The Murder Artist by John Case

Author:John Case
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781407009056
Publisher: Random House

Twenty-five

I PUT IN a call to Shoffler to tell him that I think his hunch may have been right on the money, that the link between the Gablers and my sons is one that we never would have come up with in a thousand years: magic. I want to talk it through with the detective, get his advice. But it turns out he’s in France for some kind of security conference. I leave a message.

I can intuit some of his advice, anyway. While I’m in Vegas, I should try to determine if The Piper worked here as a magician and follow out whatever other local leads I have.

Turns out, if it’s about magic, Vegas is the place to be. After three days, I’ve seen more doves and lighted candles materialize and disappear than I can count. It’s beginning to seem routine to me that a man in a tuxedo snaps his fingers and a dove or a duck – or a goose! – flutters into existence out of thin air. Or that he might turn a top hat upside down, thump it to show it’s empty, even call a volunteer to thrust a hand into its vacant interior. And then, with a wave of his wand, voilà! A rabbit. A real rabbit, which hops around on the stage, bewildered.

I’ve seen scarves and ropes and pieces of paper torn into shreds and restored to amazing intactness with the help of a few magic words. I’ve witnessed feats of mind reading, miraculous escapes, levitations, and dozens of transformations (a shred of paper into a bird, a ball into a rabbit, a doll into a woman, a piece of rope into a snake).

Any number of times, I’ve seen leggy beauties disappear, after which they step out, preening and smiling, from impossible and unexpected locations – the rear of the theater, for instance. At the San Remo, Showgirls of Magic (topless in the evening) are just what they sound like: leggy beauties doing tricks with cards and coins and, yes, bunnies.

After the shows, there are opportunities to buy merchandise; shops sell mementos of the performing magician, along with standard tricks and magic kits, reproduction posters, biographies of Houdini, books about magic.

It’s in these shops that I show my sketches of The Piper to magician clerks and cashiers, who perform card tricks and sleight of hand while they make change. I tell them the man in the sketch is a magician. Do they recognize him? A couple “think so,” but no one can put a name or place to the memory.

I’m getting myself a beer before the Lance Burton show when a bear of a man approaches me. “Boyd Veranek,” he says, “with a V. Pleased to meet you. Watch this.”

I get it – the guy’s going to do a magic trick. I don’t want to be his audience, but it’s crowded and without being rude, I can’t get away from him. He cups his huge pawlike hands together and pulls them slowly apart. In between his palms, a paper rose hovers and trembles in midair.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.