1

Gia found the little shop she sought on Bayard Street. It had a name but it was written in Chinese. She didn’t care what it was called. The important thing was that it was open.

Thank God.

A little after midnight Jack had awakened and taken over perusing the Compendium. Gia showed him where she’d left off—just beyond the Remedies section—and he’d picked up from there. She hadn’t mentioned the “Stain Removal.”

They’d alternated two-hour shifts through the night. Jack managed to doze between his but Gia found sleep impossible. She’d discovered what might—might—be a way out for Vicky. She prayed it would work. If it did, she’d deal with the price afterward.

She’d watched the clock all night, watched the sky through the window, waiting for dawn. Around seven thirty she’d left Jack dozing and slipped out, hailed a cab, and rode it to Chinatown.

As she stepped through the door of the tiny shop she half expected the proprietor to be elderly with a wispy white beard and dressed like a mandarin. Instead she found a gaunt young man, maybe thirty, dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans.

She handed him the list of ingredients. He studied it, then frowned and pointed to the third item: crushed monkshood petals.

“This poison.”

Poison? Oh, no.

“It… it can’t be.”

“Yes. Kill you dead you eat. Rub on skin, okay, but not for eat.”

That was a relief. Sort of.

“I understand. This will be used on skin. What about the rest? Have you got the rest?”

He nodded. “Yes. Not lot, but some.”

“Some will do just fine.”

He squinted at her. “This very strange list. What you use for?”

“An experiment. A successful one, I hope.”

A few minutes later she was hurrying up to Canal Street to find a cab.