The Mad Magician Page #5

I say, where did you get the idea

for this crematorium?

From a crematory.

The heat principle is the same.

It does more than burn. It disintegrates.

Oh, thanks for inviting us.

It was a wonderful show.

But we must be running along.

Oh, by the way, have you gentlemen heard

anything new about our murder case?

They're still hunting ormond.

Do you know, I'm beginning

to believe that that man is dead.

No one could disappear

so completely.

Want to share a cab

with us, Karen?

Yes, I'm coming.

Oh, it was so sweet of you.

Yes, thanks again.

- Thank you, Karen.

- Good night.

Not bad, gallico.

Not bad at all.

Of course, it needs work,

but I know you'll get the bugs out of it.

Yeah, I'll have the lithograph people

send an artist over here

to make me some sketches

for a new poster.

The great Rinaldi presents

his shocking new illusion...

The crematorium!

save yourself the trouble.

You'll never get your hands on this one.

Do you really think so?

You know, gallico,

that prentiss woman is nobody's fool.

I believe she came close

to the truth about ormond.

If he were alive,

he'd need money.

He wouldn't dare go to his bank,

nor would he go to you, I think.

But he'd surely come to me.

I'm his partner.

Not that he'd trust me particularly,

but he'd know I wouldn't turn him in.

Because, you see,

he had a couple of things on me.

Ross ormond was a cold,

calculating customer.

He'd ditch a woman,

but he'd never kill her.

No woman could mean

that much to him.

He might kick her out of his house,

but he'd never move out himself.

You see, I know these things

because I knew him.

I knew Claire.

I know you.

You're the kind who loves deeply,

believes in the sanctity of the home,

suffers in silence, broods and waits.

You had every reason to hate him.

What did you do with him, gallico?

How did you get rid of it?

Was this thing already built

and hidden away?

Waiting for a job like that?

Ormond was seen alive two weeks ago.

The prentisses identified him.

- That didn't have to be him.

- Who else could it have been?

It could have been you, gallico.

From what ormond told me,

you are a clever mimic,

developed a wonderful new makeup,

something new in the theater.

Something that might be

used offstage, too.

Only a man who dreams up illusions

would think of such a thing,

and only people of the theater

would know it was possible.

Lieutenant Bruce thinks

he has ormond's fingerprints.

What if he should think

to compare them with yours?

This belongs to me.

And so does everything

that comes out of that brain of yours.

From now on

you're a private enterprise.

Ah, I may incorporate you.

Get your souvenir programs here.

Pictures of each and every act

you saw on the stage tonight.

Learn how to read

your own horoscope.

The secrets of the stars

taught in ten easy lessons.

All instructions for performing

5o different feats of magic.

Souvenir programs of the great Rinaldi,

the one and only Rinaldi.

- Mr. Rinaldi.

- Oh, lieutenant. How do you do?

L'm fine, thank you.

It sounded like a good matinee out there.

Yes, we were sold out as usual.

I wonder if I could see you

for a moment.

I have an evening performance.

I must rest.

Of course,

but I actually mean a moment.

L'm not looking for an autograph.

This is police business.

Very well.

Please, uh, sit down.

You will pardon me

if I change while you are here.

Of course.

Mr. Rinaldi, you've said repeatedly you

don't believe Ross ormond killed his wife.

That is correct.

Do you still hold that opinion?

I am not sure that I do.

Did you have any reason to suspect

that some other person might have been

with Mrs. ormond when she was killed?

Why do you ask that?

Have you found new evidence?

No, but let's say I've hit

upon a new theory.

But you were so positive it was ormond.

You showed us his fingerprints.

I showed you what I assumed

to be his prints.

To make sure I'm on the right track,

I want a set of fingerprints from every person

who was well acquainted with Mrs. ormond.

That includes you and Mr. gallico.

I have my equipment here

with me.

But what right have you to ask that of me?

Am I a suspect?

Well, no, of course not.

What possible use

could you make of my prints?

Don't you understand? They can prove

a person innocent as well as guilty.

I do not have to prove my innocence.

Don't you want this case solved?

That is police business, not mine.

And now, if you will excuse me,

lieutenant.

Just as you say, sir.

Sorry to have troubled you.

Thanks for letting me see you.

Judas priest.

Sir, I've got something to show you.

Well, all right, what is it?

What have you found?

Today at the 44th street theater,

I asked Rinaldi to let me take

his fingerprints and he refused.

Rinaldi. What the devil?

Sir, please. Will you listen?

After he left the theater,

i broke into his dressing room

and photographed some prints

from objects on his makeup table.

This is one of them.

This is ormond's.

Ormond and Rinaldi

are the same man.

That's the craziest thing

i ever heard.

You can see for yourself.

The prints are exactly the same.

Which proves that you can't depend

on that method of identification.

But you can, sir. The fingerprints

of different persons are never the same.

L'm going to bring in Rinaldi

and hold him on a suspicion of murder.

On evidence like this? Do you want to

make a laughingstock of the department?

The system's too new.

We don't know enough about it.

At least let me assign a couple of men

to watch him. Let me make sure of him.

All right. All right.

But don't make an arrest

until you get the goods on him.

And I don't mean fingerprints.

But how you can work in the same room where

that poor girl was killed is beyond me.

The thoughts of a murderer

and his victim

are supposed to linger

on the atmosphere of a room.

Why, I... I getjust the mood

i want in here.

Well, you can have it.

Good luck on your murderer.

Oh, I say, there was a very nice one

in the fall river thing.

The killer used an ax, and...

Oh, no, no, no, no,

don't tell me now, frank. Save it.

I shall.

Frank!

- Do they know who did it?

- Know who?

Oh, oh, no. Some neighbor saw him,

but he was wearing a mask.

His impersonation of the man

he had killed was perfect.

The mask he wore was equally perfect.

Another face that fitted him

like an outer skin.

Thin as tissue and elastic enough

to give with every move

of the facial muscles.

Frank. Frank.

Frank, I've got it.

- Your... Your plot?

- No. What actually happened.

Remember I told you how much Mr.

Gallico reminded me of ormond?

Yes.

Well, there had to be a reason for that,

and I think I know what it is.

They've never found a trace of ormond. I don't

believe that he was ever in this house.

I believe it was gallico

who rented those rooms upstairs.

Wearing greasepaint makeup?

Oh, no, frank, no. You were right about

that. It had to be more than a makeup.

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