Free Who Done Houdini by Raymond John Page B

questions until we were well away from the mansion.
    â€œWhy so mysterious? Certainly she can’t hear us here.”
    â€œMy mind is still digesting the results of our findings. I can tell you for certain that Mr. Houdini would most definitely have been very anxious to expose Mr. Baker’s shenanigans. Do you know the location of the registrar of deeds for the city?”
    â€œIt’s in Port Huron, I believe. I’ll take you there.”
    I dropped him off at Grand River Avenue. He was so lost in thought I knew I’d only be intruding on his concentration, so I told him to meet me at the coffee shop around the corner when he was finished.
    The doughnuts were frosted and a very good buy for seven cents. Unfortunately the coffee was way overpriced at a nickel. I considered ordering a tea bag; their version of coffee was mere hot water.
    I was nearly finished with my second doughnut when Mr. Holmes sat next to me in my booth.
    I offered him what was left of the pastry, but he ignored me. “Finish up quickly, Wiggins. We have to get back to your library.”

 
    Chapter 11
    H olmes didn’t speak for much of the return trip. Finally unable to control myself, I said, “Your silence is rude and intolerable. I demand to know what you’ve discovered or I’ll deposit you at the nearest train station and let you find your own way back to your hotel.”
    â€œMy apologies, Wiggins. I see I’ve operated alone far too long. To be truthful, I have only but a glimmer of an incomplete picture. One thing I can definitely say, Mr. Baker is a fraud.”
    â€œI gathered that much. How do you know?”
    â€œFor one thing, he doesn’t walk through a wall into the séance room. He comes from somewhere in the house, undoubtedly the basement. I expect your photos will give us a clue as to where to look.”
    â€œI’ll get them developed immediately. What about Sidney?”
    To answer, Mr. Holmes’s head dropped back over the seat and a strange voice came from his stomach. “Don’t run off the road, Wiggins.”
    â€œHow did you do that?”
    â€œVentriloquism, dear fellow. It’s a trick many so-called mediums employ. You can purchase a pamphlet about how to throw your voice for twenty-five cents from an advertisement in Popular Mechanics. I got my book from an ad in the Daily Mirror.”
    â€œSo Baker is a charlatan like all the others. What difference does it make? Did he poison Houdini?”
    Mr. Holmes sighed. “He did not. In fact that’s the only thing we know for sure. Thallium-induced hair loss doesn’t begin until at least two to three weeks after ingestion, so the poisoning had to have happened while he was en route to Detroit. This is fortunate for our investigation in narrowing down the time frame, but it does eliminate Mr. Baker as a suspect.”
    â€œSo why did you want to look at the tax records for the house?”
    â€œTo trace ownership, of course. Good Mr. Baker’s original surname isn’t Baker, it’s Becker, another spelling for the German word for baker. Albert anglicized it. I want to see if there’s some reason why he did so.”
    â€œI’m sure I already know why. Many German-Americans were openly pro-German when the war started. When the U.S. entered the war on the Allied side, these supporters became worried they’d be considered traitors.”
    â€œFor good reason,” Holmes said.” Anything sounding anti-American could get them beaten, jailed or even murdered.”
    â€œYes. Before we joined the war, we ate ‘sauerkraut.’ After, we ate ‘victory cabbage.’”
    â€œVery well put, Wiggins. Most German-Americans decided they were Americans, but some decided they were still Germans. I have reason to suspect our Mr. Baker may have been one such a person, and may still be.”
    â€œEven if that were true, it wouldn’t be a crime now. The