“Yes,” she goes on, taking the card from him with a shaky hand. “How…ugh, I know you’re not going to tell me, but this is just incredible. I tore this card up. I know I did.”
Lots of kids clamour forward with questions and more things to be signed. About half an hour passes before two Garda officers show up.
“You’re going to have to move along,” one of them calls to Jay over the heads of the fans surrounding him. “We received a complaint about the noise.”
“We’re just finishing up now,” Jay replies with a charming smile before turning to the crowd. “Okay, everybody, it’s time for me to go.” He takes the backpack he’d been wearing off his shoulder and pulls out a long black sheet. “But before I do, I need you all to back up so I can show you one last trick.” They all move out of the way so there’s a space of several feet around him. He’s standing on the wall again, and the Garda officers have stopped to watch. They look more interested in seeing what Jay’s going to do than in getting him to leave.
The long sheet is actually a cape, and with an over-the-top flourish, he swings it around his body. At one point it completely covers him, and then he’s gone. The cape drops to the ground. He just disappeared into thin air.
Seventeen
Jessie pans her camera over the crowd as they all applaud Jay’s big finish. Then she shuts it off.
“Okay, how the fuck?” I say, shaking my head in confusion. I seem to be doing that a lot these days.
Jessie laughs. “Out of everything he did today, that one was probably the simplest, and yet look at them all. I think some of them actually believe he really is magic.”
“Simple?! He just made himself disappear. There’s nothing simple about that.”
“Look at where he was standing, Matilda,” says Jessie, deadpan.
“He was standing on the wall.”
She gives me a glance like I’m slow. “Yeah, so he just did a bit of fancy messing around with the cape, obscuring himself enough so that he could drop to the other side. You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.”
I slam my palm to my forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
“He’s a flashy bastard. Most people are so dazed by the flash that they don’t see the trick. Come on, he’s probably waiting for us.”
She starts walking, and I follow her lead. “Hey, I thought you were under a contract not to reveal any of his secrets?”
“He won’t mind me telling you that one. It’s kid’s stuff. The more complicated ones, now, if I told you about those he’d probably have my balls in a blender.”
I don’t point out the fact that girls don’t have balls. Although, if there was a girl to change that, it would definitely be Jessie. We walk down a side street to find Jay leaning casually against the wall of a building, smoking a cigarette with a big smile on his face. As soon as I reach him, he throws his arm around my shoulders.
“Well, what did you think?”
“You were amazing,” I tell him shyly.
Jessie snorts. “Now I know why you like having her around so much. She strokes your ego no end.”
“That’s not all she strokes,” says Jay, giving her a cheeky wink.
“Oh, my God, you did not just say that!” I look to Jessie. “He’s lying. Tell her you’re lying.”
“Now, why would I lie and tell her I’m lying?” he teases, his grin deepening by the second. God, I hate him sometimes.
“Ugh, don’t listen to him. There has been no stroking between us.”
Jay’s deep chuckle makes me shiver, and I know what I’ve said isn’t technically true, but whatever. “Okay, now that that’s all cleared up. Who wants pancakes for dinner?”
“Number one,” says Jessie. “You’re in Europe now. They’re not pancakes, they’re crepes. And number two, unless we’re talking the savoury kind, who eats crepes for dinner?”
“I still call them pancakes,” I put in. “You can do either, really. Plus, I love dessert for dinner.”
Jay’s hand moves to clasp my neck, giving it a tender squeeze. It takes me by surprise because it’s such an intimate place to touch someone. Involuntarily, I shiver.
“You see. Watson agrees with me. Pancakes it is.”
I have to try hard not to react too much to his hand placement, but there are goose pimples running all the way down my spine. His thumb brushes back and forth over my skin, giving me tingles.
When we arrive at a nearby crepe café and go inside, we get a table by the window. I order peanut butter and Nutella crepes with no small amount of delight, and Jay is so taken with my childlike glee that he goes for the same. Jessie asks for a BLT, not indulging in my “dessert for dinner” idea.
“Okay,” I say after we’ve been served our food and I’ve stuffed down half of mine already. I need a breather before I can finish it all. “I really, really, really would be forever indebted to you if you just revealed how you did one trick. Just one, that’s all I’m asking for.”
Jay wipes his mouth with a napkin, his lips forming a smirk. “When you say ‘forever indebted,’ just what are we talking about here?”
Jessie makes a foreboding sound. “No way, sweetheart. You don’t want to do that. This fucker’s a slave driver when you owe him.”
“Okay, well, maybe I won’t be forever in your debt. Perhaps I was getting a little carried away with myself. If you tell me one trick, I’ll owe you one thing in return. You can decide, but it has to be reasonable, like washing your car or something.”
Jay leans forward and steeples his fingers in front of him. “Will you wash my car topless?” he asks huskily.
My cheeks colour, and Jessie lets out a bark of a laugh. “Oh, now, that is a good idea.”
“Okay, let me amend my offer. I will owe you, but it can’t be sexual.”
“Topless isn’t sexual,” says Jay. “Topless is natural.”
“I second that,” Jessie adds.
“How about braless?” Jay goes on.
God, these two. Why do I even bother?
“Fine. I retract my offer,” I huff, sitting back in my seat and folding my arms.
“Hey, now, I never said I wouldn’t agree to nonsexual. How about this? I’ll tell you how I did one trick, and in exchange you have to come work with me the next time I do some shows in Vegas?”
I stare at him for a long time. “Uh, how is that payment? That’s a free holiday.”
“A working holiday,” Jay amends.
“Okay, you don’t have to threaten me with a free holiday twice,” I say, smiling widely. “It’s a deal.” I reach out and we shake on it, Jay clasping my hand tight.
“It’s a deal, darlin’. Now, tell me which trick you want me to explain.”
“Oh, my God,” says Jessie. “This is new. You never told me any of your secrets until I’d signed on the dotted line.”
“Matilda made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“Of course she did.”
Ignoring their banter, I try to think of which trick I want explained. It feels like there are so many. “All right, I suppose what I really want to know is how you got the Justice card drawn on Una Harris’ window. It definitely wasn’t there beforehand, and it was up way too high for you to reach.”
Jay rubs at his chin, looking around the café. “Ah, now, that one is elementary, my dear Watson. I think I’m gonna need some props for this explanation, though.” He gets up from his seat and walks over to the service counter, having a word with the guy on duty. Then he comes back carrying a shaker of paprika and a squeezy bottle of honey. Yuck, does he plan on putting those together on his pancakes?
Jessie looks a little disgruntled when he starts pushing all our plates out of the way to clear the table.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Just watch.”
Popping open the bottle of honey, he starts to pour it onto the surface of the table in quick movements. When I look down I see that he’s actually writing my name in stylish lettering. Pretty cool, but I still don’t get it. Next, he unscrews the cap on the paprika and pours some out into his hand before scattering the red spice all over the honey. Lastly, he bends down and blows hard. The excess paprika scatters away, leaving only the bits that have stuck to the honey. And there’s my name written in red.