by Laura DeLuca
“If you’re so concerned about my baby, then why would you tell me to walk away from the father?”
Victoria rolled her eyes “Sometimes babies are better off without their daddies. That’s something I can tell ya firsthand.”
Victoria acted as though she wanted to say more, but there was a loud clatter outside the bathroom door. It sounded like someone had dropped one of the dinner trays. It was a common enough occurrence, but for some reason, the noise sent Victoria into a near panic, and she made a beeline toward the door. Her unusual jumpiness only made Rebecca even more suspicious that her co-worker wasn’t telling her everything she knew.
“Victoria, wait!” Rebecca begged. “If you really care about me, you’ll help me. I need to prove Justyn is innocent. I won’t give up until I do.”
Victoria paused in the doorway, but didn’t turn around. “What you’re mixed up in, Becca, it’s a dangerous game. One you got no idea how to play.”
Then she was gone, and Rebecca was left alone with her dark thoughts. She considered chasing after Victoria, but she knew it was pointless. If the Latina knew anything, she was too afraid to admit it. Of course, her obvious fear was an accusation in itself. Who else but Albert would invoke those feelings of terror and insecurity? Who else had that type of hold over Victoria?
Rebecca decided she had to seek out Justyn and tell him what happened. She practically ran backstage, but she couldn’t locate him anywhere. Carmen informed her he had wandered off somewhere with Tom, but she had no idea where they had gone. Rebecca checked the dressing rooms and the back alleys where some of the cast members would sneak out for a smoke, but she didn’t see any sign of the boys. Frustrated, she was about to give up when she recognized Tom and Justyn’s voices coming from the area by the lockers. She almost ran over to them, but something made her pause before turning the corner. Instead of revealing herself, she stopped at a point where the wall happened to jut out just enough to conceal her presence.
“A baby? Whoa!” Tom whistled. “That’s pretty heavy. How do you feel about all that? I mean, are you really ready to be a dad? I think I’d shit myself if I got that kind of news.”
Rebecca held her breath. She knew she shouldn’t be eavesdropping on a private conversation, but Justyn had been so distant since he’d heard the news about the pregnancy. While he continuously fussed over her health and was stricken every time she was hit with a bout of morning sickness, he never actually talked about the baby. Any attempts she had made to bring it up, he instantly averted. He had told her he was happy, but he didn’t act like it. Not that she could blame him. She was still getting used to the idea herself and she’d had a lot longer than four days to let reality set in. Justyn certainly didn’t sound jubilant when he replied to Tom. He leaned his head back against the lockers and practically moaned.
“I want to be happy,” he confided. “A few weeks ago, I would’ve been ecstatic, even if it was a little unexpected. But now…”
“Now what?” Tom urged.
“Now I could go to prison for five to ten years. Even if Becca really waits for me that long, how can I be a father from a prison cell? If I get sent to jail, I won’t be there to hold her hand when the baby’s born. I won’t be there to see my child’s first smile or first steps. I’ll be lucky if I’m out by the time they start kindergarten, and then I’d only be an embarrassment to them both for the rest of their lives.”
“Dude, you make it sound like it’s already a done deal. You got a lawyer. He’s gonna get you out of this. But you’ve got to keep fighting—for Becca and for your kid.”
Justyn shook his head. “I’m not sure fighting is an option. Things might be out of my hands.”
They walked away after that, but Rebecca hardly noticed their departure. She leaned against the wall, gently placed a hand on her abdomen, and tried to hold back her tears. Falling to pieces now was out of the question. The second act was minutes away, and she would be onstage back to back the next few scenes.
Somehow she managed to stay professional. She even kept her voice from trembling while she was performing. It wasn’t until one of Justyn’s solo refrains that a few silent tears finally slipped free. Dr. Jekyll’s pleas to a higher power to rid himself of his awful curse echoed Justyn’s own desperation, and his sweet, musical voice had never sounded quite so desolate.
“Somehow I must fix what has been broken.
Please, Lord, hear the words I’ve spoken.
This evil inside me must be expelled.
Help me find my way back from this hell.
Though now it seems all the light has gone.
I know that God can help me to move oooooon.”
The grief Rebecca saw in his face when he fell to his knees with his arms stretched to the heavens was almost more than she could bear. Rebecca decided if Justyn really believed his fate was out of his hands, she was going to have to take matters into her own. She wasn’t about to lose the man she loved without a fight. After the curtain fell on the final act, she made a point of seeking out Victoria. When she finally found the Latina lingering backstage, it appeared someone else had gotten to her first. Rebecca couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw Albert’s shaved head disappearing around the corner seconds before she arrived. There were no telltale bruises, but Victoria’s pale face and trembling hands were a dead giveaway that something menacing had taken place. The frightened expression the older girl wore made Rebecca stop dead in her tracks, and for a moment, she forgot her purpose.
“Victoria,” Becca fretted, “what’s wrong? What did he do to you?”
“Oh, Becca,” the Latina whispered. “You got no clue, do you? There’s worse monsters out there than Al.”
Victoria tried to escape after that, but Rebecca seized her arm before she could scamper away. “What does that mean? Victoria, please, if you know something, you have to tell me! Stop playing these games.”
Victoria gave her a hard stare, and then did something Rebecca never expected. She started reciting lines from the play. Somehow the words of the duet sung between Lucy and Hyde, meant to be darkly sensual, came out almost threatening. The fact that she spoke them in such an icy monotone only made it that much stranger. Still, the warning behind her words was clear.
“This dangerous game simply cannot be won.
The monsters will stalk you until you have come undone.
There is no winner to be had in this type of game.
You’ll find only death, grief, and unbearable pain.”
When she was done with the recitation, she met Rebecca’s eyes, and her expression was as cold as her voice. “I won’t wind up like Lucy, Becca.” She pulled her arm free. “Don’t ask me about this again.”
As she watched Victoria retreat into the safety of the crowded dressing rooms, Rebecca realized there was much more to this story than Justyn getting framed for a crime he would never commit. There was something very sinister going on at Tamilio’s. Since no one else believed her, it was up to Rebecca to uncover the real-life Hyde lurking among them.
Chapter Seventeen
Rebecca was starting to hate the musical Hyde and everything it represented. The next day when she stepped onto the stage, she couldn’t help but realize how much her own life was starting to mirror the show. Justyn was becoming more and more distant, exactly like Henry Jekyll. He barely spoke to her between shows and job hunting, blaming it on exhaustion. Though more often than not, he spent his nights lying in bed wide awake, staring into a future she knew terrified him. Whenever she tried to bring up Albert, Steve, or the possibility of a setup, he changed the subject or echoed Victoria’s warnings not to get involved. Rebecca wasn’t sure if it was because he was trying to protect her from the unknown perpetrator or because he really had given up hope. Either way, Rebecca wasn’t listening to him. She intended to prove Justyn’s innocence with or without his help.
As they began the first overture of Façade, Rebecca studied each of her suspects in turn. The commoners were on fi
rst, flexing their muscles. As the wealthy started to step onto the stage, including Rebecca in her decorative golden gown, their expressions became almost angry. The two groups, divided into peasants and aristocrats, pointed accusing fingers at one another as they circled the stage.
“No matter which way you look. No matter which way you turn,
There is a secret world. This is something everyone must learn.
People may appear sweet, even gentle, perhaps kind.
Yet this is only a façade—a mask they cannot leave behind.”
Steve stepped forward for a brief solo, his eyeglass in place. It made the skin around his eyes crinkle, and he looked much older than he did outside of his coattails. The gray wig only added to the illusion. On stage he appeared to be very much the kindhearted gentleman. Like his alternate role of the violent pimp, the real Steve had a nasty temper and a taste for the wild side. Petya wasn’t much different. At the moment, as she took her turn center stage, she was regal and elegant in the exotic frocks of the countess, but she had much more in common with the sultry madam she portrayed. Perhaps she didn’t take kindly to his rejection, and Justyn was paying the price for snubbing her advances.
Rebecca shook her head. She was letting her imagination run away with her, and it was distracting her from the music. One tiny misstep later, she landed on Petya’s toes. The resulting glare was enough to make her blood run cold. Still, Rebecca continued with the scene and took her place between Robert and Fernando as the upper class regained control of the second verse. The words had her questioning even the two older men who, until that moment, had been the people she trusted the most.
“Every single man you see, whether he be rich or poor,
is hiding deep inside a face no one has ever seen before.
He may seem good and proper; a saint or pillar of the land.
If his sins were brought to light, his demise would be close at hand.”
Rebecca studied the two gentlemen as she looped arms with each one in a two-step that would have resembled a square dance if not for their fancy garb. Fernando dripped piousness draped in the maroon robes of the bishop, but the audience would later learn this holy man liked to get his jollies with very young prostitutes. Could Fernando be hiding as dark a secret as the character he portrayed? Maybe the whole dinner theater was a front for an underground drug ring. Didn’t every mafia movie ever made have at least one scene where the gangsters were running through the kitchen of some swanky restaurant owned by the king pin? Maybe Fernando hired Justyn knowing his Gothic attire would make him the perfect scapegoat. In a ritzy little town like Cape May, being unique in any way was an oddity worthy of persecution.
What about Robert? He had been extra nice to her ever since Justyn’s arrest. She assumed it was because he felt sorry for her. But maybe the fatherly act was simply that—an act. His stylish designer clothes and his new Rolls Royce certainly weren’t paying for themselves. There was no way Fernando was shelling out a salary large enough to pay for his extravagant lifestyle and his Victorian mansion in the heart of town. As far as Rebecca knew, Robert had no other employment. Could the eccentric but private millionaire be procuring his money from something sinister?
“No matter what words they may spew, believe this one thing is true.
There is no man alive being completely honest with you.
All who walk on this earth have two faces, not one.
Don’t be fooled by the façade. The masquerade has begun.”
The final refrain faded, and the whole cast froze in their spots as though someone had hit the pause button. Rebecca’s neck was starting to get stiff when the curtain finally closed. She realized it was easy to turn her cast mates and even her boss into suspects, but it wasn’t nearly as easy to find a decisive motive. Sure, Steve and Albert both hated Justyn, but did they dislike him enough to allow so much of their stock to fall into the hands of the police? The heroin the cops had confiscated had to be worth at least a grand, if not more. It didn’t make good business sense to throw that much product away. Not to mention planting the drugs in the car wouldn’t have done them any good at all if Justyn hadn’t gotten pulled over for his taillight being out.
By the time the show ended, Rebecca’s head was starting to hurt from all the wild thoughts running rampant in her mind. She was even more frustrated when they were packed and ready to leave for the night, but her car keys were nowhere to be found. Of course they would go missing when it was her turn to drive. That was just her luck.
“Are you sure you put them in your handbag?” Carmen asked with an audible huff. “Maybe you left them in the dressing room.”
Rebecca sneered in Carmen’s direction. “Yes, I’m sure I put them in my bag. I’m absolutely positive.”
“I’m certain they’ll turn up eventually, my dear,” Robert offered. “I wish I could stay and continue the search, but these old bones are longing for a soft bed.”
Rebecca tried to force a smile for his benefit. The older man did have bags under his eyes, though she was sure she didn’t look much better. “Thanks for helping, Robert. Go home and get some rest.”
Robert chuckled to himself as he waved goodbye, obviously finding her absentmindedness amusing. Rebecca didn’t think it was funny. Aggravated when she still couldn’t locate her keys, she dumped all the contents of her purse onto one of the dinner tables. Her crystal geode tumbled out, along with makeup, tissues, and other various odds and ends, but there was no sign of the elusive keys. She repeated the process with her backpack, obtaining similar results. Justyn sighed as she shoved her wallet and clothes back into her bag. Even he was losing patience with her.
“Maybe you should check your locker again,” he suggested.
Rebecca had already searched there twice with no success, so she didn’t see the point in doing it a third time. But since the only other option would be calling her parents to bring her spare set, she reluctantly agreed. Even though she had been keeping in touch with her mother, Mrs. Hope would never agree to drive all the way to Cape May at such a late hour, and there was no way Rebecca was going to ask her father for any favors.
Rebecca followed her friends out to the employee lockers and noticed their footsteps echoed through the empty building. The rest of the cast had vanished over an hour before. Even the kitchen staff had cleaned up and gone home for the night. Only Fernando was still lurking around somewhere. Rebecca imagined him sitting in his office, counting his money. Aside from their boss, Robert was the last to leave. Rebecca envied each one of them. She couldn’t wait to climb under the covers and call it a night.
“Remind me not to let Becca drive anymore,” Tom moaned. “This is almost as bad as last week when we got stuck in the police station.”
Justyn snorted. “As least you didn’t have to spend the night.”
Rebecca ignored their chatter and stuck her neck all the way into the back of the skinny cubbyhole. All she felt against her palm was flat, cold metal. She repeated the process with the top shelf, even though she had never used it, simply to make sure she had covered all her bases. She didn’t expect to find anything up there, but her hands brushed against something hard. It was really far back, and she had to strain her arm to reach for it. She stood on her tiptoes and stretched out her fingers. Finally, she managed to get a grip on it, but when she tried to pull the mystery object forward, it slipped out of her grasp. With a loud clatter, her keychain tumbled to the floor.
“Ugh,” Carmen grunted. “Classic Becca. Always go back to the first place she looked and you’re sure to find whatever you’re searching for.”
“No way.” Rebecca shook her head even as she pulled it out of the locker. “They weren’t there before. I swear they weren’t.”
“Maybe it was your friend Grace playing tricks on you,” Tom teased. “Don’t ghosts like to move things around like that?”
“It doesn’t matter how they got there. Just be grateful she found them.” Justyn sounded even more exasperated than us
ual. He rubbed his eyes, and Rebecca worried he was getting one of his headaches. “Come on, let’s get out here. I’m starting to get sick of this place.”
Those were Rebecca’s sentiments exactly. She decided to let it go. Maybe it really was the ghost teasing her. How else would her keys have gotten shoved into a remote corner she could barely reach? With a sigh, she grabbed the keychain from the floor and followed her friends toward the rear exit. There was none of the normal playful banter as they trudged along. There hadn’t been much fun or laughter since the whole police incident. Tom had given up on being encouraging, and Carmen still harbored some unspoken suspicions. Though her friend wasn’t speaking them out loud, Rebecca could read the doubts in Carmen’s eyes. It made her alternately sad and frustrated. If their longtime cronies had lost faith in Justyn, how were they going to convince a jury of his innocence?
Despite his troubles, Justyn still acted the gentleman. When they reached the exit leading to the alleyway, he held the door open so the girls could walk out first. It was one time his chivalry was not to his benefit. When Rebecca stepped out into the humid July night, she stopped dead in her tracks at the bottom of the cement steps, causing Carmen to slam hard into her back. Immediately her heart started to pound with fear, and her first instinct was to put a protective hand across her belly.
“Becca, what the hell are you—”
Carmen stopped complaining in midsentence, and Rebecca knew she saw them too. Unfortunately, neither of the girls had time to shout a warning to the guys. The door to the restaurant slammed shut behind them. Rebecca was certain Justyn didn’t forget to lock it from the inside as Fernando always commanded. That meant there was no way back inside to safety. No way to escape the six bulky men whose faces were covered with nylon stockings, the largest of which was holding a metal crowbar in his hands. Rebecca tried to open her mouth to scream, but before any sound escaped her lips, a sweaty palm covered her mouth and dragged her to the corner of the parking lot.
