The Librarian Principle (34 page)

Over the days that followed, Liese remained incredibly busy. She didn’t have a spare moment to give in to the temptation to seek out Ryder and was almost grateful for the unending list of tasks Blake assigned her. The matinee performances took place just after lunch and meant she needed a substitute to cover the library. Her replacement left a lot to be desired in the organizational department, so between the day and evening performances, she catalogued and shelved the bins of returned books, setting aside those on reserve, and rushed back to the auditorium for performance round two.

By Wednesday, she’d sworn she would never help with another theater production again. The final matinee would begin in less than a half-hour, and Liese found herself fixing the female lead’s makeup for the third time because she kept breaking down. Apparently she’d been dating someone in the cast—Liese couldn’t quite understand the boy’s name through the sobbing—and had caught him kissing another cast member.

She tried to calm her down, but everything she said seemed to cause more tears. Liese dabbed at the girl’s eyes, thankful for waterproof mascara. Just when she thought she was going to start crying herself, Ryder walked through the door. Liese had only passed him in the office once in the past three days, although frequent text messages kept her linked to him at all hours of the day and night. Because the play kept them both at the school well into the evening, they’d not had any private time since Sunday.

“I brought reinforcements.” He stepped aside to reveal Marissa.

“Oh, thank God you’re here!” Liese exclaimed.

Marissa had called the night before to confirm she was coming to the final performance, and her arrival couldn’t have been better timed. Liese’s current state of crisis must have been written on her face because Ryder approached the teary female lead.

He sank down on one knee, bringing him level with the sniffling girl. “Are you all right?”

Her garbled response must have made sense to Ryder because he asked several more questions, his voice taking on the soft, almost lilting quality Liese had become so familiar with. He used it on her whenever she was stressed out.

Liese stood with Marissa and watched in fascination as Ryder worked his magic. It seemed very few people were immune to his charismatic ways. Within three minutes, the lead stopped crying; after five minutes her sniffles and hiccups subsided, and she even cracked a smile. Ryder patted her on the shoulder and winked at Liese before heading for the door. She longed to follow him and find a dark corner.

“Impressive,” Marissa said.

“Sometimes Mr. Whitehall is so nice.” The lead sighed dreamily.

“Isn’t he, though?” Marissa directed the comment at Liese.

She made a noise of agreement before going back to work fixing makeup. She smiled brightly and changed the subject. “Blake’s with the sound and light crew if you want to say hi.”

“Yeah?” Marissa’s face lit up. “Okay, I’ll do that.” She turned toward the door and added, “Plus he can tell me where I’ll be the most useful.”

Liese refrained from mentioning that Marissa could have easily asked
her
where she’d be most useful. “Great idea,” she said with a smile. “See you in a few minutes.”

But Liese didn’t see Marissa again until after the final matinee ended. Even then, they didn’t get a chance to talk. The cast kept her far too busy. The only time they stopped for a break was to scarf down a couple of slices of cold pizza before getting the performers back into makeup and costumes.

The next few hours passed in a blur of music, set changes, costume changes, makeup touch-ups, and a few minor freak-outs. At the end, when the entire cast and crew went out for their customary bows, Liese found a reason to stay comfortably backstage as usual. But Blake had other plans for the final performance.

He beckoned her from her hiding place behind the curtain, and she reluctantly crossed the stage, her face turning the same red as the scarf she’d put on that morning. Blake grabbed Liese’s hand and raised it in the air in a flourish, then bowed low, pulling her with him. Liese hated the feeling of so many eyes on her. This was why she’d chosen to be a librarian, buried behind stacks of books.

Knowing Ryder had to be out there somewhere, she worried about his reaction to Blake holding her hand, no matter how harmless it might be. Ryder wouldn’t like what he deemed unnecessary physical contact. That made her smile. She looked out over the sea of faces to the back of the auditorium.

That’s where she saw Sean. Standing in the very last row, he wore an expression that bordered on murderous. And he directed it right at her.

Her hold on Blake’s hand tightened. She could see him wincing from the corner of her eye, but paralyzed by stage fright and a mounting fear of Sean, she couldn’t release his hand.

It appeared her crazy ex-boyfriend extraordinaire had breached his restraining order and now sat in the very last row of the audience. Arms crossed over his chest, Sean shook his head in mock disappointment. Why would he show up at the school on a night like this? There hadn’t been any recent calls to ignore, and she’d settled into the belief that he’d finally given up. Clearly, she’d been wrong. She met his accusatory glare and remained trapped there, unable to break eye contact.

The impulse to jump off the stage, kick him in the balls, punch him in the face, and Taser him—then vomit—was strong. Only she didn’t own a Taser. And she couldn’t force her body into action at all right now. Vomiting, however, wouldn’t be a problem if her stomach kept up the acrobatics.

Blake’s arm came around her shoulder, and he hugged her to him, laughing jovially. He waved at the cheering, clapping audience and began to retreat from the front of the stage. Thankfully, her body obeyed his silent command and she followed his movement, her feet shuffling awkwardly across the stage.

“Are you okay?” he whispered through a smile. He looked surprisingly calm, although Liese supposed he had no idea why she’d broken into full freak-out mode.

“Sean’s in the audience,” she replied through clenched teeth, still unable to pry her eyes away from him. She plastered a toothy grin on her face to match Blake’s in the hopes of masking her horror.

“What?” he asked.

They retreated further, allowing the cast to swallow them up and form a shield, hiding them from view. The cover also broke the spell of Sean’s death stare.

“Sean’s—”

“I heard you. Where? And stop smiling like that, you look insane.”

“Last row on the left.” Liese tried to make her grin a little less crazy.

The cast moved forward as one and bowed. As they bent at the waist, Sean came back into view. He still seethed at her from the back of the auditorium. She averted her eyes, searching the audience for a safer place to look—like at Ryder, but she couldn’t find him. Liese tried to stay calm as she scanned the crowd, but Blake’s incessant nudging made her doubt her success. Thankfully, no one but Sean and Blake seemed to be paying her any mind.

The students bowed again, and her heart lurched as Ryder appeared from behind the lighting box and headed directly for Sean. Ryder loomed over him, looking furious as he motioned to the exit. Sean stepped forward in challenge, his attempt at posturing rather abysmal considering Ryder was a full head taller. Still, his brazenness made Liese wonder if he might be carrying a weapon. He’d clearly moved into uncharted territory now.

Liese realized she’d been moving toward the front of the stage when Blake grabbed her arm and pulled her back to his side. “Don’t. Whitehall will take care of it.”

“He’s dangerous. And what if Sean recognizes—” She bit her tongue.

Ryder pulled his walkie-talkie from his back pocket. Liese had no idea who he would page at this time in the evening. The office was empty, although she’d seen Harvey before the show began.

Sean said something to Ryder now, gesturing toward the stage, and Ryder’s stance changed from calmly authoritative to aggressive. His lip curled into a sneer as his hand wrapped around Sean’s bicep. Ryder yanked him firmly toward the back door and pushed it open, dragging him through.

The whole debacle had taken seconds, but it had been enough to draw the attention of a few people in the last rows. Liese felt Blake’s hand tighten on her forearm, and then she was moving again, heading toward the wing and the glowing red exit sign beyond. Just before she and Blake exited backstage, Liese saw Marissa slip out the back door of the auditorium, followed by Harvey.

Liese hoped Ryder got the situation under control before something really bad happened. While part of her prayed Sean was too agitated to recognize him, she was far more concerned about the actions that same agitation might turn into if things escalated.

Once they were behind the cover of the curtains, Liese headed for the exit. Blake stopped her. “Do you think it’s a good idea to go out there? That guy’s a lunatic. You just said yourself that he’s dangerous.”

“Marissa’s out there, and so is Ryder. I need to make sure they’re okay.” She pried at his fingers. “Please, Blake.”

He hesitated before finally releasing her. “Be careful. I’ll follow as soon as I can.”

She stumbled forward and shouldered her way out into the hallway. Distress made her knees wobbly as she walked briskly to the front entrance, where she assumed they’d taken Sean.

She burst out the front doors and ran smack into Ryder’s chest.

To her right, Sean lay sprawled out on the stone walkway, his hand over his mouth, swearing a blue streak.

“What the hell happened?” Liese shot Ryder a troubled glance, then surveyed Harvey and Marissa, trying to assess the damage. It looked like someone had just punched Sean, and she could only hope it hadn’t been Ryder.

“You just hit Sean in the face with the door,” Marissa supplied as she suppressed a laugh.

Under any other circumstances Liese might have found the situation funny. But Ryder didn’t seem to share Marissa’s amusement; he looked downright pissed. Harvey appeared confused more than anything else. And he was staring at Marissa’s chest.

Liese stepped forward, keeping enough distance to prevent any contact with Sean. “What are you doing? You’re not allowed to be here!”

He tried to speak, but it came out garbled. Blood seeped between his fingers. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, turned his head to the side and spat.

“Gross,” Marissa said.

“You need to leave.” Liese gestured to the stairs leading to the parking lot. “Now. Before parents see you bleeding all over the place.”

“I fink you broke my nobe,” Sean lisped as he struggled to his feet.

She moved away from him, scanning for places where he might conceal a weapon.

“And my front teef feel loof.”

“It would serve you right.” Anger replaced Liese’s fear as she realized Sean hadn’t come prepared for a showdown. He was his typical whiny self, looking for attention, nothing more. “I’m not sure how much clearer I need to be, Sean. I figured a restraining order would have made it obvious enough that I don’t want anything to do with you, but apparently I was mistaken.”

“I just wanted to see you.”

“To leer at me from the back of a high school student performance?” she shrieked. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I think it’s clear Annaliese does not want to see
you
,” Ryder said.

Sean’s head whipped around and he took a step toward Ryder, jabbing a bloody finger at him.

“No thanks to you, asshole. Don’t think for a second I don’t know what’s going on here, you fucking thief.”

Liese put her hand in front of Sean to stop him as she glimpsed a very befuddled Harvey. She worded her rebuke carefully. “Principal Whitehall has nothing to do with this. You need to leave, or I’m going to call the police and have them escort you from the property.”

Ryder cleared his throat behind her. He pointed to the far end of the lot, where a cruiser idled. “They’re already here. One of the officers has a nephew in the play.” He inclined his head toward the school where the foyer was filling with parents. “I’ve asked them to be discreet, considering the circumstances.”

While there were refreshments available, it wouldn’t be long before the audience started to trickle out. Liese ignored Sean’s muttering and looked to Ryder. “We need to get him away from the doors.”