Judge Washington didn’t like taking a recess so early in the proceedings, but she had recognized Stanley Cloud. “Will fifteen minutes be sufficient?” the judge asked.
“It should be.”
Robin hurried into the hall as soon as the judge left the bench. She found Stanley waiting for her at the end of the corridor that ran in front of the courtroom.
“What’s so important?”
Stanley handed Robin the police report that set out Titus Atkinson’s statement. A yellow Post-it was glued to it. The message on the Post-it read:NO TIME!!!
“What does this mean?” Robin asked.
“I asked Regina. She wrote it when she was reading the discovery, but she can’t remember why. She’s very upset because she obviously thought it was very important. She reread the report but drew a blank.”
Robin concentrated on Atkinson’s statement, but she couldn’t see anything important enough to warrant three exclamationpoints. Had Regina’s dementia made her see something that wasn’t there?
“Did you read this?” she asked Stanley.
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Okay. I’ve got to—” Robin stopped dead and reread the interview. Then she broke into a grin. “The boss is still the Sorceress. You tell her that for me,” Robin said before racing back to the courtroom.
“Detective Anders, before the Chamber of Death finale, wasn’t Mr. Chesterfield onstage by himself performing card tricks?”
“Yes.”
“And before the card tricks, Mr. Chesterfield made Sheila Monroe, one of his assistants, levitate and float above the stage?”
“Yes.”
“During that illusion, Nancy Porter and Maria Rodriguez, the other assistants, were also onstage, weren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“And all three assistants were dressed in costumes that they did not wear during the finale?”
“Yes.”
“Did Miss Porter tell you that she put the inhaler on her dressing table before going onstage for the levitation act?”
“Yes.”
“But she couldn’t find it when she came back during the card trick routine to change for the Chamber of Death?”
“Yes.”
“So the killer must have moved the inhaler during the levitation illusion?”
“That sounds right.”
“Okay. Now, Titus Atkinson was sitting directly behind Mr. Turner, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And he saw Mr. Turner leave his seat?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it true that Mr. Atkinson told you that Mr. Turner was in front of him during the show up until Mr. Chesterfield began to demonstrate the card tricks in the act preceding the finale?”