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“It’s been a crazy morning. I haven’t seen him yet.”
“Good! Because I think we can close this case right now.”
“I am only doing this because you’re my partner,” Chu protested.
“That’s good enough for me,” Pro said and hung up. She passed Ninth Avenue and strode up the block toward the brownstone. Her hand slipped into her jacket to touch her sidearm and reassure herself that it was there.
She reached the correct address and looked up the concrete stairs that rose up before her. Like the rest of Shaut’s building, they looked freshly painted and clean.
Pro stood waiting for her partner, who couldn’t be very far away. Her eyes went to the wrought-iron fence that surrounded the front of the building and was about waist-high. Behind it there was a door on street level. Pro decided that it must have been the basement, as one had to ascend the stairs to reach the first floor.
From her angle, she noticed that the door wasn’t quite closed. It couldn’t really be seen from out front or on the street, but from her angle it was noticeable.
She glanced down the block to see Chu as he approached. He was wearing a brown blazer with khaki pants. She waited until he drew near.
“Are we going up and ringing the bell?” asked Chu. “Or are we just going to stand outside and wait?”
Pro put her extended index finger to her lips and Chu quieted immediately. She pointed at the basement door, and Chu went up a couple of steps to view it. He returned and whispered, “You noticed the door was open?”
“He might have an intruder,” Pro murmured. “One that has no problem with locks.”
“Should we let Shaut know?” Chu asked quietly.
“Let’s see if anyone is in there. We have probable cause to suspect there is a burglar.”
“Or Shaut forgot to close the door.”
They moved as a unit up to the iron fence. Pro lifted the latch soundlessly, and the pair moved through it. She carefully closed it, and they advanced to frame each side of the door. Chu was on the side that opened, so he cautiously grabbed the knob, gave it a very gentle pull, and it opened a crack.
Both detectives pulled their service weapons and pointed them up at the sky. Chu gave a nod, yanked the door open, and as he went low, Pro went high, and they both shouted “NYPD” as they burst into the room.
It was indeed a workshop with machines around the room. Pro recognized a lathe and table saw, and she also saw large work benches to set up projects.
Directly in front of the two officers were two large glass prisms on slowly rotating platforms. And Max Martin, aka Max Marvell, stood between them with his hands raised in surrender.
“Ah!” Max smiled. “You found the same clue I did!”
“Don’t move!” Chu said, his weapon still pointed at the magician.
“Of course not!” Max replied. “This is what I was talking about! You see, Shaut was stealing my trick and he killed the others to stop them from getting it. You need to arrest him.”
“Arrest him?” Chu said and glanced over at his partner with a look that suggested Max had lost his mind.
Pro lowered her weapon and returned it to her holster, and then extracted her handcuffs from a pocket. “Look, Max, he got a couple of crystal thingamajigs on some platforms; that proves nothing. We’ll press him about the murders, but right now we need to arrest you!”
“Me?” Max said. “But this proves he’s the killer. He was building Prism!”
“Max, put your hands behind your back,” Pro said as she approached her father. “Once we have you locked up, we will talk to Shaut.”
She pulled Max’s hands behind him and fastened the cuffs.
“You don’t understand,” Max whined as the metal was slid around his wrists.
“Actually, we do, Mister Martin,” Chu said as he holstered his weapon. “You are an escaped fugitive and a flight risk.”
Pro moved back to Chu to speak in quiet tones. “One of us should stay here and keep an eye on the place, to make sure Shaut doesn’t go anywhere.”
“You take Max to the precinct. He’ll be more cooperative with you.”
