by Lyn Gardner
Jon suddenly looked very tired. “Tom,” he said reluctantly. “It was you who pushed into Freya and made her fall, wasn’t it?”
Tom nodded.
Alicia leapt into the conversation. “Tom admitted it right from the start. It’s no secret. It was an accident. Very unfortunate, but accidents do happen.”
“Ah, but was it an accident?” said Chuck ominously. “We have a very reliable witness who says that he deliberately pushed poor little Freya.”
“And who might this witness be?” asked Alicia, but from the look on her face it was clear she had already guessed.
“Katie,” said Jon wearily.
“Oh, I feel awful even saying it, Mr James, but I did see him do it. It’s the truth, I swear. The last thing I want is to get Tom into trouble, but I know what I saw.” Katie looked around at everyone with wide-eyed innocence before beginning to cry. She was comforted by Chuck. Mia rushed over to hug her, while Joshua rolled his eyes. He stopped when he saw Chuck glaring at him.
“Are there any other witnesses? Did anybody else see anything?” asked Alicia, giving the other children a penetrating stare. There was silence as everyone looked at their feet or shook their heads.
Tom suddenly spoke quietly. “It was an accident. I couldn’t help it. I barged into Freya because somebody else pushed me.”
Everyone looked surprised.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he continued. “I thought it was better just to keep quiet, but now I’m being accused of something I didn’t do, something that I’d never ever do, I just can’t keep quiet any longer.” His face was on fire and he looked distraught.
“It’s all right, Tom,” said Alicia gently. “Who was behind you on the stairs?”
There was a pause. “Katie,” Tom said quietly.
Chuck Daniels snorted. “Well, they say attack is the best form of defence. Everyone knows that. You’re just trying to discredit her.”
“I know which one of them I’d believe,” said Josie. Chuck smiled at her.
Jon James looked pained. He didn’t want to do anything to upset Alicia, who he really liked and admired and who had been so helpful over Eel, but he couldn’t afford to upset Chuck, who was a powerful producer. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chuck cut across him.
“Tom,” he said. “It’s been one thing after another with you since you joined the cast. You haven’t behaved at all professionally, and you’ve bought the Swan into disrepute. I’d certainly think twice about employing Swans again.” Tom gave a little cry; Alicia pursed her lips. “In the circumstances, it would be best for everybody if you did the right thing and withdrew from the production.”
There was a sharp intake of breath from Alicia, Georgia cried, “No!” and the other children gasped in horror. Then Eel said very crisply, “You could do that, Tom, but if you do, I certainly won’t be performing tonight or any other night either.” Alicia had to stop herself from smiling.
“Are you blackmailing us?” asked Chuck furiously.
“Yes,” said Eel, beaming happily at him.
“Actually,” said Jon James, “I’m with Eel on this. The case against Tom isn’t proven. It’s his word against Katie’s. It was unfair of you to ask him to leave like that. You may be the producer, Chuck. But this is my production and my call.”
Chuck made a disgusted noise. Jon ignored him and turned to Tom. “Tom, I rated you at the auditions, and I rate you now. Despite everything that’s happened, I know my instincts were good. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m giving you a final warning. One more slip, however small, and you’re definitely out. It’s up to you to make sure that you keep your role. Don’t let me down. Please.”
“I won’t, Mr James,” whispered Tom.
Once he was back in the boys’ dressing room, Tom started scribbling a note. He finished it and put it in an envelope and wrote Katie’s name on the front.
“I’m just going to take this down to Bert at the stage door. He’ll make sure she gets it,” said Tom grimly.
“Tom, I’m not sure you’re doing the right thing,” said Georgia. “Why don’t you just let it be and ignore her? This’ll only antagonise her.”
“No,” said Tom fiercely. “She’s a liar and she’s trying to ruin my life. I just want to warn her to stay away from me. Katie’s a bully. If I do nothing, she’ll see it as weakness and pounce.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was thirty minutes before curtain up. The Half, as it was called, had just been announced over the tannoy.
Georgia, Eel and Tom were all in the boys’ dressing room. Joshua had gone to wardrobe to chat to Lacey. He was staying strictly neutral in the split between Tom and Katie.
“Look, mate,” he’d said to Tom. “I think that Katie is a stuck-up little moo and she wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped her around the face. But I don’t want to be involved. Next year I’ll be out of school and in the real world. I don’t want to be on Chuck Daniels’s blacklist. He’s a big shot in musical theatre. So I’m staying out of it. I’d advise you to do the same. Keep your head down and get on with the job.”
Just then, Eel’s phone gave a bleep.
“That’s Livy to say that she’s arrived and so have the others from the Swan. They’re at the back of the stalls,” said Eel happily. “Do you like my phone? Gran said that as I was in The Sound of Music I needed a phone so she could keep in touch with me. So we’ve both got them now. Although I wish it had fewer buttons. You can do almost anything with this phone. Take pictures and video. Record conversations. I bet you could even launch a space rocket with it if you wanted, or make a feature-length movie.”
Georgia looked up sharply. “So Livy’s got a phone now, has she?”
“Yes,” said Eel, idly playing with her mobile’s buttons. “Granny gave it to her before she went off to Hollywood.”
Georgia and Tom looked meaningfully at each other. Then Georgia, who had been examining Tom’s good-luck cards, noticed that one had fallen down the side of the dressing table. She knelt to pull it out.
“Here’s one of your cards, Tom—” She stopped and a look of horror crossed her face. “Who on earth would send such a horrible thing…?”
Tom tried to snatch it away, but the others had seen it and Georgia had already opened the card.
“Livy! Oh, what a nasty thing to do.” Georgia and Eel looked shocked, and Tom looked embarrassed.
“I didn’t want anyone to know,” he said.
“Eel, I’m sorry, I know she’s your sister and you love her, but she’s got a mean streak a mile wide,” said Georgia. “It’s even nastier than that text she sent Tom.”
Eel had grabbed the card from Georgia’s hand and was examining it intently. “Tom, what text?” she said urgently. “Do you still have it?”
“Weren’t you going to delete it?” asked Georgia.
“I never got around to it,” said Tom.
“Will you find it for me?” asked Eel. Tom picked up his phone, scrolled down his messages and opened the text. Eel glanced at it, shuddered at the contents and then gave a little meow of triumph. “This isn’t from Livy. Neither is the card. I’d bet my life on it.”
“But it says it is,” said Georgia, puzzled.
“That’s what gives it away,” said Eel triumphantly. “Tom, Georgia, look at the name on both the text and the card.”
Tom stared at them and a look of astonishment mingled with pain suddenly crossed his face. Georgia still looked bewildered but then she suddenly put her hand to her mouth and drew in her breath.
“I always knew there was something that wasn’t right about the text, but I couldn’t put my finger on it,” she said. “The name. Tom never calls Livy Olivia, he always calls her Liv.”
“Tom and Dad are the only people in the world who do. If Livy wrote something to Dad, she’d never sign it Olivia, not in a million years, she’d always sign it Liv. She’d do the same with Tom. I know it. It would be like me calling myself Alicia instead of
Eel. I just wouldn’t do it, however furious I was with you. Besides,” she added triumphantly, “this isn’t Livy’s number. Look, it’s different,” she said, showing her contacts to the others.
“So,” said Georgia slowly, “if Livy didn’t send the text and the card, who did?”
“It’s so strange. Livy told me that she had sent you a text, apologising. But clearly this text isn’t the one she sent. This is from someone else pretending to be Livy. Have you tried ringing the number it came from?” asked Eel.
Tom looked distraught. “I just assumed it was from Liv and she’d borrowed a phone to send it. I didn’t think it mattered whose phone it came from.”
“But it could matter a lot,” said Georgia quietly. “Let’s ring it. Eel, can we use your phone? Whoever it is won’t recognise the number.”
Eel nodded. Tom put the phone on speaker, tapped in the number and pressed call. The phone rang a couple of times and then a voice answered…
The children stared at each other. With a trembling finger, Tom pressed the disconnect button. He was so pale that all his freckles stood out, despite the make-up that he’d put on ready for the show.
“I don’t know how Katie did it, and I don’t care. But I’ve got to talk to Liv. I’ve got to tell how sorry I am. We’ve behaved so badly towards her. She must be so upset. Poor Liv.” There was real despair in his voice.
“Not now, Tom,” said Georgia. “There isn’t time. You’ll have to do it after the performance.”
“This is your five-minute call,” came over the tannoy. The orchestra was tuning up. Eel’s phone rang. They all looked at it for a second and then Tom snatched it up and pressed answer.
“It’s Katie Wilkes-Cox here. I’ve just had a call from this number but we got cut off. Who is it?”
“Tom McCavity. I know about the text and the card you sent me. I’m on to you, Katie Wilkes-Cox,” said Tom quietly.
The phone went dead.
Chapter Eighteen
Katie was seriously worried. She knew that she should never have sent that text. It was a mistake to do things on the spur of the moment without really thinking through the consequences. She’d thought she was being so clever. She’d even entered Tom’s number into her new phone so that if he called the number the text had been sent from, it would flash up on her screen and she would know not to answer. She also deleted her personal message in case he got her voicemail. She’d thought she had it covered.
Katie had assumed that Tom would just delete such a horrible text, and as time went by and there was no attempt to make contact, she had relaxed. She believed she’d got away with it and, even better, it had clearly done its job and estranged him further from that horrible Olivia Marvell. But now Tom had finally made the connection between the text and her, he had all the proof he needed in that one mobile number.
First, she had to get to his phone and delete that text; then she had to make sure once and for all that Ginger McCavity was no further bother to her. The best way to do this was to make him miss his first cue. He was on a final warning and he’d be straight out on his ear before anyone could point a finger at her.
She had her reputation to protect; she’d already noticed that Jon James wasn’t quite as responsive to her dazzling smiles as he had been. This was a pity because Katie still had her eye on the role of Liesl; she was word and move perfect and was just waiting for the right moment to show Jon James what she could do. She was quite certain that he would recognise her star potential, even if she was a bit too young for the part.
“Beginners, please!” The call went out over the tannoy. The children began to make their way down to the wings. As usual, they weren’t on for the first fifteen minutes of the show but Jon liked to know that they were all there, ready and accounted for.
Eel, Georgia and Tom walked downstairs together. Tom was very quiet. He was thinking about Liv. He felt terrible. He knew that the way they had all treated her must have caused her as much pain as the text and card had caused him. He needed to explain to her what had happened as soon as possible. The fact that he knew she was sitting downstairs in the auditorium was even worse. She was so near and yet he could do nothing.
Joshua hurried back into the boys’ dressing room to retrieve his jerkin and then set off downstairs again. Katie watched him go. Only she and Mia were left upstairs. Mia was being rewarded for the hug of support in the Green Room, and, thrilled by Katie’s sudden friendship after weeks of being ignored by her, held Katie’s hand as they walked downstairs. Katie had just been painting Mia’s nails pearl pink and she had given Mia the rest of the varnish to take home. They turned the first corner.
“Oh, wait, Mia,” said Katie. “I’ve still got my phone. I need to put it in the dressing room.” She disappeared back up the stairs, then reappeared a few seconds later.
“Quickly, Mia! Run downstairs and get Tom. I’ve just bumped into Jon James and he wants to see Tom in the boys’ dressing room right away. Tell him that Mr James says he’s to hurry up, so he doesn’t miss his cue. I’ll be down in just a minute.”
Mia scuttled off and caught up with Tom. “Tom, I’ve got a message from Mr James – he wants to talk to you in the boys’ dressing room. Mr James said you should hurry so you don’t miss your cue.”
Tom headed back up the stairs. The door to the boys’ dressing room was shut. He opened it and walked in, expecting to see Jon, but the room was empty. Then the door slammed shut behind him and he heard a click as the key turned in the lock. He ran to the door and tried to open it. But it wouldn’t budge.
Tom banged on the door. “Hey, let me out, let me out!” Nobody came. Tom went to grab his phone but it wasn’t in his coat pocket. He looked around and saw it crushed into bits under the dressing table. It was as if somebody had thrown it as hard as they could against the wall and then stamped on it for good measure. The sim card was missing, too.
Tom ran to Joshua’s dressing table and opened the drawer where he kept his phone. But the phone was locked. Anyway, he thought despairingly, who could he call? The police? The fire brigade? Did being locked in your dressing room and about to lose your job count as a nine-nine-nine emergency?
He suddenly caught sight of Eel’s phone, which she had left half hidden under a fallen good-luck card. Tom grabbed it. He scrolled through her contacts. It was so new that Eel only had three: one was Alicia’s number, which he couldn’t possibly ring. The other was Jack’s, and Jack was in America. The other number was Olivia’s. Olivia was sitting downstairs in the theatre. She was the only person who could help him.
He took a deep breath and pressed call.
Chapter Nineteen
The final bell had gone and the audience were making their way into the auditorium and settling into their seats. Olivia was sitting at the end of a row with Pablo and the castell team. On their way to the theatre, they had stopped off in Covent Garden to watch an inspirational demonstration of the art by a Catalan troupe who made eight tiers look as if it was the easiest thing in the world. “We’ll do that one day,” said Pablo.
“One day next century if we keep practising,” said Olivia.
The orchestra was tuning up.
“Have you turned off your phone?” asked Pablo. Olivia went to get it out of her pocket and, as she did so, it rang. She was surprised to see that the call was from Eel and answered it quickly. She was so astonished to hear Tom’s voice at the other end that she almost dropped the mobile.
“Liv. Liv?” he said, sounding desperate. “It’s Tom. I need your help. Please, Liv, don’t cut me off.”
Olivia felt shaky. Her fingers were trembling. She was confused. Why was Tom ringing her on Eel’s phone? Particularly when he was just about to go on stage. Why was he ringing her at all when he had so clearly demonstrated how much he hated her?
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m locked in my dressing room; I can’t get out. I’ll miss my cue. Liv, you’re my only hope. I need you to go round to the stage d
oor and get Bert. I’m sure he’ll have a key to let me out. Liv, are you still there…?”
There was a tiny pause.
“Yes,” said Olivia, determinedly. “I’m on my way.” To Pablo’s surprise she stood up and without a word raced up the aisle and out of the auditorium. She climbed the stairs, impatiently jostling the people who were still trying to get in. It caused some comments about the manners of young people today, but Olivia ignored them and ran at break-neck speed out of the theatre and round to the stage door.
“Hello, Livy, long time no see!” said Bert with a smile. “Last time I saw you it was the day of the final auditions. Your gran said you were in tonight. But you can’t come backstage now, the show’s about to begin.” “I know, Bert,” cried Olivia. “But Tom’s locked in his dressing room; he can’t get out.”
“He can’t be,” said Bert. “I keep all the keys for the children’s dressing rooms down here. We don’t let them have them. Look!” He pulled out the drawer. The keys for dressing-rooms seven and eight were missing.
“Well, blow me,” said Bert. “Somebody must have swiped them when I wasn’t looking.” He nodded to Olivia. “Come on, let’s go and see if whoever locked him in left the key in the lock. Somebody must be playing a joke, but it’s not very funny. They must know that the poor kid is on a final warning.”
“Final warning?” asked Olivia.
“Yes, one more slip and he’s out of the production.”
The overture had begun. Bert pointed Olivia up the stairs to the third floor and she raced ahead, leaving him to take the stairs at his own pace. She reached the deserted third-floor corridor and the desperate cries coming from behind a door told her immediately which one was Tom’s dressing room. There was no key in the lock.
“Tom! It’s me,” shouted Olivia through the door. “The key’s missing from Bert’s drawer downstairs and it’s not in the lock out here. Are you sure the door isn’t just stuck?”
“Positive,” said Tom.