Psych: Mind Over Magic

Chapter Twenty-Five

Shawn and Gus stood outside the Outer Space showroom, watching the exiting crowd, who were clearly stunned by the brilliant illusion they’d just seen. Shawn shook his head in amazement.

“All these people looking like they’ve just seen a miracle,” Shawn said. “If they knew what we know, they’d tear the place to pieces.”

“But they never will,” Gus said, looking around nervously. “Or Benny Fleck will have us torn to pieces.”

“Worse than that,” Shawn said. “He’ll revoke our lifetime buffet pass.”

“Which wouldn’t be an issue if you hadn’t asked for that instead of cash for solving the case,” Gus said.

Because the case was solved. Once Major Voges had been booked for murder, it didn’t take long to get the rest of the truth from her. Doug Firrell was an amateur magician who dreamed of going pro, but could never come up with an illusion big enough to take him beyond the children’s birthday party circuit. When the stick-on TV technology came through their office for approval, he came up with the idea for P’tol P’kah.

The one drawback to the act was that it required a second person. Firrell turned to his coworker and lover, Holly Voges. She’d been reluctant to join him, but once she saw how eager Benny Fleck was to throw money at them, she became an enthusiastic participant.

But never as enthusiastic as Firrell. And as the act became more popular, he seemed to lose all grasp on reality. She tried to remind him that the technology of the tank had to be approved sooner or later, that they couldn’t keep up their double life forever. But he refused to consider giving up the act.

They began to fight, and Firrell began to change. He wasn’t the same sweet guy she’d fallen in love with. Instead, he’d become arrogant and smug. The last straw for Voges was when she “materialized” in the showroom to find him groping some tattooed spacegirl.

She’d had enough, and she was putting an end to the act. P’tol P’kah was going to disappear for good, and the two of them were going back to Washington. He begged her to reconsider, and when she wouldn’t, he tried to persuade her into letting him continue with a new partner. But she wanted their old lives back. If he didn’t give up the act, she was going to reveal the truth and let them both face the consequences.

Finally he agreed. All he wanted in return was the chance to do one show at the Fortress of Magic to amaze his peers before he gave it all up. She had no idea that he’d rather be dead than go back to Washington-or that he really intended to go out like Houdini in a tank of water on stage. But there was no other possible explanation for what happened to him. He must have set the latch so he would plummet into the water instead of the cabinet, and in the seconds when the tank was obscured by the video image, he burst his balloon suit, hid the scraps in the giant boots he left at the bottom, and inhaled a lungful of water. When the police finally drained the tank, they found exactly what she predicted in the boots.

That night she fled, terrified at what had happened. But she was quickly consumed with guilt and realized that she had to protect his secret, his legacy, no matter what it cost her. Even if it meant murdering Augie Balustrade.

She was willing to confess to all of it and spend the rest of her life in prison on one condition-that the truth never be revealed.

That condition was quickly granted by Judge Albert Moore of the Superior Court for the State of California, and Benny Fleck also persuaded him to restrain anyone involved in the case from ever disclosing the secret of the Dissolving Man. He made a quick deal with the owners of the stick-on TV technology for exclusive rights until it was certified for sale by the FCC-a process that was even slower now that half the office involved in its approval was dead and the other half in jail.

All Fleck needed after that was two people to fill the suits. Shawn and Gus declined the offer graciously and Fleck turned to the two magicians nearest him.

Shawn nudged Gus as a cocktail waitress sheathed in silver came out of the showroom. Her arms were bare except for the brightly colored snakes running up and down them. She came over to Shawn and Gus.

“Nice addition, turning up in the showroom as a cocktail waitress after you get out of the tank,” Shawn said.

“I need to keep an eye on Rudge,” Jessica said. “He’s not too steady coming down from the ceiling. Besides, I like the applause.”

“And your husband?” Gus asked.

“I like him, too,” Jessica said. “Especially now that I can perform in public without jeopardizing our social standing.”

She gave them a smile, then let herself be carried off in the crowd.

“Amazing,” Gus said. “That really ended up working out well for everyone.”

“Yeah,” Shawn said. “It’s just like magic.”