but the security guard caught me before I saw the trick. So I left my seat during the illusion and hid onstage behind some curtains when Chesterfield started the illusion.
“When I was questioned by the police, I denied leaving my seat. I didn’t know that the person sitting behind me had told the police that he saw me leave. To make matters worse, I also told the police that I’d never been in the Imperial Theater during rehearsals, but the security guard told the police he saw me in the theater.”
“That’s motive and opportunity, but what about means? How could you kill Chesterfield onstage in full view of the audience?”
“I couldn’t, but the DA told me it was no use denying I killed Chesterfield, because he knew exactly how I did it.”
“Did he explain how he thought you killed Chesterfield?”
Turner reddened with anger. “I asked him, but he just smiled and said, ‘A magician never reveals how a trick is done.’”
“I’ve had a few cases with Peter Ragland, and he’s not one of my favorites.”
“What happens now?”
“There’s no automatic bail in a murder case, so you might have to stay in jail for a while. If I represent you, I’ll request a bail hearing, but I won’t win it if the State can convince the judge that they have a strong case. I won’t know if they do until I find out why Ragland thinks he can nail you. I’ll tell you what I find out as fast as I can, but that may not be until Monday. Can you hold it together until then?”
“Yes. I’m really scared, but I was in combat in the army, so I’ve been under pressure before.”
Robin smiled. “Not to mention appearing every night before huge audiences in Las Vegas.”
Turner smiled for the first time. “Yeah, there is that.”
“What did you do in the military?” Robin asked.
Suddenly Turner looked sick. “This will definitely not help my cause.”
“Yes?”
“The skills I’d developed as a magician made me perfect for my specialty—silent killing. I would go into the middle of an enemy encampment, kill key personnel, and disappear.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Peter Ragland reserved a conference room for his meeting with Robin.
“Good morning,” Ragland said when the receptionist showed Robin into the room.
“Hi, Peter. How are you?”
“I’m good, especially now that I’ve got a mystery to solve that’s right out of a TV show.”
“It is that. So tell me, how did David Turner kill Robert Chesterfield in front of three thousand witnesses?”
“His plan was quite ingenious, but I’d expect nothing less from a master magician.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“Didn’t your client tell you how he killed Chesterfield?”
“Mr. Turner says that he didn’t kill Chesterfield.”
Ragland smiled. “Of course he does, but we’ve got him dead to rights.” There was a large stack of police reports piled in front of Ragland. He pushed them across the table to Robin. “I’m not required to give you discovery until I get my indictment, but you can take a copy of everything we have back to your office.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the gesture.”
Once again, Ragland smiled. “I’m not doing it out of the goodness of my heart. I want you to see how hopeless your case is. When you’ve read the reports and see that I can prove how Turner murdered Robert Chesterfield in full view of the audience, I’m certain you’ll tell him to plead guilty. If he does the smart thing, I’m prepared to take the death penalty off the table in exchange for a plea to aggravated murder.”
* * *
“This is bad,” Robin said.
“Very bad,” Jeff agreed.
They were seated across from each other in the conference room of Barrister, Berman & Lockwood. Piled high on the polished oak table that separated them were the police reports Peter Ragland had turned over.
“Tell me if you think I’ve got this right,” Robin said. “Ragland is going to argue that Turner hated Chesterfield enough to kill him, and murdering him during his greatest illusion would be a big fuck-you to his nemesis. So Ragland will tell the jury that David used his skill as a magician to sneak into the Imperial during rehearsals so he could learn the routines of the magician’s assistants and how the trick worked. Then he slipped out of his seat during the show, went to the assistants’ dressing room, and hid Porter’s inhaler. When she was looking for it, he knocked her out, put on her robe, went on the stage, and used his skill at silent killing to murder Chesterfield. Then