High Kicks, Hot Chocolate, and Homicides

by Mary McHugh

  When I finally reached the red and silver center of the labyrinth, I still had no answer to this question, but something had happened to my soul. When I looked up and saw the river nearby, the sky above me, I knew that whatever I decided, I would know how to handle it. It was the first time I knew that for sure. I realized that I had been through enough turns and twists in this life of mine that I would be all right. What an amazing feeling. Just from walking this labyrinth.

  I took a deep breath and followed the ocean path back the way I had come, much lighter of heart than when I went in, until I reached the beginning. Mike was waiting there for me. He could tell from my face that I had come out of that labyrinth a different person than when I went in.

  He didn’t say anything. He just put his arm around me and gently guided me toward the river.

  “How do you feel?” he asked me.

  “Peaceful,” I said. “It’s the first time I’ve felt this way in a long time. As if everything was going to be all right. I’ve been so worried.”

  “About us?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “I don’t know what to do about us, Mike. One minute I’m sure I want to leave George and be with you. The next minute I think I want to work things out with George. I know how hard this is for you and I’m so sorry to keep going back and forth like this.”

  He held me close and kissed my forehead.

  “Did you figure out what to do while you were walking the labyrinth?” he asked. “You said you felt peaceful.”

  “I didn’t actually decide,” I said. “But I felt that whatever I decided I would know how to handle it.”

  “I’m sure you will know,” he said. “And don’t worry, darling. I’m willing to wait until you make up your mind.”

  I looked up into those kind brown eyes and smiled at him.

  “Thank you for your understanding, Mike,” I said. “And thank you for this labyrinth today. I want to walk more of them.”

  “They’re everywhere,” he said. “We’ll do this again.”

  I pulled away from him. “I should get back to the theater. Peter’s going to pick us up.”

  He took my face in his hands and said, “Whatever you decide, sweetheart, I will love you no matter what. I know how hard this is for you, and if you decide to stay with George, I will still be your friend for the rest of your life. If you ever need me for any reason, all you need to do is pick up the phone and call me. I’ll be there.”

  “Oh Mike,” I said and reached up to kiss him. “I love you.”

  “I know,” he said.

  He took my hand and led me back up to the street where he hailed a cab.

  As I got into the cab, Mike said, “Remember Auden’s words, Mary Louise: ‘Dance till the stars come down with the rafters.’ ”

  “Dance, dance, dance until you drop,” I said, finishing the quote.

  * * *

  When I got back to the theater, I expected to see my friends waiting for Peter outside. Instead there was a police barricade around the entrance and my friends were nowhere in sight.

  I saw the policeman who had been in front of Danielle’s apartment directing people around the barricade. I ran up to him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “There’s been another death,” he said.

  “Oh my God,” I said, terrified that it was one of my friends. “Who is it?”

  “Another one of the Rockettes,” he said. “The one named”—he looked down at the paper in his hand—“Nevaeh Anderson.”

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  “Same as that first Rockette. That Glenna. She fell into the moving machines under the stage. There’s a loose rail there. Nobody ever fixed it after the first time. Nevaeh must have leaned on it and fallen into the gears.”

  “Do you know where my friends are?” I asked.

  “Who are your friends?”

  “There are five of us. We’re dancing with the Rockettes in their Christmas show. They usually wait out here in front of the theater for someone to pick us up and drive us back to New Jersey.”

  “Good-looking chicks?” he said. “In a black van?”

  “Yes. That’s them,” I said. “Did you see them?”

  “They left just before you got here,” he said. “Their van couldn’t stay here. We made the driver leave.”

  I realized I had turned my phone off when I walked the labyrinth. Tina had probably tried to call me. I would have to get a train home. Luckily, Penn Station was only a few blocks away. I started to walk downtown when a familiar voice said, “There you are. I’ve been looking for you. I’ve got to talk to you.”

  It was Andrea and she sounded frantic.

  “Andrea!” I said. “I thought you were at the Frick with Tina.”

  “I was, but when I heard about Nevaeh, I knew I had to tell somebody about Glenna’s death before they get me next.”

  “What do you mean ‘they’?” I asked. “Do you know who killed Glenna and Danielle and Nevaeh? And why are you next?”

  “Let’s go somewhere we can talk,” she said.

  “Don’t you want to talk to the police?” I asked. “To Detective Carver? If you know who the murderer is, you’ve got to tell him—not me.”

  “When I tell you, you’ll know why I don’t want to go to the police,” she said. “Oh please, Mary Louise, I’ve got to tell you about this. Right away. My time is really short.”

  I could tell from the expression on her face that she was desperate. I looked around and saw a coffee shop nearby on Sixth Avenue.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go over there.”

  The coffee shop wasn’t too crowded, so we headed for a booth in the back and ordered two coffees. I leaned toward her. “Why did you want to talk to me anyway?” I asked. “How come you didn’t confide in Tina? You were right there with her at the Frick.”

  “Because you helped Danielle and she trusted you, so I trust you too. She was going to tell you about Glenna but was killed before she could do that. I was hoping I’d find you before you left for home.”

  “Just so you know, Andrea, I will go to the police with anything you tell me about Glenna’s murder.”

  “I do know that. I can’t stop you. But I have to tell somebody while I still can.”

  She lowered her voice so that I could barely hear her. “It was all Marlowe’s idea,” she said and stopped.

  “What idea?” I prodded her.

  “To get rid of Glenna,” she said. “I just thought she was going to get her fired. I had no idea she meant to kill her or I never would have gone along with the whole crazy scheme.”

  “Why did she want to do that?” I asked.

  “Because she wanted to be the top Rockette herself. She was next in line for it, and she knew Glenna would never give it up. Glenna wasn’t that great at the job, actually, so when Marlowe told us that she was going to get her fired and take over the job herself, we were secretly glad she was going to do it. I would have more time at the Frick without Glenna’s constant complaining about it. Danielle could keep her baby and her job. And Nevaeh wouldn’t have to worry about being fired because she wasn’t white. Shelli just got involved because she has a crush on Marlowe and will do anything she says. Marlowe never said anything about killing Glenna at first.”

  “Why did she tell the four of you what she was going to do?”

  “She knew that we all had a reason to wish Glenna was no longer our boss,” Andrea said. “She needed our help. When she explained what she wanted us to do, I realized she was talking about killing Glenna, not just getting her fired. I told her I didn’t want anything to do with it, to leave me out of it. She said I was already involved because she had told all of us she was going to do it, and if we didn’t go to the police we were accomplices.”

  “Is that true?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t going to take any chances, so I said I wouldn’t tell. I had every intention of going right to the police after she talked to me.”
r />   “What about the others?” I asked. “I can’t imagine Danielle or Nevaeh helping her with this.”

  “Danielle and Nevaeh both said what I said—that they wouldn’t tell the police.”

  “But you said Marlowe needed your help, all of you. What did she want you to do?”

  Andrea dumped some sugar in her coffee.

  “She needed one person to move the time signal ahead that tells the guys who lower the stage when to do it. She easily persuaded Shelli to do that. She also needed someone to get Glenna under the stage on some pretext or other. Somehow she got Danielle to do that.”

  “Danielle?” I said, surprised. “That nice Danielle? Why would she agree to do that?”

  “Danielle wasn’t all that crazy about Glenna because Glenna didn’t want her to dance while pregnant. Glenna said her pregnancy would show in some of the tight costumes we wore. She told Danielle to either get rid of the baby or quit. Danielle needed the money, and she certainly wasn’t going to get rid of the baby after losing the first one. So she went along with Marlowe’s plan to get rid of Glenna. I don’t think she really understood what Marlowe really had in mind. Or if she did, she blocked it out. I think she still thought Marlowe wanted to get Glenna fired.”

  “How did Nevaeh get involved?” I asked. “She doesn’t seem like the type who would help with anything like this either.”

  “You’re right. She’s a good person,” Andrea said. “But Glenna was trying to get rid of her and the other three black dancers because she wanted an all-white line of Rockettes. It wasn’t really racist. Glenna just liked to have everything match. And Nevaeh didn’t match.”

  “That makes no sense,” I said. “The black dancers are great additions to the line. They should have done that years ago. Anyway, go ahead.”

  “Marlowe told Nevaeh she would never get rid of her or the other black dancers because the Rockettes needed some diversity to be more interesting. She even said that with Glenna gone she would hire more dancers of color. She told Nevaeh all she had to do was call Glenna on her phone while she was under the stage to ask her a question about anything at all and keep her on the phone so Danielle could get out of there before Glenna somehow fell into the machinery under the stage.”

  “How did Marlowe plan to manage that?”

  “She loosened all the screws on the railings above the machinery. When Glenna went over to the rail to confirm that the machinery under the stage was moving before it was supposed to, the rail would give way and she would fall down into the heavy, rotating machines and be killed.”

  “What was your part in all of this?” I asked.

  “She asked me to go to the coffee shop—not this one, down the street from the theater—with her so she wouldn’t be in the theater when this happened. I would be her witness. She promised me I could keep working at the Frick as much as I wanted and still dance in the Christmas show. I figured there was always a chance Glenna wouldn’t lean against the rail and wouldn’t be killed. So, God help me, I agreed to do that. I’ve tortured myself with it ever since. How could I have agreed to such a thing?”

  “I still don’t understand why you’re telling me all this instead of going to the police,” I said.

  “Danielle and Nevaeh are dead and I know I’m next,” she said. “Marlowe isn’t going to let me walk around knowing what I know. I wanted somebody else to know about this in case I’m killed too.”

  “But you can’t just wait around for Marlowe to kill you,” I said. “I assume you think Marlowe killed Danielle and Nevaeh to keep them from talking.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “It certainly looks that way,” I said. “But you’ve got to go to the police with this information. I mean right away. While you’re still alive. And, come to think of it, while I’m still alive.”

  “I know you’re right,” she said. “I just don’t want to go to jail for the part I played in all this. I’m taking a plane to Canada tonight. I’m a Canadian citizen and I can just disappear there. I know how.”

  “So you’re telling me that all five of you were involved in Glenna’s murder?” I asked, still not able to believe this.

  “Yes. That’s the truth,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Are you really going to tell the police?”

  “I’m afraid so, Andrea,” I said, finishing my coffee. “I’ll get you the name of a good New York defense lawyer from George.”

  I checked the time on my phone and stood up.

  “I’ve got to get a train home,” I said. “It’s after five thirty and there’s a train around six fifteen.”

  “So you’re not going right to the police today?” Andrea asked.

  “Not today,” I said. “I want to go home. But tomorrow for sure.”

  “That’ll give me a chance to get away,” she said. “Thanks, Mary Louise.”

  I realized I was now an accessory to Glenna’s murder by letting Andrea get away, but somehow I couldn’t help myself.

  “I might still call, Andrea,” I said. “I’m going to leave to get my train. Are you getting out of here?”

  “In a minute,” she said. “Go ahead. They can’t kill me here.”

  * * *

  I left the cafe and started walking down Sixth Avenue. I’d only gone a block when a van pulled up next to me and the driver honked his horn. It was Peter.

  “Mary Louise,” he said. “Get in.”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, climbing into the back seat of the van with the rest of my friends.

  “You didn’t think we’d leave without you, did you?” Tina said. “Peter refused to desert you here in the city. He’s been circling around looking for you.”

  “I love you, Peter,” I said, leaning over the front seat to kiss him.

  “He does have his moments,” Tina said. “Where were you all this time?”

  “Mike took me to walk a labyrinth down by the East River,” I said. “You guys have got to go down there with me. It’s the most amazing experience. I walked along that path, and I felt so peaceful when I got to the center. It’s incredible.”

  “Labyrinths are remarkable,” Gini said. “When I lived in France, I walked the one in Chartres cathedral that most labyrinths are modeled on. It was unbelievable. I still remember the feeling of total peace when I did that.”

  “That’s how I felt too,” I said.

  “Have you been down by the river all this time?” Tina asked.

  “No, no,” I said. “I took a cab back to the theater, but by that time the police were there and they told me you had already left. ‘Good-looking chicks’ the policeman called you.”

  “A man of excellent taste,” Gini said.

  “So what did you do?” Tina asked.

  “I started to walk to Penn Station when Andrea popped up and said she had to talk to me, that it was urgent. So I went to a cafe with her and she told me the most amazing story. Wait till you hear this.”

  I went over the whole murder plot Andrea had described to me.

  “They’re all in on this?” Gini asked.

  “Every one of them,” I said. “Danielle and Nevaeh are dead and Andrea is sure she’s next.”

  “In other words, Marlowe is bumping off the others so they won’t tell the police?” Gini asked.

  “Right,” I said. “And Shelli is helping her.”

  “And now you know too,” Gini said. “You’d better hire a bodyguard.”

  “Marlowe doesn’t know I know,” I said.

  “She knows both Danielle and Nevaeh tried to tell you.”

  “I’m telling Detective Carver tomorrow,” I said.

  “You should call him tonight,” Peter said. “Seriously, Mary Louise. Call him.”

  His voice was so insistent, I promised I would.

  “What did the rest of you guys do after the rehearsal was canceled?” Peter said, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

  “I met Tom at Bargemusic,” Janice said. “We talked to this really nice woman about our wedding. They
usually have classical music concerts there, but it’s also the most wonderful place to get married in. Have you ever been on it? It’s this old coffee barge remodeled into a romantic place. Wait till you see. It’s anchored at the Fulton Ferry landing near the Brooklyn Bridge. We’ll have the ceremony there and then go to this great restaurant nearby—the River Cafe—for our reception.”

  “When are you doing this?” Pat asked.

  “Next spring,” Janice said. “My daughter Sandy will be my maid of honor.”

  I knew how much it meant to Janice to have her daughter as her maid of honor because of their troubled relationship in the past. Now they were working on a book together about the Gypsy Robe, a Broadway tradition with a fascinating history. At the opening of every new musical in New York, the robe is passed on to the gypsy—they call the chorus line gypsies—who has danced in the most musicals on Broadway. The robe is covered with souvenirs from other shows, like parts of costumes or playbills or photos of other dancers. Half an hour before the show opens, the winner circles the whole group while each gypsy reaches out and touches the robe. It will be a wonderful book, full of the stories from Broadway musicals and great photographs of all the robes.

  “It’s going to be a beautiful book, Jan,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re doing it.” I asked Gini what she had been up to.

  “I went up to Alex’s office at the Times,” Gini said. “He introduced me to a reporter who’s going to help me adopt Amalia in India. It won’t be easy, but this guy has spent a lot of time in India as a reporter and actually wrote a book about working there. He’s familiar with their laws. Alex says he can probably tell me what steps to take to adopt Amalia. Keep your fingers crossed, everybody.”

  “By the way,” Pat said, “when are you and Alex going to follow Janice and Tom’s example and get married?”

  “I don’t know, Pat,” Gini said. “We have such a good relationship, it seems a shame to spoil it by getting married.”

  “Oh, Gini,” Pat said. “Not all marriages are like your first one.”

  “Just kidding,” Gini said. “Don’t take me so seriously all the time, Pat. Lighten up.”