Murder By Misdirection

“Whatever! So, he’s out there with these two prism things on two rotating platforms, and there’s a flash of rainbow light, real pretty, and he’s gone, just freakin’ gone. I watched the show from the orchestra. He’s nowhere near a wall or a box or anything with a mirror. So, next night, I watch from the balcony, figuring he uses a trap door. Nothing. He just disappears. I want to know how it was done.”

“And Albert Floss offered to sell you the secret?” Chu asked.

“Yeah, for fifty grand.”

“Fifty grand?” Pro repeated. “You would spend that just to learn how a trick was done?”

Brent once again interrupted. “You don’t understand, detective, it’s not just a trick. It is the penultimate vanish of a human being on stage.”

“I gotta agree with Brent,” Shaut disclosed. “It’s a great effect. Floss told me he was able to get copies of Marvell’s design, and with his own information, he assured me that I could do the trick. I could even do it on a smaller scale.”

“By the way, detectives,” Brent asked, “when you found Mister Floss, did you locate the plans?”

Pro folded her arms again. “It’s an ongoing investigation. We are not at liberty to say.”

Shaut grew very serious. “Well, if you don’t find ‘em, I gotta tell you, I would look very seriously at Max Marvell.”

“Mister Marvell is not your concern,” Chu reported. “What is your concern is that you don’t have an alibi for the time in question.”

“Detective!” Brent bellowed.

Shaut held up his hands. “Hey, I wasn’t the only interested buyer. One of the reasons Al made the price so high is that he told me he had five guys interested.”

“Do you know who they were?” Pro prodded.

“Not a clue. Magicians are a pretty tight-lipped group.”

“May we have those emails, Mister Williams?” Chu asked of Shaut’s assistant.

“Hm? Oh, yes,” Brent mumbled and went into the side room to retrieve a sheaf of papers.

“We appreciate your time,” Chu said. “We might be back to ask a few more questions once we’ve gone through these emails.”

“Well, I think you realized the same thing I did,” Shaut said, as he walked the two detectives

to the door.

“What’s that?” Pro asked.

“That Max Marvell is a dangerous guy.”

7. Chain Escape

A few minutes later, Chu was driving back to the 54th Street Precinct, as Pro looked over the dozen or so pages Shaut’s assistant had given them.

“Anything good?” Chu asked, noting the silence of his partner.

“Nothing good for Max, I’m afraid. He makes frightening suggestions as to what he will do if Shaut doesn’t comply.”

“Such as?”

Pro leaned close to the paper. “I know where the bodies are buried. If you don’t want to be one of them, you won’t help Al cheat me.” She slipped the page and went to a second one. “Once I take care of AF—I guess that’s Albert Floss—you’ll be next. And so on…”

“I sent an email to LVPD to see if there is any history of violence with your dad.”

“Let’s just call him Max,” Pro said, her back stiffening. “He honestly is a stranger to me.”

“A stranger who spent the night with your mom.”