A Chorus Lineup (A Glee Club Mystery) (8 page)

“A car accident?” Christine let out a laugh and a relieved sigh. “Well, why didn’t the policeman just tell me that? I was worried it was . . . Well, the way the facility manager sounded on the phone I was certain it was something much worse. Thank goodness it wasn’t anything more serious. I mean—”

“Christine—”

The woman in question wasn’t paying attention. “After what happened with the lights, parents are understandably concerned, and—”

“Christine,” I said louder, hoping to derail the train Christine was driving.

Nope. “We’ve been working hard to get the national media’s attention. I know you understand how valuable that attention could be to some of these kids.”

“Christine!” Okay, that was probably way more forceful than I’d intended, but it worked. Christine stopped talking. Vocal projection and power were two things I excelled at. I even had a master’s degree to prove it.

Now that I had her attention, I lowered my voice. “LuAnn was involved in the accident.”

“LuAnn?” Christine squinted toward the barricade. “LuAnn Freeman?”

Maybe.

“What was LuAnn doing here this time of night? If she’s causing trouble again, I swear I’ll kill her.”

“You can’t do that,” I said.

“Why not?”

Eek! Now that I had Christine’s full attention, I had no idea how to break the news. Since people always say the best way to tell bad news or remove a bandage is to get it over with fast, I took a deep breath and said, “Because LuAnn is already dead.”

Christine blinked at me. “Dead?”

I nodded, glad that the worst part was over. Because after finding LuAnn and then having to break the news of her death, nothing could get worse.

Oops. I guess I was wrong, because a second later Christine’s eyes rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the pavement.

Yikes. I lunged forward, but was too late. Christine McCann hit the deck with a thud. Ouch.

The cop behind the barrier looked at Christine and then back at the road behind him as if trying to decide what to do. Remain at his post or run and help. I made the decision for him. “Don’t just stand there,” I yelled. “Get some water or call a paramedic.”

Christine’s groan and the opening of her eyes negated the need for the paramedics. Despite my urging to stay still, she struggled to a seated position and asked, “What happened?”

I would have thought sitting on the asphalt was answer enough. Still, I answered, “You fainted when I told you about LuAnn.”

I was glad Christine hadn’t gotten up yet. If a blackout had caused her to forget that information, the ground was a good place for this discussion.

Tears glittered in Christine’s eyes. Her mouth trembled. Then, with a nod, she reined in her emotions and slowly climbed to her feet. When the young officer arrived brandishing water, Christine took the bottle from him and demanded, “Is it true? Did someone die in an accident behind that building?”

The officer glared at me.

I shrugged. No one had told me not to share with the class. As far as I was concerned, I was in the clear.

The cop must have thought so, too, since he dropped the attitude and politely said, “Yes, ma’am. There was an accident with a single fatality.” With that the cop nodded and hurried back to his post.

“I don’t understand.” Christine unscrewed the cap on the water. “What was LuAnn doing here at this time of night?”

Good question.

“Maybe she was checking to make sure the facility would be open tomorrow.”

Christine shook her head. “She was one of the first people I talked to after the police and the theater’s technical team gave us the all clear. That was around six. There was no reason for her to be here.”

Huh. By the time I’d left the hotel to go shopping with Millie, Larry hadn’t received that kind of phone call. If someone hadn’t been dead, I’d have been put out by the lack of notification. A body count put things in perspective.

Thinking about that body, I asked, “Do you know if she was the kind to carry only her keys and wallet? The police haven’t been able to find her purse.” I glanced around the lot. Two of the three cars that had been parked in front earlier were there now. The third was gone.

“LuAnn took that purse everywhere with her.” Christine sighed. “It was something of a running joke at the local competitions. If any of the kids needed a Band-Aid or something to remove a stain, they looked for LuAnn and her magic bag. She would never have left the hotel without her purse. Maybe it got jostled by the accident and went under the seat of her car.”

Considering the suitcase nature of the purse, that would have to be a really big seat. If the cops were going to check, they would first have to find LuAnn’s vehicle. Since that was their job, not mine, I assured myself that Christine was steady on her feet and made a beeline for Aunt Millie’s car.

Despite the fact the cops were on the case, I couldn’t stop thinking about LuAnn and the scene of the accident we’d just left. If it was an accident. As much as I wanted to believe it was (because the other option was a whole lot worse), I couldn’t get the problem of LuAnn’s car and her missing purse out of my mind.

LuAnn’s car wasn’t in the parking lot of the theater, which meant she must have copped a ride. But if that was the case, she would never have left her purse behind. And more disturbing, why was LuAnn in the back of the theater to begin with? To meet me? Maybe, but then why was she near the loading dock instead of waiting in the front? There was something not quite right about all of this.

Perhaps it was the strange turn my life had taken in the last couple of months, bringing me in contact with Detective Kaiser, that made me think that LuAnn’s death was more than just a terrible twist of fate. My stomach was tied in knots as Millie tooled her car into the hotel parking lot, and for once it wasn’t due to my aunt’s overly aggressive driving. It was because I thought I had once again happened onto the scene of a murder.

Oh help.

Millie and I carried bags of sparkly ties and other potentially useful accessories to my room. The hallway was strangely quiet (especially considering how many teenagers were in the surrounding rooms) when I opened the door and almost walked into a trumpet case.

Damn. I’d thought Devlyn, Larry, or Jim would have supervised the loading of the instruments back in my room. I’d assumed wrong.

Millie offered to help move cases, but I turned her down. As much as I appreciated the offer, I wanted to be alone. Besides, as much as my aunt acted as if she was unaffected by our adventure, I could see sadness and strain in her eyes. She needed time to recover. Thank goodness Aldo and Killer would be there to give her whatever comfort she needed.

After giving my aunt a tight hug, I sent her away and then stared at the pile of cases in front of me. Instead of getting to work, I leaned against the closet door and closed my eyes. The emotions I’d held at bay since being questioned by Officer Durbin stormed back. My throat tightened. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. I could barely breathe as I remembered the way LuAnn looked as I tried to pump air into her body.

The sound of a key card sliding into the lock and the door handle being pushed made my eyes fly open. I didn’t think. I cocked my arm back, turned, and let it fly. The bags in my hand swung around. By the time I registered the target was Devlyn, it was too late.

He tried to duck and failed, which was why the bags made contact with his head instead of his arm and shoulder. Oops. Luckily, the bags were filled with lightweight stuff. Devlyn had once told me he’d had several concussions during his football-playing high school days. I’d hate to be the one to give him another. I’d had a concussion recently, and it was zero fun.

“Sorry,” I said, dropping the bags. “Are you okay? I forgot you had a key.” I’d also just seen a dead body, but I figured I’d get to explaining that part later.

Devlyn rubbed his left ear and laughed. “I’m glad you didn’t swing at me for leaving this mess in your room.”

I looked at the instrument cases and went from apologetic to bummed that I’d dropped the bags in two seconds flat. “This was intentional?”

Devlyn leaned against the exit door and grinned. “Well, the kids piled the instruments like this on their own, but I let them. I figured helping you restack them gave me a great excuse to spend time in here with you.”

Okay, that was kind of sweet.

Devlyn pushed away from the wall, stepped around the trumpet case, and gave me a smile that normally made my toes curl. Tonight, it made my bottom lip quiver and the tears start to flow. To Devlyn’s credit, he didn’t say anything when I wrapped my arms around him, put my head on his chest, and started to sob. The more I tried to stop crying, the harder the tears fell. Tears for LuAnn. Tears for her daughter and her family, who had to have heard the news of LuAnn’s death by now. And a whole lot more sniffles and sobs for the kids who knew and worked with LuAnn. No matter whether they liked her or not, they were going to feel the echo of her death in their lives.

And yes, there were tears shed for me. I’d tried my best to save LuAnn, but I felt guilty for not being able to do more. And I couldn’t help wondering whether if I had reported the strange phone call to the police earlier today, that could have prevented what had happened. I doubted it. Officer Durbin’s reaction to the call had been pretty telling. Still, I wished I had tried.

The right side of Devlyn’s shirt was wet and my nose was running when the tears finally ran their course. I was also incredibly embarrassed. A really sexy guy had come to spend time with me and I had just cried all over him for no reason. Okay, I had a great reason, but he didn’t know that. He must have thought I’d come completely unhinged.

Keeping my head down so Devlyn wouldn’t have to see my red, blotchy face and my leaking nose, I apologized and made a dash for the bathroom.

Crap. I cracked my toe on the trumpet case, tripped, and went flying. Ouch. I smacked my arm on the doorframe to the bathroom, but at least I wasn’t flat on my backside. That was something, right?

Rubbing my elbow, I looked at the floor to make sure there weren’t any other obstacles and grabbed a tissue from the bathroom.

Yowzah.

A glance in the mirror told me I was right about one thing. I was a mess. My nose was drippy. My eyes were red and swollen, and even Millie and her talent with cosmetics couldn’t erase the blotchiness from my skin. Unhinged was a bad look for me.

“Hey,” Devlyn said from the doorway. His eyes met mine in the mirror, and I could see the concern in them. Yep, I was a wreck. “What’s going on? Did you and Millie have a fight?”

I dabbed at my eyes and swiped the tissue under my nose to catch any wayward drips before turning toward Devlyn. “Millie and I found a dead body.”

“You’re kidding.” Devlyn smiled. When I shook my head, the smile faded. “You’re not kidding? How did you run into a dead body?”

“Technically, we didn’t run into her. Someone else did. Or maybe they didn’t.” The more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether the car was the only contributor to LuAnn Freeman’s death.

“I’m confused.”

Of course he was. “Sorry,” I said, taking another tissue. “Why don’t we sit down and I’ll tell you about it.”

Conversations about death were creepy. Holding that conversation in the bathroom took the strange factor to a whole new level. Of course, I wasn’t sure chatting in what currently looked like a mismanaged warehouse was a better idea.

“On second thought,” I said, “why don’t we rearrange these cases while I talk.”

It turned out that despite my swollen toe, the crappy instrument storage by the band was a good thing. Shifting and stacking cases made it easier to tell Devlyn about the night’s events.

When I was done, Devlyn stopped stacking a drum case and stared at me. “LuAnn Freeman? The same LuAnn who accused you of sabotaging the other choirs?”

“That’s the one.”

Devlyn stacked the last two instrument cases in front of the bed by the window and said, “Well, it’s a good thing the cops don’t know about that or they might not have been so willing to rule her death an accident.” He slapped the dust off his hands, turned, took one look at my face, and sighed. “You told them?”

“If I didn’t, someone else would have,” I said, taking a seat on my bed. “Now when someone else mentions it, the police won’t wonder what I was trying to hide.”

“I hate that you have a point.” Devlyn sat down next to me and linked his fingers through mine. “I also hate that you can talk so calmly about the cops interviewing people and potentially looking at you as a suspect.”

Devlyn had a short memory considering I’d just had a massive meltdown fifteen minutes ago. I leaned back on the pillow and closed my eyes. “So far, it appears that LuAnn’s death was an accident. Besides, I was with Aunt Millie when it happened. I couldn’t have a better alibi.”

People remembered pink cars. Millie had a stack of tickets to prove it.

“Well, it’s a good thing this was an accident and you won’t need it. Right?” Devlyn’s fingers tightened on mine. I opened my eyes to find his watching me with a steely intensity. “You don’t think this was an accident.”