The Floating Lady Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

little man, if you’ve come snooping for Servais Le Roy, you can tell him from me that he can just pack up and go back to France or Belgium or wherever the hell it is he comes from! Furthermore, you can tell him—”
    Smiling, Harry broke Collins’s grip with a strength that clearly surprised the bigger man. “Calm yourself, Mr. Collins. I am not here on behalf of Mr. Le Roy or any other rival magician, though your loyalty to your employer does you credit.”
    Collins was not mollified. “Then how in God’s name did you come to know anything about the Floating Lady? We run a tight ship around here, and there’s no possible way—”
    “A simple observation on my part,” said Harry. “I am a regular reader of Mahatm a magazine, as are all magicians of any worth, and I keep abreast of the news from England. I know perfectly well that Mr. John Nevil Maskelyne has created a sensation at the Egyptian Hall with his levitation illusion, and it seems only logical that Mr. Kellar should wish to follow suit in America.”
    “Now look,” said Collins. “Just because—”
    But Harry wasn’t finished. “Moreover,” he continued, “I am well aware that the design of Mr. Maskelyne’s effect hasbeen a closely guarded secret, so it stands to reason that Mr. Kellar would have to devise his own method of achieving the illusion. When I come upon a theater that is rigged with an oversized pendulum apparatus high above the stage—which is clearly designed to lift an assistant out over the heads of the audience—I think it is fair to conclude that plans are underway for a new Floating Lady. Is it not so?”
    The angry red color had slowly drained away from Collins’s face as Harry spoke. The easy-going grin had now returned. “What was your name again?” he asked.
    “Houdini. The Great Houdini.”
    “Well, Mr. Houdini, I guess I owe you an apology for the way I spoke before. It’s just that we’ve had trouble with spies before, and this effect—if we can just get a few hitches worked out—this effect will be the biggest thing since Pepper’s Ghost.”
    Harry glanced at the elaborate pendulum device overhead. “I take it this swing-lever apparatus is not working as you’d hoped?”
    “It’s been a disaster,” Collins admitted. “And that’s not the worst of it. Mr. Kellar is determined to debut his Floating Lady here on this stage next week, after a four-day try-out in Albany. Then he’s going to take it on the tour.”
    “On tour?” Harry asked. “But Mr. Maskelyne has been advertising that his Egyptian Hall is the only place in the world where the Floating Lady effect can be seen.”
    “Mr. Maskelyne is no concern to us,” Collins said coldly. “Our method will be entirely different. We won’t be affected by his copyrights.”
    “So I understand, but that’s not what I meant. I had understood from Mr. Maskelyne’s statement that his apparatus was too ungainly to be moved from place to place. I assumed that he could only perform it at the Egyptian Hall because it couldn’t be moved from the theater.”
    Collins studied Harry’s face closely. “You’re right,” he admitted, “although that is not generally known. In any case, it makes theMaskelyne method useless for us. Mr. Kellar has always been a touring magician, and his latest itinerary is already set. We have to come up with a method that is easily moved over great distances.”
    “Couldn’t you simply build a second apparatus in Albany?”
    “No, Mr. Houdini, we’re taking it all over the world. Allahabad, Lucknow, Delphi, Agra, Cawnpore, Bombay, Kurachee, Baghdad, Zanzibar, Mozambique, Durban, Capetown, to name a few.”
    Bess’s eyes had grown bright. “Do you mean to say that if we should find ourselves employed by Mr. Kellar, we would be travelling to all of those places?” She squeezed Harry’s hand tightly. “Think of it, Harry!”
    Collins brushed a stray wisp of hair from his eyes. “To tell you the truth, Miss, I’m not