Knoll scratches his bald head. “Sounds complicated.”

“Imagine if I covered you in a black cloth and threw you out of my moving van onto a dark street in the middle of the night. Only the cloth has a cable running back to the van. After a few yards I yank it back up. If someone is walking their dog, what would it look like?”

“Like I just appeared in the street. But this is a brightly lit intersection. Someone would have noticed . . .”

“Would they? We have thick exhausts, steam grates, almost black asphalt, and a thousand bright objects above us. All the people here are either looking up at the lights or at each other. All of the video we have is amateur footage that wasn’t aimed where we wanted to see.”

Knoll’s eyes look up as he tries to visualize what I’m describing. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I think it’s a better explanation than she fell from heaven. She got here somehow. Besides, the mechanics of this method I mentioned have been used for hundreds of years. If a clockmaker could build this into a mechanical magic trick two hundred years ago, I don’t think the Warlock would have a problem. All the elements for distraction are here.” I think of how we’d use masking tape to map out a stage on the living room floor, marking out curtains, props and where to stand. The Warlock must have done something like this, dry-running the effect hundreds of times. “He only needs a second or two.”

The video replays again on the screen above us. I think Knoll is watching it this time with my explanation in mind. It’s of such low quality it’s hard to tell for certain, but my theory fits the facts. And that’s what we really need now: an explanation. Something consistent with the evidence, which gives us a place to start searching for clues and allows us to say we aren’t fooled.

Knoll is beginning to get the idea. “I guess we need to look for phantom cabs now. He had hours to ditch it. It could be hard.”

My bet is on it being impossible. He’s not going to leave us a piece of evidence that helps us prove how he did it. Part of me wonders if he was even in the cab when it happened. He could have hired a driver and rigged it with remotes. Maybe use an accomplice who has no idea what they’re really doing? Would he want to be in the driver’s seat or somewhere out here watching?

Was he already on his way to kill the girl from the Empire State Building?

43

WE HAVE THEM lower the lift so we can get out and take a walk around Times Square. A young girl, maybe sixteen, too young to be out this late, leans across the police barrier with her camera and shouts to me, “Can I take my picture with you?”

It’s embarrassing. I give Knoll a glance. He steps over to the girl and takes the camera from her. “Agent Blackwood would be happy to.” He motions for me to stand next to her.