His eyes opened in disbelief, head shaking in denial.
Were the drugs wearing off?
She put the crossbow into the small of his back. Gingerly, he put one foot on the wooden planks, and the suspension bridge moved beneath him. He gripped the handrails. Mallory prodded him again, and he moved forward. The wooden planks swayed with every step. He froze to make the motion stop, and Mallory shifted her weight to make the bridge move again.
„All right!“ He edged forward.
When they were over the center of the stage, Mallory said, „Stop here.“ She looked down at the floorboards. A glass coffin rested on the long black table. Futura was standing by a microphone as the six assistants carried a burlap dummy in the fashion of tap-dancing pallbearers. Recorded music blared out of amplifiers in the wings. It was a second-rate show tune she could not name.
„Canned music and chorus boys,“ muttered Prado. „Franny hired chorus boys.“
He gripped the rails and lowered his head to look down. She had not expected him to do that. The thing that terrified him also fascinated him. „That dummy is all that’s left of a beautiful illusion. Franny wanted to use a pumpkin for the demonstration. Can you imagine that?“
„So you did help him with the act.“ She had caught the false notes in his voice, a catch in the throat as he made a hash of forced bravado. She studied his face and found it wanting in terror. How many pills had he taken to get him through the hangman illusion?
„You should’ve told Emile you were afraid of heights. He wouldn’t have asked you to do his act.“
„I am not afraid – “
She shifted her weight to rock the catwalk from side to side. Prado’s hands wrapped around the rail in a death grip. His eyes were wider now, looking down with the expression of someone witnessing a train wreck in the making. In his mind, he was already falling.
On the stage below, the cloth dummy lay inside the coffin, and Franny Futura was separating the halves of the glass box to expose the midriff of burlap. The pendulum began to move, lowering as it swung. She could barely hear the well-oiled clockwork gears running up the base in a flow of wheels, levers and springs to operate the swing and fall of the crescent razor.
Prado’s jaw was locked; he spoke through closed teeth. „No sign of Malakhai.“
„He’s here.“ Her eyes searched a backstage cluster of workmen and stagehands. Malakhai would not risk a shot from the wings.
Prado’s smile was grim, almost sickly. Delusions of grandeur were warring with the fear of falling. His sedatives were robbing her. This was not the full-blown phobia, not all the fear she wanted. Mallory made the bridge sway, but only a little this time. When she had his attention, the movement stopped. She was teaching him rat-lab protocol. If he did as he was told, she would not terrify him – much.
Below her, the pendulum was picking up speed as the arc of the razor widened. „I thought Emile was the one who told Malakhai how his wife really died. But I was wrong about that, wasn’t I? You got to him first.“ She shook the bridge and Prado reacted a bit faster this time.
His nod was exaggerated, saying, Yes, whatever you like.
„After the war, you wanted Malakhai to kill Futura. That would’ve tied up your only loose end for Louisa’s murder.“
The pendulum had sunk to the level of the coffin. Four of the chorus boys were dancing and flapping their scarlet capes in a circle around the magician in the tuxedo. Two of them covered the separated halves of the glass coffin with drapes, hiding all but the cloth dummy’s midsection.
Mallory leaned close to Prado, knowing he’d never release his hold on the rail to go for her weapon. „Futura was born frightened, wasn’t he? He read Oliver’s invitation and nearly lost his mind. I’ve got the phone records,“ she lied. „I know he talked it over with you.“
Had she guessed wrong this time? Between the drugs and the fear of falling, his face was unreadable. Mallory waited until he had taken a few deep breaths. „I know you planned Oliver’s murder.“ She could not be wrong about that part. „And I know you did it just to make a motive for this one. That’s your style, too complex, too messy – still plotting like an idiot teenager.“
Prado seemed genuinely indignant. „I never killed – “
She shifted her weight again. The bridge moved with a wider pitch. His face was flushed, and his breathing was fast and shallow. When she was done with his punishment for lying, she stopped rocking her body. „So it takes two murders to cover up what you did to Louisa? You couldn’t afford to let her run that night, not with your forged documents. You had to come up with a way to kill her in Paris.“
„Franny killed Louisa!“
She rocked the bridge again, and he sank to his knees, his hands still wrapped around the rails, eyes shut tight.
„Everyone was in danger,“ he said. „Emile was – “
She rocked the bridge with violence, making it swing from side to side. His eyes opened and rolled back to solid whites.
„No, Prado. St. John has the reputation of a cop with good instincts. He always knew Louisa was a risk, a hunted woman. He never gave up any secrets. You did. First you tried to scare Futura. And he wanted to run away, didn’t he? That’s when you told him Louisa would betray St. John if the Germans got her alive.“
Prado moaned, and she made the bridge sway again. When he was at the point of vomiting his dinner, she stopped the movement.
„Then you sent Futura into that back room to kill a woman who was crying and wounded and helpless. You told him it was going to be so easy, a quick job – just hold the pillow over her face.“ What did Futura know about killing? What did any of them know? They were only boys. „When Louisa fought back, that must have scared him out of his mind. Two frightened people, one killing the other.“ Pure terror for both of them. And right outside – German soldiers at the door.
The pendulum was swinging between the glass boxes. The sawdust was flying in both directions. Mallory shook the bridge again, then stopped to stare at the spreading wetness on Prado’s crotch. He stank of urine.
„Get up!“
Prado was slow to stand. His head was bowed to hide the humiliation in his face.
„Futura didn’t kill her to save his own skin,“ said Mallory. „He would’ve run away if he felt threatened. I know his type.“ The lesson of urban warfare – rabbits run. „So when fear didn’t work – then you exposed St. John. You cut it close. The Germans were there – no time to think. Maybe you reminded him that Malakhai’s wife had a bad record for betrayal. And then that terrified little man marched into the back room and killed Louisa. He probably cried while he was doing it. Poor bastard. He thought he was doing the right thing – a brave thing.“
When Prado finally raised his face to hers, he was putting on a good show of composure. „But Franny did kill Louisa. Don’t you wonder why Malakhai waited so long for his revenge?“ He held this out in the air between them, as though it were his chip to withhold or bargain with.
„No deal, Prado. I already know.“
The pendulum was rising again, and the arc was narrowing as it withdrew behind the cover of the curtain’s valance.
„After you told Malakhai what really happened to his wife, it must have driven you nuts when he didn’t kill Futura – when Malakhai forgave him for Louisa’s murder.“ She watched his eyes for an indication that she had made an error, but he was genuinely stunned. „Then Oliver was murdered, and that changed everything. Malakhai felt responsible – you made sure of that. That’s why Malakhai tried to shoot Futura during the parade.“