“Miss—uh. Good day. Can I help you, miss?” He seemed surprised to see me, although a patient turning up at a doctor’s door couldn’t have been that unusual. I thought I saw a flash of recognition cross his face, but we hadn’t ever met before, unless he’d been in the audience and seen me onstage with his brother.

“I’m Molly Murphy, a friend of your brother’s wife,” I said. “I’m helping to try and find out what has happened to Houdini.”

“A terrible business,” he said. “Hard for us all to endure. How is my mother holding up? How is Bess?”

“Bess is taking it very hard,” I said. “And so is your mother, although she is made of sterner stuff and doesn’t show it.”

“I must try to pay them a call later today, if I can,” he said. “I am so sorry they have to go through this. Are they well protected?”

“Yes, there is a policeman standing guard outside at all times.”

“That’s good to know,” he said. “I hope one policeman is enough against these fiends.”

“Your brother hasn’t tried to contact you, has he?” I asked. “We’re still not sure if he’s dead or alive.”

“I feel it in my heart that he is still alive,” he said. “One must always have hope and patience. You will tell that to my mother and to Bess, won’t you? Tell her to continue to have hope.”

“I have a favor to ask, Dr. Weiss,” I said. “These scrapbooks document Harry’s time in Germany. Unfortunately I don’t read German and I wondered if you could translate the articles for me.”

He came out and stood beside me as I showed him one of the scrapbooks, then he shook his head and retreated.

“Much as I would want to help you, I’m afraid that I was on my way to a very sick patient and I shall be operating at the hospital for most of the day. Perhaps later this evening I shall find time to visit my mother and Bess and then I can look at your scrapbooks for you—although I have to tell you that my German is not very good. I was a small child when I came here and essentially I speak English with some knowledge of Hungarian and Yiddish. But I will do what I can if you can’t find anyone else.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I look forward to seeing you later today then, and I know Bess will be glad to see you.”