Hannah slid out of the row. She’d taken the seat on the aisle so that she wouldn’t have to climb over people’s knees and feet. Herb was jumping the gun a bit. The Larsen sisters were up next and they always sang two encores. He was probably nervous and wanted to take a little time to calm down after he’d donned the clothing and persona of the magician The Amazing Herb.

The women’s backstage dressing room was deserted. It didn’t take Hannah long to get into her magician’s assistant costume, especially since she didn’t stop to put on makeup or primp in the wide horizontal mirror that was illuminated by the standard line of lightbulbs running above the glass. She stepped out of the room, crossed the backstage floor, and was waiting for Herb in the wings when she heard a familiar and very unwelcome voice.

“Hello, Hannah.”

She didn’t need to turn around to know who was standing there. It was Bradford Ramsey, the last person she wanted to see. Of course it wasn’t unusual that he was here. Professor Ramsey, as he called himself now, had volunteered to act as master of ceremonies for the talent show that Stephanie Bascomb had arranged to kick off her three-day gala charity event.

“I’ve missed you, Hannah,” Bradford said, standing much too close. “I miss those days with you in my class…or maybe I should say I miss those nights. We had some fun back then, didn’t we?”

The hair on the back of Hannah’s neck bristled. “I don’t miss anything about it,” she said, brushing past him to wait for Herb in another spot as far away from her former lover as she could get.

Hannah took a deep breath as the curtain went up. It was showtime. She smiled as she handed The Amazing Herb doves in cages, colorful scarves, and collapsible flowers in full bloom. She may have seemed attentive to the audience, but only half of her mind was on their act. Bradford had mentioned their nights together. She didn’t think he’d said anything about their former relationship to anyone else, but she expected that he would eventually. When he did, her name would be mud with her friends, her family, and the two men she was dating.

In what seemed like mere seconds to Hannah, they arrived at the finale of their act. Herb explained the feat he was about to perform, and there were gasps of shock from the audience. Hannah felt a bit like gasping, too. She had to focus. The Cabinet of Death could be dangerous, possibly even lethal if she lost her concentration.