“Not me,” Willa said. “If I’d shown up in swimwear, Byon would have slashed me to pieces.”
“But darling, you couldn’t have looked worse than him. Even at that age, he was as flabby as a deflated balloon. Look at him.”
Willa took the album. “So he is. But Nicky... I forgot how beautiful he was.” She handed the book to Kate.
Kate looked at the photo—and the blood drained from her face. “This is Nicky?” she whispered.
“No one showed you any pictures of us?” Nadine asked.
“No.” Kate slipped the photo out of the little black corner holders. “I have to go. I have to—” She couldn’t explain. With the photo in her hand, she ran out of the attic and down the stairs to her aunt’s bedroom.
As Nadine said, Byon had made the door dramatic. He’d taped on handwritten signs: keep out. do not enter. death to those who knock.
Kate pounded on the door with her fist.
“Go away,” Byon yelled. “We’re working.”
“I have to see Aunt Sara,” Kate shouted back. “It’s important.”
Sara flung open the door. “Jack?” Her voice held fear.
“He’s fine,” Kate said. “I guess.” She showed the photo to her aunt.
Sara barely glanced at it. “I know. I have to get back to work.”
“But Nicky is—”
“I know!” Sara said. “Now I know many things.”
“So who killed Sean?” Kate demanded.
“That’s the one thing we don’t know,” Byon called from across the room.
“Please,” Sara said to Kate. “We’re trying to get the scripts ready and we need every second. How’s Chris? Has anyone fed him? Have you eaten?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. I guess he’s fine.”
Sara clasped Kate’s wrist. “Go find Chris. Have a picnic. Clive is on his way back, so he and Jack will be creating the sets.”
“He’s with Teddy.” Kate didn’t like that she sounded like a petulant preteen.
“Diana is going to take her into town to buy a dress. It’ll have to be shortened.” Sara’s eyes were pleading. She’d often complained that time to write was one of the biggest problems of her life.
Kate stepped back. “Okay. I’ll steal food from Mrs. Aiken and find Chris.”
Sara glanced over her shoulder at Byon, who was glowering for her to quit talking and get back to work. She leaned forward and whispered, “Take Nicky’s tux to him. I think it’ll fit.” Sara gave Kate a knowing look, then shut the door.
Kate stood there for a moment, as the realization dawned on her.
Twenty minutes later, she had a basket full of food—Mrs. Aiken prepared it when Kate told her it was for the man who was going to play Nicky—and a tuxedo in a garment bag. She did her best to stay out of sight of everyone as she hurried to the gatehouse to find Chris. They sat outside and ate, and she told him everything she knew—and the two of them conjectured on what they didn’t know.
Twenty-Four
Just after five, Jack arrived in one of the little work trucks in a flurry of gravel and dirt. He was carrying two sealed brown envelopes.
Chris and Kate were sitting outside, the lunch basket nearby.
Jack handed them the envelopes. “Read your parts and memorize your lines. Get to the house at six thirty.” He looked at Chris. “Wear your tux.”
“I need to get dressed,” Kate said. “There isn’t enough time for me to memorize anything.”
Jack pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Nadine isn’t seen until Act Five. And by then, I’m dead.”
“Who killed you?” she asked. “I mean, killed Sean?”
“You think I was told that?” He looked at Chris. “Your script is fat. I think you have a lot to do.”
“I’ll help you with your lines,” Kate said. “We can—”
“No!” Jack said. “Orders from Queen Sara and Byon, the Court Musician. No one is to read anyone else’s script.” He looked at Kate. “Stay or go?”
She got in the truck beside him and looked at Chris. “You’ll be okay?”
Jack snorted. “Do you mean can he dress himself, read and walk all the way to the house by himself?”
“Stop being a jerk,” Kate said.
“I’m in character. Poor ol’ Sean dies tonight.” Jack turned the truck around, gave a thumbs-up to Chris and drove as fast as the vehicle would go back to the house.
Kate ran upstairs to her room, flopped down on the bed and began reading her pages as Nadine. In the first part she was in the bathroom. Pregnancy made her throw up. “A fun part to play,” Kate said.
As she turned the pages, her eyes widened. What happened after Nadine discovered that Sean was gone fascinated her. It called for her to retrieve something that might or might not still be there.
She looked at her watch. Maybe she had enough time to do a little preplay searching. When she got off the bed, she saw the note that had been slipped under the door between hers and Jack’s room.
Sara said you can’t go and look. jack
Kate laughed. It was bad and good to be known so well.
She began to get ready for the evening in the beautiful green dress. It was going to be very interesting to watch the others when they saw Chris for the first time.
* * *
Try as she might, Kate didn’t get downstairs until nearly everyone was there, including Jack. He was in his tux and drinking a beer. She went to him. “Shouldn’t you be in the stables? And in jeans?”
“I’m part of the audience until Act Two.” He was looking at Chris, who was standing close to Teddy. She did indeed have on a very short minidress. If she sneezed, she’d be eligible for a porno.
“How’d they react when they saw him?” Kate asked.
“So you knew who he looked like, but you didn’t tell me?”
“I only found out a few hours ago. I saw a photo of Nicky, and Chris looks just like him.” She was watching the others sneaking glances at Chris.
“I think we have a hint as to why she ran away, but I hope I’m wrong. She must have—” He stopped when Willa came in, her arm entwined with that of a handsome man.
“Your parents have arrived,” Jack said.
“I didn’t tell her you said that.” Kate put down her drink. “By the way, I think he’s a possibility as the killer.” She walked away.
“At least it wasn’t me,” Jack said, but she didn’t look back.
To Byon’s dismay, only a cold buffet supper was served, but he did like that Sara allowed him to tell everyone their parts. He handed out a paper telling where each act would be staged and who the actors would be. “I will be reading the narrative bits. The actors not in the lights—and our thanks to Jack and Clive for their luminous job—are to stay to the side. You are not to get between the camera and the players. As in any theater, the audience is to remain quiet. However, at the end of each act, applause is appreciated.”
Byon looked at Diana, his face sad. “Please forgive us for what we now know.” He raised his glass. “Break your legs, my darlings.”
Twenty-Five
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
THE DRAWING ROOM AT
OXLEY MANOR WITH MOVE TO TERRACE
“Where is everyone?” Nicky asked. He was lazily slouched in the ratty old chair that no one else dared sit in.
“Willa is looking for Clive,” Byon said.
“She is always looking for him. What is new?”
“Ah, the eternal search,” Byon said. “Something new and different to entertain us. To make us sure that we actually exist.”
Nicky didn’t reply but went outside. He staggered a bit as they’d all had far too much to drink. “The last night,” he said when Byon was standing beside him. But then, Byon was always near
by, always seeking more of Nicky than he wanted to give.
“It is a beautiful place,” Byon said softly, looking out over what could be seen of Oxley Manor in the dark. But they knew what was out there. “It will be yours soon.”
“The weight of it all will be mine,” Nicky said. “And I am charged with looking after it and keeping it whole. Already, my ancestors look down on me.” He raised his glass to the heavens. “They see a failure.”
“You’ll have Diana,” Byon said.
“Oh yes, the wondrous Diana. Common as dirt, smart as a...a farmer.”
He and Byon exchanged little laughs.
“We all do what we must,” Byon said.
“Must?” Nicky’s temper was rising. “You must write brilliant plays and become an international success. While I must plow the soil and—” In one swift move, he put his hand to the back of Byon’s neck and kissed him hard on the lips. “You know what I want,” Nicky said. “I have always wanted you. Not this place, not that woman. Not any woman. I—”
Nicky cut off when he heard a sound. Turning, he saw Diana standing in the moonlight. He still had his hand on Byon’s neck. She had seen everything!
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said, then disappeared into the darkness.
“No,” Nicky whispered. “She is my future. She must—”
He started after her but Byon caught his arm. “Don’t go. Stay with me. I’ll write and make money and we’ll run this place together. We’ll—”
Nicky jerked away from him. “You? You’d drink it into the ground within a year. And you won’t last. We are your inspiration. Without us, you are nothing.” He ran after Diana.
ACT ONE
SCENE TWO
THE TERRACE AT OXLEY MANOR
For a few moments, Byon waited on the terrace. He’d been disturbed by what Nicky said, that Byon’s ability to create was linked to them. Of course that was untrue.
Byon thought he heard a scream. It sounded like Diana the time the horse threw her. They’d all gone running, but Sean got there first. Nadine had made a joke about knowing who the hero among them was.
Byon took a step forward, but stopped. Nicky’s words hurt too much, and running after Diana, who Nicky looked down on, wasn’t going to help his cause.
There were more sounds, disturbing noises that brought chills to his body. He went inside, closed the door behind him and poured himself a double whiskey. Whatever was happening outside wasn’t his business.
ACT ONE
SCENE THREE
ON THE GROUNDS. VERY DARK
Diana didn’t know where she was going—just that she had to face the truth. She stopped and waited for Nicky to catch up with her. She knew he was drunk but that was his normal state of being.
When he was close, she spoke. “I can’t do it.” Her voice was full of the regret she felt. This had been a difficult decision for her. Being mistress of Oxley Manor would give her the prestige she’d always yearned for. She’d had a lifetime of seeing her father ordered about, cursed out if the traffic was bad, having to pretend that he didn’t see what went on: affairs, abuse, underage sex. Marriage to Nicky meant she’d be above that. She would be giving the orders.
But she couldn’t do it. It was an old cliché: she’d met someone. It meant her future was now unknown. The only certainty was soul-crushing work. No luxuries, no prestige, no—
“Diana.” Nicky was using that voice that meant he wanted something. “My dearest love, I’m sorry. I’ve had too much to drink. Byon means nothing to me. He—”
“I can’t do it,” she repeated. “I can’t live like this.”
“In luxury? As a lady?” He was stepping closer to her. She could smell his whiskey breath.
“It’s not that. There’s someone else.”
Nicky smiled. “I don’t mind. Have him.”
“Her.”
For a moment, he looked startled, then smiled broader. “That’s even better. We’ll give her a cottage.”
She stepped back from him. “No. It would never work. We couldn’t be a true couple. Your father would expect children. You couldn’t—” She was trying to be as gentle as possible. “I’m leaving the country with her. We’re going to have a horse farm and a—”
“And leave me with all of this to take care of?” His voice lost the coaxing tone. They all knew that Nicky could be vicious when he was drunk.
She looked around. It was very dark where they were and quite far from any building that contained people. “You have Clive. He can run it all if you’d let him. He’s intelligent and he has ideas.”
“Put myself under the rule of that prig?” Nicky was advancing on her. “I’d rather burn the place down. You are the solution. I chose you. I put up with you—a chauffeur’s daughter! My ancestors are rolling in their graves—all for this pile of crap. All for this stone monster that is my burden in life. I let you in. I was going to—may God have mercy on me—defile my bloodline by marrying you. I was going to—”
Diana was sickened by his words and shocked that she’d never suspected the truth of how he felt about her. She drew back her arm to slap him. But she was so angry that her hand curled in a fist. When she hit his beautiful face, she heard his nose crunch.
He put his hand to his bloody nose. “You fucking bitch!” He sprang on her.
She fought him with all her might. She kicked and scratched and hit. But Nicky was a young man and he was strong.
The ridiculously short dress that Nadine had chosen for Diana rode up.
“You think I can’t?” He was on top of her, holding her down. “You think I’m not man enough to fulfill my duties?”
There was a piece of stone nearby. It was the broken-off claw of a lion, fallen from what was left of a statue that one of Nicky’s ancestors had thought would represent the family’s glory. Nicky knew it was what he needed: a symbol of conquering his enemy.
He smacked Diana on the head with it. Her eyes rolled back, then her head fell to one side.
The sight of her lying there limp and helpless excited him. Diana, who told everyone what to do, who made people like her—something Nicky had never been able to do—was helpless beneath him.
His erection was as powerful as the stone lion’s claw. It was easy to rip away the tiny briefs that Nadine had so thoughtfully persuaded Diana to wear. He entered her quickly and easily and was done in minutes.
Afterward, he stood up and looked down at her. She was still unconscious and that made him smile. He’d never before felt so powerful.
He fastened his pants, smoothed his shirt and jacket. His face ached. Bitch! She’d hurt him.
But as he looked down at her motionless body, he smiled. He had hurt her back.
Feeling the best he ever had in his life, he walked away, leaving her there. She had provoked him and she got what she deserved.
PRESENT DAY
Chris stood up, leaving Teddy lying on the ground. He hadn’t removed her underpants, but her dress was to her waist. The lights were on him and he knew the script called for him to walk away in triumph, but he couldn’t. He went only a few steps, then threw up in the bushes.
Diana ran to her son and hugged him.
Byon was crying. “I never meant to cause that. I shouldn’t have run away. I should have...”
Kate helped Teddy get up and put her arms around her. “I’m so sorry.”
Sara stepped out of the darkness. “I must warn you that this horror doesn’t let up. It’s up to the lot of you if you want to go on or not.”
Teddy pulled away from Kate, went to Chris and took his hand. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m all right. You didn’t hurt me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Chris looked at his mother. “That...man... He was my father?”
Diana was too ch
oked up to speak. She could only nod yes.
Chris put his arm around his mother’s shoulders and looked at Sara. “I can go on. I want to know the rest of it.”
Sara looked at each person, the players and the audience. Standing to the side was the police inspector, and he gave a nod. Yes, he’d like to see what happened next.
“The show must go on.” Byon’s tone was one of disgust.
ACT TWO
SCENE ONE
GROUNDS OF OXLEY MANOR. NIGHT
When Diana came to, she was lying on the ground, her dress around her ribs, the bottom half of her naked. Her head hurt horribly. It took her a moment to realize what had happened. Nicky had raped her.
Always a woman of logic, she began to think about what she needed to do. Stagger back into the big house and confront him? Call the police? Then what? Court? The whole idea was absurd. She could envision the short dress she had on being shown in court. The jury would take one look and agree that she’d been “asking for it.”
When she tried to move, she felt pain. There was blood on the side of her face. He must have hit her with something.
She held on to a tree to help her stand. Her dress fell down to cover her but she still felt exposed, more naked than she’d ever been.
The things Nicky had said came back to her. She’d known that theirs was to be a marriage of...of what? The old-fashioned term “marriage of convenience” seemed to fit. They’d both wanted the same thing: Oxley Manor. Because she understood it, she believed she saw everything through clear glasses. Nothing rosy fogged her vision.
But now, with her body shaking, her mind traumatized, she realized she’d known nothing. She hadn’t really understood Nicky—or herself. She’d always scoffed at books and movies about romance, so when love hit her, she’d been unprepared for it. She’d reacted as she never thought she would.
The night was quiet, but she could hear a wave of music coming from the house. Did she go back inside? Try to act as though nothing had happened?
A slight breeze came and she heard the soft whinny of a horse. Without another thought, she turned toward the stables, toward the familiarity of animals. And Sean would be there. Yes. She needed his comfort now. He would know what to do.
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