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“Okay, Pro,” Chu said, defeated. “See you at 6:00.”
Pro shut down her phone and stood in the hall trying to contain her emotions.
So this was how it ended.
Her father had come into town, and in four days she went from being a rising star to having to resign.
Because of him.
She took a deep breath and called her mother’s cell phone.
“Hey, Pro, I was just talking about—”
“Mom, I have to resign.” She felt like the entire weight of the world was on her heart.
“What?” Elisha gasped. “Why?”
“It was Max,” Pro said, as she fought to keep control. “The video of his escape stunt was just on the news. It’s going viral.”
“It got a disease?”
“No, Mom, it’s going all over the internet.” She gave a bitter laugh as a tear rolled down her cheek. “He’ll be more famous than he ever was. I guess that was what he was after. My career be damned.”
“Honey, I don’t think your father would want this to happen. You’ve worked so hard.”
“Well, I am going to solve this case. Momma, can you bring those papers I left at your place to me? I hate to take you from work—”
“Honey, I’m the head of the design department. I can take off as much time as I want. Give me your address and I’ll get them for you.”
Pro reeled off Malcolm Shaut’s address, and her mother said a few soothing words, but Pro was still too upset to really hear them.
She ended the phone call, checked to make sure the door to Mister Shaut’s office was closed, and allowed the tears to fall.
888
A half hour later, a taxi pulled up in front of the building. Pro walked briskly down the stairs to meet her mother.
Elisha stepped out of the cab with the box of items. She took one look at her daughter and pulled out several tissues as the cab pulled away.
Pro took them gratefully and blew her nose. “I must look terrible.”
“You look fine. Your eyes are a bit red, but you’re fine,” Elisha said, and pulled her daughter into an embrace. At first Pro was hesitant, but then hugged her mother bac
k.
Elisha pulled back and handed Pro the box. “I put both sets of papers in them. I also left Max’s credit cards and driver’s license and his phone that was in there.”
“Thanks, Momma,” Pro said. She actually did feel better, and sensed her self-control was back in place.
“Believe me, when this is all done, your father is going to get a strong talking to from me.”
“I never want to see him again,” Pro seethed. “Except in a cell.”
“You figure out this case, and maybe it will all make sense.”
“None of it makes sense, Momma,” Pro pointed out. “You have plans for this magic trick someone is trying to sell, then three murdered magicians, two who own stores and one that—I don’t know what the heck he did.”
“Unless he was murdered for another reason,” Elisha suggested.
