Read Online Murder in the Second Row by Bev Robitai - Free Book Online Page A

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.

     

Chapter 5
     
    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?’
    Jessica hid a
smile; this was a side of Nick she hadn’t seen before.
    ‘I’ve got some,
thanks. Little blue ones. Jolly good they are too – d’you want
one?’
    ‘Austin!’ The
entire planning committee voiced their disapproval.
    Nick sighed
wearily. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to hold this meeting
in a wine bar. Should we go back to the Regent, do you think?’
    ‘No, of course
not,’ said Clara-Jane. ‘This was a great idea, Nick. It’s nice to
get a change of scene. I’m sure Austin was only joking and will
stop now.’ She looked hard at Austin to reinforce the message.
‘Perhaps you could get us some water, Austin?’
    ‘All right, all
right,’ he muttered, and stomped off to the bar.
    ‘Don’t let him
get to you, Nick,’ she advised. ‘OK, he’s sleazy and disgusting at
times but he’s a damn good stage manager, and has more theatre
experience than all the rest of us put together.’
    ‘He’s probably
had more than his share of all sorts of experiences,’ said MaryAnn
tartly. ‘I sometimes feel like making Howard have an extra shower
when he’s been around Austin for a