by Susan Harper
“Twenty-five years per lost life is a bit much considering the age of most of the people who were killed and the shorter life expectancy of the era,” argued one of the wizards.
“It would still be more than sixteen years per life lost,” argued another. “And why reduce the sentence at all? One act should not account for a hundred and seventy-five years left in her sentence.”
The crystal ball started to glow ever-so-slightly, and the witch at the forefront of the hearing touched it. “What’s this?” she asked.
Much to Monica’s horror, they were forced to watch Abigail as she yelled at Jasmine. “I ought to wring your neck, you stupid little mortal!” Abigail’s voice chimed through as Jasmine shrieked in surprise and Monica attempted a poorly-done memory charm.
The smoke in the crystal ball cleared, and the witch glared down at Abigail. “You still have no respect for mortals,” the witch said. “They are not our enemies, Abigail.”
“You say that,” Abigail said. “But at the end of the day, I’m not the one who actually hung twenty people for being witches.”
“Those times were quite different, yes,” the witch said. “But our kind wish to live in harmony with mortals. We will never reach that end goal with mystics like you!”
The mermaid who had defended Abigail sunk down into her bowl, shaking her head. The wizard sitting closest to the lead witch slammed his fists down on the desk in front of him. “Perhaps we should add to her sentence! She unveiled herself in front of a mortal! She threatened the mortal—clearly she has not learned a thing from these past three hundred and twenty years!”
This had taken a terrible turn. Monica was forced to listen on as the council debated Abigail’s fate. At last, the mermaid popped back up out of her bowl and let out a loud siren shriek to get attention. “I have a thought. We had nearly agreed to reduce her sentence for her kind act toward her witch. I say we do that. Reduce by ten years for her good act. But we shall add another twenty for this incident. This would bring her remaining sentence to one hundred and eighty-five years.”
“I find this agreeable,” the witch said. “All in favor?”
The room cried out “Aye.”
“All opposed?” she asked, and the room was silent. “Very good,” the witch. “Abigail Williams, I do hereby sentence you to remain as a familiar for the next one hundred and eighty-five years.” She banged her gavel.
“What?!” Abigail wailed.
“Hush,” the witch warned. “I’d be happy to add more to that if you interrupt these proceedings. Now, on the matter of Miss Holly Harp… You have recently discovered you are part-mystic and are wishing to discover your ancestry, yes? There is a complicated cauldron potion that we can do for you, and we would be more than happy to help you discover your roots. We only need a bit of blood from you.” The witch came down from her pedestal and held out her hand to Holly. “A prick of your finger will be all,” she assured her.
Holly let the witch prick her finger with a pin she pulled from her hair, and she collected the bit of blood in what appeared to be a test tube. “The potion takes a bit of time. It will be a while before we can get you an answer. Now, this hearing is over.”
Monica, Holly, and Abigail left the building, all a bit drained from the experience.
11
When they arrived back at the shop, Abigail went and hid herself in a corner somewhere to sulk. Monica imagined that Abigail wasn’t going to want to talk to her anytime soon. Holly left for the day, probably feeling a bit conflicted after the hearing that had caused trouble for Abigail but had taken her a step in the right direction. Monica grabbed some candies from a drawer and then headed up into the loft where Brian was sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“Aww, Sleeping Beauty is up,” Monica teased.
“Very funny,” he said, yawning. “You have food?”
“I have candy,” she said.
“Perfect. Just like a movie date,” he said as she sat down next to him.
“Exactly,” she said. “Seen anything useful?”
“Just more crummy auditions,” he said. “I’m not sure if we are going to find anything useful in these tapes.”
“Next!” Jasmine’s voice called from the television. Another audition was about to begin as Monica and Brian settled down in their seats and opened their candy. Much to Monica’s surprise, she saw Kevin step out on stage.
“Isn’t that the assistant director?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. He was the show’s assistant director and one of the stage hands,” she said. “He talked to us at the memorial service.”
“I’ll be auditioning for the part of John Proctor,” Kevin’s voice echoed.
They watched his audition, and it was actually very good. He would have blown Monica away if she hadn’t seen Jeremiah’s incredible performance. “He’s good,” Brian said.
“But not as good as Jeremiah,” Monica said.
“Exactly,” Brian agreed.
After his audition, several more people were lined up to audition as well. “Hey, Jasmine,” a voice spoke from beyond the camera’s view, but they could recognize it as Kevin’s. “How was it?”
“Excellent job, Kevin,” Jasmine assured him. “Now, hush, someone else is about to audition.”
While it seemed to go unheard by Jasmine, Kevin was grumbling. “Excellent job. I’m sure she already decided on Jeremiah… He always gets the lead roles.”
“Don’t be so grouchy, Kevin,” an unknown voice said.
“Well, he does,” he replied, and the voices grew more faint as they seemed to walk further away from the camera, likely leaving out the back of the auditorium.
“That’s interesting,” Monica said. She was sifting through some older tapes. “Hey, some of these are from older shows. This tape has auditions from a Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s got Jeremiah’s name on it.”
“Put it in,” Brian said, and they switched out the tapes.
They fast-forwarded until they started seeing familiar faces. Enid’s audition was great, and from looking up some old online posts from the theater troop, they saw that she had been cast as Titania. Jeremiah played Oberon. Kevin’s audition came up, and Monica could confirm online that he had been a stagehand for the show. From the tape, they saw that he had auditioned for the part of Oberon. Monica sifted through the website for the theater company, and she was able to find old casting pages. Time and time again, Jeremiah had been cast as lead roles. Kevin’s name seemed to almost always pop up as a stagehand, light crew, or perhaps assistant director.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Brian asked as Monica shared all of this with Brian.
“I’m thinking Kevin has become a potential suspect,” Monica said. “It looks like he was very jealous of Jeremiah. They were always going out for the same roles, and Kevin kept getting stuck backstage. He’s not a bad actor, but standing next to Jeremiah, he looks amateurish. He probably felt cheated.”
“Kevin… He was in the wings during the show. He would have been able to turn the backlight off. Since he was right there, he could have easily walked out on stage once the stage lights went out and pull Jeremiah down by his ankles and then get back to the wings before the lights went up. As assistant director, he could have even been ordering when the lights were supposed to come up. He had a headset that night. I saw him in the lobby a couple of times; he was giving orders directly to the sound booth.”
“And as part of the stage crew, Kevin would have also had access to all of the props and set pieces,” Monica said. “He could have replaced the old gallows that had the safety measures with a new one without anyone noticing.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Brian said. “Kevin had motive. And he had the means.”
“But we don’t exactly have any proof,” Monica said. “We need to see if we can’t find some hard evidence on him.”
“Of course,” Brian said, thinking. “But between the motive and the means, I think he is most certainly worth
looking into.”
“Do you really think he would have killed Jeremiah over a role?” Monica asked.
“It’s certainly possible,” Brian said. “People have killed for less before.”
“I suppose so,” Monica said. “It seems a bit extreme to me. I feel like there must be something more going on, you know? There are other theaters around here, is all I mean. Couldn’t he have just ditched this troop and started auditioning elsewhere? It’s not like he was a bad actor. He was just in Jeremiah’s shadow.”
“Maybe,” Brian said. “I suppose the motive doesn’t have to make sense to us, though. It just has to make sense to the killer.”
“Good point,” Monica said. “So, what’s our next step?”
“Our next step is to talk to Kevin,” Brian said. “I don’t want him to think we’re onto him, but I do want to feel him out. See if I can pick up on any of that jealousy he might be harboring.”
“Great,” Monica said. “But…I doubt we’re going to get a hold of him this late at night.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Brian said with a yawn. “I think it’s time we call it a night.”
12
The following morning, Brian arrived at the shop to pick Monica up. They were going to go visit Kevin at his apartment, though Brian had been unable to get in contact with the man. Therefore, they had decided to make a surprise visit. Abigail was still sulking in a corner, and Holly was busy at work. Brian noticed Holly was a bit perkier than usual. “What are you so giddy about?” Brian asked with a smile.
Obviously, Holly wasn’t about to tell Brian that she was excitedly awaiting a verdict from the Sorcerers’ Council about her heritage, but she was quick on her feet. “I’ve been in contact with my adoption agency,” she spit out as though she had rehearsed this already. “I’m working on finding out more about my birth parents.”
Brian grinned. “Wow, Holly, that’s awesome! You think your agency is going to be able to help you out?”
“Possibly,” Holly said. “It’s just been on my mind a lot lately. I am hoping it’s going to answer some questions for me, you know? I just want to know more about what makes me…well, me.”
“Good for you,” Brian said. “What do your adopted parents think about this?”
“They’re supportive,” Holly said. “I told them a few days ago that I had contacted the agency. Mom was a little taken back by it, I think, but overall, they were very supportive of the whole thing. I’m supposed to be hearing back from the agency fairly soon.”
“Well, I’m excited for you,” Brian said. “Let me know if there is anything I could do to help move the process along. Not sure what I could do exactly, but if there is any way that I could help, you know I will.”
“Thanks, Brian,” Holly said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Monica gave Holly a nod of approval on her way out the door. They took his patrol car across town to a small apartment complex. From what Brian had learned, Kevin lived with a couple of other guys in an apartment not too far from the theater. When they knocked on the door, one of his roommates answered and invited them in. Unfortunately, Kevin was nowhere to be seen.
The man who had answered the door, a young man named Tommy, plopped down in front of the television. “What are you looking for Kevin for, exactly?” he asked.
“Trying to interview him about what happened at the theater the other night,” Monica explained.
“Oh, yeah, I heard about that,” Tommy said, shivering a bit. “That’s not right at all. Can’t believe the guy got hanged live on stage. Jeremiah was a cool guy.”
“You knew him?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, I’ve gone to some of the shows Kevin has been a part of. Talked to Jeremiah a couple of times. Nice guy,” Tommy said.
“And what did your roommate think of him?” Brian asked.
Tommy looked up at Brian with a hesitant expression. “Why?” he asked.
“We’re more interested in the opinions of people who knew him well,” Brian said, treading carefully.
“Oh,” Tommy said as though this had been good enough of an explanation for him. “I mean, they always seemed to get along pretty well. Jeremiah even gave Kevin acting lessons once. They were pretty tight until all that crap with Enid.”
“What are you talking about?” Brian asked.
“Well, Jeremiah asked Enid out,” Tommy said.
“Yeah, we’re aware. Why was that a problem for Kevin?” Monica asked.
“Um…because Enid and Kevin were dating?” Tommy said this as though he had expected them to already know this. “They had been dating for a while too. She dumped Kevin the second Jeremiah asked her out. I told Kevin that I could tell his girl was definitely into that guy. Jeremiah had gotten close to her during all of the rehearsing for The Crucible, I guess.”
“Interesting,” Brian said.
Tommy looked at them hesitantly again. “Why is that interesting?” Tommy asked.
“Just that no one has mentioned that before,” Brian said. “Are you sure they were dating?”
“Um, yeah, I’m sure,” Tommy said and pointed toward one of the bedrooms. “He’s got a picture of the two of them. It’s on his nightstand.”
“Do you mind if we look?” Brian asked.
“I don’t care,” Tommy said. “I feel kind of funny letting a cop snoop around his room while he’s not here, though.”
“We’re not snooping,” Brian assured. “Just looking at the picture.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s fine,” Tommy said, returning his attention to the television.
Brian and Monica entered the bedroom. It looked just like you would expect it to look for a person involved in the theater. There were posters of various Broadway shows and even large drama faces hanging up on one wall. Sure enough, they found the photograph framed on his nightstand just as Tommy had stated. It was Kevin smiling brightly at the camera, Enid giving Kevin a peck on the cheek.
“Looks like they probably had been dating,” Brian said, picking up the photograph. “Not sure how much time that kid out there is going to give us before he starts asking about warrants. He seemed a little uneasy.”
“Then we better look around before he decides to give us the boot,” Monica said, opening a desk drawer.
They looked around the room, but for the most part, there wasn’t anything suspicious. In his closet, they found a large tool chest with various tools. “Looks like he kept some of the set design equipment here,” Brian said, pulling out the saw.
Monica held up a trash bin that was full of sawdust. “Looks like he was using it fairly recently. Funny considering that they were in the middle of a play. What would he have been building? Unless he makes furniture or something on the side.”
“I’m thinking he could have been building the gallows in here,” Brian said. “Version two, that is.” He snapped a picture of the equipment and the sawdust in the trash bin before they left the room. Tommy had been getting up just as they were exiting.
“Oh, I guess you found the picture,” Tommy said, turning around to go sit back down on the couch.
“So, did Kevin do a lot of work here at the apartment for the show? Must have been annoying hearing him building set pieces all the time,” Brian said.
Tommy laughed slightly. “Nah. It wasn’t too bad. He hasn’t really done that too much before. He was working on something the past couple of weeks. He said he was having to repair something.”
“Did he say what?” Brian asked.
“Just a part of the set,” Tommy said. “He was the director’s lacky, so he did a lot of running around for her all the time.”
“I don’t suppose you know where he is at right now, do you?” Monica asked.
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “He headed out a little bit ago. Said he was meeting Jasmine at the theater.”
“Do you know what for?” Monica asked.
“I think he said he was auditioning for something,” Tommy said. “But I’m not really sure
. I was only halfway listening to him, to be honest.”
“Well, perfect,” Brian said calmly. “We can go talk to him there. Maybe he could help us out with our investigation.”
Tommy nodded approvingly at this comment as Brian and Monica left, thanking him for his help. Once they had left the apartment, Monica realized quickly that she and Brian were both on the same page. “You think it was Kevin, don’t you?” Monica asked.
“Definitely,” he said. “His motive is solid. Always in Jeremiah’s shadow. Always losing roles to him. Then, Jeremiah swipes his girlfriend out from under him. The saw and sawdust shows that he was definitely working on something, and he told his roommate that it was for the show. I’m guessing the thing he was working on was the replacement gallows. He was in the wings of the theater during the murder, and he had access to the backlights to blind the rest of the actors. He could have easily run out on stage, pulled Jeremiah down, and since he was giving orders to the sound booth, he could have told them to leave the lights down a bit longer…using the excuse of dramatic affect or something. He made sure it was too late to save Jeremiah.”
“So, what’s our next move?” Monica asked.
“Our next move is we go to the theater and arrest Kevin on suspicion of murder,” Brian said, and they loaded up into Brian’s patrol car.
Kevin lived just a few minutes from the theater. They arrived in the parking lot, and they both hurried up to the building. They entered the auditorium through the lobby, and there was Kevin on stage. The director was seated in the front row with a clipboard as she watched Kevin carefully. “Let’s sit,” Brian whispered, and Monica sat with Brian in the nearest seats.
Kevin was reciting John Proctor’s monologue from the court scene. “In the proper place—where my beasts are bedded. Eight months now, sir, it is eight months. She used to serve me in my house, sir. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything. I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her for what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the high road. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir… Excellency, forgive me. Forgive me! She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And, well she might! For I thought of her softly, God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat!” Kevin paused, his face soaked with tears, and then he saw Brian and Monica sitting in a corner. He stopped his performance and cleared his throat, nodding in their direction.