The Monolith Murders Read Online Free Page B

women. In an instant they both disappeared. There was no camouflaging smoke, no bombardment of flashing lights; nothing to disturb or alter the audience’s clear view of what was happening on the stage.
    Suddenly caught up with the same emotion that the audience was exhibiting, Fred said, “I can’t believe it, I saw it but I still can’t believe it.”  
    Maureen said, “I knew you would be impressed but you kept bitching about going to the show all week long.”
    At that moment the two girls suddenly appeared at the back of the theater and ran down the center aisle toward the stage giggling all the way.
    After the show, audience members were invited to greet the Great Leslie in person.
    “Let’s go Fred, I want to meet him.”
    “I really don’t want to.”
    “Then I’ll go by myself.”
    Fred didn’t respond as he reluctantly followed behind Maureen to the stage.
    Leslie said, “Fred, I seem to remember your picture in the papers a few years back as the person who captured that mass murder, Donna Lang.”  
    “Yes, that’s correct.”
    “Let me shake your hand. My best friend was one of her numerous victims; if I can ever help you in anything at all, let me know.”
    “Sure, I’ll keep that in mind,” Fred said insincerely. Fred couldn’t imagine how a magician, even as good as he was, could ever help out in a police lieutenant’s investigation.
    Fred could see that Leslie was immediately infatuated with Maureen’s beauty; in a short time the two were engaged in an animated conversation.  
    As the two of them were occupied, Fred went into the area behind the stage to view a complex array of magical contraptions. Fred decided to first investigate the Death by Sword prop where Leslie’s assistant had been enclosed in a horizontal box and Leslie proceeded to, one by one, put several swords into pre-drilled slots. From Fred’s distant seat in the auditorium it had appeared that there was no way his assistant could have survived the assault of the swords. Fred started to raise the box’s lid; Leslie yelled, “Please don’t do that, you might get injured. Please—do your own magic tricks at home! ”
    Fred wandered over to the area where the two girls had mysteriously disappeared. There was no trap door, just an open stage in full view of the audience.
    Before Fred left the stage, he said, “Leslie, I know you won’t tell me, but let me ask you anyway. How in hell did you accomplish the disappearing tricks?”
    “Remember, Fred, in magic tricks as in politics, the key is always to divert your audience’s attention into a different direction while you execute the deed.”
    “That doesn’t help a hell of a lot,” Fred said.
    “Not now perhaps, but who knows, maybe someday that advice will help you.”
    The next morning Maureen asked Fred if he had determined how the disappearing acts had been accomplished.  
    “Maybe if I had more time, but no not yet—hell, maybe he is magic.”
    Maureen laughed and said, “Great damn detective you are.” She kissed him on the cheek. She loved him most when he seemed to be the most vulnerable. Lately that seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

 
    Chapter 5
     
    That evening, Maureen looked out into the darkening gloom of her front yard from her living room’s large picture window. She religiously avoided looking out that window whenever the sky started to darken. But when a couple of her dinner guests had protested that she should fully open her drapes to allow Florida’s cool evening air to seep into the house, she had reluctantly acquiesced.  
    Maureen was a much sought after practicing clinical psychologist; and in that role she couldn’t admit to anyone other than Fred that she, of all people, was troubled by a childhood fear. It was the continuous dread of the deep dark night, and with it her perceived fear of the existence of a ubiquitous swarm of imaginary creatures that might be lurking there. She knew that many people in her