Disappearing Nightly Read Online Free Page B

of them was gold.
    I took a step back. He gave a full-throated laugh, booming and lusty.
    I said, “Magic Magnus, I presume?”
    “The one and only!” He reached across the counter, seized one of my hands and brought it to his lips. “And who might you be, fair wench?”
    “I’m Esther Diamond. I came to get Joe Herlihy’s prop. The crystal cage that—”
    “Ah, yes. You’re the actress who tore the thing apart with her bare hands.”
    “He told you about me?”
    “His wife did.”
    “Oh.”
    “I like a woman with spirit. Are you free Friday evening?”
    “I hope not. I mean—I should be performing then.”
    “And afterward?”
    “Magnus, you overwhelm me.”
    “I have that effect on women.” He smoldered at me.
    “Or it may be the dust.” I sneezed.
    “Sorry about that.”
    “Don’t you ever clean in here?”
    “I had a cleaning woman, but she vanished.”
    “That’s not funny,” I said. “You heard about Golly Gee?”
    He nodded. “Joe swore me to secrecy.”
    “Yeah, we’re trying to keep it out of the papers.”
    “So the official story is that she just ran off?”
    I shrugged. “Or ran amuck.” I leaned forward. “What do you think happened?”
    Magnus shrugged, too, making his tattoos dance. “Who knows? We’re dealing with other realms when we venture into the magical arts. If Friday’s bad for you, how about Sunday?”
    “Magical arts, my foot. It’s mechanics, timing and performance skill. I’m Golly’s understudy. I know how to do every trick she’s involved in.”
    “Trick?” He looked outraged. “Please, love, at least say illusion. ”
    Joe always said that to me, too. I found it pretentious. “Trick, illusion, what’s the difference?”
    “The difference is in perception.” Magnus waved a hand and a little bird appeared, nestled in his palm. It looked ruffled and surprised. “After all, what is a trick, fair one?”
    “I’m a brunette.”
    “It is deceit. It is a fake, a fraud, a hoax.” He folded his fist gently over the little bird and covered the fist with a handkerchief drawn from his pocket. “But an illusion—ah, that is a fantasy, a mirage, a flight of fancy. An illusion is the edge of a dream we cannot enter. It is the essence of imagination, that very quality which makes men different from animals.” He drew away the handkerchief and openedhis fist. The bird was gone. In its place was a lovely crystal wrapped in a fine thread of silver and dangling from a silver chain. “Illusion is the shadow of the world as it might be, if you only believe in it.”
    My mouth was dry. He was much better than Joe. “Why aren’t you performing?” I asked.
    “I used to. Too much traveling.” He hung the chain around my neck. The crystal rested between my breasts.
    “Oh, I can’t accept this. I—”
    “I insist. Wear it and think of Magnus and magic.”
    “But—”
    “At least think about it. If you don’t feel right about keeping it, you can return it. Sunday at dinner, perhaps?”
    I heard footsteps overhead and remembered why I had come here. “I, uh, think I’d better get Joe’s cage.”
    “You’ll want to take a look at it. It’s upstairs. I’ll just—” The phone rang. He smiled apologetically. “This will only take a minute. Excuse me.”
    He exited conventionally, lifting aside the heavy red curtain for a moment and then letting it fall into place behind him.
    The call took more than a minute. After five minutes, I got bored and called, “Magnus? Is it all right if I go upstairs?”
    There was no answer. After calling to him once more without results, I headed for the stairwell at the back of the building. I didn’t need his help to examine the cage, after all. I knew how the thing was supposed to work. I’d give the cage a quick once-over while he was on the phone, then sign any paperwork while it was being carried out to the truck.
    The second floor was even dustier, darker and more chaotic than the showroom. Why did Magnus