The Magic Misfits - Neil Patrick Harris Page 0,35
switched on her chair’s light, which shone into what looked like a cramped room. Or maybe a large closet. Its floor was covered in machinery and what looked like rolls and rolls of tape. A small table held radio parts.
Carter gasped. “Is that what I think it is?”
“I already told you I’m not psychic,” said Olly. “What do you think it is?”
Carter stepped aside and allowed the rest of the Misfits to get a better look.
“I’m confused,” said Izzy. “What kind of gadgetry are we looking at?”
“It is a radio receiver and a recording device,” said Theo. “The kind of receiver someone would use if they had distributed radio transmitters throughout an entire town, hidden inside the wooden heads of ventriloquist dummy dolls.”
Leila groaned. “We knew that someone at the hotel had set all of that up. Could it have really been Dean?”
“Looks like it,” Ridley said, her brain buzzing.
“Can someone explain to me what’s going on?” Carter asked. “This is getting super complicated.”
(I agree. Don’t you? Super complicated! Then again, some of the best magic tricks are the same way—complex. To perform these types of tricks, you must be prepared. You must also know what came before so you can take the next step. Thankfully, Theo will now remind us all!)
Theo began, “Everyone remembers when Mr. Whispers arrived at the hotel at the end of the summer, right?” The Misfits all nodded. “Of course. And we also remember the dolls that started appearing around town, the ones that someone at the resort had decided to use to promote Mr. Whispers’s ventriloquism show.” Another nod from the group. “The dolls looked like the ventriloquist’s dummy, Darling Daniel.”
“And when I managed to crack open their heads,” Ridley added, “I found that someone had placed radio transmitters in all of them.”
“After we confronted Wendel Whispers, we found out that he knew nothing about it. He was so disturbed, he packed his bags and left town.”
“But someone had been trying to listen in on the conversations of the people of Mineral Wells,” Ridley went on. She nodded at the contraption in the closet. “In order to listen, that person would have needed a radio receiver. Just like this one.” She reached through the doorway and opened a filing cabinet drawer. It was filled with reels of tape. She grabbed one. A name had been written on the side in black marker. Sheila Fields. “I know her,” Ridley said. “She’s friends with my parents.”
Ridley picked up another reel and another. Each was marked with a name. Some were of particular interest to the Misfits—there was Iris Maloney, the librarian, and Bradley Nickel, the cashier. Most of the names, however, they did not recognize.
“Is this starting to make sense?” Theo asked. Carter nodded reluctantly. “We’d asked the resort manager, Mr. Arnold, whose idea it had been to hand out the dolls, but he said it had been organized by a committee of employees.”
“Which could’ve included Dean,” said Leila, shaking her head with disappointment.
“But the tapes?” Carter added. “Why record a bunch of random people?”
“Sandra Santos said that Kalagan is good at making people do what he wants,” said Ridley. “What if his power isn’t mesmerism? What if his power is manipulation? If he has recordings of people from all over, he wouldn’t need to hypnotize them into doing his bidding. He would only need to scare them by threatening to release all of their secrets.”
“Elementary, my dear Watson,” Izzy said appreciatively.
“Watson?” Olly asked. “Wouldn’t Ridley be Wat-daughter?”
“That is so messed up,” Carter added.
“Then, the people who attacked us…” Leila paused, thinking. “Kalagan must have told them to do it or else he would share his recordings of them.”
“They must have done or said some really vile stuff!” said Izzy.
“Not necessarily,” said Theo. “Perhaps their secrets are merely things they are not ready to share yet.”
“Should we listen to one of the tapes?” Olly asked. “See how bad it is?”
“Of course not!” Leila squeaked. “It would be an invasion of privacy.”
“Something that Kalagan has no problem with,” Theo added.
“Same with Dean,” said Ridley.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Izzy. “He’s our friend.”
“Should we destroy the tapes?” Carter asked.
“I don’t think we can risk having Dean know that we were here. We need to talk to him. Pronto,” Ridley said firmly.
“But what would keep Dean from just running away from us?” Leila asked. “He might go tell Kalagan that we’re on to him. And he could send all the people he’s manipulating after us!”
Ridley paused, then said,