Harry Houdini Mysteries Read Online Free PDF Page A

Houdini’s latest miracle! Have you reserved the Palace yet?”
    Harry’s face darkened. “It is only a matter of time, Biggs. Only a matter of time.”
    “Strong words from Harry Keller’s hod carrier. Or was even that job too demanding?”
    Harry slapped his hands on the table. “I’ll have you know that Mr. Kellar—”
    A stern voice cut his words short. “That will be enough, boys.”
    Biggs and my brother looked up to see my mother standing over them with her hands on her hips. “That will be enough, boys,” she repeated. “Don’t make me separate you.”
    “Yes, Mama.”
    “Sorry, Mrs. Weiss.”
    Harry folded his arms and stared fiercely at the opposite wall. Biggs beamed happily as my mother served him another portion of whipped potatoes. “You’ll spoil me, Mrs. Weiss,” he said.
    “You looked as if you could use a little something on your stomach,” she answered.
    “Biggs has been asking about spook shows,” I said, hoping to cajole my brother out of his foul humor. “I was just telling him about that night in Topeka.”
    “Oh, I remember that night,” Bess said. “Very strange. I wouldn’t care to go through that again.”
    “Nor I,” Harry said with a shake of his head. “I don’t know why I ever agreed to it.”
    Biggs, his curiosity roused, set down his fork and leaned forward. “Agreed to what? What’s all this about, anyway?”
    “It was supposed to be a simple spook show,” I said. “With a few ghosts and goblins dancing against a black screen. In the end it became something more. I’m trying to remember how we billed it. What was it, Harry?”
    He closed his eyes as if picturing the handbill. “‘Professor Harry Houdini, the man who sees all, will give a Spiritual Séance in the Open Light,’” he intoned. “‘Grand, Brilliant, Bewildering, and Startling Spiritualistic Display and other Weird Happenings presided over by the Celebrated Psycrometic Clairvoyant. Assisted by Mlle. Beatrice Houdini.’” He opened his eyes and gave a sidelong glance at Bess. “You see, my dear. Even then I always took care to share the stage and billing with you.”
    Bess, chewing a forkful of chicken, did not reply.
    “What does ‘psycrometic’ mean?” asked Biggs.
    “We were never quite sure,” I admitted. “It was a term the Davenports seemed to favor. We copied everything from them, except for the part about performing in the open light.”
    “Well, that was the point,” Harry said. “I had hoped to present the thing in a fair and open manner, not like these cork-show Merlins who can’t even make a tambourine jangle unless the room is pitch black.”
    “You’re getting ahead of me,” Biggs said.
    Harry, who seldom had the chance to tell Biggs something he didn’t know, leapt at the opportunity. “It’s very simple,” he said. “In your ordinary séance room or spirit show, the so-called psychic will offer up a number of modest little parlor tricks. Aringing bell, perhaps. Or a scrawl of writing on a chalk slate. He dresses up these minor effects as ‘manifestations,’ and they are presented as indications of contact with the spirit world.”
    “That much I understand,” said Biggs, bridling a bit at being on the receiving end of a lecture from Harry. “But what does that have to do with Topeka?”
    “I planned to do something unique,” Harry said. “When Dr. Hill asked me to present a spirit show, I hoped to show that the Great Houdini was capable of doing such things under the glare of the stage lights. It—thank you, Mama—” He looked up as Mother served him a plate of chicken. “It seemed to me that if I could do these things in the open light, it would open the audience’s eyes to how easily such deceptions are practiced. I should have known better.”
    “You couldn’t have known how they would respond, Harry,” said Bess.
    “What happened?” asked Biggs, flashing another broad smile as Mother placed a slice of raisin bundt cake before