Dobson walked over to that aisle. “You were in the theater when Bobby performed the Chamber of Death, right?” Dobson asked.
Jeff and Robin nodded.
“Okay, then. Right before he performs the illusion, Bobby entertained the audience with card tricks. After Bobby finished his card tricks, the lights would go out. Bobby would slip into his priest’s robes while the stagehands set up the pyramid and put a ramp at the end of the aisle the girls used to push the sarcophagus onto the stage.
“There are tunnels under the audience and the stage that I’m going to show you. After the girls changed into their robes, they would go through a tunnel at the back of the stage and end up behind the audience. When the lights went on and Bobby started his spiel, they rolled the sarcophagus down the aisle and up the ramp. As soon as the coffin was on the stage, it was taken off the dolly and placed lengthwise between the walls of the pyramid.”
Dobson led everyone down the aisle and up a set of stairs to the stage. “The dolly would be positioned here,” he said, pointing to a space on the left side of the stage that was very close to the wings. A curtain hung from the ceiling to the floor, blocking the view from the audience. “When Bobby rolled out of the coffin, he would slither into a narrow gap in the front of the dolly. The stage lights were kept very bright, and the rest of the dolly concealed the move from the audience. When Bobby was hidden in the dolly, one of the assistants would push it offstage.”
Dobson led everyone behind the curtain and through a steel door to a set of stairs that led under the stage. Dobson walkeddown the stairs. A dimly lit tunnel led under the audience toward the front of the theater in one direction and the back of the stage in the other direction.
Dobson nodded toward the tunnel that led to the back of the audience. “When the trick worked correctly, the coffin was opened and the audience learned that Bobby wasn’t in it. By that time, Bobby would have run down the tunnel and up a set of stairs at the end of the tunnel. Then he’d reappear behind the audience.”
“Is there an identical set of tunnels on the other side of the theater?” Jeff asked.
“Yes,” Norman Chow said.
“Where does the other tunnel on this side lead?” Robin asked.
“I’ll show you,” Dobson answered as he led the group through the dimly lit concrete tunnel to another set of stairs.
When Robin reached the top, she saw that she was standing near the loading dock. She stared past it to a narrow hall. “What’s in that hall?” she asked.
“The dressing rooms,” Norman Chow answered.
“So,” Robin said, “the killer could have stabbed Mr. Chesterfield, pushed the dolly offstage, run down the tunnel that goes to the back of the stage, run up the steps, dumped Nancy Porter’s robe near the loading dock, and exited the theater.”
“That’s possible,” Norman Chow said.
“Wouldn’t a stagehand see him?” Anders asked.
“It’s possible, but didn’t you find clothes that a stagehand might wear when you found Nancy Porter’s robe?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone is pretty busy during a show, so someone dressed like a stagehand might not have been noticed.”
“What’s on the other side of the loading dock?” Robin asked.
“An alley broad enough for a truck to drive through,” Chow said. “One end leads to Fenimore Street, and the other leads toMarsh. It goes past the alley that runs by the stage door to the street in front of the theater.”
“David Turner could have gone into the tunnel on his side of the aisle after ditching the robe and back to his seat,” Carrie Anders said.
“When would he put on the stagehand clothes?” Jeff asked.
“Maybe never,” Anders answered. “He or his accomplice could have hidden them near the loading dock to make it look like he was wearing them.”
“Or the real killer could have disappeared through the loading dock and got away,” Robin answered.
Anders just smiled.
“How’s that accomplice thing going?” Robin asked.
Anders’s smile faded.
Robin walked past the loading dock and looked into the first dressing room. “Who used this?” she asked.
“Bobby,” Dobson answered.