangers.”
I ignored her. “I think we can access the alley over here.”
“Why on earth...?”
