Free No Escape by Meredith Fletcher Page A

occasions, Lauren had used her tricks to bother Megan when she was on the phone. Especially after she developed an interest in boys. It was hard to focus on a conversation when coins and scarves and other small items kept appearing and disappearing.
    Walking over to the chest of drawers, Lauren picked up the white-tipped black magic wand. It had been her first. When it was popped the right way, it became a bouquet of flowers. When she’d been eleven, she’d thought it was the coolest trick ever.
    Now she just wished it had real magic in it so she could bring Megan back.
    * * *
    “What do you know about Gibson?”
    Warren Morganstern lifted his head from the deck of cards he’d been shuffling and regarded Lauren. He was in his seventies, comfortably possessing a potbelly and a wrinkled face that still showed all the handsomeness of the posters Lauren had seen of his magic days. His hair was iron-gray and neatly parted on the left. Laugh wrinkles surrounded his blue eyes. He wore a pressed white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to midforearm. His jacket dangled from the back of his chair. A steaming cup of coffee sat to his right on the small table.
    He eyed Lauren. “How are you doing, kiddo?”
    “I’m okay.” Lauren leaned on the load-bearing pillar behind the table. She knew she didn’t look good. She hadn’t slept well last night. Her mind was too full of Megan and Gibson and Heath Sawyer. Everything was getting twisted up in there.
    “You don’t look okay.” Morganstern’s voice was gruff and hoarse, an old man’s voice now and not really strong enough for stage shows. He still had the hands and reflexes of a master, though. He just needed an assistant who could carry on the verbal part of the act. Lauren had been that assistant a number of times.
    “Thanks.”
    “I call ’em like I see ’em, kiddo.” Morganstern waved at the chair on the opposite side of the small card table.
    The magic store had four little rooms where magicians could rehearse tricks and illusions. In those rooms they could practice with the tricks to see if they would work for them, or they trained with other magicians to make the trick their own.
    After a brief hesitation, knowing that Morganstern was wanting to talk to her and knowing that she didn’t feel like talking to anyone, Lauren went around the table and sat.
    Morganstern shrugged. “I thought about coming by, after the funeral.”
    “I’m glad you didn’t.”
    “I know. You always liked to be alone with the hard stuff.” Morganstern shuffled cards again. “Your mom okay?”
    “With the cancer or with Megan?” Lauren knew she sounded angry. She was angry, but she didn’t mean to take it out on Morganstern.
    He didn’t flinch, though. He’d known her too long. “Both.”
    Lauren let out a tense breath. She loved that she didn’t always have to be polite with Morganstern, and that he didn’t take it personally when she wasn’t. “She’s doing okay.”
    “You asked about Gibson. I’m assuming we’re talking about the magician, not the guitar.” His eyes twinkled just a little.
    “Yes.”
    “Something on your mind?” The cards danced in Morganstern’s capable hands, flitting from palm to palm like flickering doves.
    “I need some time off.”
    Morganstern nodded. “Sure, sure, kiddo. Me and the missus expected that. That’s why I’m here this morning. Take all the time you need. We cleared our schedules, not that there’s much to clear these days. That’s what retirement is all about.” He smiled.
    “I don’t know how much time that will be.”
    Morganstern shot her a curious look. “It’s okay.” He paused. “You just do what you gotta do.”
    Lauren paused, not knowing how much to tell him. Warren Morganstern was a good man. He’d looked out for her for years, another father figure, but this one had led her into a realm of make-believe possibilities and a way of forgetting so many of the bad memories.
    “One of the last people Megan