Fade to Black

by Molly Kate Gray

  “I’ll be fine. Thanks.” Rory watched as the door slowly swung closed behind Allie. Thinking back, she realized she’d just had the longest conversation with her roommate she’d had since she moved into the dorm. Twisting the washcloth in her hands, she ran her finger over the embroidered kitten on the point of the cloth. She’d had it forever, ever since she got it at a friend’s birthday party when she was six. A cold chill settled in the pit of her stomach … Allie’s birthday party.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rory paced on the front porch of the cabin. Zach’s car wasn’t in the garage — she’d checked as she walked from where she parked her car a street over. He was late. Maybe that was better. She hadn’t even been to the doctor yet. She didn’t have to tell him today, did she?

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She tugged it out and checked the message.

  Didn’t see you in the cafeteria. You okay? – A

  She chuckled to herself. Her roommate was really taking those pre-med classes seriously. I’m fine. Thanks. Just had a few errands to run. She hit send just as Otis woke from his nap. The howls of the basset hound echoed and startled a flock of ducks on the lake in the distance. Their quacking joined with Otis’ greeting in a cacophony making her thankful Zach lived as far away from civilization as he did.

  “Hold your horses.” Otis pawed at the window alongside the door. She slid her backpack off her shoulder and dug through the scattered pens, pencils, and notebooks in search of the set of spare keys Zach had given her. She’d never planned to use them, but today wasn’t exactly a normal day.

  Her fingers finally closed on the cold metal, and she let out a sigh of relief. “Otis, chill!” Unlocking the door, she was surprised by the alarm. “Crap!” He told her the code. What was it?

  The chiming countdown sped up, and she wracked her brain for the correct code. The last thing she needed was the alarm to go off and have the alarm company call Zach while he was testifying in court. He wouldn’t be able to answer, and her presence at Zach’s house would be difficult to explain to a carload of Peytonville’s finest.

  12 – 25. She took a guess. He’d told her Christmas was his favorite holiday when he’d given her the keys. Was it supposed to be a guessing game she played with the alarm code? Punching in the numbers, the high pitch buzz stopped and the light on the alarm pad turned green.

  “Well, that was fun.” She looked down at Otis. His tail was doing its best impression of a baseball bat against her leg. Kneeling on one knee, she dropped to his level on the hardwood floor of the entryway and scratched behind his ear. “Take it easy on my legs. I can’t be bruised for the show next week.” Otis rolled onto his back to give her better access to his belly. “Oh, you’re not spoiled at all.” She sat down and was surprised by a squeak. Pulling the stuffed eggplant out from beneath her, she surveyed the room.

  Otis had quite a collection of toys. Stuffed monkeys, cows, and squeaky pigs lined the stone hearth as Otis had obviously been entertaining himself while Zach was gone for the day. An oversized dog bed sat in the corner next to the door leading to the back porch, but the stairs leading to the pile of blankets on the end of the leather couch signaled where Otis spent much of his time.

  Zach was crazy about his dog. If this is what he was like about Otis, she couldn’t even imagine what he’d be like with a baby.

  Their baby.

  A wave of unexpected emotion washed over her. She turned twenty-two next week. What was she going to do with a baby? If she got Dr. Maxwell to admit he was the one distributing drugs, she had little doubt he’d be willing to tell her who was dirty at the police station in return for a lighter sentence. She should be wrapping up the case before Thanksgiving. And she’d leave Peytonville and Rory Johnston behind.

  She’d made a mistake.

  A big one.

  Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as she ran a hand over her stomach. “What am I going to do, Otis?” As if in answer, Otis rolled and got back to his feet. If she wasn’t going to scratch him, there was no real use in being awake. He waddled down the hallway and slowly took the carpeted steps to his preferred spot on the couch — probably still warm from earlier in the day.

  Letting out a contented doggie-sigh, his eyes blinked at her one last time before they closed completely.

  “You think I should take a nap?” She stood and stretched her back. Fighting back a yawn, she wondered how a dog could have such an excellent idea. She was burning the candle at both ends. Student by day. Lead in the play by evening. Filling out reports for Anita at night. Maybe she was burning her candle at three ends.

  The clock on the wall chimed five o’clock. She didn’t have to be back at theater rehearsal till seven. If she were going to have to wait for Zach, she might as well take a nap while she was waiting.

  • • •

  Zach swung the front door open as he balanced a bag of groceries against his leg. Why wasn’t the alarm going off? He knew he’d set it before he left. He sat the bag on the bench in the entryway and reached for his gun tucked into the back of his jeans. Where was Otis?

  He flicked on the hall light and pressed his back against the wall.

  “Oh crap!”

  Without thinking, he drew the gun on the shape on his living room couch. His eyes focused in the darkness. “Rory?”

  “What time is it?” Disoriented, with creases pressed into her cheek, she stood and immediately lost her balance.

  “A little after seven. Hold on, are you okay?” He reached out to steady her as she bobbled on her feet.

  “Damn it. I’m late for practice. We start dress rehearsals tonight. Dr. Maxwell’s going to kill me. Not the way to get on his good side. Where were you?” Her words stumbled over each other as she blinked at him.

  Zach laid his gun on the side table. “Easy.” He’d never seen Rory like this. “It’ll be fine. I didn’t know you were coming over.”

  “I … needed to talk with you about something.”

  “You found out something about the case?”

  “Yes. No.” Rory shook her head. Her lip trembled for an instant as she locked her green eyes on his. “It’s … ” For the first time since he’d met her, she seemed at a loss for words. “It can wait. I’ve gotta go.” Her phone rang insistently in her pocket. Pulling it out, she gave it an annoyed shake. “Gabriel. He’s just been waiting for me to be late again. Damn it.”

  “Wait. At least tell me why you were here.”

  “Not here. Not like this.”

  “Well, do you need me tonight?”

  Rory hesitated. “Not tonight. It’s just rehearsal. I’ll talk with Dr. Maxwell tomorrow night. He won’t let me put off our meeting about his friends in New York any longer.”

  “You’ll wear a wire?” Rory nodded as she pulled her hair into a ponytail while she made her way down the hallway. Zach stood in front of the door and blocked her exit. “I’ll be there.”

  • • •

  Rory skidded into the black box theater just as Gabriel jogged up the stairs to the stage. “Everybody here?” He looked around and stabbed the air with his finger as he counted the assembled members of his show. “Good.” He glanced down at his notes. “Tonight’s the first night of tech week.” He shook his clipboard. “Not that I really needed to tell y’all that. But … ” He shrugged. “Just in case you’ve forgotten, after rehearsal, meet with Rory to make sure she has everything written down for your costume. Right, Roar?”

  Roar? She grimaced. That was one nickname she could live without. She stood and nodded. “Right. I think I’ve already got everything from most of you.” She flipped through the pages in her notebook. “Justin. Lara. Kasey. Donna. I’m just missing the four of you.”

  “Then you four need to make sure you see her tonight, unless you want to go onstage in your birthday suits on Friday.”

 
“And none of us want that!” Someone called out, drawing a round of laughter.

  “Definitely not.” Gabriel agreed as he hopped off the front of the stage. “Let’s go.”

  • • •

  Rory walked into the wings and picked up her water bottle from the top of the piano. She quickly gulped a mouthful of water between acts.

  “You’re doing really well.” Maggie stepped to Rory’s side. The overeager sophomore was everywhere. Didn’t she have anything to do at night other than stalk the older drama students? “Have you ever thought about doing this for real?”

  “Perform?” Rory swallowed a second mouthful while waiting for her cue.

  “Yeah.” She looked at Rory in adoration. “You’re amazing.”

  “Thanks.” Rory sighed. “I thought about it once, but it didn’t really work out.”

  “My dad has a friend who’s an agent in New York.” Maggie bit down on her lip. “I’ll bet he could set you up to meet her if you’d like.”

  “Thanks.” Rory patted Maggie on the shoulder. “I appreciate it, but I don’t think so.” Justin began to sneeze onstage. “And, that’s my cue.” She placed her water bottle back on the corner of the piano and walked back onto the stage.

  • • •

  “And you’re going to need a hat, too. Right?” Rory massaged her temples as she looked down at her notes. Why couldn’t she remember the costumes for Justin’s character she had discussed with Gabriel?

  “Since I’m in the ball game scene, yeah.” Justin tilted his head to the side as he looked at Rory with concern. “You okay?”

  Rory chuckled to herself. “You’re the third person to ask me that tonight.” She sighed and opened a second water bottle she’d brought in her bag. Nothing about eight months won’t fix. She chugged a third of the bottle. She shouldn’t be this tired this early? If this was normal, she wasn’t going to be functional in a few more months. “I’m okay.”

  “Because you weren’t feeling too good on Sunday either.”

  “Just spending too much time up here, I guess.”

  “Don’t we all?” Justin laughed as he picked up his jacket from the floor. “Need a ride back to your dorm?”

  “No. I have a few last things to sort through here.” She smiled as she checked off two more points on her to do list. “Thanks, though.”

  “Any time.” Justin waved as he walked through the office door.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Pity.” Rory jumped in surprise as Dr. Maxwell stepped into the wardrobe closet behind her. Great. She massaged her temples and hoped she disguised the rolling of her eyes. Having an interruption right now wasn’t exactly what she needed. She was having enough trouble focusing right now. He stood in the doorway and shook his head in dismay.

  “Something wrong with my performance?” Justin forgot the words to the ballad, and they’d stumbled a bit. But still, he needed to be lecturing Justin, not her.

  “Absolutely not.” Dr. Maxwell shook his head slowly from side to side. If nothing was wrong, then why did he look so upset? “You were brilliant.” He walked into the room and pulled out a chair. Turning it backwards, he straddled it before sitting down and leaning his chin on the back. “Just like the last time I saw you.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “What are you talking about?”

  He smiled sadly. “I’d really hoped I guessed wrong, but now I’m sure.” He drummed his fingers on the chair. “I have family in Chicago. When my nephew was on his first professional tour, I couldn’t resist.” His eyes locked with hers. “You were brilliant in Summer of Love.”

  Rory forced a smile and laughed. “That’s quite a compliment.” She shrugged her shoulders as she continued to work her way down the checklist on her clipboard. If she focused on her responsibilities for the play, she wouldn’t seem too concerned with the conversation — at least that’s what she hoped. This was bad. Very bad. If he recognized her, that could be the reason she’d never made any progress on finding the source of the drugs. He’d known who she was this entire time. “But I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never even been to Chicago.” The room blurred, and she clutched the closet door for support. She blinked to clear her vision.

  Dr. Maxwell stood and looked at her as if he were trying to communicate with a toddler. “No I don’t. The lead actress was supposed to be the next big thing. She was the reason everyone was coming to the show. But then she had a family tragedy and had to drop out.”

  “Still. I. Um.” Rory couldn’t remember what she was trying to say. Her ears began to ring and the room seemed to shift beneath her.

  • • •

  Zach paced the kitchen floor as he listened to Rory’s phone click to voice mail — again. He’d been calling her for the better part of an hour. When she’d hurried out the door, she said she’d be back later to talk.

  It was much later.

  He knew the nickname for tech week was hell week, but he didn’t think even Gabriel would make a rehearsal run till midnight. He checked his phone. No new texts.

  Christian was going to have fun with this tomorrow, but he didn’t care right now. At this moment, he’d like nothing more than for his partner to make fun of him for being an overprotective boyfriend. Zach keyed his partner’s number into the phone and waited for him to answer. One ring. Two. Three. His partners must be working together to drive him to the edge of insanity tonight. “Come on, Christian, pick up.”

  “I thought we had the night off.” A woman giggled somewhere near Christian.

  “We did.” He corrected himself. “We do, but have you heard from Rory?”

  “Believe it or not, she doesn’t check in with me every night.” Christian lowered his voice. “And you can probably consider yourself lucky that she doesn’t.”

  “I know. I know.” It hadn’t taken Christian long to figure out that the status of his relationship with Rory had changed.

  “What’s up?” Christian had worked with Zach for so long he could almost read his partner’s mind, and tonight, Zach was thankful for it.

  Zach paused, weighing whether or not it was worth it to interrupt his partner’s evening. He looked at Rory’s favorite jacket lying over the back of his couch and decided it was. “Something just seems off … ”

  • • •

  “Her car’s over there.” Christian pointed to the car parked under the oak tree at the far side of the theater’s parking lot.

  “It’s the only one left.” Zach surveyed the empty lot. No sign of a struggle. Rory would have known to drop something to signal a problem walking to her car.

  “All the lights are off in the building.”

  “Yeah, but she’s working tech this week. That can mean a really late night.” Christian looked at Zach with the authority of someone who’d known Rory for a lifetime.

  Zach nodded but couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. He dialed Rory’s cell phone again. No answer.

  “How long have you been calling her?”

  “Almost two hours now.” Zach parked the car in the space closest to the sidewalk and stepped out of the car. The two men walked side-by-side as they made their way to the front double doors. Christian reached for the doorknob and tugged. Locked. “Guess we’re taking a walk.”

  Without a word, the pair circled the building. Each door they came to was locked securely. More than one had an additional chain for security.

  “Evans would probably be pissed if we broke in.” Zach didn’t really care, but no need to call an unnecessary amount of attention to their presence on campus.

  “Probably.” Christian pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and dialed his sister’s number. “We’re going to laugh when we find out she just left her phone in the dressing room.”

  Zach didn’
t answer. Rory was obsessive about her phone. If she didn’t have it in her hand, it was always within sight of her. He led the way back to their car and waited as Christian leaned through the door.

  Christian picked up the radio from the dashboard. “This is O’Donovan. Donna, can you connect me with MU security?”

  Minutes passed like hours as the men leaned against the bumper of the car. Neither spoke as they waited for the security guard to arrive. They’d been assured that he was on his way, but he must have been coming from a bar in the next town.

  Zach’s breath hung frosty in the air. “If this guy takes much longer, I’m just going to break in a window.”

  Christian checked his watch. “It’s just been ten minutes.”

  “What if someone had an emergency?”

  “Then they’d dial 911, and we’d respond.” Christian cupped his hands and blew into them just as a beam of light appeared on the dirt trail surrounding the campus. “Took him long enough.”

  “Understand y’all need something.” With no sense of urgency, the short, balding man stepped from the driver’s seat of the golf cart and lumbered toward Zach and Christian. He pulled an oversized flashlight off a loop on his belt and illuminated the path ahead of him.

  Zach stood and forced himself not to jog in the direction of the double doors. “We need in the theater building.”

  “Y’all have a warrant?”

  Who was this guy? Zach started to answer, but his partner beat him to the punch.

  “Are you a law school drop-out or something?” Christian’s eyes flared with anger. His partner had a long fuse, but he was dangerous when he was mad. Zach didn’t feel pity for the security guard as Christian verbally tore into him. “We’ve had seven dead kids on the campus. When a cop tells you he needs in the building, you unlock the damn door. Do. You. Understand?” Christian was so close to the other man’s face, the security guard blinked with every word spoken.