Murder Takes Center Stage

by Tracy D. Comstock

  As much as she fought it back, the panic wanted to rise. She slid down the door, resting her back against it, her head on her knees, tears dripping down her cheeks and off the tip of her nose. She wracked her brain for a way out of this predicament. If only she had kept her phone in her pocket. If only she'd agreed to meet Tad and her parents for dinner. But it was too late now. She was well and truly stuck, and there was nothing she could do but wait for someone to find her. Since, realistically, no one might even begin to look for her until she didn't show up for school the next morning, she just had to keep her mind occupied with something else, anything else but her growing urgency for a restroom and the black pressing in on her, threatening to smother her.

  She knew it couldn't be a coincidence that someone had deliberately trapped her in here not a week after Bodley's murder. But why did whoever it was want her out of the way tonight? What was the point? Just to scare her? She didn't want to admit that it was working. Did that mean she was on to the right suspect? She had been sure after talking with Jeweliah that she was the one responsible for Bodley's death. And while the thought broke her heart, she was also determined to do everything in her power to help the girl get the help she needed. Yet now she wondered if she'd been wrong after all. If the same person who killed Bodley had now locked her in the abandoned theater, then she didn't know how that person could be Jeweliah.

  She had watched with her own two eyes, eyes that definitely saw more than the glass ones staring at her out of the dark, as Jeweliah walked away from rehearsal with Sapphira. It was her sincere hope that they were having a serious mother-to-daughter talk right now. The image of Annabeth glaring after the two of them as they walked away popped into her mind. If Annabeth had been in love with Bodley and devastated by his lack of affection for her, could she have teamed up with Jeweliah to get him out of the picture? Annabeth could have easily come back and locked her in after everyone else left.

  Out of the other people she had suspected of being involved with Bodley's death, most of them had not even been at rehearsal that night. Ms. Lowe had not been there. Violet said she was having dinner with her husband, but that had been several hours ago. She could have had ample time to come back by the theater as everyone was leaving and, seeing her car was still in the lot, decided to sneak in and give her a scare. But what did scaring her accomplish?

  And then there was Mr. Greenbalm. Although he had also not been at rehearsals tonight, she was still confused by Violet's denial of their friendship and how nervous Mr. Greenbalm had appeared while being questioned by the police on the night of Bodley's death. She still didn't know if Mr. Greenbalm had known Bodley before his recent return to Ellington, but she planned to find out. Just as soon as she got out of this ever-shrinking hole that she was trapped in. She tried to figure what angle Mr. Greenbalm and Violet might have for working together to murder Bodley, but the only motive she knew of was for Violet, enacting revenge for her lost scholarship and the consequent change in her life path.

  Emily's mind whirled with all of these questions and images of her list of suspects at rehearsals over the last month or so. Any one of these people would have had access to the props at one point or another and could have switched out the fake knife for the real one. But what about the poisoning, if that was what had really happened to Bodley and Violet? Was Violet getting sick an accident? Could it truly have been just a bad case of a stomach virus?

  Frustrated by her lack of answers and wanting out of this enclosed space that was starting to feel more like a coffin than a room, she pounded on the door and yelled some more. But all that gained her was sore fists and a hoarse voice. She was trying desperately to distract herself from her now almost-painful need to use the restroom. She was also beginning to think she was seeing and hearing things in the dark. That same soft, low, eerie laugh seemed to run on a constant loop in her head, and she gave a wary glance toward the corner where she knew the dummy lay.

  She tried to get up and pace, but she kept tripping over objects in the dark, and she had no desire to get too close to that now ominous-seeming stuffed dummy. Finally, trying to become resigned to the fact that she would be spending the night in this room and quite possibly peeing her pants for the first time since she was a toddler, she tried to make herself comfortable on the cold, hard floor, praying for the oblivion of sleep.

  * * *

  When she woke with a start, she had no way of knowing how much time had passed. It could have been hours or mere minutes. Her vintage Strawberry Shortcake watch didn't have a luminous dial, but her neck was sore and stiff from spending an extended period of time hunched over with her head resting on her knees. It felt like she had been sitting in that same position for hours, and she hoped that meant it was close to morning.

  She was pushing herself up gingerly to her feet once again when she thought she heard a noise outside the door. She pressed both her hands and ear against it, listening closely. It definitely sounded like someone was moving on the other side, but a new and paralyzing fear struck her. What if whoever had locked her in here had decided to come back and finish her off? After all, whoever had murdered Bodley would surely have no qualms in taking out whoever else got in their way. Emily couldn't decide whether to cry out again for help or to try to search blindly for a weapon. While she stood there, indecisive, a cold sweat chilling her clammy skin, she heard a muffled voice calling. With a sob of relief, she recognized Tad's voice and used her battered and bruised fists to beat on the door once again. "I'm in here! Tad, I'm in here!"

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  She heard the snick of the lock turning, and then she was stumbling out into the glaring light of the hall and Tad's comforting arms. "I'm so glad you found me," she said, clinging to him tightly.

  "How'd you get locked in there? Who did it?" He held her back at arm's length to look at her closely, as if reassuring himself that she was alright.

  "I have no idea. I was double checking that the props were secure, and I saw the dummy, the original one that Annabeth made, in the corner back there. I went to check it out, and the next think I knew, I was locked in. What time is it, anyway?"

  "It's around three in the morning," Tad told her.

  "Why in the world were you out looking for me at three in the morning?" she asked, bewildered, but then quickly added, "Not that I'm not grateful." As Tad started to answer, she interrupted again, "But hold that thought because I'm desperate to use the restroom."

  "I'll wait outside the door," he told her as she sprinted down the hallway. And when she finally emerged, feeling much relieved, he was waiting.

  "Let's get my stuff and get out of here." She could tell by the tense set of Tad's jaw how upset he was, but she'd had enough of the theater for one night. Scooping her purse with her elusive cell phone off a front-row seat in the auditorium, she headed out to the main lobby doors. "Were these unlocked?" she asked.

  "Yep." Tad took the keys she held out and secured the doors. Only she, Destiny, and Albert had a set of keys to use during their time at the theater, so that did not help to reduce the number of people who might have locked her in. Suddenly overcome by the emotions of the night and pure exhaustion, she leaned heavily on Tad as they moved towards her car. "You wanna just ride with me?" he asked her.

  "No, I'm okay to drive, but would you please follow me back to my duplex?"

  "Of course," Tad told her, his look serious. "I'm not letting you out of my sight." The fact that this statement brought comfort rather than making her feel stifled told Emily just how much her feelings for Tad had shifted.

  When they got back to her place, Emily left Tad in the living room while she went to change. She also used the restroom again just because it was there and she could, vowing never to take that small convenience for granted again.

  By the time she had settled cross-legged on the couch facing Tad, he had an ice-cold soda poured for her. "I know it's a little late for caffeine, but I think we need to talk," he told her.

  "I agr
ee," she said, taking a grateful sip. She was parched from yelling, and her last drink of water had been hours ago. "Why don't you tell me how you happened to realize I was locked in the theater in the middle of the night?"

  Tad reached out and took her hand, looking at her intently. "I had dinner with your parents and did some grading, then decided your idea of an early bedtime sounded like a good idea. But the minute my head hit the pillow, I couldn't stop thinking about your theory about Jeweliah. I mean, we're talking about a student, one we know and care about, being behind a cold-blooded murder. I knew I would never get to sleep worrying about her, so I decided to take a late-night jog to clear my mind."

  "You were going jogging at what, two in the morning?" She was incredulous.

  "Why not? Despite recent events, Ellington is a safe place. No one was going to bother me. Anyway," he continued, "I decided to run by your duplex to make sure all looked safe. No lights were on in either side, so I figured both you and Helen were sound asleep, but when I headed around the block, I saw that your car wasn't in the carport. I hoofed it back here, thinking maybe something had spooked you, and you'd come over to my place. I tried your cell phone, but you didn't answer, so then I was really worried." The concern still showed plainly in his dark eyes and tensed jaw. She scooted over on the couch to be even closer to him. He tucked an arm around her firmly before continuing.

  "I didn't want to send anyone into a panic, so I drove out to Gabby and Greg's and by your parents' places first to see if your car was there. When there was still no sign of you and you still didn't answer your cell phone, I went by the school and then back by the theater, trying to retrace the steps of your day. I was so relieved to see your car still outside the theater that I didn't stop to call the police but just barged in. I guess I would have called them if the doors had been locked, but they were open."

  "Should we call the police now?"

  "Why don't we go back and talk to Detective Welks in person tomorrow morning before school? There's nothing they can do tonight anyway."

  "That sounds like a plan. I know you must be exhausted, and I'm about dead on my feet. Wanna crash on the couch tonight?"

  "Absolutely. Like I said, I don't want you out of my sight until whoever is behind this, whether Jeweliah or someone else, is apprehended. I swear, you took ten years off my life tonight, Pit."

  Emily had moved to the closet in the hallway to get him a spare blanket and pillow while he was talking, but now she moved back and sat on the coffee table, facing him. "I don't see how Jeweliah could be behind what happened to me tonight. I saw her leaving with Sapphira, but Annabeth… Look, we can talk about that tomorrow. Right now I have something more important I need to tell you."

  Tad's eyes searched hers, and he gripped her hands hard, looking terrified of what she might have to say. She struggled to swallow past the lump in her throat, deeply regretting that she'd been the one to put this doubt in his eyes. "Tad, I've had a crush on you since I was a freshman in high school. I never thought you even noticed me." He started to shake his head, but she held a finger to his lips to shush him. "Let me get this out. I wanted to wait until all this mess with Bodley was behind us, but I don't think it can wait any longer." She took a deep breath and dove in. "When I moved back here and we started dating, it all seemed too good to be true. This is what I had wanted for so long. You had been in my thoughts all through my years away at school and teaching up north. No one I dated ever quite measured up to the standard you had set for me, even in high school. It didn't matter that we'd never dated. It just mattered that I knew what I felt for you and the type of person you were. I guess I felt I wasn't truly worthy of you."

  Again, Tad tried to interrupt, but she talked over him. "Please let me finish." He nodded and wiped at a tear on her cheek that she hadn't even realized was there. "I think I was afraid that if I let myself truly believe in what I felt for you, in this—" She motioned between them. "—that it would somehow disappear. That I would do something to screw it up. Because Tad, I love you more than anything else in this world. I can't imagine a second of my life without you in it."

  She got up to pace so that he couldn't reach out to her and distract her from finishing. "And I know that I've shied away from any serious commitment, but that was because I didn't want to lose our friendship or mess up what we have. But over the past week, I've come to see that a future without you isn't a future I want. There's no going back. You have my heart and soul. I don't know what I ever did to deserve you, but here you are. And you're always here. You never let me down. I can't promise that I won't ever let you down, but I can promise you I will try to be as wonderful and supportive of you as you've always been to me. And I promise that I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Theodore Higginbotham, more than you will ever know."

  Before she had finished her sentence, Tad had swooped her up in a crushing hug. "You don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that, Em. I love you, every stubborn, beautiful inch of you, and I can't imagine my life without you in it either."

  Despite all the worries about the play and the murder and the stress of being locked in that awful tiny room for hours, Emily suddenly felt as light as a feather. This is what had been missing in her life, and she hadn't even realized it. As Tad spun her around, kissing her breathless, she felt like her heart might burst from all this happiness. Yes, life might be difficult and confusing and uncertain at times, but she was surrounded by wonderful family and friends to help share the burdens and the joys, and most importantly, she had the most incredible man to love and share life with, and that was something else she wasn't going to take for granted again. "Thank you for loving me," she finally managed to get out.

  "It's truly my pleasure," he told her. "Thank you for loving me. But now I have a very important question to ask you."

  Emily felt her heart stutter and tried to fight the instinctual rising panic. This is what she wanted, she reminded herself. She wanted to spend the rest of her life by Tad's side. She braced for his question, but when it came, it made her laugh. "Do you need to go to bed now, or can you stay up a little longer and tell me how you came to this incredibly obvious realization that you can't live without me? Because I'm now wide awake."

  "I think I can hang in there a little longer." And she did. They continued to talk about their goals and dreams until dawn began to lighten the horizon, all thoughts of murder pushed temporarily aside. And while Tad never actually popped the question, by the time Emily hurried to the shower to get ready for another long day ahead, she realized that the anticipation of what was to come now filled her with unspeakable excitement—not doubt and panic. Why she had taken so long to get to this point, she'd never know, but she was grateful to have arrived.

  * * *

  Emily was able to hold on to that positive feeling all morning, despite its early start. After Tad had raced home to take a quick shower, they had dropped by the police station on their way to school. Gangly Arms, although sorry for what Emily had gone through and assuring her that he would definitely check into things, didn't hold out much hope that they would find any incriminating evidence at the theater. He too agreed that it was too much of a coincidence not to believe that whoever locked her in the prop room was involved in Bodley's murder. Of course, the good detective wasn't forthcoming with any new information pertaining to that case, however.

  By the time the lunch hour rolled around, Emily was fervently wishing for some time to talk to Gabby about her biting the bullet and finally confessing her true feelings to Tad. But that would have to wait until later. Right now, she was more focused on making it through the day. After her ordeal of the evening before and then staying up all night to talk with Tad, she was dragging.

  Her lack of sleep was clearly apparent to those around her as the first thing Destiny and Albert asked her when she'd entered the teachers' lounge was a simultaneous, "What happened to you?"

  "Do I look that bad?" Emily said with a laugh.

  "You look exhausted,
" Destiny answered honestly. "Did something else happen that we don't know about?"

  "In a manner of speaking." Emily shrugged, not sure whether to bring up what had happened or not.

  Tad had just come in the room and didn't hesitate to say, "Someone locked Emily in the prop room at the theater last night." Mentioning the experience caused his jaw to tighten again perceptibly.

  "Oh my gosh, that's terrible!" Destiny cried.

  "How'd you get out?" Albert asked.

  "Thankfully, Tad was out for a late-night run and realized I'd never made it home from the theater. Otherwise, I probably would have been stuck there until this morning."

  "Could it have been an accident?" Albert asked.

  "Not likely," Emily told them, explaining about the eerie laugh she had heard right before being locked in and about the original dummy appearing in the prop room.

  "I hope you reported this," Destiny said.

  "I did. Tad and I went by the police station and filed a report this morning, but they don't seem to hold out much hope that they'll find anything."

  "Any news on the murder?"

  "Nothing yet, or at least not that they were willing to tell us. As an illustrious member of the press, maybe you should be the one asking the questions, Albert, because I'm basically getting nowhere."

  "They're being pretty closemouthed, even with the press," he told her ruefully.

  Tad brought over a piece of leftover pizza he had heated up for Emily, and she shot him a grateful smile. He dropped a quick kiss on her hair before sitting down beside her. Destiny noticed the exchange and raised an eyebrow Emily's way, as if sensing a change in the air. Emily gave a small headshake and a smile, indicating she would fill her in later. "How's the ankle doing?" she asked her instead.