As if by Magic Read Online Free PDF

colours while barely looking down, Hugo spoke. ‘I’ve visited the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest where Rubik came up with this,’ he said. ‘One of the professors gave me a tour.’
    ‘Okay...’ Jessica said.
    ‘Have you ever been?’
    ‘Surprisingly not,’ she replied, as if the question had been valid.
    Hugo handed the cube to Jessica, fully solved. He’d had it in his hands for barely a minute.
    She took the “have fun” note out of her pocket and handed it over. Hugo read the words on the front and then flipped it over to check the back before returning it.
    ‘So can you think of any reason some guy might pay someone else to leave this out in the open in a box with no-one’s name on it?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘Hmm...’ Hugo took a sip of his tea and ran a hand through his hair, twirling one of the longer strands around a finger before letting it fall. ‘You do realise that’s not just a Rubik’s cube, don’t you?’ he said.

FOUR
    Jessica looked at what she thought was a toy in her hand and then at Dave, who shrugged.
    ‘If it’s not a Rubik’s cube and then what is it?’ she asked.
    Hugo put his teacup down and then reached out and took the cube from Jessica. ‘Firstly, an original would have three squares along the sides but this has four.’
    Jessica had vaguely thought something wasn’t quite right but hadn’t noticed what.
    ‘But it’s also heavier and the sides don’t turn as they should,’ Hugo continued, twisting the top row, and popping off the corner cube. He worked his way around until most of the squares were on the white rug between them and then he handed the remains back to Jessica. What was left was a black plastic ball with cross-shaped grooves running horizontally and vertically, and dimples in the remaining curved, raised segments.
    ‘It still feels heavy,’ she said.
    ‘Exactly.’
    Hugo took the ball back and tried digging his nails into a thin seam that ran around the ball. ‘Do you have a screwdriver?’ he asked.
    Jessica patted her pockets as a token gesture, although she didn’t know anyone who would be carrying one around casually. ‘Sorry.’
    ‘Me either,’ Dave said.
    Hugo started looking around the room and then bunny-hopped to his feet, apparently incapable of doing even the simplest things normally. ‘Have you seen my rock collection?’ he asked, while hunting through a drawer behind them.
    Jessica got to her feet and looked on the shelves above where Hugo was searching. There was a neat line of stones which all looked identical, the type of thing that littered numerous kerbs everywhere she had ever been. ‘That’s, er, very nice,’ Jessica said.
    ‘I’m selling it if you’re interested.’
    ‘You’re all right.’
    Hugo pulled out a small screwdriver kit and they returned to the bean bags. He took out the smallest one and slid it into the gap and then held it in place while using the palm of his other hand to slap down hard. The two halves of the sphere popped open, while a small bubble-wrapped ball dropped on to the floor.
    ‘A-ha!’ Hugo exclaimed.
    Jessica picked up the contents and could feel something hard under the thin layer of plastic. She went to pull the tape off but stopped herself. ‘There are some gloves in my suitcase down in your car,’ she said to Dave. ‘Be a good boy and go get them. And don’t go stealing my underwear.’
    Dave frowned at the suggestion but climbed to his feet anyway. ‘You were going to take latex gloves on a weekend away?’
    ‘Yeah, don’t get your hopes up. You never know when you might need a pair – just like now.’
    Within a few minutes, Jessica had carefully removed the tape and put the strips into a zip bag, just in case there were fingerprints or traces of anything else – not that they were investigating anything criminal yet.
    Delicately, she uncovered a tiny silver pocket watch. Jessica pushed a button on the side to make the cover flip open. She peered at it closer