“Bobby created the Chamber of Death as the finale for his show.” Dobson pointed at the sarcophagus. “He’s locked inside this coffin, and the assistants pour snakes and scorpions into it. The audience hears him screaming inside the coffin and banging on the sides. If the trick is done correctly, Bobby disappears from the coffin and reappears at the back of the theater. Only this time, someone stabbed him and he was still inside the coffin when it was opened.”
“How does the illusion work?” Ragland asked.
“Is this confidential? A magician’s secrets are very valuable.”
“We’ll try to keep the solution to the illusion secret, but we can’t promise anything. It might have to come out in a trial.”
“Do the best you can,” Dobson conceded with a sigh. “The trick is really simple. The sarcophagus is on a dolly in the back of the theater when the illusion starts. After it’s pushed up a ramp onto the stage, the platform sits right next to one edge of the coffin with a little space in between. At one point in the act, the three assistants briefly block the view of the audience, and the bright lights blind the audience so it can’t see what’s happening on the floor of the stage.
“The audience thinks that the assistant who is in the middle is pushing Bobby down into the coffin, but what really happens is that Bobby rolls over the side of the sarcophagus and crawls into a narrow opening in the platform that supported the sarcophagus. The backdrop of the set is black, and so is the robe Bobby was wearing. The combination of the black background, the black robe and hood, and the blinding lights makes him invisible to the audience. When the middle assistant pushes the dolly offstage, he gets out and runs down a tunnel to the back of the theater.”
“What about the screams and banging from inside the coffin?” Roger asked.
“They’re prerecorded and piped into the coffin to distract the audience. There’s a tiny microphone in the sarcophagus that’s impossible to spot.”
Dillon shook his head. “Every once in a while, I find out how a magic trick is done, and I always feel stupid.”
“Do you have any idea who killed Mr. Chesterfield?” Anders asked.
Dobson hesitated. “I hate to accuse anyone.”
“You’re not. You’re helping us figure out who murdered your friend.”
“There are three assistants, Sheila Monroe, Maria Rodriguez, and Nancy Porter. Sheila and Maria raise the lid of the coffin, and Nancy is the one who pretends to push Bobby down. Nancy was the only person who could have stabbed him.”
“Where is she?” Ragland asked.
“I don’t know. Nancy was supposed to be onstage for the finale, but she didn’t come back after pushing the dolly offstage.”
“Has anyone searched the theater for her?” Anders asked.
“Not that I know.”
“What does she look like?”
“She’s a redhead, green eyes, about five feet tall, and very slender, but strong. The assistants all have to be short and skinny so they can fit into tight spaces.”
Roger Dillon walked to the edge of the stage and told one of the uniforms to organize a search for the missing woman.
“We’re going to need to open the sarcophagus,” Anders said. “Are the snakes and scorpions dangerous?”
“No. They look scary, but they’re harmless,” Dobson assured her.
Anders signaled two officers to raise the lid that covered the coffin. She looked inside and saw snakes and scorpions wriggling and slithering over Robert Chesterfield’s body and around the knife that was buried in his heart.
Dr. Grace looked into the coffin. “That looks like a surgical strike right into the victim’s heart. He would have died very quickly.”
“If the audience heard Chesterfield scream when he was stabbed, they’d think that the screams were just part of the act,” Dillon said.
Anders saw the two rectangular glass boxes. “Is there someone who can put these reptiles and scorpions back in their cages so Dr. Grace can examine the body?” she asked Dobson.
“That’s the assistants’ job. I’ll ask them if they’re up to it. They’re both very upset.”
Sheila, who was blond, and Maria, who had glossy black hair, were sitting on bridge chairs just off the stage, still dressed in their voluminous robes. They were talking quietly to each other, but they looked up when the agent and the detectives approached. Anders could see that Sheila had been crying. Maria looked pale.
“I’m Carrie Anders, and I’m one of the detectives who is going to try and find out what happened to Mr. Chesterfield.