Snow White's Mirror

by Shonna Slayton

  Billie gasped. “I’ve felt the same way. Like I need to figure out who I am before everyone else tells me.”

  He took off his hat and the wind blew his hair. “I thought all my dreams were over when I got trapped in the mirror, and then here you come along—from Boston. Lou told me over and over to stay away from you, but you were irresistible.”

  Billie smiled at the complement, heat spreading up to her ears. “Did you take it as a sign that Boston was the right choice?”

  “Signs can be hard to read, so I don’t put much stock in them. But if you were in Boston, I would have one more reason to pursue my dreams there. That is, if we get me out, and if my pop forgives me.”

  “Have you told your dad about the City Beautiful Movement?”

  Winn shook his head, looking off in the distance. “Won’t matter what I say if my actions can’t back it up. I tried to get him to meet me at Lou’s cabin so I could show him what had happened to me, but he wouldn’t come.”

  Suddenly, his eyes grew wide, and he yanked her between the buildings.

  “Hey! I like my arm thank you very much. What was that for?”

  “Shh.” He pressed flat against the wall and poked his head around the corner. When he turned around his face was pale, his expression confused.

  “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I kind of did. I saw Matron, but that’s impossible.” His voice was quiet, like he was talking to himself.

  “What are you talking about? I see her all the time.”

  “At night. Haven’t you noticed? You only see her at night.”

  Chapter 34

  Billie twisted her lips as she watched Winn hiding around the corner. What was he getting so worked up about? Matron was always about town.

  “Are you afraid she’ll give you a hard time for quitting?” she said. “What can she do? She can’t make you work for her.”

  “Shh!” Winn waved his hand indicating she should stay quiet and hidden.

  Billie ducked down with him and took inventory of all her meetings with Matron. The first time they met was in the ladies’ parlor at the hotel. Next was at the theater. Then she saw her after the governor’s reception. All at night.

  “She’s a businesswoman; she works during the day.”

  Winn shook his head. “No, no, no.” He held his hands out and examined them.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking to see if I’m all here.”

  “Winn, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

  “She’s supposed to be in the mirror. She’s there during the day. I’m in there at night. If she’s found a way out during the day, why am I still here?” Winn’s voice was filled with panic.

  Billie stood in shock. “Matron is trapped in the mirror, too?” She quickly processed any instant where she could have suspected. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  Instead of answering, Winn peeked around the corner again. “I don’t see her now. Not that it means anything. She was fading in and out. Invisible in the light, but when she stepped into the shadows she was translucent, like a ghost. She could be anywhere.”

  Billie was still stuck on Winn’s first revelation. “How did she get in the mirror?” Billie asked. “And why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Lou.”

  “Of course. She really doesn’t want me involved, does she?”

  “She’s protecting you.”

  “And why didn’t Matron tell me? She knows I’m related to Lou. Why didn’t she say something? Ask for my help? Is Lou silencing her, too?”

  “The opposite.” Winn scowled. “We suspect Matron is the one behind all this.”

  Billie’s stomach dropped. “The one who tricked you into the mirror?” It couldn’t be. She’s been so kind.

  “We think she meant for me to replace her, but that didn’t happen. And as long as she was still in the mirror, I had hope. That’s why I stayed close to her. The reason I kept working at the Poisoned Apple was to learn everything I could about her.”

  “And?” Why didn’t Winn tell her sooner? Didn’t he trust her?

  “She’s a mystery. To everyone else in town, she’s a wealthy woman who surrounds herself with expensive goods. She has a knack for getting anything she wants. Her private quarters are filled with exotic items from around the world. Last week I found evidence she’s set her eyes on taking over Copper Queen Consolidated. She’s been buying up shares and is poised to have control soon. It’s making everyone nervous on the one hand, and then they pander to her on the other.

  “Lou has tried to pull information out of her, but Matron won’t talk about herself, or why she is in the mirror. At first, she gave us this sad story, but as we got suspicious that she was lying about it, she gave up any pretense and now just smiles and laughs at us.” He hit the wall with his palm. “It’s infuriating.”

  Billie’s arms erupted in goosebumps. Matron, the one who had been so nice to her. Treating her to beauty salon treatments, theater tickets, clothes. Giving Billie exactly what she craved and gaining her trust. All this time, Billie’s guard had been up against her uncle and Winn, but it was Matron who was the con the whole time.

  Winn pressed his back against the wall. “When you returned the watch, it triggered a memory, suggesting Fremont might be the one to blame. That maybe he tricked both Matron and me into the mirror. I was willing to be wrong about Matron.” He shook his head. “But this. I don’t know what to make of it. How can she be out during the day?”

  “I’ll find out for you. She’s invited me to her office at the Poisoned Apple. I wasn’t going to go, but maybe she’ll talk to me.”

  Winn shook his head. “No. There’s no telling how dangerous she is. You think you two are the same, that you share some kind of high-society bond. But you don’t. You’re not the same. She’s a fake, and I don’t trust her.”

  “Then trust me. She reveals things to me without realizing it. I know she feels rejected by the women in this town, in particular, the Women’s Club members. But now I understand because I know how these things work. Besides the shadiness of her saloon business, she’s unavailable during the day for tea and planning meetings. I can help her get in with them. She’d open up. I could ask her to help you.”

  “Lou tried to talk to her, but the woman only wants what benefits her. Lou thinks Matron played on my desires to trick me into the mirror.”

  “But you still don’t know how you ended up in the mirror?”

  “No. But I’ve seen how Matron has been plying Lou’s desires for luxury.”

  Billie laughed. “Lou? She lives in a shack with her only luxury being a set of books about mining.”

  Winn sat on the edge of the boardwalk, stretching his long legs out in front. “Lou is a private person and her business isn’t mine to tell, but your safety is my concern. There is so much more going on here that I don’t understand. Lou is right. You need to go back to Boston before you’re pulled into this web, too. I’m sorry that I let you get so close. Lou was right. It wasn’t fair of me.”

  “Oh, so now we’ve gone back to wanting me to leave, have we?” Billie crossed her arms, reminded again of how little choice she had in her life. “I understand you’ve been keeping things from me because you’re trying to protect me, but you have to share all of what you know if I’m going to properly help. I can get to Matron in a way that you and Lou can’t. I realize I can’t trust her, but I do understand her. I’ve seen what she wants.”

  Billie thought back to the expression on Matron’s face while she watched the women coming out of the governor’s reception. Matron wanted power and acceptance. Power she had, but the way she got it made the other women in town resentful.

  Winn reached for her hand and pulled her down to sit with him. “Do you understand that she seeks out a person’s weakness and uses that against them?”

  “Yes, and because I know it, I’ll be ready for it.”

  “What is your weakness?”


  She had several but didn’t want to list them out in front of Winn. Matron had been playing off her vanity, so that’s what she’d have to look out for. Starting with not accepting any more flattery or gifts.

  She touched the turquoise cabochon Winn had given her. Bisbee Blue. Winn shouldn’t be a mere memory once she returned to Boston. She wanted him fully living, night and day outside the mirror. He was worth taking a few risks for.

  “I’m a visitor here,” Billie said. “There aren’t any expectations about me, and when I leave, no one will even remember I’ve been here. Right now, that is a strength. I’ve always been too concerned about what my friends will think, or how my behavior will reflect back on Bergmann Consolidated. My freedom to act can make me bold when I normally wouldn’t be. I might be your only chance.”

  He licked his lips. “I’m going to regret this.”

  Billie clapped her hands. “No, you’re not.” She was going to save the day. “Let’s go find Matron and let her know we know,” said Billie. “Come at her directly and take her off guard.”

  Winn looked like he was about to disagree, but his curiosity was obviously piqued. “Let’s start with finding her, and then we’ll decide what to do.” He gently tucked a stray hair behind her ear, slowly running his fingers along her jawline. “But if this is going to be my last day out of the mirror, I want to enjoy it.” His low voice and intense eyes sent a shock of electricity down Billie’s spine.

  She cleared her throat, forcing herself to look away. “You don’t know it’s your last day. You said yourself she looked like a ghost. That means she’s not completely free, correct? I think if she was, you’d have been pulled in to fill the void. Maybe I should run up to the shack now and see what she looks like in the mirror. We can ask her what’s going on.”

  Winn grabbed her hand. “No. Let Lou take care of that. I already told you Matron just laughs at us. You are staying away from that mirror. It’s too risky right now. Last thing I need is for you to accidentally fall into it.”

  “What do you mean by ‘fall in’?”

  “That’s what it feels like. Like you tripped and can’t catch yourself. You fall and you fall.”

  Billie thought about the claustrophobia she felt whenever she stepped into a dark mine and she shuddered. “What if Lou fell in, and that’s the change you’re seeing? You said yourself Matron had been working on her.”

  “If that’s the case it’s already too late for us to do anything there. We should do what we can in town.” Winn stood.

  “First, come with me.” She led him to the nearby haberdashers. “You need a disguise, so you’re not having to dart around buildings again.”

  Chapter 35

  “May I help you?” the gentleman at the counter asked when they walked in.

  Billie quickly scanned the displays and pointed at a bowler hat and a Stetson. She’d been wanting to rid Winn of his prospector’s hat for ages, so this was as good an excuse as any.

  The clerk found Winn’s size and positioned a mirror in front of him.

  “Stetson,” Billie said. The bowler made Winn look too citified. She wanted him to stay rugged Winn and the Stetson was perfect.

  Winn took out his wallet, but Billie had already paid the clerk. “Don’t let me buy you a philopena.” She winked, feeling brash.

  “Why do I get the feeling you’ve been after my hat all along?” He tipped his new hat at her and her heart skipped a beat.

  “Now that suits you,” she said. But they had a job to do. Outside, she said, “Where would Matron want to go during the day if no one could see her?”

  “Where the powerful people are. She’s always trying to get close to the company executives. Their wives have rejected her, but her sights are still set on power. I wouldn’t be surprised if her ultimate goal was to take over the town. She has an uncanny ability to make money, so she can try to buy her way to what she wants.”

  “Where’s the governor?” Billie asked. “Everyone of importance will be near him.”

  “The next public event is the yard races at five o’clock. They’re probably meeting privately right now at the Copper Queen offices,” Winn said. “We have no way to get in, but if she is as transparent as a ghost, she could.”

  “No harm in walking by, is there?” She looped her arm through his and merged with the other pedestrians on the boardwalk.

  “Now what?” Winn said, eying the office building like it contained unexploded dynamite.

  “I’ll be right back.” Billie crossed the street, and then marched through the doors as if going in to meet with her father.

  “Hi, I’m Wilhelmina Bergmann,” she said to the secretary at the front desk. “I’m looking for Matron, the owner of Lacey’s?” Billie pointed and moved past the desk as if she knew where she was going.

  The secretary stood in her way. “No, miss. Only men in the boardroom at the moment. The governor’s wife is freshening up at the hotel, and I haven’t seen Matron today.”

  “Does she come here often?” Billie asked, paying close attention to the shadows. If Matron was ghostlike, would she be able to go through walls?

  The woman shook her head. “I’ve not seen her.”

  “Thank you.” Billie took one last sweeping look around the neat and tidy front office. “What perfume do you wear?” Billie asked. “I can’t put my finger on it.”

  “Pear’s soap?” The woman looked at Billie as if she were trying to patronize her.

  That wasn’t the scent that caught Billie’s attention. Matron’s scent was citrus and lavender, and it lingered in the air.

  Winn waited across the street, leaning with one leg up against the wall in the shade. Billie sidled up beside him.

  “She was there,” Billie said, “but I didn’t see her. Her expensive perfume gave her away.”

  “I saw her. She went that way.” He pointed up the street.

  “And I’ve got a hunch where she’s headed,” Billie said.

  Winn stood. “All right. Let’s go.”

  Billie shook her head. “Even with your new disguise, you’d stand out where I’m going. Women only.”

  He mouthed “Oh” and took a step back. “Then while you’re doing that, I’ll go check on Lou.”

  “If everything is fine will you come back right away?”

  He doffed his new hat. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can today, Wilhelmina Bergmann. Meet me at the Waldorf when you’re done, and I’ll romance you one last time.”

  His voice had turned husky, and it melted her insides. If this was to be his last day outside the mirror, she would certainly help him make it a good one.

  They parted ways, and Billie hoofed it up Quality Hill. She knocked at the door of a building that looked like a quaint family home. The Women’s Club. If Matron wanted to spy on anyone it would be these women who refused to invite her into their circle.

  A woman wearing a pretty pigeon waist and matching pink tulip skirt opened the door. While she was here, Billie needed to find out where these women were buying their clothes. Certainly not at the Fair in town.

  “May I help you, dear?” she asked.

  “Yes, I am Wilhelmina Bergmann, daughter of the late Chester Bergmann, of Bergmann Consolidated, based out of Boston. I’m here on business with my uncle, and it seems we’re going to be in town for a time.”

  The woman took a quick sweep of Billie’s attire and said, “I’m sorry for your loss. Please come in. Most of our members and their daughters are busy around town today with the festivities, but I’d love to show you our brand-new home, the first Women’s Club in Arizona to have our own building.”

  The woman led Billie into their main meeting hall, a spacious room with a proscenium arch at the far end and a beautiful baby grand piano on stage. Two other women sat at an oak table, deep in conversation.

  “Pretty piano, isn’t it?” the woman asked, noting it had drawn Billie’s attention. “The Knabe was a gift from a gentleman at the Phelps Dodge company.
They own the Copper Queen and have been very generous to the town. Do you play?”

  “Yes,” Billie said. She’d been taking piano lessons her whole life. This trip was the longest she’d ever gone without playing. “Perhaps I could come back and play a little, if you don’t mind.”

  “I’m sure we could arrange something. Today isn’t a good day as we have so much to do with the governor here, and our cake auction down at the library is about to begin. A few of our ladies haven’t left yet, and they’d love to meet you. Bergmann Consolidated you said?” She raised her voice to garner the attention of the two women.

  “Mrs. Dobbs and Mrs. Frankle, I’d like you to meet Miss Bergmann, from Boston. She’ll be in town for a period of time and is looking for companionship. Mrs. Dobbs, is your daughter still here?”

  Mrs. Dobbs nodded politely at Billie. Her Gibson pompadour hairstyle poofed out dramatically, framing her face like a hat. “Yes, my Hazel is playing checkers in the kitchen with one of her little friends.”

  “What work do you ladies do here?” Billie quickly asked, changing the conversation to where she wanted it to go. “I’m curious what a small-town society can do as compared to the important work of the women’s clubs in Boston.” She kept her tone light and lilting while she appealed to their pride in hopes they’d forget about sending her out to be with the children.

  Mrs. Dobbs leaned forward slightly. “I’m sure you will find this club of the highest variety. We take on projects for the betterment of the women and children in this community and therefore raise up the entire town. Should you remain in Bisbee long, you will no doubt be touched by our endeavors.”

  Billie nodded, though she was distracted by a movement in the hallway. Matron? She couldn’t see her, but sensed movement. Now was Billie’s chance to show how useful she could be.

  “I may have met one of your members. She certainly is busy in the town. A woman they call Matron? She’s been very kind to me since I arrived.” Did the shadow come closer?