Free Shamanka by Jeanne Willis

conclusions! I did see someone leaving the burning warehouse, but it was a lady. She ran out and slammed the door. I thought she’d gone to raise the alarm.”
    This wasn’t the same woman that Ruth had discovered half-drowned. The one running away was blonde. So, there were
two
women in the warehouse.
    â€œBut no man?”
    â€œNot that I saw. But as I got closer to the building, I thought I heard a baby cry. It might have been a cat, but I couldn’t see for the smoke.”
    Ruth had run to nearest phone box but when she got there, it had been vandalized. It was Sunday, none of the shops were open but, finally, she’d found a café and persuaded the owner to call the fire brigade. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived there was nothing left to save; everything had turned to ashes.
    â€œAll they found was a silver rattle.”
    The rattle might have belonged to a baby who had grown up and moved out years before there was a fire. Or maybe there was no baby. Maybe Ruth
had
heard a cat.
    â€œMaybe, dear.”
    The witch’s expression changes subtly – for a second, she averts her gaze like someone who’s said too much. Most of us would have missed this little nuance, but not Sam.
    â€œ
Why
don’t you think it was a cat, Ruth?”
    The soup works both ways. The witch, who has kept this secret for so long, finally spills.
    â€œI met someone who recognized the rattle. Sometime after the fire, I found a young man standing in the dark, just as I found you. I didn’t approach him. I just busied myself with my basket. Such a handsome man, so elegant, so—”
    â€œSo what did he say? I’d have said something if a witch was hovering.”
    Ruth purses her lips. “I wasn’t
hovering
, I was being patient. Mindful of his privacy. It’s a gift, is patience!” She snatches Sam’s bowl and disappears into the kitchen to wash it up. Finally, she returns.
    â€œHe asked about the fire. How it had happened. He’d been in Scotland at a wedding. He’d come to collect his baby from someone in the warehouse. They’d promised to look after her until he came back. He had no idea everything had gone up in smoke.”
    Ruth had been right; there had been a baby in the warehouse and the man’s eyes had filled with unspeakable anguish as he forced himself to ask, “Did anyone survive?” When he heard that a blonde woman was spotted running from the scene, his eyes flashed and he said, “If only
she’d
been in the box instead!”
    It may seem like a mad thing to say, but it wasn’t, as you’ll discover. When he learnt about the other woman – the dark one – he’d smiled hopefully and asked. “The lady you rescued from the wharf – is she all right?”
    The witch couldn’t say; the woman had lost her memory and disappeared without trace. If she
had
tried to rescue the baby, there was no sign of it; there was no little body in the wharf. Was there any chance that the blonde woman had the baby in her arms?
    No, all that remained was the silver rattle. The man had asked to see it. He insisted, in case it didn’t belong to his baby. Sadly, he recognized it immediately, held it to his chest and roared like a wounded animal.
    â€œHis heart was broken,” sighs Ruth Abafey. “More soup, dear?”
    Sam shakes her head. She’s trying to make sense of the facts. If the woman who jumped into the wharf from the burning warehouse was Kitty and she’d been looking after the man’s baby, that man had to be her father. Sam leaps out of her chair.
    â€œ
I
was the baby in the fire, wasn’t I?”
    Ruth hides a knowing smile behind her hand. Sam doesn’t need to see it; she knows she’s right.
    â€œBut how did I survive?”
    â€œMore soup!” insists the witch.
    Here is why John Tabuh never came back for Sam; I am the Masked Magician and it falls upon me to