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“Michael Greenfield?” I glanced at Stane. “Are you saying Mike is the missing Michael Greenfield?”
“It would certainly appear that way,” Stane said, voice grim. “And if he is, he was born in London over a hundred and twenty years ago.”
“What?” I stared at him in disbelief. “Mike can’t be that old!”
“If he is our shape-shifter,” Azriel commented, “then he can make himself appear whatever age he might wish.”
“I guess.” I frowned. “Although surely the strain of holding so many different forms and creating so much magic should show.”
“The Aedh was his partner in crime, remember, and more than likely responsible for much of the magic used against us,” Azriel said. “Besides, did you not note that Mike appeared to have aged somewhat when you met him in that restaurant?”
“Yes.” I shrugged and glanced back at Stane. “What makes you think he’s Greenfield?”
“Too many coincidences.” He tapped Michael Judd’s birth certificate. “There’s nothing untoward in Judd’s records until he hit the age of twenty-four. He took a year off university to ‘find himself,’ and promptly disappeared for several months.”
“That’s not exactly unusual,” I commented. “Lots of kids have a gap year before going to uni.”
“Yeah, but Judd disappeared in the middle of his courses. And certainly not all of those who take a year off so completely disappear that they don’t use their bank accounts or credit cards for six months.”
I raised my eyebrows. “So what happened?”
“His dad was a prominent—and well-connected—businessman, so his disappearance was given widespread publicity. As was his sudden reappearance.”
“How did he explain going so completely off the grid?”
“He simply said he was living off the land with a lady friend and didn’t need to access any of his accounts.”
I glanced at Azriel. “I wonder if the lady friend was our shape-shifting sorceress?”
“It would seem likely,” Azriel said. “And I would imagine that six months would provide ample time to learn someone’s mannerisms and habits.”
“I’d imagine so.” I glanced at the date stamped on the passport image and did the math. “His disappearance happened a year and a half after Greenfield came into the country.”
“Yes, but the timing gets even more interesting,” Stane said. “Six months before Michael Judd went on a walkabout with a mysterious woman, Greenfield become acquainted with one Edward Judd—Michael’s father.”
He flicked another image across to my screen. Shock rolled through me, and for several seconds I couldn’t even speak. All I could do was stare at the screen and the all-too-familiar figure standing with the much younger Mike and two other men I didn’t recognize.
“The Aedh,” Azriel growled. “More and more I regret my decision not to kill him the very moment I met him.”
“More and more I’m regretting the very same thing,” I muttered. I glanced back at Stane. “Who is the fourth man in that picture? I take it the one with his arm around Michael’s shoulder is Edward Judd?”
Stane nodded. “The article that pic was attached to said Lucian and Judd were partners in an importing business. The other man is, according to this particular newspaper article, James Bentley.”
“Who is?”
“The article didn’t actually say, so I did a side search on the man. He was a long-term friend of the family and was also Edward’s business adviser.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Was?”
Stane nodded. “He disappeared not long after Michael Judd’s reappearance. His family had him declared dead via a court order nine years later, though his body was never found.”
“If he’d known the family for so long, maybe he suspected the Michael that reappeared was not the real deal.”
“It’s more than possible,” Stane agreed. “Especially given Michael was the last person to see James alive.”
Considering there was a very good chance Michael Greenfield had become Michael Judd, it was more than possible that not only was he the last person to see James alive, but also the reason he disappeared. “Did the police ever question him?”
“According to the newspaper articles, yes. I tried to track down the official police interview report, but I’m afraid they just don’t keep records that far back anymore. Not for people who have been declared dead, anyway.”
