Page 37 of Murder By Misdirection

“I made a deal with him to escort him back to the precinct. But obviously I need him to be driven over. I can’t just take him by subway.”

“Christ! Hold on,” Chu said, and then it sounded like he spoke to someone with his hand over the microphone of the phone. “Okay, I can be on the road in ten minutes. Thank God I’m dating someone who knows the job.”

A female voice said something indistinct, and she heard Tom say, “She knows…I don’t know how, she figured it out…I don’t know, radar or something!”

Another burst of indistinct babbling, with a conciliatory tone, and Tom was back. “Okay, I’m heading out there. You keep an eye on him.”

She looked over. “I’m watching him right now, Tom. See you soon.”

She hung up the phone and went through the doorway to start the kettle. “You want coffee, Max? It’s not very good, but it’s strong.”

No answer.

She stuck her head back in the room and saw Max’s silhouette in the same place in the chair. “What happened? Cat got your tongue?”

She walked over to the chair, but it was empty. A cardboard cutout of Max’s silhouette was attached to the top of her chair. She touched it and it fell over on a makeshift hinge.

A realization hit her, and she ran to the table with her attaché case. The papers with all of the coded messages were gone.

She ran over to the front door, yanked it open, and headed to the stairs.

“You goddamn old bastard!” she screamed looking down.

A door opened on the floor below her. “Hey, shut the hell up!”

“Sorry,” Pro snapped, but shot her middle finger at the unknown complainer before she went back into her apartment.

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“What do you mean, gone?” Chu demanded.

They were in her studio apartment, and Pro led him to the gimmicked chair to show him the fake silhouette. “Honestly, I don’t know how he could have done it. I only looked away to hit your number on my phone.”

“You couldn’t call me when I was en route?”

“I thought you should see how he fooled me.”

Chu blew out his breath in a steady stream, like a deflating balloon. “He fooled you because he knows how to push your buttons. Like any magician, he gets you to look where he wants you to look to trick you.”

Pro glanced down, embarrassed. “You’re right. And God, he snuck into my apartment like he freakin’ owned the place!”

“You could press charges.” Tom smirked.

“If I thought for a minute that it would make him act sensibly, I would. He stole the emails I printed up, but I cracked the code.”

“The code?” Tom repeated.

“Yeah, in those weird emails with all the ‘Answer-Pray’ stuff. It’s an alphanumeric code based on an act Houdini did with his wife.”

Chu considered this. “Did Max tell you that?”

Pro shook her head. “No, I figured it out myself. But now, I’ll have to print up the papers again.”

“Leave it go until tomorrow, Pro, but I fully expect we are both working on Sunday.”

“We were supposed to be off, but until this case is closed and Max placed where we can find him—”

“See you about ten in the morning,” Chu said as he neared the door.

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