Deadly Magic (21 page)

“
That’s why I want to come to you. A master at your craft. You can help me with my game.”

His thin lips curl
ed into a smile. “You’re not here about your game. The Straker Toy Company is going out of business. No. I know what you’re up to. Straker has everyone playing detective. Allen was just down here a few minutes ago poking his nose in my designs.”

Grace grimac
ed. “What did you tell him?”

“
Nothing. I threw him out.” He looked her up and down. “At least you asked. You’re wasting your time. It’s perfectly obvious who killed Lily and who killed Daniel. They should be arresting him soon.”

“
Dragovich, again?”

He look
ed at her patiently. “Of course.”

“
What makes you think he’s the killer? He wasn’t here the day Daniel died.”

“
His spawn were.” Before she could protest, he raised a hand. “Just because you didn’t see him, doesn’t mean he wasn’t here. I’m sure you asked Death out there where I was when Daniel was being killed, didn’t you?”

“
Yeah.”

“
And what did he say?”

“
You were in here.”

He smil
ed. “I was actually down the street, getting a cup of coffee. No one pays any attention around here. Especially the younger generation,” he snarled. “All of you walk around with your little music boxes and your phones and your games. It’s no wonder that idiot out there can find an audience. He doesn’t even have to try to misdirect anyone’s attention because they’re not devoting their full attention on anything, anyways. I once saw—”

Before he could continue ranting about her generation
, she broke through his soliloquy. “Well, since you’re paying attention and all, did
you
see Ilya here?”

“
No, but like I said, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t. Dragovich knows what he’s doing,” he admitted reluctantly. “He could easily sneak in here and set the elevator up to kill Daniel. That girl. Straker’s secretary. What did she see?”

“
She said she saw a white mist in the shape of a hand come from the ceiling and reach for Daniel?”

Harcourt thump
ed his cane against the floor. “I knew it. It’s Dragovich.”

“
What makes you say that?”

“
That white mist. That’s one of his tricks. One of his older tricks. When he was just getting started, he often pretended to talk to the dead. What made him different from the rest of the conmen out there is he often made the dead materialize. Full body mists that could move around the room and interact with people. He even had one that distended from the ceiling. Just a hand reaching for the audience. Scared them to death.” He smiled in appreciation. “He was quite good at it, too.”

“
Did the dead then up and stab people in the back?”

“
No, of course not.” He leaned against his cane. His lips pursed together. “That hand that came from the top of the elevator. It was simply misdirection. He waited until the elevator doors closed, then he popped open the service hatch, hopped down, and killed Daniel. He stopped the elevator between floors and then climbed back out the way he came. Or he had one of his kids do it.” He shook his head, suddenly changing his mind. “No, what am I saying? He wouldn’t leave something so serious up to them. Neither one of them is too competent. The girl maybe, but the boy is definitely crazy. He spent some time in a mental institution, you know. Dragovich hushed it up, of course. No,” he said emphatically. “Dragovich wouldn’t leave it up to his children. He did it himself.”

“
But why use the mist at all? He could have just waited until the doors close and then hop down. He didn’t need the smoke screen or to make it look like a hand.”

He merely shrugg
ed. “He’s a magician. We tend to be theatrical.” He snapped his fingers. The lights went out. When they came back on a few seconds later, Harcourt was gone. Grace looked around the empty office. She didn’t even hear him leave.

“
Go to Dragovich,” his disembodied voice said from above her head. “See if he could do anything remotely like this.”

CHA
PTER NINETEEN

Grace walk
ed into
Belle’s office. Kyle was perched on the metal stool in front of her drafting board, doodling a picture of a lantern jawed detective. Belle was standing next to him, tying one of Grace’s scarfs around her neck.

Hearing the door open, Kyle swivel
ed around on the stool. “Hey, where did you disappear, too? We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“
Why has something happened?”

Belle unti
ed the scarf from around her neck and instead tied it around her hair. “No. I just wanted to invite you to my engagement party. I thought we all could go someplace to celebrate tomorrow night. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“
Who’s going?”

“
Me, Franklin, Louisa—”

Grace snapp
ed her fingers. “I completely forgot. I’ve got this thing to go to.”

Belle weav
ed her arm through Grace’s and dragged her inside the room. “Oh, it will be fun. Louisa was just surprised. The poor thing. I know how I would feel if Papa brought home someone younger than me. I’d be a little upset, too.” She let go of Grace’s arm and flopped down in the nearest chair. “Once I got to know me and realized what a wonderful person I was then I’d be happy as can be.”

Kyle laugh
ed. “You’d be ready to kill and you know it. You had better prepare yourself. Don’t have Louisa sit next to you. Make sure all the knives have been removed from the table. Hire a food taster.”

“
As soon as she gets to know me she will love me,” Belle declared. “How could she not? I’m lovable.”

Grace walk
ed over to the drafting board. “I’d listen to Kyle. A food taster might be a good idea.” She looked over his shoulder. Smiling she said, “Penelope looks like she’s been in the ring one too many times. I like the scar going down her face.”

Using his
pen, he pointed at the drawing. “This is Marshal Grant Senet.”

Amus
ed, she picked up the drawing. “You’ve changed the name again?”

“
He should be on the box. See his steely-eyed determination. No one messes with him. You put him on the box and they will be flying off the shelves.”

“
What shelves?” Grace sighed. “We’re just biding our time until the business closes. Have you applied anywhere?”

Belle spoke up from behind them.
“Franklin says not to worry. Our jobs are secure.”

“
How?” Grace asked skeptically.

Belle pull
ed the scarf off her head and began braiding her long blonde hair “I don’t know. He says he’ll figure it out. If all else fails, I’ll ask my father for a loan. This could be his wedding present to me.”

Grace dropp
ed the sketch back on the table. “Would he be able to come up with that much money?” she asked, thinking back to that check Lily wrote him in July.

Belle nodd
ed. “Absolutely. Papa has plenty of money. More than he knows what to do with.” She shook her head disgustedly. “I don’t know why he doesn’t spend any of it. What good is it sitting in a bank? He just keeps saying that he’s saving it for my future.” She unbraided her hair. “I’m more interested in my present, than my future.”

“You say that today—” Grace start
ed before being interrupted by Kyle.

“I agree with Belle. How do we know if
you even have a future? Might as well spend it now while you’re alive. You could be gone tomorrow.”

Belle stopp
ed playing with her hair long enough to glare at Kyle. “I don’t like this topic of conversation.”

“You’re the one who start
ed it,” he pointed out testily, before turning to Grace. “Where have you been, anyways?”

“
I was downstairs talking to Michael and Harcourt.”

“Why?” Belle and Kyle ask
ed in unison.

“
I wanted to see what they thought about Daniel’s death.” They looked at her expectantly. Deciding it was best not to accuse Belle’s father while she was in the room, Grace gave a short version of her talk with Harcourt, leaving out Ilya’s name.

Belle laid her hands on her lap.
“It is possible someone was hiding on top of the elevator.”

Kyle sh
rugged. “Maybe.”

Grace look
ed at him closely. “You were running around in that attic that morning. Did you see anything suspicious?”

He look
ed at her curiously. “Other than the squatter I told you about?”

She nodd
ed.

“Not really.”

Grace narrowed her eyes. “What about with the elevator? Did you take a look at the elevator?”

Kyle cock
ed his head to the side, a big grin spread across his face. He turned and looked at Belle. “I told you Michael was eavesdropping on us the other day.”

Belle sigh
ed. “I’m sure he wasn’t doing it intentionally.”

Still grinning, Kyle look
ed up at Grace. “I thought whoever it was may have been hiding up there. So, I took a look.”

“And?”

“There was no one there. Just dust and a ton of spiders,” he said with a shudder. “It was really too dark to see anything, so I just closed the doors and moved the boxes and toys back where I had found them.”

“Do you think someone could have climb
ed down to the top of the elevator and waited for Daniel after we left?”

“
Maybe.” His features twisted into a grimace. “No. No, actually, I don’t think so.”

“
What do you mean? You suspected the exact same thing yesterday,” Belle said sharply.

“
Yeah, but that was before Harcourt said the same thing to Grace.”

“
What difference does that make?” Grace asked.

Kyle smirk
ed. “I think Harcourt killed Lily and then Daniel. If he did, he certainly wouldn’t tell you how he did it. He must have killed Daniel another way.”

“
Why would he kill Lily?” Grace asked. “They were friends.”

“
No, they weren’t,” Belle said. “They hated each other.”

“
But, I thought they used to work together. When she was setting up the Magic Shoppe, she recommended Harcourt. It was her idea to bring him aboard.”

“
No, she wanted Papa, but he refused. He didn’t want to retire again. So, she went to Sidney Harcourt instead.”

“
If she didn’t like him then why would she have hired him?” Grace asked.

“
Harcourt is well known in the magic community. He has a lot of connections. Next to Papa, he’s one of the best stage magicians out there. On top of that, his family had owned and operated several magic shops throughout Europe for several generations. Lily figured that they could set aside their differences and work together as they had when she was his assistant, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Harcourt fought with her on every little thing. She complained that he still treated her as his assistant instead of his boss. She got so mad that she went to Franklin and tried to have Harcourt fired.”

“
So, why is he still here?”

“
Franklin told her no. There was no one else of Harcourt’s caliber willing to take over and the Magic Shoppe was doing so well and bringing in so much money that he didn’t want to mess with it.”

“
Lily must have loved that,” Grace said sarcastically.

Belle nodd
ed. “She was furious. That’s why Michael is here. When Franklin said no, Lily brought in Michael. She thought if she could get Michael trained then eventually she could fire Harcourt and Michael could take over.”

“
Well, that explains why Harcourt hates Michael,” Grace said.

“
It also gives Harcourt the perfect motive for killing Lily,” Kyle said. “He probably thought he would move up into her position and then he could just fire Michael.”

Belle twist
ed the scarf into a knot. “It would have been easy for him to set the elevator up. He certainly has access to it.”

“
Could he have created the white mist?” Grace asked.

“
Absolutely,” Belle said quickly.

“
How?”

Belle shrugg
ed. Looking down at her lap, she said, “There are ways to pull that off. Did the police find any canisters above the elevator?”

Grace shrugg
ed.

“No, they didn’t,
” Kyle answered. He looked up at their questioning faces. “I asked them when they were poking around up there, after they took away Daniel’s body. They didn’t find anything, but Joe—”

“Joe?” Grace ask
ed.

“The detective in charge,” he explain
ed. “Joe told me that they suspect that the killer was hiding on the top of the elevator as it went down. When Daniel got on the elevator, the killer opened the service hatch, dropped down, and stabbed Daniel in the back.”

“And th
e cops just told you that?”

He gave her a wide smile.
“Sure. People like me. They find me very charming.”

Looking at his handsome face, Grace easily believ
ed it. He was practically angelic.

“T
hey said it looked like someone had tampered with elevator shaft.”

Grace smiled. “That doesn’t mean much. The elevator malfunctioned
recently. Louisa was trapped in there for over an hour. She was furious. Screaming and crying. We could hear all the way over here. Allen, our resident hero, attempted a rescue. He went up to the attic and opened the elevator doors—he must have done something to the elevator because it hasn’t gone to the attic since—he then climbed down through the hatch and promptly broke his ankle. I won ten dollars in the office pool.”

Kyle chuckled. “Very impressive.”

“Not really. Half the office bet he’d break his ankle. Anyway, they had to wait for the technicians to rescue them both.”

“How long ago did this happen?”
Kyle asked.

Grace shrugged. “About four months ago.”

Belle lost in thought, looked up at the ceiling. “Harcourt probably took everything with him when he climbed back out of the elevator.”

“
Still,” Kyle said, “if it was him, he must have done it another way. I just don’t think he would have explained how he did it to you.”

“
Well, he’s not our only resident magician,” Grace pointed out.

“
It wasn’t me.” Belle sat up straighter. “I was in the conference room the whole time. I had to get my jacket.”

“
What happened to your jacket?” Grace asked.

“
What do you mean?”

“
You didn’t have it with you when you came out of the room.”

“
I . . . It wasn’t there.”

“
What took you so long?”

“
I made a phone call. I thought I should call Franklin before I left.” Belle looked from Grace to Kyle. “I promise. I had nothing to do with this.”

Kyle spoke up in Belle’s defense.
“The conference room is across from the elevator. She couldn’t have stabbed him in the back from there. Not without Valerie seeing her.”

“
Yeah, Valerie was standing right by the door.” Belle’s voice began to rise. “She would have seen me.”

Grace held up her hands.
“Relax. I wasn’t referring to you, anyway. I was talking about Michael.”

“
Oh,” Belle sank back down into her chair. “But it couldn’t be Michael. He doesn’t have a motive for killing Lily. Besides, he’s just starting out. I doubt he could have pulled off such a complicated illusion.”

“
Yeah, I heard he’s not very good,” Kyle said.

Belle glar
ed at Kyle “He’s new. He’s still learning. I’m sure he’ll be a great magician someday.”

Kyle didn’t contradict her
. “That just leaves Harcourt then.”

Grace look
ed out the window. Rain was streaming down the glass. “Well, there’s also Tabitha. Has anyone found her yet?”

Belle shook her head and sigh
ed. “I haven’t heard from her in weeks. I’m worried about her. I called her mother this morning and left a message. I just hope she calls me back.”

“
She’s probably laying low,” Kyle said. “The police are looking for her.”

Belle shook her head.
“No one understands. Tabitha wouldn’t kill anyone. She’s really a sweet girl. I bet she's scared to death. I wish she would call me.” Belle stood up and picked up Grace’s raincoat. Tying the scarf around her hair, she said that she was going to go outside and check her phone messages.