Page 89 of Murder By Misdirection

Pro sat in her chair. “Is that all that matters to you?”

“No, but it is a consideration. My first concern was the fact that you were ready to resign because of my escape.”

“How did you know that?”

Max sipped his coffee enigmatically.

Pro sighed. “I guess you won’t tell me.”

“I wanted to make sure that the situation was handled,” Max said. “You’re a good detective, and I wouldn’t want you to lose your job over me.”

At that moment, Tom Chu walked into the bullpen and took

one look at Max and then stared at Pro. “Did he escape again?”

Pro smiled. “No, it turns out that his escape was an approved training exercise.”

This made Tom’s eyebrows go up. “Oh, really?”

“That’s the official story,” Pro explained. “I saw the mayor talk about it on the news this morning.”

“Talk about a magic trick.” Chu smirked.

“I was just asking Pro about the warrant for Lovell’s store,” Max said.

“It just came through. I picked up the paperwork on my way up.”

Max got up. “Then shall we solve the last part of the mystery? In fact, it might be the most interesting part.”

“We were going to go in later with forensics,” Chu said.

“I’ll wear gloves if you want. Don’t you want to know where a magician hides things?”

Chu looked at Pro, sighed wearily, and then said, “Okay, but you’re riding in the back, Max.”

Soon, they had driven up to the Ansonia Hotel. Max, surprisingly, was quiet throughout the trip. They walked into the massive building and headed for the office marked “Ansonia Realty.”

In the small room, Cathy Edmonds rose as the trio entered.

“I can’t believe Mister Lovell was arrested,” Cathy lamented. “I mean, he was so nice.”

Max stepped forward. “Come with us and you can see what he was up to.”

Chu raised a hand. “Wait a moment, Max. We don’t want too many people. It might corrupt the evidence chain.”

“I think she has a right to find out what Mister Lovell was doing,” Max said.

“I can stand outside, if that’s what you need.”

“I brought an extra pair of gloves,” offered Max.

Cathy grabbed a large key ring, and the quartet moved down the hall toward Lovell’s shop.

Max went on. “I found out that Sam was interested in the history of the Ansonia, isn’t that right, Cathy?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, he was always looking at the blueprints and stuff. He told me he was a history buff.”

“Actually, I did some digging into the history of the hotel myself to find out what had piqued his interest. I was surprised by my results.”

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