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think? Do the spirits come back? You think there might be ghosts and such? Like, are there angels and devils and, you know, an afterlife and all?”
    Danny stared at that poster like he would bore holes through it. “No. No.”
    “You sure? ’Cause I’d like to believe. It would be nice to know there’s something out there.”
    “It’s all a trick,” he said. “Fakery.”
    “Too bad, ’cause—”
    And Danny gave me the look. By that time I knew enough to shut my mouth. But believe you me, my tingly feelings were alive. Almost as if there were devils dancing around us right there on the sidewalk as Danny grabbed my elbow and steered me inside.
    During the show, when Thurston levitated that girl—lifted her right into thin air and made her float like she was smoke—I got the tingly feelings again, deep in my gut. And lo and behold, his next move was to pack her into a box and make her disappear. She disappeared, pure and simple. The box was empty.
    Don’t know if you guys have seen this show, but believe me. Goose bumps. You will have goose bumps.
    After the show Danny and I talked about it for hours, trying to figure out the trick. Actually, we got into kind of a fight about it, but Danny, he didn’t mean it, and always apologized nice after. With flowers and jewelry, and that time with a real nice diamond bracelet that didn’t go into the safe. Anyway, Danny paid some guy to find out how Thurston did it, but no dice, the magic man wouldn’t give up his secret, which didn’t please Danny.
    Any guy who can make a girl disappear into thin air without actually, you know, killing her, well, that’s a neat trick. In my opinion, that Houdini fellow that everyone talks about, he’s got nothing on Mr. Thurston. Houdini gets out of traps. Big deal. I’ve gotten out of plenty of traps myself. But that Thurston, he sets off tingly goose bumps all over the place, talking about spirits and life after death and stuff like that.
    So, anyhow, there we were that afternoon, Jo and me, on the sidewalk in front of the Algonquin, and I got that tingly feeling right off, and I knew. I was supposed to bump into her. She didn’t know it yet, but she was all mixed up with something that would require a neat trick, like levitating or disappearing. She stood there, starstruck, talking about ghosts and staring up at the awning like it held a secret message that she couldn’t make out. I knew it right off, that our destinies were intertwined. Sweet kiddo Jo and jealous moll Lou. We were mirrors, reflections, like in a Coney Island funhouse. One of us would levitate, and one of us would disappear, if you get my drift, and the twist was which of us would do what.
    They say truth is stranger than fiction, and that is no joke. There are no pure coincidences, and when I get my tingly feelings, I’m usually right.

CHAPTER 12
MAY 21–22, 1925
The low-cut gowns, the rolled hose and short skirts are born of the Devil and his angels, and are carrying the present and future generations to chaos and destruction.
—Albert A. Murphree, president of the University of Florida, 1920
    Jo
    “Yes?”
    Someone fumbled with the doorknob. I had to get up to open the door, only to find Melody on the other side, a cocktail glass in one hand and a package in the other. Her eyes were bright.
    “Jo! Well, honey, you look fantastic. I’m a swell makeover artist, if I do say so myself.”
    “Yes, Melody, you are.” I touched my bob again, still adjusting to the short hair, but pleased. I gave her a smile.
    She gave me a big grin in return. “Swell. Listen. I have this package.” She wobbled into the room, lowering her voice. “Was told to give it to you. No one but you. I forgot entirely about it ’til this evening, but since I wasn’t supposed to let you have it until…” She paused and held the package up before her eyes,squinting. “It says here…” She thrust the package at me. “What does it say?”
    “‘June 1, 1925,’” I read, and