I can spot a card shark a mile away.”

“So, you’re pretty knowledgeable, then?”

“Yep, you could say that. I was a professional magician until five years ago. Retired at 52. Made more than enough money on the circuit. Now I just run this place. It doesn’t make much cash but I do it for the love of magic, nothing else.”

Cael pulled out the Jack of Hearts found at the crime scene. He slid it along the felt table.

“This card was found next to our victim. Anything you can tell us about it?”

A quick glance at the back of the card was all Stuart needed. “This is a limited-edition Bicycle card. It’s from the Labyrinth series. See the backs? To the layman, it just looks like a fancy pattern. But if you look closely, the pattern spells out JH. Jack of Hearts. Simple.”

“Is this kind of deck easily accessible?”

Stuart glanced at the table at the center of the store. One of the boys from before was attempting to riffle-shuffle a deck on it. Next to him, a cardboard display boasting stacks of the deck in question grabbed Cael and Tyler’s attention.

“They’re quite new. No one around here other than me sells them. I assume you can get them online, though.”

“Mr. Baggs, has anyone recently purchased that deck from you?”

“Come to think of it, yes, actually.”

Tyler pulled out his notebook. Cael did the same, although he never wrote anything in his. “Tell us everything,” said Tyler.

“It was around three weeks ago. Really weird guy, actually. I’d never seen him before. It’s quite strange; the people who frequent this place are mostly regulars, and any newbies are usually young kids. This guy, though, he was middle-aged. Maybe mid-40s.”

“What did he look like?”

“It was hard to tell. He had a hood covering most of his face. He had a pretty long beard. Black hair. Quite short.