Charlie saw a frown of pain flash across Brack’s face.

“I think some rest and recuperation is needed,” Brack whispered to Charlie.

The boy helped the limping magician back to his house on the roof. Charlie made him lie down on his sofa in the sitting room. Then he waited with his friend while two hours passed across the face of the grandfather clock.

“Hand me that phone,” said Brack. “I’m going to see what’s holding up that doctor. And you have been wasting far too much time with me.” He waved the boy out of the house. “Go! Go investigate!”

Charlie grinned and went looking for Annie at the front desk. Annie smiled when she saw him. “Two words,” said Charlie. “Surveillance. Camera.”

“You sound just like Tyler,” said Annie, leading him into the security room behind. “He’s better, by the way. Mrs. Yu called and said he has a slight concussion. And why do you need to see the surveillance camera?”

“I need to see the tapes from today,” Charlie said. “By the way, where’s Cozette?”

“She said she had a family emergency.”

“Oh,” said Charlie. “I was going to ask her about those old keys.”

“She still has them,” said Annie. “At least, I don’t see them here at the desk.”

She still has them? thought Charlie. Weird.

“Which tapes do you need to see?” asked Annie.

“The ones from the loading docks.”

“Something happened back there, too?” said Annie.

Charlie explained how he and Brack had discovered that the freight elevator stopped at the thirteenth floor.

It took Annie a while to find the right tapes. Charlie thought he’d go crazy while she typed commands into the computer.

Finally, Annie found the right files and played them back on one of the screens. She asked, “What are you looking for?”

“That!” said Charlie.

The computer screen showed a perfect view of the loading dock next to the freight elevator. A man, dressed all in black, with a black ski mask, was struggling with a heavy object strapped to a trolley, draped in black.

“Who is it?” asked Annie. They both stared closer at the screen.

Charlie frowned. “I can’t tell.”

They watched the shadowy figure lug the shrouded statue into the back of an SUV. Then the man — they assumed it was a man — closed the loading dock doors, locked the SUV, and walked back into the hotel.

“Now where’s he going?” said Annie.

“To get another statue?” said Charlie.

“But that’s when we were all upstairs,” said Annie. “Look at the time.” She pointed to a digital display on the videotape. 12:00. “We got the call from Cozette at 12:30.”

“12:30? Are you sure?” said Charlie.

Annie nodded. “I looked at the clock over the front counter when the call came. Then I told a guest who was checking in that I had an emergency and would be right back.”

Charlie was confused. “If Ty was attacked right before she called, say 12:29, that means the statue was stolen fifteen minutes before that! But that’s impossible! All twelve statues were in the room before Ty pushed us out and locked the door. I saw it!”

At least, I thought I did. I counted twelve statues. Twelve white figures in the darkness.

“I wish we could see who that guy was under all those black clothes,” said Annie, staring at the screen again while she replayed the theft. “He was smart to cover up the statue, too,” she added. “That way no one could tell what he was moving.”

They stared at the frozen image on the screen. The white statue hidden under the black cloth. That’s not a cloth, Charlie realized. It’s a cape!

“What’s up, you two?” Cozette walked in the room.

“Cozy, I thought you were with your family,” said Annie.

Cozette dismissed it with a wave. “Oh, it was a big deal about nothing. It’s fine.”

“Do you remember what time you called us about Ty?” said Annie.

Cozette pulled out her phone and checked. “It was 12:30. Why?”

“That’s what I told Charlie.”

Cozette’s expression changed. “Um, now that things are a little quieter,” she said, “do you think we could go get David Dragonstone’s autograph?”

“Oh, Cozette…”

“You could take a picture of me next to him,” said Cozette. She giggled.

“Oh, that reminds me,” said Annie. “I have to send out his white suit to get cleaned before tonight’s magic show.”

White? thought Charlie. White and black. Black and white. A black covering over the white statue… is that how it was done?

Twelve statues… but not really.

And there was Theopolis standing in the hall, next to Dragonstone, after Ty was attacked. And he would not meet Charlie’s gaze. Charlie knew that man would stop at nothing to get the hotel.

Aha! thought Charlie. Now I know how he did it.

It was just another magician’s trick. And some magicians had assistants.