I sat back trying to shift my thoughts from Nikki to what Lola was telling me. “How did they know?” And how could that help us find Shane’s killer? Was the magician whom Shane planned to expose the killer?
Lola scrolled through files, her face a mask of concentration. “Tickets. Either they or someone around them was sent two free tickets to the show.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Someone knew that Shane was going to expose their illusions. They had known all along. And they sent a hit man to stop him. When that didn’t work, they came to Elsinore to do the job themselves.
Who was this killer? A magician that we knew?
Grandpa said, “That helps rule out Bo, right? He tried to break into Shane’s prop trailer to discover if he was the victim.”
I just didn’t know. “Well he seems to have an alibi for the time of Shane’s murder.” Bo had already told Grandpa about it this morning.
He frowned and said, “And Nikki hired you to find out if Shane was exposing her, right?”
We all turned to look as the front door opened and Gabe walked in. He carried a cardboard box that had a few greasy stains on it.
Donuts. Cool. I think better when chocolate is involved.
“Nikki could have hired Sam to keep tabs on Shane Masters so she’d be able to find him and kill him.” Gabe slid easily into the conversation as he set the box of donuts down on the table.
Ali fussed at the back door.
Gabe let her in, said hello, then got her a treat out of the cupboard. Then he poured himself some coffee and took a seat between me and Grandpa, who was at his computer. “Two people saw a slight figure in a baseball cap and hooded sweatshirt taking a walk around 12:30 P.M. That’s all the description they could give me. It’s pretty common for campers to take walks around the campground. Several people heard Shane’s dogs barking furiously around that time too.”
I took that in. “Slight figure? As in a woman?”
Gabe said, “Not as big as me was as definite as I got.”
“So not Bo.” Grandpa reached past Gabe and got a plain donut.
“But it could be Nikki.” I got a chocolate buttermilk donut, then turned to Lola. “Help yourself.”
Lola stared at the box, then she shrugged and picked out a big jelly donut.
I took a bite, then asked, “Lola, any idea whose show Shane was exposing?” Now that Shane was dead, she wasn’t bound by the confidentiality agreement she had signed. And she had offered her help.
She shook her head. “I only worked for Shane for a couple months. I don’t know a lot about magicians, except Barney and what I learned on the magician’s assistants loop. All I can tell you is that I was supposed to be assisting Shane with vanishing flowers when I would disappear instead. He was showing how he keeps the audience focused on the flowers while I slip away through a hidden door in the set.”
“Misdirection,” I sighed, thinking that a truckload of magicians vanish their assistants. “What about props? Did you see a motorcycle? Did Shane use a whip as a prop?” That was Nikki’s trademark.
“Shane had a motorcycle prop I’ve seen before, but I never saw it for this show.” She looked around the table and said, “He had this down. He kept everyone he could in the dark. His main assistants know the entire show, I think, and his manager, although he’s not in town. He was coming later. But the rest don’t know anything. I’m sorry, I just don’t know.”
Gabe said, “What about the assistants who do know? Where are they?”
“Two left after they were cleared by Detective Vance. I tried to get more information out of them, but they are in shock and scared after being questioned by the police. I think they are afraid the killer will come after them.” She looked up at us with her dark brown gaze. “I doubt they told the police whom Shane was exposing. And the third one, Michelle, is still here, staying at those little bungalows at the edge of the campground.”
I was amazed at how Shane could keep such a big show a secret. I also saw Lola’s point. These assistants were scared. If they told the police whom Shane was exposing, and that person was the killer, he might come after them too. “We should talk to Michelle. We might be able to get her to tell us whose show Shane was spoiling. Or at least give us some clue.”
Gabe agreed. “I’m going to go to the office to check on things there. I’ll call my source with the police and see what else I can find out.” He stood up, and I went with him to the door.
“Have you talked to Cal?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “We haven’t had time. I’ll handle it once the painting is done. It’s good for him to work, Sam. It’ll help him focus on his options,” he added. “Have you explained to Lola that we’re not hiring her beyond her help on this case?”
“I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“Shut up, Pulizzi.”
“Babe, you are something else.” He pulled me to him for a quick kiss, then left.
I walked back into the kitchen wearing a hot blush that probably matched my tangerine shirt. “Lola, let’s go see if we can find Michelle.”
She started packing up the laptop.
I turned to Grandpa. “You’re coming with us, okay?”
“Because you need me to protect you two girls, not because you think I’m a defenseless old man, right Sammy?”
I smiled at him. “You bet, Grandpa. And Michelle might trust another magician more than a homicide detective.”
We drove into the campsite and could see a little of the yellow crime scene tape that still surrounded Shane’s motor home. I wondered when they would move the motor home. But I guessed they had to process the scene to determine exactly how the murder happened before they moved anything.
I parked close to the little row of one-room shacks at the left edge of the campground. The cabins butted up to the parking lot for the Jack in the Box where Grandpa spent so many of his mornings drinking coffee and gossiping with his friends. Lola went to the third cabin and knocked on the door. “Michelle?” she called out. “It’s me, Lola.”
Lola used a soft, reassuring voice, and it hit me then how scared all Shane’s employees must be. They had been scared of him when he was alive, and now they were scared of his killer.
The door opened, and the first thing I noticed was her hair. Long and silver blond, it was stunning. It fell all the way to her waist. Beneath all that hair was a slender woman who stood a couple inches taller than me. She had very little coloring under her artfully applied make-up. Even her blue eyes were pale. She drew her eyebrows together. “Lola, what’s going on?”
“This is Samantha Shaw, and her grandfather—”
Michelle nodded impatiently. “Barney Webb.” She looked at Grandpa. “I’ve seen your shows. You are very good.”
He nodded. “Thank you. We’d like to talk to you, Michelle. As fellow magic professionals, we are looking for some of your insight.”
She was frozen to the spot. “Into Shane’s murder?”
Grandpa said, “Yes. None of us are safe until we figure this horrible mess out.”
I sometimes forgot how charming and convincing Grandpa was. Michelle actually looked relieved. “Come in. I’ve already told the police what I know.”
The cabin looked like a one-room shack stuffed with a bed, TV, and chair, I felt sorry for the assistants. Shane hadn’t been overly concerned about his employees’ comfort. Grandpa sat in the chair and Michelle sat on the bed while Lola and I stood.
“Michelle,” Grandpa began, “do you have any idea whose show Shane was spoiling?”
She looked tired. “Shane never called the magicians by name. He assigned them a number. He had a computer file that he kept locked—that file matched the number to the magician. This was magician number 111.”
I asked, “As in the one hundred and eleventh spoiler show?”
Michelle shook her head. “Shane mixed the numbers.”
Grandpa got us back on track. “Did you se
e a run-through of the whole program?”
She shook her head again. “I could tell you the portions of the show I appeared in, but we’d only be guessing. Shane was getting progressively more paranoid, especially with MTV in on this. What you need to do is crack his computer program and find out who he sent the free tickets to.”
I wondered if she did know and was afraid to tell us. I looked toward the door that faced the campground and asked, “The computer was in Shane’s motor home?” Would the computer still be in there? Or had the police removed it from the motor home?
She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure it was at his office trailer on the location. It’s a laptop. Shane sometimes brought it back to the motor home with him. But he usually left it in his locked office trailer during the day. Besides,” now Michelle looked in the direction of the motor home, as if she could see through the wall, “he only came home during the day to check his dogs if he didn’t have them with him.”
I thought about that while Grandpa tried to see what more he could get out of Michelle. Then we left.
“She’s scared,” Grandpa said as the three of us huddled by his Jeep. “I think she knows who the magician is, but she’s afraid.”
“Murder has a way of scaring people,” I agreed.
Lola looked back at the little bungalow. “Maybe I should try talking to her by myself.”
I could see how hard Lola was working to be useful. “That’s a good idea, but let’s leave her alone for a bit to settle down. Then you can talk to her as two women in the same boat since you were both Shane’s employees.”
Lola nodded. “So now what?”
“I’m betting that if Michelle told Vance the same thing, he’s at the stadium right now trying to crack that computer.” I looked at Grandpa. “Vance would be easier to convince than we are that Michelle didn’t know whose show Shane was spoiling. He doesn’t know much about magic.”
Grandpa frowned. “But won’t he get a fancy computer tech to try to get into Shane’s computer?”
I thought about that. “Eventually. But how long would it take to get a tech? Budget cuts make everything hard on the cops. And Vance really needs to crack this case. I think he’ll try himself first. And we are going to offer to help him since we happen to have a computer tech on hand, one who is also an expert in magic and magicians.”
Grandpa grinned and laced his hands together, then turned them out to flex his fingers. “I am good, both at magic and computers. I could crack Shane’s firewalls.”
Lola perked up. “Tell you what, I’ll drive and you call Vance. Barney can navigate.” She took the keys from my hand.
Which meant I got to squeeze my buns into the backseat. I dialed Vance’s number while Lola started the car. By the time she navigated out of the campground, I had Vance’s voice mail. “Vance, it’s Sam. I think we might be able to help you out. We need to see Shane’s computer though. Call me.”
“Turn right,” Grandpa told Lola.
“Where are we going?” I asked. My cell phone rang before anyone could answer. “That was fast,” I said, then looked at the screen. “It’s Gabe.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hi, what’s up?”
“Sam, they’ve identified the hit man.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Who is he?”
“Pete Olsen. From Las Vegas.”
I went cold and looked at Grandpa. He was turned in his seat and watched me as I asked Gabe, “Anything else?”
“He’s a two-bit thug and card shark who’s been banned from a couple casinos.”
Just the kind of dumb-ass criminal to try and hire himself out as a hit man, I thought to myself. “I’m going back to talk to Nikki.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Gabe said. “I’m in my truck. I don’t want you going in there alone. If Nikki’s the killer, she’s going to feel cornered.”
I shoved down the automatic denial that tried to get out of my mouth. Gabe was being reasonably cautious. “All right.” I hung up and said, “Make a left at this light, Lola.” That would put us on Lake Street, then we could make another left on Machado.
Grandpa remained twisted in his seat to look at me. “What did he find?”
“The hit man. His name is Pete Olsen, and he’s from Vegas.”
“I am buying a magician’s illusions from his estate. That’s why I took the money out of my account in cash,” Nikki explained.
We all sat in Rosy’s living room. Old-fashioned paneling contrasted with the brightly colored rugs on the floor. Rosy had a big screen TV where the movie Shakespeare in Love was currently frozen.
Rosy was gone, so Nikki was alone. She sat on the floral couch, wearing a pair of cutoff shorts and a T-shirt that said, “Bite Me.”
“Why cash?” I asked. I knew that magicians occasionally bought the illusions and apparatus of dead magicians to expand their own skills.
“The widow is having financial trouble and that’s why she’s selling. I’m giving her a very fair price. There are a couple illusions in there that are worth it though.”
The cash tax dodge. Got it. “There’s one more thing.” Everyone else stayed quiet. Gabe and Lola didn’t know Nikki, and Grandpa looked like he wished he was someplace else. So it fell to me. “What about Pete Olsen?”
She raised her dark eyebrows. “Who? Never heard of him.”
“He’s from Vegas,” I prodded.
She curled her legs up under her and sat back. “I don’t know him.”
I looked at Gabe, out of ideas.
“How many magicians are there in Vegas?” Gabe took over.
“At any given time, there are quite a few. They come and go, appearing at the casinos, clubs, and dinner houses. I doubt anyone has an exact figure.”
She was right. Hell, a magician could be in Vegas to negotiate a contract, apply for a job, catch a peer’s performance, or even just to take a quick vacation. We weren’t getting anywhere with this.
I kept coming back to one thing about Shane’s murder. “Nikki, what can you tell us about Shane’s dogs?”
She looked over at me in surprise. “Houdini and Blackstone? Not a lot. Shane never wanted me to get friendly with or pet them. He was possessive about them. I think he loved those dogs more than anything else.”
Could Nikki have been jealous of Shane’s dogs? Would a woman pissed at Shane take such care of the animals he loved? Going as far as lifting them up on the bed? They were not small dogs, and Nikki was pregnant, which made most women cautious about lifting heavy things. And if she had been jealous of the dogs—
Grandpa’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He sat forward in his chair and looked into Nikki’s face. “Nikki, how are you doing?”
She turned to Grandpa. “I didn’t kill him, Barney. I know what I’m like, I know what people think . . . but I didn’t kill him.”
It broke my heart. Gabe shifted uncomfortably next to me while Lola studied the bookcases on either side of the big-screen TV.
“Honey, he did you wrong,” Grandpa said. “You’re scared. You have every right to be.”
Nikki kept Grandpa’s gaze. “I’ve always been scared. And I never killed anyone.”
Grandpa stood up. “That’s good enough for me.” He leaned down and hugged Nikki. Then he said, “I think you are a talented magician and a good friend. Give other people a chance and you might find they think the same thing.” He turned and shuffled to the door.
My cell phone rang again. I pulled it out of my purse and looked at the screen. Vance. “Hello?”
“This is a bad joke, right Shaw? I’ve had a full day, including an interview with Bo Kelly where he told me he went to your office first. Weren’t you supposed to call me if he showed up?”
I think I may have promised that in the endless interview after Shane was murdered. But who could remember? I waved a good-bye to Nikki and walked outside. I wanted to believe in her like Grandpa did, but I wasn’t going to take any chances by tipping our hand. I walked to the Jeep and got into the driver�
�s side. “Let me ask you something Vance—have you been able to get into Shane’s password-protected computer files?”
After a pointed silence, he growled, “How the hell do you know about that?”
“Investigative work.” And sheer luck. “Vance, not only is Grandpa good with computers, he knows how magicians, and Shane specifically, think. Just let us take a crack.”
The silence was annoying.
I added, “You’ll be right there! You’ll see everything we see. Vance, we have to find this killer.” A horrible lump rose in my throat as my deep fear surfaced. “He knows Grandpa is looking for him. He might kill Grandpa next.”
“Meet me at the stadium in twenty.” He hung up.
I dropped back against the seat of the Jeep in relief.
“Hey.”
I opened my eyes and saw Gabe standing there. I told him, “Grandpa and I are meeting Vance in twenty minutes.”
“Take Lola too. I have to go back to the office. Blaine won’t like it if I take her with me.”
I nodded.
Gabe leaned closer. “Babe, we’ll keep him safe.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to see what I can get on the hit man and see if I can find a connection to the killer. Go straight to the stadium, then call me when you are done.”
“Okay.” I stuck my phone back in my purse, then looked up at Gabe again. I kept thinking about the dogs. Nikki hadn’t developed a bond with the dogs. She was pregnant, and the dogs were heavy. She might even have been jealous of the dogs’ place in Shane’s affections. Bo didn’t like dogs. So who got the dogs out of the way with sleeping pills, enough to knock them out but not hurt them, then put them on the bed?
“Sam?” Gabe said.
“It’s the dogs, Gabe.” Something was hovering right on the edge of my mind. Right there. I gripped the steering wheel, trying to make it materialize.
He arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
Talk this out, I thought. “The key to who killed Shane. The dogs. Drugging them, putting them on the bed . . . it’s not Bo.”
“Plus he was in Orange County on his way to Hollywood at the time of the murder,” Gabe added. “So Nikki? She’s a good actress if she really did know who Pete Olsen was.”
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