Chapter Thirty-Eight #2
Jack quickly reached behind the woman’s head and untied the blindfold.
“It is Mary Brunham.” And they’d saved her, given the blade of the guillotine had been positioned to come down right in the center of the block and onto Miss Brunham’s neck, rather than in the false slot hidden in the back of the guillotine block, like it was meant to.
She turned to the countess. “We need a doctor fetched immediately.”
The countess nodded. “I’ll see to it straightaway.” She rushed back down the stairs towards the doors.
“Mary? Who the hell is Mary?” Caleb sounded confused as he glanced up to the woman. “But that’s not my assistant. Where’s Sally gone? Sally, get out here now!”
“Will someone explain to me what is going on?!” the earl yelled, stomping his foot on the stage, while other gentlemen and ladies in the audience echoed his question too.
“Enough!” Tobias roared, his voice echoing through the room and silencing everyone. “This is a police investigation! You will all sit down in your seats and stay silent! Now!”
Hastily, everyone in the ballroom dropped to their seats, obeying Tobias’s bellowing command without hesitation, though looking rather upset to be doing so.
The doors to the ballroom burst open and in rushed Sergeant Kellerman with about twenty police officers in tow.
The assembly gasped as the police positioned themselves around the room, while the sergeant and some of the detectives rushed over to the stage towards Tobias.
“We’ve locked down the house,” the sergeant said as he approached them, his eyes flicking over to Miss Brunham. “And the countess is having her doctor fetched. Is the victim still alive, then?”
Jack nodded. “Yes, though she’s been given something and won’t wake up.”
The sergeant turned to Tobias. “What do you need done, sir?”
“Round up Caleb’s staff from behind the stage and in the back room, then herd everyone from in his room into the small—”
His father interrupted. “Our guests are not cattle, Tobias. And you will not tell them what to do in my house!”
“Herd them into the smaller ballroom; it’s the room to the left over there,” Tobias said, ignoring his father’s interruption and pointing over to the adjacent room.
“My parents can then personally verify everyone’s identity, and once that’s done, keep them all locked in there until a thorough sweep of the house has been conducted.
They are only be released after I’ve given the all clear to do so. ”
“Aye, sir,” the sergeant replied, then he turned to the audience.
“Constables Williams and James, round up the magician’s staff, and Constables Stubbings and Donaldson, head into the smaller ballroom and secure the room.
” The officers to whom he’d called out all bobbed their heads and rushed to do as instructed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you all heard the inspector. Move! Move! Move!”
His big, booming Scottish accent reverberated in the large room and startled everyone into action, with all of the guests jumping to their feet and beginning to hurry into the anteroom.
Tobias then turned to his mother and father. “You will both accompany the officers into the room and personally verify each and every one of your guests’ identities. If you don’t know them personally, tell the sergeant.”
“This is my house, Tobias, and you will not give me orders in my own house.” His father raised his chin, staring at his son.
“Unless you wish to be arrested for hindering police, Father, then yes, I will give you orders in your own house, and yes, you will damn well obey them for once too.” He walked over to his father and stood eye to eye.
“A killer got into this house, most likely wearing a disguise, and very nearly killed this woman.”
“But it’s only a magic illusion. No one would have been hurt,” his father replied incredulously.
“Actually, the guillotine’s been tampered with,” Jack said, striding over to the contraption and yanking on the rope until the blade was raised once again.
“Now this latch here, which Caleb flicked without detection as he rolled over the guillotine to Miss Brunham,” Jack continued, pointing to the notch in the wooden frame, “should stop the blade of the guillotine from hurting the assistant, instead redirecting the blade into a false back that has a piece of solid wood on the bottom, to stop the blade from piercing the assistant’s neck.
Countess, would you please hand me that prop on your right? The wooden umbrella.”
The countess gingerly picked up the item and walked over to Jack.
“Lay it across the wooden block lengthwise and then hold on to the end of it on the other side of guillotine, please.”
The countess did as instructed and then Jack let go of the rope.
The blade rushed down the contraption with whoosh, slicing the prop in half, going through it like it was butter.
“Oh, my goodness.” The countess gasped. “That woman would have had her neck cut clean off.”
“She would have,” Tobias agreed. “That’s why I need you and father to go help Sergeant Kellerman, and make sure all of your guests are actually who they say they are.”
“Of course,” the countess agreed, grabbing on to her husband’s arm and dragging him down the stairs with her, much to the man’s muttered protests.
“But that’s impossible,” Caleb spluttered from where he was still lying on the floor. “I checked the guillotine mechanism myself before I came on stage. It was set to slice into the false back of the block once I flicked the notch. Not to go into the middle of it.”
Jack glanced over at him and slowly shook her head. “You have a lot of explaining to do, don’t you, Dondaric the Great…?”