At eight p.m that night, Charles Grady is scheduled to attend his daughter's piano recital, but Rhyme had discovered that there will be a hitman coming for him then. An arrest is made when a reverend with connections to the Patriot Assembly approaches Grady's car with a pistol. After a relatively successful day, Thom demands that Rhyme rests. During this period, Malerick slips into Rhyme's room using an officer's uniform he obtained earlier and sets fire to Rhyme's room. Rhyme survives via the timely arrival of the fire department. Malerick mentions the name of his final trick, the Burning Mirror, to Rhyme. Kara traces the trick to Erick Weir, a magician whose wife died in a circus fire some years ago. Weir himself survived with severe burns, which fit the profile given by earlier witnesses.
