Free Now You See It by Jane Tesh Page A

red, yellow, and blue featured tricks called “The Floating Wonder” and “The Devil’s Delight.” There was also a large box trimmed in brass and filled with odd objects that looked like someone’s woodworking project, cups and spindles and eggs and something called Pillars of Solomon. A card on the box from Martinka and Company, Museum of Magic and Magic Shop, proclaimed the shop as the “Magicians’ Headquarters” and “Formerly Owned by Harry Houdini.”
    â€œWhat’s this box?”
    â€œAn antique magic set. We found that at Martinka and Company, the oldest magic shop in the country. Every time we visited New York, we’d go there. So much wonderful history. The very first magic society was founded there, the Society of American Magicians in 1902, and Houdini was president of Martinka in 1919.” He rattled on about the Martinka brothers coming over from Germany and all the famous magicians who frequented their shop.
    â€œWhat does ‘Pillars of Solomon’ mean?” Camden asked. “I know what it means in the Bible, but what’s the connection to a magic trick?”
    â€œIt’s quite a good illusion. A string passes through the pillars, and then the magician appears to cut the string, but the string still goes through.”
    Talking about his collection seemed to steady Lucas, so Camden asked more questions about the items. “What about those cubes? They look like three-dimensional playing cards.”
    â€œOh, there are hundreds of variations on cube illusions.”
    â€œAnd the skull? What do you use that for?”
    â€œThe talking skull is one of the oldest tricks in magic.”
    As he explained, I checked out the room. While I found all the magic stuff interesting, I couldn’t imagine that Taft had been murdered for it. It was too easy for a thief to break in, smash the cabinet doors, and take whatever he wanted.
    â€œLucas, what’s your collection worth?” I asked.
    â€œTaft and I had it appraised at fifty thousand dollars, but it would be worth much more to a collector.”
    I had expected it to be more, but fifty thousand dollars was still a lot of money. I took another look in the cabinet. Beside small framed photographs of Houdini and a woman I guessed was his wife, a small program card announced: “The Finest Escape Ever Attempted!” and showed a man covered in chains perched on top of a bulky-looking box. “Were you and Taft attempting a trick like this?”
    â€œOh, no. Nothing that drastic. Something much more simple. We really hadn’t worked out the details. Taft wanted to see how quickly he could get out.”
    â€œAnd he could get out?”
    â€œYes, but it was taking longer than he liked.”
    â€œHad you tried it?”
    â€œNo, I get claustrophobic. I was always on the outside, in case Taft needed help. My God, I wish we’d never seen that trunk! What were we thinking? We should’ve stayed with what we knew.”
    â€œWould Taft have attempted the trick by himself?”
    â€œI have no idea. Why.”
    â€œYou said there some sort of latch inside in the lining.”
    â€œYes. I don’t know why he didn’t use it. It’s a little bolt that slides back and releases the lock.”
    â€œYou haven’t heard from the police about the official cause of death, have you?”
    â€œNo, not yet.”
    â€œLucas, there’s a possibility he was already dead.”
    â€œAnd then put in the trunk?”
    â€œIt’s better than being locked inside alive and suffocating.”
    He put his head down in his hands. “I don’t want to think about how it must have been. He was all the family I had. You can’t imagine how I feel.”
    My answer wouldn’t have helped the situation. “Sometime Saturday night or Sunday, Taft went back to the Magic Club. As far as we know, he didn’t have a key to the club, so