Read Online Murder Dancing by Lesley Cookman - Free Book Online Page A

Max arrived.
    â€˜Oh – tea, please.’ He smiled a little diffidently. ‘I’m not much of a coffee drinker actually. Disgrace to the glitterati, me.’
    Libby beamed. ‘Excellent. We’ll have proper tea made in a proper pot, then.’
    â€˜What did you want to talk about?’ she asked, as she carried the tray into the sitting-room.
    â€˜I wanted to know if any of the boys had talked to you – or to Fran – since we arrived. If you’d managed to form any sort of opinion?’ He took a mug from her.
    â€˜We’ve talked to a few of them. None of them seem averse to talking about it, but the rat came as a surprise. I think they’d convinced themselves that all the trouble had been left behind in London. I rather thought that myself.’
    Max nodded. ‘I was hoping that was the case. But now I’m not so sure.’
    Libby leant forward. ‘My mother-in-law – Hetty, you know – has a theory that the incidents in London had nothing to do with the one this morning.’
    Max looked startled. ‘What? How? Why does she think that?’
    Libby sat back. ‘It’s not really logical, simply based on experience.’ She explained about The Hop Pickers . ‘And she could be right. If someone has a grudge, they could simply be copying what happened in London.’
    Max shook his head. ‘That doesn’t make sense. That would mean two people with a grudge against the company, the work, or the individual dancers.’
    Libby sighed. ‘Yes, that does seem unlikely. Oh, and you didn’t tell us that there had actually been threats to harm anybody.’
    Max looked up. ‘Who told you that?’ he asked sharply.
    â€˜Apparently, there were threats of burning.’ Libby regarded him with interest. ‘Why didn’t you tell us? You wanted us to poke around.’
    He tried a half-hearted laugh. ‘Oh, that was ridiculous.’
    â€˜So ridiculous that two of your principals left?’
    Max sighed. ‘All right, yes. So you’ve heard about all the little notes, I suppose?’
    â€˜Most of them. I don’t know exactly to whom they were sent, except to Paddy and – Gerry, was it? – who left, but the consensus now seems to be that it isn’t an individual, but the production itself that’s being threatened. Fran and I were trying to work out what it is that’s “unnatural”, as one of the notes apparently said. Witchcraft? Men dancing women? Dance or theatre itself? What?’
    Max looked up uneasily. ‘Homosexuality?’
    Libby shook her head. ‘There were accusations of homosexuality, I gather, but rather blanket ones – and not true, for the most part. It’s a common and often erroneous assumption about dancers, although why the hell it should matter, I can’t think.’
    Max smiled. ‘You sound as though you’re on a podium.’
    â€˜It happens to be one of my bugbears, sorry.’ Libby smiled back. ‘Don’t you agree with me?’
    â€˜Of course I do. But if someone has some kind of objection to the production on the other grounds – which are archaic – they could just as easily be objecting to homosexuality.’
    â€˜That’s true.’ Libby nodded thoughtfully. ‘Stan thinks the whole thing’s doomed, apparently.’
    â€˜Did Seb tell you that?’
    â€˜Yes. I don’t think he’s that happy with Stan, to tell you the truth. He seems to be under some sort of obligation to him.’
    Max sent her a quick look. ‘You have been finding out a lot.’
    â€˜I thought that’s what you wanted.’
    Max sighed. ‘Yes, of course. But have you found out if any of them are really unhappy?’
    â€˜Only Stan, and he hasn’t said that to me. All the others seem OK, and they like the theatre. No one seems scared or anything. As I said, I think they all thought the