Christy Barritt - Squeaky Clean 08 - Foul Play (24 page)

I couldn’t help but chuckle as my friend walked away.

CHAPTER
37

My phone rang at six a.m. the next morning.
I put it to my ear without even looking at the caller ID first. “Hello?” I mumbled.

“Gabby, the show is going on
—with you!”

I sat up a little straighter, unsure if I was still dreaming.
“Paulette?”

“Yes, it’s Paulette. I know you’ve missed a couple of practices, but opening night is tonight. We need you there.”

I blinked a few times, trying to come to my senses. “Last I heard, I wasn’t allowed close to the school.”
And you were royally ticked at me.

“I dropped the charges.”

“What?” My voice rose in pitch. Had she pressed the charges against me? I had no idea she was actually involved in the process.

“If I don’t press charges for the vandalisms at the school, then there’s no case.
I didn’t mean to press them against you specifically. Now, the murders … I don’t have much say in that. But as far as the vandalisms go, there’s nothing. I’m calling them even. I’m done. I don’t care. All I care about right now is the show going on.”

I had no idea what to think about that. Instead, I said, “
If you need me, Paulette, I’ll do it.”

“We need you. Be there at three so we can run through some things.
We have a lot of work to do to get things together.”

“Yes, ma’am.”
I hung up feeling dazed.

Even though the play was plagiarized? Even with everything that had happened? The dead bod
ies? The lead—me!—being arrested and then released?

This was the moment that someone had been working hard to make sure didn’t happen.

I could only imagine what that might mean for tonight’s performance.

***

I peeked out into the audience from behind stage.

I had no idea how
this performance would go tonight. Practice had been rough. We’d made some changes and adjustments because of the constraints. Everyone had been so hurried and stressed that there’d been little time for interaction.

But tonight, of all nights, I need
ed to really keep my eye on things.

I
scanned the audience and spotted Garrett sitting at the front left. I noticed some familiar faces with him and squinted. He really had brought people from his office. A lot of people, for that matter.

I smiled. It was really heartwarming that he’d been that thoughtful
, though I would have preferred he not be so kind in this specific circumstance.

I watched as he walked across the room to talk to Chad and Sierra, who sat in midway in the center section. Clarice sat beside them.

My heart relaxed a moment. Maybe Clarice would speak to me again and I hadn’t lost her as a friend.

I also saw my dad and his fiancé
e Teddi, my neighbor Bill McCormick, and even my old friend and first real employee Mr. Harold.

As I watched, Riley walked in
and sat on the other side of Chad and Sierra. It was like a big reunion out there.

Wow. They’d all come out just to see me?
A strange emotion welled inside me. Gratefulness? Surprise? The tears that popped into my eyes truly made me feel off kilter.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the emotion right now. I’d revel in
the supportiveness of my friends later.

My gaze continued to survey the audience.
Strangely enough, I didn’t see Arie. Where was she? Most likely trying to drum up her press time out front. I could totally see her doing that.

My phone buzzed in my hands, and I looked down to see a text message from Sierra.

I quickly scanned the words.
The woman with Riley is his cousin, who also works at the hospital.

My chest tightened before all the tension disappeared in an airy laugh. Cousin?
You’ve got to be kidding me.

I let my head fall back in exasperation. His cousin.

How many times did I have to come back to this place? It was like I was only capable of taking baby steps forward. Riley had been the man of my dreams and there’d always been a part of me that didn’t feel good enough for him. As a result, I always rushed to assume that he liked other women better than me, even when he’d assured me of his love. It had happened time and time again.

It was time to stop living with so much doubt and uncertainty.

“Come and play with us,” someone whispered behind me.

“What?” I twirled around.

The Shining Twins stood there, side by side, staring at me.

“I said, ‘Come on. Play’s starting,” Karen said.

“Of course.” I let out a tense laugh.

“Forever,” she whispered.

I looked back and she grinned. I released the breath I held. She was being silly. Thank goodness.

I straightened my costume and looked over at Jerome. “You ready for this?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Pa
ulette had someone come in earlier and double check everything,” Sharen told us. “She said she took every safety precaution necessary.”

“I know that should make me feel better
,” I muttered. “But it doesn’t.”

“
At least she cut the scene where you were hoisted into the air,” Sharen said.

“
Thank goodness.” Still, the doubt wouldn’t leave me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen tonight. Whether I wanted to be or not, I was right in the middle of the danger. There was really no safety net.

A
s the lights went low, I tucked my cell phone into my costume. There was something about having it near me that made me feel somehow more secure.

The Shining Twins pushed me on stage as the canned music came up. “Knock ‘em dead, Gabby!” one of them whispered.

I started the opening number. My voice sounded wobbly at first but, the more I sang, the stronger it became.

For a moment—and just a moment—I actually forgot everything going on and
enjoyed being on stage acting and singing.

Until
something buzzed against my chest.

My
cell phone!

I nearly forgot my line as
it continued to buzz.

Who was
texting me now? Anyone who might message me was in this room right now.

“Elsa …” a voice floated in the background.

I shook my head. This was part of the play. The part where I first realized the Specter was here and that he liked me.

I’d never gotten chills about it in practice. But my blood felt cold right now
as warning bells sounded in my head. Something bad was going to happen tonight. It was just a matter of when.

My phone buzzed again.

“Who are you?” I whispered on stage. It was one of my lines, though it could apply to real life as well. “Why are you talking to me?”

“Elsa … I have plans for you.”

With that last line, the lights went black. End of Act One.

The darkness felt disconcerting. Despite that, I found my way back stage. As The Shining Twins helped change me into my next costume, I pulled out my phone.

Clarice had texted me.

The Specter
is Arie’s boyfriend. I saw them together in a celebrity magazine.

What? So Jerome, or whatever his real name was, was in all of this with Arie somehow?

He was a gamer. He could have easily set up that swatting episode. Maybe he was trying to help out his girlfriend by drumming up business for the play. It was a possible motive. I didn’t know.

What do you know about him?
I texted her back.

“You’ve got to get back out there!” Karen told me.

She pushed me on stage.

I glanced out at the audience, trying to collect myself and remember my next line.
My gaze met Garrett’s and he gave me a thumbs up.

In the center,
I spotted Riley. He grinned brightly.

Something about
seeing both men jostled me into action. I made it through the rest of my lines. I sang my heart out. Nothing happened, which only added to my uneasy feeling.

Now it
was time for Act Three. Why did I have a feeling things weren’t going to remain this calm?

***

The sense of foreboding remained with me as I geared up for the final act. As The Shining Twins changed my costume, my phone buzzed again. I quickly pulled it out, hoping it was another text from Clarice. I wasn’t disappointed.

Jerome
was kicked off
Cascade Falls
because he had a violent temper.

All that stuff he said about being an accountant
was a lie. I wasn’t surprised. But was Jerome behind everything that was happening here?

He and Arie have a turbulent, on-again off-again relationship.

Was Jerome trying to ruin this play so Arie wouldn’t be successful? Maybe he’d secretly acted supportive, all the while wanting to humiliate her in public. Murder was a pretty drastic way to embarrass someone, though. Unless Scarlet’s death had been an accident. The thoughts collided inside my head until I didn’t know what to think.

I didn’t know if my theory was correct or not, but I knew something felt off.

“What are you up to?” I whispered to Jerome as we waited for our cue to start.

“What are you talking about?”
He looked genuinely confused, just like any good actor might.

“I know who you are,” I
hissed.

His eyes widened. “I’m Jerome.”

“People are going to hear you from the audience,” Sharen said.

Jerome and I star
ed at each other, doing a silent stand off.

“You’re on!” Karen pushed us both on stage.

I eyed Jerome before the act started, not breaking my gaze. I needed to show him I was confident, unafraid, and willing to go after him with everything in me. I wasn’t satisfied until Jerome looked away, something close to panic racing through his gaze first.

The play continued, feeling both wooden and electrified. I couldn’t describe it. The tension between us felt
real. It
was
real. Yet, each of my movements felt weighed down as I anticipated what might happen.

I counted down the minutes until the end of the play. Finally, w
e reached the part where the Specter pulled out a gun, threatening anyone who came closer to me.

I stared at the gun. I remembered
my middle school production of
Oklahoma
where someone had switched out the fake gun for a real one. As I gawked at the pistol in Jerome’s hands now, my entire body tensed.

What if ther
e were real bullets in that firearm?

Jerome pointed it at Bennie. “Get away from her,” he ordered.

I held my breath as I gaped at the barrel.

The guy playing Bennie’s boyfriend stepped in
front of her. “Over my dead body.”

Best original line ever. I mean, really, this play was a knock ‘em out of the park
, one-of-a-kind masterpiece. I bit my tongue.

My thoughts were quickly distracted as Jerome raised the gun, his finger poised on the trigger.

Everything inside me was screaming that something was wrong. What if someone had swapped out the gun? How could I know for sure?

I knew a lot was riding on this play
—right now, my life remained at the top of the list—but aside from safety concerns, I knew Paulette had staked everything on the success of this production.

If I was wrong, I could ruin things for Paulette. But if my suspicions were right and I didn’t do anything, I could die.

“No!” I yelled, some kind of primal instinct to survive bursting through me.

Before
Jerome pulled the trigger, I tackled him. He fell to the ground, the gun still in his hands.

Please let it be loaded with blanks
, I prayed. As we struggled, the barrel jabbed me in the stomach. If there was a real bullet in there … it could easily end my life.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
Jerome muttered.

“The gun—”

Just then, it fired.

I held my breath.

I waited to feel pain but felt nothing.

As I heard gasps from the audience, I glanced over.

Money rained down from the ceiling.

M
oney? From the ceiling? Just what was going on?

“I didn’
t know there was a real bullet. I promise,” Jerome whispered.