“Listen, I wanted to thank you for not ratting us out to the cops.”
“There was no point. Felicity would have had to press vandalism charges against you, and considering they’ve shut down her theater and she’s facing prison for fraud, she isn’t in a position to make a fuss. But I don’t think I would have in any case. If ever a show was worth sabotaging, this was it.”
Talia smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry I thought you had it in for Arden. You were honest about everything the whole time, and we all treated you terribly.”
“Thanks.” Isobel gave Talia a hug. “Maybe we’ll see you in the city. You know, I never said, but you have a beautiful voice.”
“Thanks. So do you!”
The cab driver honked his horn, and Delphi yanked Isobel’s arm. They slammed the trunk shut over Isobel’s suitcase and piled in.
“Train station, please,” Hugh said from the passenger seat.
In the back, Delphi slid closer to Sunil. He put his arm around her, and Isobel noticed that she didn’t object. His brush with death had wrought a subtle change in Delphi’s attitude over the past twenty-four hours. Nothing had happened between them yet as far as Isobel knew, and they might well revert to their old sparring, but she hoped Delphi was finally coming to her senses. At the same time, Isobel realized that once they were home, there was no more putting off the conversation she and Hugh needed to have, and the prospect of where they were headed saddened her.
Isobel’s phone rang. Her spirits lifted when she saw the number.
“Mr. Fried,” she said. The others turned to her with interest.
“Ms. Spice. Well done on your end.”
“I might say the same.”
“Sorry for going AWOL like that, but I didn’t want you caught in the crossfire. There seemed to me a real possibility that Felicity was behind the murders as a way of covering up her fraud. I was able to hightail it back to New York and get the confirmation I was looking for, but I didn’t want to put you in any further danger.”
“Thank you. But of course it was Jethro who killed Arden and Thomas.”
“A very disturbed young man, it seems.”
“Is it true that the Donnellys wanted Felicity to throw out Jethro’s book and keep the score, and not the other way around?”
“Oh yes, I heard it from Irv Donnelly himself. He fell in love with Geoff Brown’s score. Thought it was fantastic. It was what they were most excited about. But when Felicity balked at junking Jethro’s script, Irv started asking colleagues if they thought he should take a chance on a show with a great score, but a crappy book. He happened to ask a friend who’d put money into Baristas. This guy lost money, even though the show was successful, so Irv started asking Felicity some tough questions. She got nervous and decided Irv’s snooping wasn’t worth his backing. She saw a way to disengage from the Donnellys by doing the opposite of what they wanted.”
“How did you get involved?”
“When Irv heard they’d trashed Geoff’s score, he became even more curious. He called me, and I started digging around. I have to confess, I told a little white lie when we met at the Hilton. Thomas didn’t find me; I called him. When you want to know what’s going on at a theater—”
“Always ask the costume shop,” they finished together.
“But what about Donnelly coming to see the show opening night?” Isobel asked. “Felicity seemed to think it was because they were interested.”
“Yes. Irv called and told her he was reconsidering and wanted to see what she’d done with the piece. I was always going to be his date.”
“Why didn’t he come with you?”
“So Delphi could have a seat,” Fried quipped.
Isobel chuckled. “Seriously.”
“The most mundane reason in the world. He got the flu.”
“If the Donnellys didn’t pump money into Sousacal, then who did?”
“Felicity Hamilton. Whatever money she’d saved up from skimming all those years went into the show. She was apparently devoted to Jethro. Somewhat misguidedly, as it turns out.”
“So I was wrong and the two were connected,” Isobel admitted. “I guess sometimes the obvious explanation is the right one.”
“Occam’s razor, my dear.”
“What?”
“Look it up.”
“Train station,” barked the cabbie.
“I have to go,” Isobel said. “But thank you.”
“Oh, you’ve read it? Good! Bye, now.”
He rang off, and Isobel stared at her phone with a confused expression.
“Come on.” Delphi nudged her. “You can fill us in on the train.”
They tumbled out of the cab, pooled their money to pay the driver, and reorganized themselves and their bags. Inside the train station, they scanned the board for their platform.
“Hang on a sec,” Isobel said. She ran over to a newsstand, where the New York Post was prominently displayed between the Times Union and the New York Times. She plunked down her money and grabbed a copy, flipping to Roman Fried’s column.
And so, a respected regional theater is consigned to an untimely demise by a dishonest producer. There’s a shocker. But one good thing came out of this misguided concatenation of history, ego, and strict march tempo: the opportunity to become acquainted with the enterprising talent of one Isobel Spice, who rose above the circumstances to deliver a charming performance of mediocre material. She’s one to keep an eye on.
A shiver of delight ran down Isobel’s spine. She extracted the page and shoved the rest of the paper over the counter.
“Here, you can recycle this.”
“Don’t you want it?” asked the clerk.
“Only page six. I’m going to frame it next to my first Equity contract.”
She waved the newsprint in his face and ran off to join her friends.
# # #
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It turns out my friends are more devious than I, so for pranks and other nefarious suggestions, my thanks to Geoff Gaebe, Peter Büchi, Seth Christenfeld, Emilie Storrs, Aileen Itani, Christianne Tisdale, Matt Conroy, and Liz Reddick. (And if I ever share the stage with any of you again, I will be sure to watch my back!) Gratitude always to my stalwart support team, editor Kira Rubenthaler of Bookfly Design, designer Linda Pierro of Flint Media, and agent Kari Stuart at ICM, as well as my trusted betas, Helen Lessner, Tim Peierls, and my very own Hugh (but without the British accent), Joshua Rosenblum.
About the Author
Joanne Sydney Lessner is the author of Pandora’s Bottle, a novel inspired by the true story of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine (Flint Mine Press). The Temporary Detective, Bad Publicity, And Justice for Some and Offed Stage Left (Dulcet Press) feature aspiring actress and amateur sleuth Isobel Spice. No stranger to the theatrical world, Joanne enjoys an active performing career in both musical theater and opera. With her husband, composer/conductor Joshua Rosenblum, she has co-authored several musicals including the cult hit Fermat’s Last Tango and Einstein’s Dreams, based on the celebrated novel by Alan Lightman. Her play, Critical Mass, received its Off Broadway premiere in October 2010 as the winner of the 2009 Heiress Productions Playwriting Competition. Joanne is a regular contributing writer to Opera News and holds a B.A. in music, summa cum laude, from Yale University.
Look for these mysteries featuring Isobel Spice:
The Temporary Detective
Phones, light typing…and murder.
Think breaking into show business is hard? Try landing a temp job without office skills. That’s the challenge facing aspiring actress Isobel Spice when she arrives in New York City, fresh out of college and deficient in PowerPoint. After being rejected by seven temp agencies for her lack of experience, Isobel sweet-talks recruiter James Cooke into letting her cover a last-minute vacancy at a bank. New to his own job, and recently sober, James takes a chance o
n Isobel, despite his suspicion that she’s a trouble-magnet. His misgivings are borne out by lunchtime, when she stumbles across a dead secretary in a bathroom stall. With her fingerprints on the murder weapon, Isobel sets out to prove her innocence by investigating the crime herself. While learning to juggle phone lines and auditions, she discovers an untapped talent for detective work—a qualification few other office temps, let alone actresses, can claim.
Bad Publicity
In the world of PR, there’s only one crime worse than killing a deal—killing a client.
Aspiring actress and office temp Isobel Spice finds a warm welcome at Dove & Flight Public Relations, thanks to her old school friend Katrina Campbell. However, the atmosphere chills considerably when Isobel unwittingly serves an important client a deadly dose of poisoned coffee. Her stalwart temp agent, James Cooke, rushes to her aid, but balks when he learns that the victim was the fraternity brother who got him expelled from college. News that Dove & Flight is being acquired by an international conglomerate quickly supplants the murder as the hot topic of office gossip, but Isobel is convinced the two events are related. When all roads of inquiry lead back to Katrina, Isobel is forced to consider the possibility that her friend’s killer instincts go beyond public relations.
And Justice for Some
Dinner theater can be a death sentence.
Actress Isobel Spice and her best friend Delphi Kramer are thrilled to finally have an opportunity to perform together, even if it’s just a cheesy interactive murder mystery at a judge’s lifetime achievement dinner. But when Isobel’s dramatic death scene is upstaged by a real murder and Delphi is left holding the still-smoking gun, Isobel drops the role of victim and assumes the role of detective. With the help of her precocious brother Percival and her reluctant temp agent James Cooke, Isobel peels back layers of deception to reveal a shocking abuse of power—and no shortage of suspects eager to deliver justice to a man who denied it to so many.
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