Read It and Weep (A Library Lover's Mystery) (18 page)

Joanie’s list of things that Dylan suffered from included dizziness, nausea and sweats. Lindsey couldn’t help but flash on the last few minutes of Robbie’s life. He had exhibited all of those symptoms.

Maybe she was crazy, but her hand was reaching for the phone to call Emma before she could stop herself. She reached the front desk. Emma was out. She left a message for Emma to call her. At the very least, she wanted to show Emma the file and see if it struck her the same way it had Lindsey.

She had heard stories of mothers who intentionally harmed their children because the mother was mentally ill; could Joanie be doing that to Dylan? Was his illness real or was his mother causing it? The thought made a cold shiver run down Lindsey’s spine. Dylan was missing. She did not have a good feeling about this.

• • •

S
he was just putting Dylan’s file away when Beth stuck her head in the office.

“Lindsey, we’re supposed to report to the theater early tonight,” she said. “Come on!”

Lindsey glanced at the clock. Where had her afternoon gone?

“I’m coming,” she said.

She shut down her computer. Then she grabbed her purse out of the lower drawer of her desk and hopped up from her seat. Maybe she could catch Emma at the theater. Beth was dancing from foot to foot in the doorway.

“Did you want to grab something to eat first?” Lindsey asked.

“No.” Beth shook her head, looking pale and ill.

“You’re going to be fine,” Lindsey said.

“I don’t know,” Beth said. “Perry and Heather both said that they haven’t seen Dylan all day. What if his mother is holding him out? What if there is no Puck?”

“There will be,” Lindsey said. “Worst-case scenario, Violet plays Puck. You know she knows all of the blocking and the lines.”

“A sixty-something black woman playing Puck,” Beth said as they walked out of the workroom. “That doesn’t seem odd to you?”

“When you consider that in Shakespeare’s time all of the actors were men and they played the female characters? No, it doesn’t seem that odd. Besides, Violet would be great. She can do anything.”

“Agreed,” Beth said. “But still . . .”

“You’d prefer Dylan,” Lindsey said.

“Well, yeah,” Beth said.

“Break a leg,” Ann Marie called from behind the circulation desk.

“Thanks.” Beth grinned.

“Good luck,” Jessie called from the reference desk.

“Wow, I feel like a celebrity,” Beth said. “Where’d the lemon go? I figured we could walk over together.”

“I’m guessing she already left,” Lindsey said. “You know how she is about being prompt.”

They stepped outside the library. The sky was just beginning to get dark, and Lindsey could smell the distinct scent of woodstove smoke in the air. It was early in the year to be firing up the woodstove, but then, the weatherman on television had said that tonight would be the coldest one yet.

Beth huddled in her jacket. She was mumbling to herself and Lindsey wondered if it was a personal conversation or her lines that she was going over. Either way, she decided not to interrupt her friend and instead took a moment to relish the sight of the leaves on the trees in the park taking on the last of the sun’s rays in bursts of orange, red and yellow. Breathtaking.

They continued down the sidewalk to the theater. The closer they got, the more Beth started to hum with anxiety.

The ushers and ticket takers were all in the lobby and they turned when Lindsey opened the door as if they were expecting their first guests.

“Cast and crew,” Lindsey said.

Kim Berger, who was in charge of the ushers, nodded at them and waved them through.

“Oh, my god, this is really happening,” Beth said. “That’s it. I can’t do it. I can’t go on stage.”

“W
hat?” Lindsey grabbed her arm before she bolted.

“I can’t do it,” Beth said.

Lindsey pulled her through the doors that led into the theater. The lights were down. Crew members were scrambling to make sure the set was just right for the opening act, and cast members were in various states of costume, huddled in dark corners while they went over their lines.

“Stop it,” Lindsey said. “You just have a touch of stage fright. Shake it off.”

“Shake it off?” Beth repeated. “How?”

“Violet will set you right,” Lindsey said. “Come on.”

Violet was in front of the stage with a crowd around her. From the looks of it, Beth wasn’t the only one panicking. The lighting man was holding up colored gels, the stage director kept testing his headset as if he just couldn’t believe it actually worked and two of the cast members were wringing their hands and looking as ill at ease as Beth.

Lindsey would have felt sorry for Violet, but she looked energized in a way Lindsey had never seen before. Her eyes sparkled, her skin glowed and her smile was positively luminescent.

“Cast and crew,” Violet called everyone forward. “Gather ’round.”

As if they had all been tucked into the woodwork, the players and crew came forward, gathering en masse in front of the stage. Violet’s gaze moved over all of them with the affection of a mother.

Lindsey felt someone join the group on her other side, and she glanced over to see Sully, Ian and Mary move in beside her.

“Tonight, we perform for our friend Robbie Vine,” Violet said. “Fear not that you aren’t ready. His spirit will carry you through your scenes.”

Lindsey saw Beth visibly relax beside her. Leave it to Violet to remind them that this was about more than the individual cast and crew members. It was a living memorial to Robbie Vine, and if anyone could elevate their abilities, it was him.

“Now remember,” Violet continued, “this is theater. It is a living organism that lives and breathes as you live and breathe, and it will live whether you flub your entrance or forget your lines. Be flexible, help each other and adjust, but most important, live.”

An air of calm descended over the group. The doors at the back of the theater opened and in stepped Dylan Peet. A collective sigh of relief swept through the assembled cast, and Lindsey saw Violet smile at the young man.

“Dylan, you’re just in time,” Violet said. Her voice was kind and she lifted her right hand and waved him into the group. The others parted so that he could stand beside her.

Violet took his hand in hers and gave him what Lindsey thought was a searching look. He answered with a slight nod and she turned back to the group. Lindsey noted that Dylan appeared a little pale but otherwise fine. Maybe she was crazy to think there was a connection to his lifelong illness and Robbie’s death. Still, she scanned the theater for Joanie but didn’t see her.

“Join hands, please,” Violet instructed. “I’m going to lead you through a centering exercise.”

Lindsey held out one hand to Beth and one to Sully. She felt the spark she always felt when Sully’s callused hand enfolded hers. She tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t deny that her heart rate had picked up considerably.

“Close your eyes,” Violet said. “Try to clear your mind of all thought and of all emotion. Just be.”

Lindsey had her mind clear for about a nanosecond, but then she felt Sully’s thumb running ever so slightly back and forth over the pulse point in her wrist, which felt as if she was being repeatedly hit with gentle zaps of electricity.

Did he know what he was doing? She lowered her head and opened her left eye to sneak a peek at him. Even in the dim lighting, she could see that his eyes were shut and his face was perfectly composed as if he were taking a nap. Ugh!

She resisted the urge to kick him. After their near kiss yesterday, her immunity to him was nil. Even the faint scent of his aftershave was slowly making her crazy.

While Violet spoke of the deep, dark quiet of a forest at night, Lindsey tried to block out the impact Sully was having on her senses. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if she could shake him off just as easily. It was a battle.

So many memories of her months dating Sully filled her mind; lazy Sundays spent sleeping in followed by working on the crossword together, late-night strolls on the beach with Heathcliff running between them while he chased the waves, and days spent sailing in the Sound while he taught her how to harness the wind. The memories filled her mind like his touch on her skin and the scent of him in her nose.

“Now slowly open your eyes,” Violet instructed them.

Lindsey heard Violet’s voice, but it took her a moment to process the instruction. She really didn’t want to leave the happy memories she had spent the past few months squashing down deep.

A chuckle forced her to blink her eyes open and when she did, she was mortified to find that she had pressed her body flush up against Sully’s. His face was just inches from hers and he was smiling at her as if he’d been reliving the same memories she had and that he’d been happy to do so.

Lindsey dropped his hand as if it burned and stepped away from him. She saw Ian and Mary exchange a knowing look and she felt her face get hot.

She cleared her throat and fanned herself with her free hand. She turned to Beth and asked, “Is it hot in here?”

Beth released her hand and glanced at her, looking amazingly calm compared to the nervous wreck she had been just moments before.

“No; in fact, I think it’s chilly,” she said. She narrowed her gaze at Lindsey. “Are you all right? You look flushed.”

“I’m fi—” Lindsey cleared her throat again. “I’m good.”

“Oh, okay.” Beth looked at her suspiciously. Then she glanced across Lindsey and said, “Oh, hi, Sully. When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago,” he said.

Lindsey could hear the amusement in his voice but she refused to turn around and face him.

“Now, if you’ll all spread out,” Violet instructed. “Let’s get centered.”

They all took a few steps away from each other. Lindsey made sure she was out of range from pressing herself up against Sully again. Honestly, she didn’t think she was ever going to live that down.

“Everyone stand with your feet apart and parallel with your shoulders. Relax your shoulders and drop your head to your chest,” Violet instructed. “Let the weight of your head pull your body to the floor, and bend over at the waist.”

Lindsey saw Milton across the crowd. As the resident yogi, he was doing the proper breathing and could press his upper body flat against the front of his legs. He’d been coaching Lindsey on this move, but she still had to bend her knees a bit.

With a sigh, she followed Violet’s instructions. She inhaled and then slowly released it as she lowered her body forward. Her long, blonde hair covered her face and she could feel the blood rush to her head. At least now everyone would look red in the face. The thought made her laugh, which came out funny given that she was upside down.

“You okay over there?” Sully asked.

She turned and saw that he was bent over, looking red in the face, which only made her laugh again.

“Yep, and you?” she asked.

“I think I might be stuck,” he said.

She could tell by the gleam in his eye that he was kidding.

“Now rise slowly from the base of your spine,” Violet instructed. “Go slowly, vertebra by vertebra. Raise your head at the very end.”

Lindsey rose slowly back up. She could feel everyone rising around her as if they were plugged into a collective energy socket. When they lifted their heads, eyes were bright and smiles were eager.

She looked at Beth and asked, “How are you?”

“Never better,” Beth said.

“All right, everyone, we have a half hour to curtain,” Violet said. “Let’s give them a show they’ll never forget.”

The group let out a cheer, and everyone made for their various stations. Lindsey glanced at Sully as he headed for the backstage area. As if sensing her gaze on him, he turned around and smiled at her before disappearing behind the curtain.

“What has gotten into that man?” she muttered to herself.

“Lindsey! Mary!” Nancy called them over. “I’ve got the cast arriving for final costume checks, and we need to make sure we have everything we’ll need backstage.”

“I’ll check the back,” Lindsey volunteered.

She left the seating area and went backstage. The curtained area they were using for costume changes was stocked with racks and the necessities for emergency repairs.

Nancy had tacked a list to the wall of costume changes, and Lindsey checked it against the items on the racks to make sure they had everything. Even Ian’s donkey head mask was ready to go.

The cast had all disappeared to the green room while the crew scurried to make sure everything was in its place. Violet was on the stage going over the last-minute instructions with the stage manager. They both wore high-tech headsets and would be communicating throughout the show.

Violet left to give the cast a final, quick pep talk before she headed up to the light booth, where she would stay for the remainder of the show. Lindsey knew that Emma had posted an officer up there as well as one backstage, while she planned to patrol the audience. It was hard to believe that a small community theater show was requiring so much security but given that just about everyone in town was going to be here for opening night, it seemed the rest of town could get by with the two remaining part-time officers on duty.

Nancy and Mary joined Lindsey backstage just as the stage manager announced that the audience was being let in. Lindsey felt a nervous flutter start in her belly. She wanted the show to go well for so many reasons: to remember Robbie, to make Violet’s directorial debut a success and because so many people had worked so long and so hard on the show.

“Let’s peek,” Mary said. “Come on.”

She led Lindsey and Nancy over to the edge of the curtain, where they watched the ushers seating people. The bottom level was packed and the balcony was filling up fast.

“Good grief,” Nancy whispered. “It’s a full house.”

Lindsey scouted the crowd looking for familiar faces. She glanced up a few rows and saw Charlene sitting with her husband, Martin. Lindsey was glad she had put aside her grief over Robbie’s death to see her mother’s directorial debut.

Lindsey saw Harvey Wargus sitting a few rows over from Charlene. He looked positively aglow, undoubtedly already writing his scathing review in his mind before the curtain even rose.

She saw many of the library’s regulars as her gaze moved over the crowd. Carrie Rushton was there with Dale Wilcox, and they seemed pretty cozy. Also, she was pleased to see Mayor Hensen in the crowd, sitting with his wife on one side and Herb Gunderson, his right-hand man, on the other.

Lindsey recognized Joanie Peet, wearing a black dress, escorting late arrivals to their seats near the front. She paused and glanced at the stage as if looking for someone. Lindsey suspected she was searching for Dylan. If what Heather had said was true and Dylan hadn’t gone home last night, then Joanie hadn’t seen him since their argument on the front steps of the police station.

Lindsey felt the world shift under her feet. In her mind, she saw Joanie standing on the front steps declaring that she would do anything to protect her son. She had even said, “Look what happened to you!” to Lindsey after her fall.

But how had she known? If she had left to go to the police station when Dylan was taken for questioning, she would have been gone before Lindsey was pushed and there was no way she could have known that Lindsey almost fell to her death—unless she was the one who pushed her.

Lindsey felt all of the blood drain from her face and her heart beat hard in her chest. As she watched the stout woman move through the crowd, all she could think was that this woman was Robbie’s killer. She was sure of it. It all made sense.

She was crazy overprotective of her only child. “Crazy” being the operative word, if she was indeed making Dylan sick to keep him dependent upon her. And if Lindsey was right and Robbie was Dylan’s father then how far would Joanie go to keep her son to herself? Would she have murdered Robbie? But why would she try to harm Lindsey? Then Lindsey remembered complimenting Dylan on his resemblance to Robbie on the stage. Had Joanie pushed Lindsey because she was getting too close to the truth?

Lindsey scanned the crowd, looking for the chief of police. Damn it! Where was Emma?

“Why am I so nervous?” Mary whispered, distracting Lindsey from her search. “It’s not like I’m on stage.”

“I don’t know, but I have to go to the bathroom,” Nancy said.

“Now?” Lindsey asked.

“It’s okay, we don’t have a costume change until Act III,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Places, places everyone,” the stage manager hissed. “We’re two minutes until curtain.”

Nancy slipped out the door to the green room, while Lindsey and Mary moved back to their makeshift wardrobe area. Through a gap in the curtain, they could just see Violet as she strode out onto the stage.

Lindsey wished she could run out and find Emma but she just couldn’t do it to Violet. Everyone was here. The show was starting. She’d keep an eye on Joanie and Dylan and tell Emma everything she suspected the first chance she got.

Violet had changed her outfit. She was wearing her usual long, flowing caftan, but this one was a deep ruby red and shimmered when she moved. Her hair was pulled back and twisted into a topknot, which was held in place by a wreath of pearls. Lindsey thought she looked like theater royalty.

“Welcome,” Violet said. Her strong voice rang out across the theater.

Lindsey wondered if Sterling Buchanan was in the crowd and if so, was he wracked with regret that he had let this amazing woman and his equally stunning daughter go? She hoped so.

“Please sit back and enjoy the Briar Creek Community Theater’s production of William Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
.”

Violet left the stage to thunderous applause. Lindsey felt her entire body tense up and she knew she was waiting for something to go wrong, but nothing did.