Deadly Magic (2 page)

Grace quickly describ
ed the scene with Louisa. “You’re more than welcome to get it yourself.”

“
No, thanks.” Valerie shook her head. “That’s it, Grace. I can’t take it anymore.”

“
You said that last month. And the month before. What does Straker want you to do now? The show has already started.”

“
Wrong Straker,” she said as way of explanation. “She’s driving me crazy.”

“
Lily?” Grace guessed. “She is over three thousand miles away. How could she possibly be driving you crazy?”

Valerie
rolled her eyes and grimaced. “She called me at three o’clock in the morning a couple of nights ago. She wanted me to find Michel Dupis' phone number and address. She’s planning a party and he absolutely must come.” Valerie adopted a fake southern accent, “Darling, I absolutely must have him here. Darling, I absolutely must have my favorite pair of riding boots, please ship them immediately. Darling, I absolutely must go to Oktoberfest, please arrange my transportation. Oh, I decided not to go to Oktoberfest. Tourists are such a pain this time of year. I really need to go to London. Would you be a dear and take care of the arrangements? Oh, darling, I changed my mind about London, I have something else I need you to do” she mimicked. “Ugh. I can’t do it, Grace. I have had it,” she said, her voice rising with every word.

Grace nodd
ed sympathetically. “Just calm down. I’m sure it won’t be forever. Weren’t you just telling me there’s trouble in paradise? I mean look, it’s his birthday, and his wife is living it up in Paris. Sounds like trouble if you ask me.”

It was a
well-known secret, gossiped among the office denizens in front of the water cooler that the boss’ marriage was on the rocks. Lily Straker spent more time abroad recently than at home. Not that anyone could blame her, Franklin Straker, wasn’t an easy man to work for, Grace couldn’t imagine being married to him. An uncontrolled shiver raced down her spine at the thought.

“
I am not her secretary!” Valerie said still seething. “I am not her travel agent!”

“
I know. I know,” Grace responded automatically, trying to think of a way to console her friend.

“
I’m quitting.” At Grace’s surprised look, Valerie added, “I think I’m going to move back to Texas.”

“
But—”

“
No, I know what you are going to say. It’s going to get better, but you’re wrong. It’s not going to get better. I can take Franklin. I know it’s going to come as a complete shock to you, but she is a thousand times worse than he is.”

Grace flash
ed back to various office meetings she had attended in the last ten years where someone had spontaneously quit, was fired, or just ended up sobbing openly at the conference table. “I don’t think that’s possible. Lily always seems so nice.”

“
It’s the southern accent. Trust me. The woman is not nice. Her own family won’t even speak to her.”

“
In that case, maybe they’re more of a match than we thought,” Grace thought tapping her finger against her lips, trying to decide whether to change her bet in the office pool. Maybe fifty on the marriage lasting over five years would be the better move.

“They’re perfect for each other. He’s not going to leave her. It doesn’t matter what she does. He loves her,” she said bitterly. “I’ve already called my family in Texas. My brother can get me a position at his company.”

“
Moving? How can you move? What about that new guy you are dating?”

Valerie
sighed. “He was a bigger creep than my ex. Look, I’m sorry to be unloading on you like this. Why don’t you go back to the theater? Are you here with Simon?”

“
No. Simon and I are over.”

“
Well, that didn’t take too long. What was it this time?”

“
We just didn’t have anything in common.” At Valerie’s disbelieving look, Grace added. “It was completely mutual.”

“
Uh huh. Why do you seem so happy then?” Valerie asked suspiciously.

“
I decided to take your advice. Take the bull by the horns, so to speak. Remember mister tall, dark, and handsome across the street?” Grace didn’t have to give any more detail. Both of them had spent the last few months spying on him from Valerie’s office window.

Valerie
nodded her head.

“
I met him last night. Turns out he doesn’t live very far from me. I saw him jogging in that little park near my apartment. So, I decided to take your advice.”

Valerie
readjusted her platinum blonde wig. “What advice was that?”

“
Stop spying and go speak to him.”

“
And you did?”

“
We ended up running at the same time and somehow bumped into each other,” she said innocently.

Valerie
smirked. “What a coincidence.”

“
Yes, it was,” Grace agreed with a smile. “His name is Ethan Martin. He’s an attorney and he works at Baker, Corbett, and Strand next door to our office.”

Valerie
shook her head. “Grace, why in the world would you take any advice on relationships from me? You’ve met my ex-husband.”

“
You will absolutely love him, Valerie, but not too much. Like I said before, I saw him first,” she added quickly.

“
There you are,” Allen said, coming up to stand next to Grace. “Mr. Straker’s been looking for you. He wants to know if you’ve found Valerie, yet,” Allen said smiling. “Luckily, I can report back that you were here chatting away and that—I—found her.” Turning to Valerie, he gestured back to the theater. “Mr. Straker wants you.”

“She already
told me that, Allen.” Valerie ran her eyes over his costume. A look of confusion covered her face. “What are you supposed to be?”

“It should be obvious, Valerie,” he said with a sneer.

Grace tilted her head. “Yeah, you’re the King of the Roaches, right?”

Allen
rolled his eyes. “I’m not surprised that you don’t know.”

“Don’t be silly, Grace. He looks more like a
. . .” Valerie screwed her face up as she tilted it to the side. “A seventies space muppet?”

Allen
shook his head. “Unbelievable. The incompetence that I have to work with,” he muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. He looked down his nose at both of them. “I’m Marty the Martian King.”

Grace and Valerie exchang
ed confused glances, which just seemed to infuriate him even more.

“
Marty the Martian King! He’s world renown. He’s a movie star.”

“Really? Who play
ed him?” Valerie asked.

Allen
opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. “No one played him. He could clearly be seen sitting on the shelf above Clara Hart’s head in the 1912 silent masterpiece
All My Horses Were Dogs
.”

“Oh,” they said in unison, slowly nodding their heads.

“The very first toy produced by the Straker Toy Company in 1910,” he clarified. “It’s the toy that launched our company. You know the one which pays both of your salaries.”

“Oh! That Marty
the Martian King,” Grace said, nodding her head vigorously.

Valerie smil
ed at her. “And here I thought he was Henry the VIII.”

“Well, it’s easy to confuse them,” Grace said. “They were so much alike.”

Allen closed his eyes. “You’ve both worked for this company for ten years, how could you not know who Marty the Martian King was? At least I came prepared to represent the company. What are you two supposed to be? A cowgirl and a movie star. Neither of which have anything to do with the company.”

Valerie point
ed a long manicured finger at his chest. “I’ll have you know that I came as Marilyn Monroe because she used to play with . . .” she said, glancing at Grace for help.

“Our Luna Lulu doll.”

“Yes. Thank you. Our Luna Lulu doll. It was one of her favorites.”

Allen
’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “That’s quite impressive considering the Luna Lulu doll didn’t come out until a year after Marilyn died.” Disgusted, he shook his head, before turning to Grace. “What about you? What are you supposed to be?”

“Ranger Ricky.”

“Ranger Ricky was a boy doll,” he said slowly, “and a dog.”

“This is my interpretation of Ranger Ricky if he was a girl
and human.”

“
Where’s your badge?”

“I’m on a special super-secret assignment.”

“What about your gun?”

Grace placed a hand on the hilt of her plastic toy gun.
“Right here.”

“Ranger Ricky came with a colt
45. That is a water pistol.” He leaned over and inspected the gun. “It’s not even one of ours. We have twenty different plastic guns in the toy store downstairs. Why couldn’t you have used one of them?”

Grace open
ed her mouth to respond when she was gently pushed from behind. She took a few steps forward and turned around. A woman dressed as a vampire muttered a hurried “excuse me” as she passed by on her way to the restrooms. More and more people were milling around the lobby. “Is it intermission, already?” Grace asked in disappointment.

“It just start
ed.” Allen turned on his heel and headed back down the hallway. He took five steps before turning back around and adding, “Oh, by the way, I had a nice little chat with your boyfriend in there. He’s really nice. He was looking for you, too. I didn’t know where you were, so I found a pretty magician’s assistant to help him. She was very friendly and extremely attractive. I bet they would make a nice couple. They seemed to really hit it off.”

Ignoring
Allen’s taunt, Grace turned back to Valerie. “I better go find Ethan. I wouldn’t want him to get lost around here.

Valerie
looked at Grace curiously. “Why is Allen limping?”

Grace shrugg
ed innocently as she made her way down the hall.

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠

Grace swore to herself silently as she closed the theater’s doors. Ethan wasn’t sitting where she had left him, which means Allen may have been telling the truth. She hates it when he does that. It always throws her completely off-guard. It’s just easier to believe he’s always lying than to have to figure out when he’s telling the truth and when he’s not.

Turning
, she went back into the hallway and made her way back to the lobby, straining her neck in order to catch sight of her date. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a figure in a black suit and grey fedora walking past the bar, a purple-sequined blonde in a top hat and fishnet stockings at his side.

She
took two steps toward the bar when a bony hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, halting her in her tracks.

“Gracie,” Louisa said, breathing heavily. “I need your help.”

Grace inwardly groaned as she turned toward her company’s vice president.

“Hurry. Follow me,” she said, dragging Grace across the lobby to a door marked
employees only
.

With her hand on the
doorknob, Louisa carefully looked around before opening the door. She motioned for Grace to follow, but Grace stubbornly shook her head. She knew Louisa well enough to know that if they were caught sneaking backstage, Louisa would lay the blame squarely at her feet. When Grace pointed to the sign on the door, Louisa blew out a frustrated breath. “It’s okay, Grace. Daniel’s planning a big surprise for Daddy and Daddy wants to know what it is.”

“Then just ask Daniel.”

Louisa rolled her eyes. She looked dangerously close to stomping her foot. “Daniel won’t tell me and Daddy wants to know. Do you want me to go back to him and tell him that you refused to help me?”

Grace quickly calculated how long she could survive on her savings before landing another job. “After you,” she said with a curt nod.

CHAPTE
R TWO

It was eerie
backstage. At least that’s where Grace assumed she was stumbling through. Louisa had abandoned her only a few minutes after passing from the lobby through the door, muttering something about her husband and whores. She followed Louisa down a hallway and into a warehouse of equipment and boxes. Coming to a door marked
stage
, she suddenly ordered Grace to stand by the door and wait for Daniel or the “surprise” to walk past, before walking back through the hallway and disappearing around the corner.

Waiting for what seemed like an eternity, but was more than likely no longer tha
n thirty seconds, Grace decided to head back to the lobby, before she was caught hanging around backstage. She lost her way when she ducked behind a row of costumes to avoid a group of stagehands moving equipment toward the back of the stage. That was ten minutes ago.

She paus
ed and frowned unhappily at the scene in front of her. It was like a maze. Every time she turned a corner, thinking she was coming to the end, she would find another row of costumes or huge boxes blocking her way.

Cocking her head to the
side, she could barely make out voices coming from her left. Unfortunately, her left was blocked by a series of dresses.

Moving the costumes to the side prov
ed too difficult. After spending ten minutes trying to navigate through a maze of horrors, Grace decided she had no pride left. All she wanted was to get out of here without somehow landing on stage. Dropping to her knees, she crawled through the rack of clothes. Moving a smelly red cape out of the way, she rolled out into what appeared to be a central aisle. To her delight, an exit door was at the end of the aisle. Grace didn’t know whether to break down and cry or shout for joy, but before she could do either, she had to move past a particularly disturbing dummy with its empty smile and dead eyes.

Grace held her breath and pick
ed up her pace until she was safely past the horrible thing.

Her breath coming in a rush
, she stealthily crept down the central aisle, passing a series of doors on her right.

“
Stop!”

Grace’s heart sank.
Feeling completely foolish, an apology ready to burst forth, she turned around and looked back at an empty hallway.

Grace look
ed around for whoever yelled at her to stop, but beside the hideous dummy, she was alone.

Warily, she crept forward, heart pounding like a jackhammer.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Grace
turned around. The room was empty. The voice was coming from the room right next to her and obviously wasn’t speaking to her. Grace breathed a sigh of relief. She could just imagine the humiliation of being thrown out of Straker’s birthday party for trespassing backstage.

Pivoting
, she started to walk back to the exit. Reaching out to turn the handle, Grace stopped suddenly the hair on the back of her arms standing up.

Standing up straighter
, she slowly turned back around, straining to hear. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was that stopped her. She heard something.

Something fell.
Something loud and hard.

Grace made her way back to the door and press
ed her ear next to the wood. She could barely make out the sound of sobbing. “Please, it’s over between us . . . I did what you wanted . . . You’re hurting me!”

Hearing enough, Grace grabb
ed the doorknob. It wouldn’t budge.

Closing her
eyes, she began to pound on the door. Whatever was happening, hopefully she could stop it from going any further. When the pounding seemed to have no effect, Grace leaned forward and pressed her ear to the door.

Complete silence.

“I know you’re in there, so open up,” she said, resuming her pounding.

She was hitting the door so loudly she didn’t realize someone had come up behind her until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Turning around she found herself face to face with a pretty blonde in a purple sequined waistcoat, fishnet stockings, and bow tie.

“
Hello,” she said smiling. “I’m sorry, but you can’t be back here.”

Grace quickly explain
ed what she had heard.

Concern
ed, the blonde reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. Opening the door, she stepped into the room with Grace close on her heels.

They walk
ed into a man’s dressing room. If Grace had to guess, just by the lavish way it was decorated, she would have said it was Ilya Dragovich’s dressing room. It was elaborately decorated with performance pictures of the magician in question, vintage posters of famous magicians, and several dangerous looking swords and daggers hanging on each wall. One wall contained a large built-in bookcase displaying several leather bound books, various trinkets from around the world, and a severed head. The opposite wall contained a simple dressing table, dressing screen and a large arboretum with several small white doves. A small settee and matching chair sat in the center of the room. The only living thing in the room was the birds.

“
There’s no one here,” the blonde said.

“
I’m telling you there was someone here just a few seconds ago.” At the blonde’s disbelieving look, Grace added, “I swear someone was in here.”

“
Well, no one’s here now and you can’t be here, so let me get you back to your seat,” she said, motioning for Grace to proceed her out of the room.

Sighing
, Grace walked out and headed to the exit.

“
Oh, not that way.” The blonde said while locking the door. “That will take you back out the alley. Trust me you don’t want to go that way. I accidently got locked out one day. Scary and it was in complete daylight, too. Besides, it’s storming outside. You’ll get wet. Just follow me. I’ll take you back to the lobby.”

Doing as she was told, Grace follow
ed the other woman back down the center aisle.

“
What were you doing back here anyway?” the assistant asked.

Grace decided to be honest.
“I have no idea.”

The blonde looked at her in confusion, but didn’t comment.
“Papa would be furious if he found out anyone was back here, so we’ll just sneak you back out. Try not to look at anything.”

Easier said than done.
“Who’s your dad?”

“
Oh, I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself. I’m Belle Dragovich. Ilya Dragovich’s daughter,” she said holding out her hand.

Grace shook the other woman’s hand.
“I had no idea he had children.”

“
Yeah, we’re one of his greatest secrets. He was always worried about kidnapping and such when we were kids.” Belle moved aside a rack of clothes to reveal a door marked
Stage
. “He’s finally loosened up some.”

Grace froze.
“Wait, I don’t want to go on stage.”

“
Don’t worry. This is a side door.”

Not completely convinc
ed, Graced leaned forward, but jumped back when the door suddenly swung inward and Lily Straker walked through wearing a pink robe. “Mrs. Straker!”

“
Glenda!”

Close enough.

“I didn’t know you were in town.”

“
It’s supposed to be a surprise for Franklin’s birthday,” Lily Straker stammered. “You shouldn’t be back here.”

Belle reach
ed for Grace’s hand. “I was just taking her back to her seat.”

“
You better before your father finds out that you have another guest back here.”

“
Another guest?” Belle asked. “What are you talking about?”

“
Michael is here.”

“
Of course he’s here,” Belle said in annoyance. “He works for you, doesn’t he?”

“
No. I mean he’s backstage. You know how your father feels about him.”

Belle groan
ed. “I didn’t invite him back here. Besides, it’s not Michael that he has a problem with. It’s Sidney Harcourt he hates. You know, your other employee.”

“
You don’t have to worry about Sidney.”

“
I’m not worried, but Papa is.” Belle motioned for Grace to follow her up the steps. “Come on, Glenda.”

Grace would have made it through if it hadn’t been for Ilya Dragovich blocking the way.
Grace immediately recognized him from his poster hanging in the hallway. He was an incredibly imposing man. A tall, lean and darkly striking man with a full thick head of silky black hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes. He looked down at her, his handsome face set in a scowl. “Belle,” he said warningly.

“
She got lost. I was just taking her back to her seat,” Belle said, backing away from her father and dragging Grace with her.

The magician smil
ed at Grace. “I’m sorry Ms.?”

“
Holliday, Grace Holliday.” If the other women noticed that her name wasn’t Glenda, they didn’t mention it.

“
Ms. Holliday. No one is allowed back here,” he said, apologetically with a slight Russian accent.

“Oh, leave her alone Ilya,” Lily snapped. “She’s not a spy. She works for my husband and Belle was just going to escort her back to her seat.”

“
Well, that is going to have to wait now,” he said rather testily. “We’re moving some equipment.” Turning to Grace, he smiled charmingly. “If you don’t mind, my daughter is going to escort you back to one of the dressing rooms to wait. When we have everything in place you will be returned to your seat.”

Grace briefly consider
ed throwing a fit about unlawful imprisonment, but one look into his eyes, she quickly decided against it. Nodding her assent, she followed Belle and Lily back down the aisle.

Belle pull
ed out her key chain. “We’ll just stay in my father’s dressing room for a few minutes and then I’ll take you to your seat.”

“
Are you sure you want to bring her in here,” Lily warned.

Grace caught Belle rolling her eyes.
“She’s already seen his dressing room.”

Lily made a disbelieving sound.

“It’s fine,” Belle said impatiently. “There’s nothing in here she can’t see.” Belle pushed open the door and attempted to walk through the entryway, but was stopped by Lily reaching out and gripping her arm.

Grace watch
ed as both women stared each other down.

“
I’ve been working for my father for three years now. I think I know what I can and can’t do.”

Lily reluctantly dropp
ed her hand. Shrugging, she pushed the door open and walked inside. “Oh! Ilya’s redecorated. Very nice.” Lily picked up a vase sitting on the small coffee table in the center of the room. “Very pretty. I see your hand at work here, Belle. You should really think about going into interior design work. I think you have an eye for it.” Lily sat the vase down and walked to the bookcase.”

“
I like what I’m doing,” Belle said irritably.

Lily didn’t respond. Instead, she walked to the bookcase. Running her hand over book spines, she muttered, “He’d never read this in a million years.”

Belle thr
ew Grace an apologetic look. “Sorry. We’ll make it up to you,
Grace
,” she said brightly. “Right?”

Nodding her head, Grace f
ollowed Belle into the room. Walking to the settee, she sat down.

“
It won’t take them long to get everything in place. I guess we could have blindfolded you, but—” Belle suddenly stopped speaking and looked down.

Grace follow
ed her gaze. A pendant in the shape of a golden dragon was lying on the floor.

“
But we wouldn’t want to mess up your hair and makeup.” Belle reached down and picked the object off the floor. She held the pendant in her hand and sighed.

“
What do you have there?” Lily asked.

Belle wordlessly walk
ed around the settee and handed the pendant to the older woman.

Lily turn
ed the pendant over in her hand. “Well, how did that get there?”

Belle shrugg
ed, as she sat down on the chair next to Grace. “I don’t know. Kind of strange, especially since you haven’t been in here since I redecorated. Right?”

Lily
didn’t respond. She sat next to Grace, still holding the pendant in her hand. Looking at it curiously, she wordlessly shook her head.

“
It’s very pretty,” Grace said, attempting to fill the awkward silence that was developing.

Lily smil
ed. “Thank you, Glenda.”

Belle mouth
ed, “Sorry” at Grace before saying, “My father gave that to her when she retired.”