Chapter 129

I bit down on a groan, my mind reeling. "Inside an empty office while inside an empty building."

"You got it."

"But there's no bullet hole in the window behind his desk."

"No. Which means the shooter was in the room with him."

"Or he was shot somewhere else and...deposited...here," I said, but the detective was already shaking his head. "No?"

"No. The shell casing was found across the room. One shot, and it happened in here."

"Then the only other explanation is a trapdoor or..."

The detective leaned forward with his eyebrows raised, like he was prodding me on to the next possibility.

"Magic?"

"That's what I'd love to find out." He smiled then, so rare but so genuine. "That's where you come in."

"But my trapdoor theory was pretty good, right?"

"We haven't found any trapdoors yet."