Deadly Magic by Elisabeth Crabtree Read Free Book Online Page A

let him sleep. There wasn’t really anyone around who would care if he fell asleep in his seat. Except for one lone police officer sitting on the stage watching over the crystal chest and Grace and Ethan sitting at the end of the front row, the place was empty.
    The police had finally remov ed Lily’s body from the stage and were now concentrating on questioning Straker, his family and several of the magicians and their employees in the back rooms. Grace had already spent thirty minutes telling the police what little she knew.
    They both were emotionally exhausted and ready to go home, but the police insisted that Grace stay. She had tried to convince Ethan to go home without her, but he had steadfastly refused to leave her side. They sat in near silence, ever since the detective in charge had left her alone in front of the stage, a couple of hours before.
    Ethan started to tip forward, the movement causing him to wake up, startled. He looked at Grace and grinned sheepishly. Glancing at his watch, he groaned. Looking around he asked, “Where is everyone?”
    “ Still being questioned.”
    “ I don’t know why,” Ethan said sleepily. “It’s clearly an accident.”
    “ Are you sure?” Grace asked.
    “ You think she committed suicide?” he asked, surprised. He shook his head and ran his hand through his black curls. “It has to be an accident.”
    Grace shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s weird.”
    “ This sort of thing happens all of the time. I saw this movie the other day about a magician accidentally stabbing his assistant to death in one of those magic boxes. Her husband spent the rest of the movie trying to get revenge.”
    Grace smil ed. “That was a movie.”
    Ethan smiled. “Sometimes movies mirror real life. It was really good.” Stretching his arms above his head, he yawned widely. “They tell you when you could leave yet?”
    “ No,” she said, suppressing a yawn. “I don’t understand why I can’t go. I told them everything I know. What could be taking so long?”
    Ethan closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of his seat. “They’re probably just being thorough.”
    Grace look ed around the near empty room and whispered, “Tell me what happened on the stage.”
    “ It was awful Grace. Be glad you were in the back and didn’t see it.”
    “ Did she die instantly?”
    The police officer on the stage passed in front of them and continued to the steps on the side of the stage. Ethan lowered his voice as the cop passed near them on his way to the back of the theater. “It looked that way to me. After he put you in the chest . . .”
    Grace shudder ed. A sick feeling going through her stomach.
    “ . . . it rose to the ceiling. It hovered there for a while as he talked about the magician and the fair maiden again. I could see you inside the whole time, waving that flashlight whenever Dragovich called your name. When you got all the way to the top of the ceiling, he raised his hands. All of sudden there were sparks coming from the chest, the lights flickered and then the bottom fell out, the chest disappeared and . . .” Ethan gripped Grace’s arm. “I thought it was you. She just fell straight down. At first, everyone just thought it was part of the act, but then someone screamed. Dragovich just stood there. Then the curtain suddenly closed.”
    “ What did my boss do? Did he realize it was his wife hanging there?”
    “ I don’t think so, at least not until someone from behind the stage ran out and asked him to go behind the curtain with her.”
    Grace remember ed him rushing onto the stage. Ilya had gotten Lily down and was giving her CPR. The magician didn’t stop until the ambulance arrived and the EMTs took over, but by then it was too late. Lily was dead. She overheard Ilya tell Straker that Lily was supposed to slide down a silken scarf. He didn’t know what had happened. Straker looked devastated. Luckily, Valerie was there. She gently led him to a chair