The Vanished Man

search negative.)
        • Plastic hotel key card, American Plastic Cards, Akron, Ohio. Model APC-42, negative on prints.
            • CEO is searching for sales records.
            • Dets. Bedding and Saul canvassing hotels.
        • Restaurant check from Riverside Inn, Bedford Junction, NY, indicating four people ate lunch, table 12, Saturday, two weeks prior. Turkey, meatloaf, steak, daily special. Soft drinks. Staff doesn’t know who diners were. (Accomplices?)
    • Alley where Conjurer was arrested.
        • Picked the cuff locks.
        • Saliva (picks hidden in mouth).
        • No blood type determined.
        • Small razor saw for getting out of restraints (also hidden in mouth).
    • No indication of Officer Burke’s whereabouts.
    • Harlem River scene:
        • No evidence, except skid marks in mud.
    Profile as Illusionist
    • Perp will use misdirection against victims and in eluding police.
        • Physical misdirection (for distraction).
        • Psychological (to eliminate suspicion).
    • Escape at music school was similar to Vanished Man illusion routine. Too common to trace.
    • Perp is primarily an illusionist.
    • Talented at sleight of hand.
    • Also knows protean (quick change) magic. Will use breakaway clothes, nylon and silk, bald cap, finger cups and other latex appliances. Could be any age, gender or race.
    • Calvert’s death = Selbit’s Cutting a Woman in Half routine.
    • Proficient at lock picking (possibly lock “scrubbing”).
    • Knows escapism techniques.
    • Experience with animal illusions.
    • Used mentalism to get information on victim.
    • Used sleight of hand to drug her.
    • Tried to kill third victim with Houdini escape. Water Torture Cell.
    • Ventriloquism.

Chapter Twenty-two
    Harry Houdini was renowned for his escapism but in fact there were many great escapists who preceded him and many who were his contemporaries.
    What set Houdini apart from all the others was a simple addition to his act: the challenge. A major part of his show involved an invitation to anyone in the town where he was appearing to challenge Houdini to escape from a device or location that the challenger himself provided—maybe a local policeman’s own handcuffs or a cell in the town lockup.
    It was this competitive, man-versus-man element of performing that made Houdini great. He thrived on these challenges.
    And so do I, Malerick now thought, walking into his apartment after his escape from the Harlem River and a bit of reconnaissance work. But he was still badly shaken up by the events that afternoon. When he’d been performing regularly, before the fire, there was often an element of danger in the routines. Real danger. His mentor had beaten into him that if there was no risk how could you possibly hope to engage your audience? There was no sin worse to Malerick than boring those who’d come to be entertained by you. But what a seriesof challenges this particular act had turned out to be; the police were far better than he’d expected. How had they anticipated that he’d target the woman at the riding academy? And where he was going to drown her? Trapping him in the crafts fair then finding him in the Mazda, chasing him again—getting so close that he’d had to send the car into the river and get away in a very narrow escape. Challenges were one thing—but he was now feeling paranoid. He wanted to do more preparation for his next routine but he decided to stay in his apartment until the last minute.
    Besides, there was something else that he needed to do now. Something for himself—not for his revered audience. He drew the shades of his apartment and placed a candle on the mantelpiece, next to a small inlaid wooden box. He struck a match and lit the candle. Then sat on the rough cloth of the cheap sofa. He controlled his breathing. Inhaled slowly, exhaled.
    Slowly, slowly, slowly. . . .
    Concentrating on the flame, drifting into a meditation.
    Throughout its history the art of magic has been divided into two schools. First, there are the sleight-of-hand artists, the prestidigitators, the jugglers, the illusionists—people who entertain their audiences with dexterity and physical skill.
    The second school of magic is far more controversial: the practice of the occult. Even in this scientific era some practitioners contend that they actually possess supernatural powers to read minds and move