Murder in the Second Row (7 page)

‘Thank you,
Howard. Your faith is reassuring. Now back to work.’

‘I would if I
could find what I’ve done with my pencil. You haven’t seen it, have
you?’

Towards the end
of the construction session Jessica was amused to hear Stewart
asking Howard’s permission to turn up a little late for the next
session.

‘It’ll only be
an hour, Howard. Nathan’s invited me to see his end of semester art
display at the college. Is that all right?’

‘Sure, mate –
take as long as you want. It’s not like we’ll dock your wages for
it.’ Howard grinned. Jessica might be right about a blooming
relationship.

‘Thanks,
Howard! See ya!’

Jessica watched
fondly as Stewart and Nathan left together, chatting
animatedly.

Simone Duchaine
unleashed a venomous glare. ‘You’ve always done what I wanted. You
always will. You can’t help yourself.’

Her deep voice
filled the auditorium, sending shivers down the spines of everyone
within earshot. ‘You’ll do what I want,’ she insisted.

The actor,
playing her son Raymond, stammered a few words but she overrode him
forcefully. ‘You’ll do what I tell you.’

‘Yes. Yes, I
suppose so.’

‘OK, hold it
there thanks – just before Sarah’s entrance.’ Adam bounded up the
steps from the auditorium onto the stage. ‘Very good, Simone, we’re
getting a clear sense of how evil Mrs Boynton is now.’

‘She certainly
scared the hell out of me,’ Howard muttered in Jessica’s ear. ‘What
a deviant old bat. Simone can be scary enough at the best of times,
but this character seems to have possessed her.’

‘I agree! I’ve
never seen Simone project quite as strongly as that. She really is
frightening.’

The rest of the
construction crew looked similarly cowed as they watched from the
wings. Even Tamara seemed subdued, exchanging her lines with Phil
while barely looking him in the eye.

‘Looks like
Adam’s had a word with Tamara,’ Jessica murmured to Howard. ‘She’s
dropped out of seduction mode at last.’

‘I bet Phil’s
relieved. Wonder who she’ll go for next. It’s just as well I’m past
her age bracket,’ he said with just a hint of wistfulness. ‘You
know what the crew’s saying? “Tamara Fitzpatrick? Tamara fits
anybody!” Not that I’d encourage such things of course,’ he hastily
added, seeing her expression of displeasure.

Their questions
were answered at the next coffee break when Tamara made a beeline
for Stewart and plopped down next to him on the bench by the back
door. Several slips of heavy purple paper marking her script fell
to the floor and he picked them up for her.

‘Aw, thank you
sweetie! How ya doing, Stewie? I’ve missed you at rehearsals
lately. It’s no fun that you’re only in the first Act. Want to come
outside for a smoke?’

He shook his
head. ‘No thanks, Tamara.’

‘Aw come on
Stewie, I’m dying to wrap my lips round something hot. You wouldn’t
let a girl do that all by herself, would you?’

His cheeks
flushed bright pink. ‘No really, you go ahead, Tamara. I just want
a cup of coffee.’

‘Stewie!’ She
ran her arm through his but he pulled away abruptly. She bounced to
her feet. ‘What’s the matter with you,’ she yelled. ‘Are you gay or
something?’

There was a
sudden hush in the Green Room. Stewart bolted for the door and
disappeared.

‘What?’ said
Tamara defensively. ‘I didn’t think he was.’

‘And he may not
be,’ said Jessica. ‘Either way, it’s his own business. Don’t hassle
him.’

Tamara pouted
and flounced off to get herself a drink.

‘All right,
everybody,’ said Adam, his voice carrying easily over the chatter
that had broken out. ‘When you’ve finished your break, get back
onstage and continue from where we stopped. See if you can get your
lines without reading. I’d like books down by the end of next week
so your memorising should be well along by now.’

There was a
universal groan from the cast.

Adam crossed
the room and spoke quietly to Jessica. ‘Round them up and get them
back to work in five minutes if I’m not back, would you? I’ll just
have a word with young Stewart.’

She nodded.
‘Will do.’ Then, ‘I think he’ll appreciate that. You might be able
to help, um, clarify things for him.’

Adam quirked an
eyebrow at her and made a discreet exit.

Jessica gave
them six more minutes of break, then called the cast back onstage
to run through Act two, scene two. Adam returned shortly afterwards
and took over from her with murmured thanks.

Jessica stayed
to read through the stage directions for the following acts, and,
upon reading that character Ginevra was to enter with a long knife,
she quietly went backstage to find Gert. She located her in the
upstairs props cage, cheerfully searching through numerous sets of
drawers.

‘You’d think
we’d have a hypodermic syringe here somewhere, wouldn’t you dear?
Surely we must have done something medical once upon a time?’

‘Gert, you know
Ginevra has a big knife onstage – well, it won’t be sharp or
anything, will it?’

‘Of course not,
Jessica! All stage props are made as harmless as possible, you know
that.’

‘Yeah, I know.
I’m just getting a bit jumpy with all the strong emotions flying
round the place. There are several people I can imagine wanting to
use a deadly weapon on various members of this company.’

‘Well that’s
nothing new for the theatre, is it! Remember when the lead man in
Dick Whittington got together with the top dancer and ran off with
her after the show? I’m sure his poor wife would have brained him
with the London milestone given half a chance.’

Jessica
laughed. ‘The show’s most dramatic scene was backstage in the Green
Room, wasn’t it! But at least that show was a comedy. With this
one, it feels like we’re stirring up evil spirits just by reading
the script. It scares me to think how things would go if the actors
had instruments of death in their hot little hands.’

‘Your
imagination is running away with you, my dear. Such a sensitive wee
thing.’ Gert patted her on the arm. ‘Now, off you go and let me get
at that shelf behind you. Thank you. Aha, there we are!’ She waved
a dusty plastic syringe triumphantly. ‘Got it! I knew we’d have one
somewhere.’

Jessica went
back to the stage where Adam was demonstrating to the company how
to find their correct position.

‘Once the
lights are rigged and cued, they’ll guide you. For now we’ll use
that work light.’ He put his hands on Stewart’s thin shoulders and
eased him gently a few steps across the floor. ‘Now, close your
eyes. Can you feel the heat of the light?’

Stewart
nodded.

‘Turn your head
from side to side. When the heat is strongest in the middle of your
face, you’re on the right spot.’

Stewart opened
his eyes in surprise. ‘Yes, I can feel it! Hey, that’s really
easy.’

Adam
demonstrated the technique to a couple more of the novice actors
before calling a halt. ‘That’s it for today. For Tuesday’s
rehearsal, please arrive on time as we have photographer Bruce
Fitzpatrick coming to take some promo shots of you. I know we don’t
have your final costumes yet but that doesn’t matter. Clara-Jane
will have enough items that look right so we can get the pictures
we want. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour, then we’ll be
right into Act three so be ready. Thanks everyone, see you
Tuesday.’

The cast left
the theatre, chattering and laughing.

The
construction crew moved from the workshop area onto the stage to
put in a couple more hours of hard work.

‘Right, if you
could gather yourselves round Mrs Boynton please,’ called Adam.
‘Nadine’s holding the syringe, Ginevra has the knife, Raymond has
the glass bottle.’

‘And no larking
about with those props!’ boomed Simone. ‘I have my cane and I’m not
afraid to use it!’

‘It’s all
right, Simone, nobody’s killing you… yet. Hold that pose please,
while I check with Bruce.’

Adam conferred
with the photographer, a tall gangly figure with wispy ginger hair.
Bruce eyed the group and nodded at Adam’s suggestion.

‘Excuse me
while I just tweak a few things,’ said Bruce to the statue-like
actors, stepping forward to rearrange the folds of Mrs Boynton’s
dress. He stepped back, then reached in and moved Ginevra’s arm a
fraction higher before assessing the tableau again. ‘Tamara, could
you move a little to your left please.’

She shuffled
sideways, her face expressionless; Phil moving quickly to give her
more space.

‘Thank you,
I’ll just take a couple of shots of that.’ Bruce held up an
off-camera flash and fired the shutter twice. ‘OK, can you all look
at the floor… and then back to the camera…now.’ He fired again.
‘Good, that’s even better.’ He moved closer to the group. ‘Look up
to the roof, and back to the camera…now.’ They blinked at the
bright flash for a few moments. ‘Right, this time look at each
other as the characters you’re playing – ready? Go.’ He fired off
several more shots, the actors registering varying emotions as
called for in the script.

‘Does that give
you what you need, Adam?’

‘That should be
perfect, thank you, Bruce. Now, if you have time could we quickly
do the individual shots for the programme out in the Green
Room?’

The cast
gathered out back, chatting idly while the photographer set up a
backdrop and a couple of lights.

‘Did you know
that there’s an Icelandic webpage for Agatha Christie?’ said
Phil.

‘Darling, how
do you come up with such useless information?’ Pippa asked her
husband, shaking her head.

‘I Googled her
when I got bored with marking the latest set of drivel masquerading
as class assignments. She was an amazing woman – wrote nearly 70
novels as well as her plays and short stories. Somehow Dauðinn á
Prestssetrinu sounds much more exotic than Murder at the Vicarage,
doesn’t it?’

‘Spare us the
lesson, Mr Jessop – we’re not at school now,’ muttered Tamara.

‘I have always
wondered why she gave away her villains so easily,’ said Simone.
‘Haven’t you noticed that they always have a curved mouth or a
queer smile?’

‘Well gosh, I
hadn’t noticed that,’ sneered Tamara, then spun around to face
Stewart with a malicious glint in her eye. ‘Hey, show us what a
queer smile looks like, Stewie.’

Stewart
recoiled as if she’d struck him.

Bruce
straightened up from his tripod and looked at her sharply.

Tamara turned
on her heel and went over to Adam, smiling at him shyly. ‘Adam,
would it be all right if I leave rehearsal half an hour early next
Saturday, that’s the 16th? I’ve got a very good friend’s 21st party
to go to and it’s a bit of a drive out of town.’

‘As long as you
don’t make a habit of it, Tamara. You know that full attendance at
rehearsal is important. Ask someone to make notes for you if
there’s anything you’ll need to know about.’

‘Thanks, Adam.
Thank you very much.’

A few minutes
after Adam had left the room, Tamara made an announcement. ‘Don’t
tell Adam, but I’m actually the stripper for the 21st party. I
wasn’t going to miss that gig for a boring old rehearsal!’ She
giggled. ‘I guess you won’t want an invitation, will you Stewie?
Not really interested in that sort of thing, are you. God, I need a
ciggie.’ She let herself out of the back door and they saw plumes
of smoke drift past the windows.

Bruce fumbled
with a metal light attachment and dropped it with a clatter,
breaking their stunned silence.

‘My God she’s a
problem child, isn’t she?’ sighed Pippa. ‘Ignore her, Stewart.
She’s just an attention-seeking little madam.’

The scarlet
flush on his skin had faded to blotches and he swallowed hard. ‘Th-
thanks, Pippa. But I wish she’d find someone else to pick on.’

‘That’s what I
used to feel too,’ said Phil. ‘Sorry you were next in line,
mate.’

They exchanged
the battle-weary grins of men who had faced enemy fire
together.

Once each cast
member had been photographed they joined the rest of the team
onstage for the rehearsal.

Later that
night, when everyone else had left for the evening, Jessica saw
Stewart standing alone on the stage. A single shaft of light shone
through the darkened auditorium onto his face. Eyes closed, he
turned his head left and right, like a sunflower seeking the sun.
Maybe he imagined an audience in front of him, waiting for him to
speak his lines.

Smiling to
herself, she tiptoed away to wait in her office until he left so
she could lock up.

The following
night Nick chaired a meeting to plan a strategy for saving the
theatre. He’d chosen a nearby wine bar as the venue. Artwork
decorated the rough-plastered walls; beaten-metal fish and geckoes
caught the light in shades of bronze, silver and purple, the same
shades picked up on heavy glazed pottery plates along a shelf. The
group found a corner table where they could have a reasonably quiet
conversation.

Sub-committee
members, Clara-Jane, Austin, Phil, Jessica, and Howard’s wife
MaryAnn, tossed around ideas for the benefit concert while Nick
took notes.

‘Why can’t we
get a stripper then, eh? I’d pay good money to watch a pretty
little dolly-bird take her clothes off onstage.’

‘Yes, Austin,
I’m sure you would. But an act like that wouldn’t have a broad
appeal for a family show and that’s what we’re aiming at.’

‘If she’s a
pretty enough broad, she’ll appeal to me!’ Austin rubbed his hands
together and winked knowingly.

‘Oh for God’s
sake, Austin!’ Nick exploded at last. ‘Take a bloody pill or
something, will you?’