This is one of the most public locations in the world. Yet, like a theater stage, nobody is looking where they should be until after the illusion happens. To get past the misdirection I have to think of method. I have to stop for a moment and ask myself how I would do it. Not how he did it.

There are two parts to the deception: dropping her body and then creating the illusion she fell. The feathers in the air could be propelled by an explosion. A small charge could send a bundle into the air where it would explode. Wrapped in black tissue paper, done fast enough, none of the cameras would catch it.

“Did forensics pick up any explosive residue?” I ask.

“No. The NYPD bomb squad was on the scene in minutes. They swabbed everything. Negative.”

I rap my fingernails on the edge of the metal rail and try to visualize the explosion as it looked from where I’m standing. For some of my pyrotechnics, I’d use an air cannon powered by a cylinder of CO2. Obviously, nothing like that was found around her body. The bomb squad would be all over it. Was it hidden somehow?

Most performers paint their little boxes of flash powder or smoke black. Grandfather taught me to always keep a couple of cans of paint on hand to match the color of the stage. This helps them blend in. It hides the fact that the smoke comes from a physical prop. It makes it magical.

What if he hid Claire’s body and the cannon long enough to create a sense of distance? Time can be used to create an illusion. If my empty left hand grasps thin air, then makes a tossing motion toward a glass in my right hand and you hear a clink, it sounds like I made a coin appear. Your brain connects the action with the sound, but the coin was hidden in my right hand all along, holding the glass. If you’d been watching my right hand, you’d notice the fingers were at an odd angle, possibly hiding something. Maybe the Warlock used a kind of camouflage that only needed to work for a few seconds?

I direct Knoll’s attention to what I’m seeing in my head. “Look at the area where she appeared and then the street on either side. Notice that she’s in between two crosswalks? They’re nice and bright while the unpainted street she’s on is dark in comparison. He could have dropped her off behind the cab, but have her covered by some kind of fabric that looks like the asphalt. It only has to be there for a few seconds. In the video it looks like his exhaust is kind of thick too.”

“What happened to the covering?”

“A long roller blind attached to the cab. After the cab goes, say, fifteen feet away, it retracts. Probably has an air cannon at the end of it. That gets pulled into the underside of the taxi. We get our explosive-free explosion and our revelation all at once.”