Deadly Magic (A Grace Holliday Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Elisabeth Crabtree

Author:Elisabeth Crabtree [Crabtree, Elisabeth]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2014-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

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Grace opened the doors to the Magic Shoppe. She passed by the novelty tricks, swords, disembodied heads and various cards, and headed straight to the back offices where Michael and Harcourt designed their various devices of trickery. She wanted to speak to Michael, or at the very least Harcourt, about Daniel’s death. Despite what Kyle thought, she was pretty confident the office elevator wasn’t haunted, and that there was a logical explanation for what Valerie saw. And the only logical explanation she was able to come up with was that the disembodied hand that had frightened Valerie was produced by some type of trick or sleight of hand. It only made sense. Magic had been an element of the first murder, so why not the second. And with that in mind, she decided to go to the experts on trickery and sleight of hand work. With any luck they could provide her with an idea on how someone could have killed Daniel and Lily without being seen.

She knocked on the door, debating whether she should say open sesame. Just as she was about to say the magic words, Michael’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Come in.”

Grace swung open the door just as Michael threw a sheet over his work desk. His long black hair which was normally held back by a hair tie hung loosely around his shoulders, partially covering his face. He looked up at her and gave her a half-smile. “Hey, Grace. What can I do for you?”

“I was just seeing how you were. You seemed rather upset when you left the conference room today.”

Michael blushed as he looked everywhere, but at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fine,” he insisted, staring at a spot just to the left of Grace.

“It must have come as quite a shock to hear that Belle and Straker—”

He abruptly turned back to his desk. “I noticed that you didn’t seem too surprised. Everyone else was, but you weren’t surprised at all. How long have you known?”

“A while,” she said.

He shook his head sadly. “I had no idea. I thought… I’m really sorry, Grace, but I have a lot of work to do.” He glanced back up at her. “I really am okay,” he said with a smile.

“Good, glad to hear it,” she said cheerfully. “I do have another question for you though?”

His back stiffen.

Grace decided to start with something simple. “Do you know who came up with the crystal chest trick?”

He smiled, suddenly more at ease. “Yes, it was Ilya’s idea.”

Grace pulled up a stool and sat down. “Where did the chest come from?”

“Us. Harcourt and I created it here at the shop. Lily helped.”

Grace frowned. From what she read in the news after Lily’s death, Dragovich had been performing the crystal chest trick for years but Michael had only been working for the Magic Shoppe for just a few years. “I thought that was an old trick of his?”

“It was, but he updated it about a year ago.

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