me like a lunatic and calling me a liar?â
Nat sighed. âI really donât want to get into rumors. I wouldnât say this in front of any of them.â On the last word, she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of the southeast end of the city, where the aristocrats had their city houses, along with the rest of Dobrenicaâs VIP crowd. âBut I think thereâs something hinky about the whole thing. However. I said I wouldnât do rumor, so hereâs the Wikipedia on whatâs been corroborated. On Monday, Ruli wanted to leave for Paris. Family shindig for the holiday. Alec took off with her down the south road toward the border in that cool ride of his.â
âThe Daimler?â
âThatâs the one. Usually they do the border run with a couple of Vigilzhi on motorcycles, you know, going in front. But they left without them, straight into a snow flurry. See what I mean about hinky? Anyway, the roads get dangerous fast. When the Vigilzhi went looking for them, they saw a column of smoke. Discovered the car had gone over a cliff.â
I thought my heart would stop. âAlec?â
âFine, heâs fine.â She waved me down. âWhen the guys got off their cycles to take a look, they found Alec lying on an outcropping a few yards down. No broken bones, though he was pretty bruised up. Ruliâs purse was there with him. The car was on fire below, and the purse made them fear the worst because there was no sign of her. But there was no way to climb down. They took Alec back to the palace and rushed a team with rappelling stuff back to the spot, but by then the car was burned out. They found Ruliâs bones inside.â She grimaced and shook her head.
âWhat caused the crash? Ice?â
âHe doesnât remember the accident. Clocked his head on a rock, and came to when they got him onto one of the motorcycles.â She hesitated, rubbed her eyes again, then dropped her hands. âAnd thatâs all I know for sure.â
The mental and emotional jolt was like a 7.2 earthquake at 3:00 a.m.
âMy turn,â she said, ââApparitionâ?â
âI guess she was a ghost, then,â I said, numb with shock. âBut it was so different .â I told her what Iâd seen. âShe faded so slowly that I didnât think she was actually dead. Not dead dead. I mean, the one I saw a few days before that survivedâoh, never mind that. This stuff is so new to me! Look, tell me this: What time would that have been here? Was it when the accident happened?â
âAround midnight in New York . . . that would have been . . . um, early Tuesday morning, Iâm pretty sure.â She counted rapidly on her fingers. âAnd the accident happened Monday, late in the day.â
âOkay, then already my theory is bust. About her ghost, or apparition, appearing when she died.â I thought again of Ron, and shook my head. âI really do not understand how that stuff works, because last summer I saw ghosts of people who lived centuries ago. Geez, and I thought it out so carefully. Stay with the Waleskas, who I know. Swear them to secrecy. Come to you and find out how to contact Ruli without hassle. Then . . . find out why she appeared in a window reflection to ask me for help.â
Nat waved away the window reflection. âComing to me was good, but the Waleskas? You still donât have a clue, dude. Your being here is probably all over the valley by now.â
âBut they promised.â
âSure.â She shrugged. âLook, I donât want to say anything against them. I checked them out after you left, when I was trying to figure out if youâd really busted out of Dobrenica. The young teen Iâd trust, Theresa? And the older teen, whatâs her name, Tania? Yeah. Sheâs an odd duckâsomeone told me she used to sit on the roof ridgepole and talk to imaginary friends when