The Floating Lady Murder by Daniel Stashower Read Free Book Online

possessed the ability to change places with any being of his choosing, at the merest snap of his fingers! With such a skill at his command, it was thought that young Ari might even be able to switch places with the king himself!”
    From my vantage, I could see Mr. McAdow consulting his watch—never a good sign. I caught Bess’s eye and tapped the face of my own watch, a signal to hurry along. She raised her eyebrows and gave a barely perceptible shrug, indicating that matters were out of her control.
    Please, Harry, I muttered. Skip the part about the beauteous Wilhelmina.
    “Now this young wizard had a bride by the name of Wilhelmina,” Harry continued, “and she was said to be—” he broke off momentarily at the sound of a collapsing sawhorse, followed closely by a mighty roar from the caged lion. He gathered himself and continued. “She was said to be the most pulchritudinous young woman in all the land. Her beauty was so great that even King Yar, with all his wealth and power, wasknown to be jealous of young Ari and his bride.”
    From his seat in the audience, McAdow began coughing more loudly, attempting to catch my brother’s attention with a finger-twirling “hurry up” motion. Harry affected not to notice. “One day a dark passion seized the evil King Yar, and he ordered that young Ari be brought to him in chains. To keep his bride from harm, the wizard allowed himself to be bound tightly and placed within a sturdy box, which was carried back to King Yar’s castle. When Wilhelmina learned of this, she hurried at once to—”
    “Uh, Mr. Houdini,” McAdow called over the footlights, “I wonder if—”
    Harry took a step forward. “You are worried that I am being distracted by all the noise, are you not? The pounding hammers? The roaring lion? It is no matter, I assure you. I have wondrous powers of concentration.”
    “Actually, Mr. Houdini—”
    Harry put a finger to his lips. “Do not trouble yourself. I will carry on. As I was saying, when Wilhelmina learned of her husband’s imprisonment, she hurried at once into the presence of the king, and—”
    “Mr. Houdini—” McAdow had risen from his seat now, and was standing at the edge of the orchestra pit. “Mr. Houdini, I really believe we’ve heard enough. I do thank you for coming to see us this afternoon.”
    “You have heard enough? But I haven’t even reached the part about the mystical incantation! It is positively gripping!”
    “I’m quite certain that is so, Mr. Houdini, but I’m afraid that Mr. Kellar will not be requiring your services after all. However, if Mrs. Houdini and Mr. Hardeen might wish to—”
    “Will not be requiring my services? What can you mean?” I watched as a slow tide of comprehension washed over his features. For a moment he seemed to hover between anger and disbelief, with a rising note of tearfulness contending for the mastery. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he regainedhis composure. “Mr. McAdow,” he said in a voice heavy with injured pride, “I have just one thing to say to you.”
    As things turned out, we never got a chance to hear that one thing. At that precise moment, a carpenter at the back of the stage accidentally broke through the flimsy side-railing of a high scaffold. As he fell, he reached out and clawed at the rear curtain to slow his descent, knocking down a series of scenery flats like so many dominoes. Screams and cries of alarm filled the air as people jumped out of the way of the falling lumber, and for a moment the entire stage was engulfed in chaos.
    “Is everyone all right?” shouted Collins, racing from the wings. “Is anyone hurt?”
    His cries went unheeded. Everyone in the theater was transfixed by the sight of the dazed figure at the center of the stage, struggling to extricate himself from a tangle of debris.
    Unfortunately, it was the lion.

3
THE LION’S BRIDE
    DANGER, IT MUST BE SAID, ALWAYS BROUGHT OUT THE BEST IN MY brother.
    Many times I watched him