“Is it any wonder that no one wants to read Shakespeare anymore?” He bowed again to the audience. “Today, we are going to give you something a little bit different. Today we are going to show you some of the very best scenes that Shakespeare created. We like to think of it as the highlights of the plays without all the boring backstory.” He laughed again.
“Before each scene, someone will take a moment to fill you in on where we are in whatever play we’ve taken the scene from. He or she will also give you a few things to look out for. Shakespeare was actually a very funny man, and if you spoke Elizabethan English you’d know that most of his jokes are about farting.”
Hundreds of school children burst out laughing as William took a bow and then left the stage. For the two hours that followed, he and his troupe kept every single child at the castle enthralled. Each short scene was introduced, and then Candy, Penny, Adam and William, often with little more than a change of hat to mark a change in costume, make Shakespeare’s words live for their audience.
Bessie was equally riveted, first awed by the madness of Candy’s Lady Macbeth and then saddened by the doomed love affair that played out between William and Penny, who were somehow strangely believable at the teenaged Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet made an appearance, as did Henry VIII and Shylock.
Each introduction was cleverly written to explain the entire play in only a few sentences, and was followed by suggestions of certain words or phrases to listen out for, along with a translation of their meaning. While not everything that was highlighted was a fart joke, they managed to get enough of those into the show to keep even the most bored teenager paying attention.
When the show finished, and the actors were done taking their final bows, Bessie sat back in her seat, feeling as if she’d just experienced something incredible.
“They were so good,” Doona gasped. “That was amazing.”
“It really was wonderful,” John agreed. “The children loved it as well.”
“You can certainly see why they were so popular in the US,” Bessie said. “It was like watching a completely different group of people to the ones we saw last weekend.”
“What worries me is what good actors they’ve all just shown themselves to be,” John said with a frown.
“So what was different today?” Bessie asked. “I mean aside from scrapping the Much Ado script. Was Sienna that big of a negative influence? Or is it down to having Candy back on board?”
“Maybe we should ask them,” John suggested.
Bessie nodded. “That isn’t all I want to ask them,” she muttered.
John took her arm. “What else is on your mind?” he asked, with a concerned look on his face.
Bessie sighed. “I think I may know who sabotaged the stage,” she said. “And I also think I know who killed Scott. After today’s performance, though, I almost hate to split the company up.”
“You don’t really want anyone to get away with murder,” John reminded her.
“No, I don’t,” Bessie agreed.
The pair walked over to the small tent, with Hugh and Doona following a few steps behind.
Bessie exchanged looks with John and then called out, “Hello, Penny? William?”
She could hear voices inside the tent having a whispered conversation, and then the tent flap was pulled open.
“Bessie, isn’t it?” William said with a smile. “How kind of you to come and say hello. We’re just getting changed, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t invite you in.”
Bessie smiled back. William was still in his king’s costume and full makeup. Behind him she could see Penny, now dressed in jeans and an oversized blouse. Adam and Candy weren’t visible through the small opening.
“I just wanted to congratulate you on a wonderful show,” Bessie told him. “I was incredibly impressed with everything you did today.”
“Ah, thank you,” William said, giving Bessie a small bow. “We worked very hard, as a group, to make today special.”
“That was obvious,” Bessie told him. “And it was impressive.”
“We’re splitting up,” Penny announced baldly, as she joined William in at the tent flap opening.
“Splitting up? But why?” Bessie asked.
William shook his head. “That’s a private matter,” he said sternly. “It needn’t concern you.”
John leaned in and spoke. “It concerns me,” he said in an official tone. “Everything this group does concerns me until Scott’s murderer is behind bars.”
William flushed and rolled his eyes. “Give us a few minutes to get ourselves organised,” he said huffily. “Then we’ll all come out and have a little chat, okay?”
“That’s fine,” John replied.
Bessie exchanged glances with the others as they stepped away from the tent. No one spoke as they stood and watched the groups of school children being herded back towards the car park. Grace waved and Hugh waved back enthusiastically. Bessie and Doona grinned at each other as Hugh blushed.
After several minutes, while the sound of muffled conversation came almost continually from the tent, the players emerged. Everyone was now casually dressed, although only Adam had taken the time to remove his stage makeup. The foursome filed out slowly, and then took up positions in a row in front of Bessie and Rockwell.
“You wanted to speak to us,” William said grumpily.
“I did,” John said. “But I think Bessie wanted to congratulate you on the performance first.”
“You were all simply amazing,” Bessie said, deliberately gushing. “Today was such an improvement over Much Ado About the Shrew, I almost didn’t believe it was the same actors up there.”
“We never had adequate time to prepare Much Ado About the Shrew,” William said. “And we needed to bring in a large number of untrained amateurs in order to make the show work, which was difficult. Today was all about showcasing the very best things we’ve ever done together.”
“Who wrote the introductory pieces?” Bessie asked. “They were absolutely perfect.”
Adam bowed deeply. “They were my small contribution to today’s performance, aside from the acting I did here and there, of course.”
“As I said, they were very well done and they kept the children’s interest all the way through,” Bessie said.
“I told you we were very successful in the US,” Penny said. “Today you’ve seen why.”
“Indeed,” Bessie replied. “So why on earth are you talking about splitting up?”
William and Penny exchanged looks, while Adam and Candy looked at their shoes.
“It’s time,” William said finally. “We’ve all been together for many years. It’s just time to go our separate ways.”
“And you all feel that way?” Bessie asked.
Adam and Candy continued to stare at the ground, while Penny twisted her hair and stared at William. The silence was starting to get awkward when Penny finally exploded.
“No, we don’t all feel that way,” she said loudly. She took a deep breath and continued in a quieter voice. “That is, some of us don’t feel like we should be splitting up, but it’s so difficult right now because there’s a murderer running around. We all keep looking at each other, wondering if one of us killed Scott.” She laughed harshly.
“Did you notice we did the balcony scene without a balcony today?” she asked. “There was no way I was climbing on anything that might have been sabotaged. We all work well together, but none of us feel like we can trust anyone else in the group right now.”
“Let’s talk about the balcony,” Bessie suggested. “Penny, when did William tell you that he was giving Sienna the Juliet part in that scene?”
“He told everyone just before the second half started,” she said.
“William, when did you tell Penny that you were giving the part to Sienna?” Bessie asked William.
“Like Penny just said,” William said with a sigh. “I told everyone about the switch just before the second half started.”
/> Bessie shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about everything I’ve heard and seen over the last week or so about you folks,” she said to the foursome. “I know you’re all actors, so you’re all very good at lying, but one thing that just about everyone agreed on was that William and Penny were devoted to each other. Oh, arguably William cheats or maybe Penny does or whatever, but the more I thought about things, the more I wondered about something.”
Bessie paused for a breath, leaving everyone staring at her for a moment.
“It seemed to me that William would have warned the woman he loved if he was about to make such a big change to the play. I think he told Penny his plans earlier, maybe even much earlier. But then I thought maybe he didn’t tell her, but maybe Penny knows her man well enough to have been able to see what was coming. Maybe, without saying a word, William did something that let her know that she wasn’t going to be Juliet that afternoon.”
William was shaking his head. “I can’t see why all of this matters,” he said in a bored tone. “But I definitely didn’t say or do anything to let Penny know my intentions. I wasn’t even sure until the last minute that I was going to change the scene. It was only after Sienna threw a last-minute tantrum, just before the show started, that I finally decided.”
“How did you know?” Bessie asked Penny softly. Penny shook her head; she had tears streaming down her face.
William looked at her and then took her hand. “You don’t have to answer that,” he told Penny.
“It’s okay,” Penny said with a sigh. “I hate living with all the lies and uncertainty. It’s time for me to confess.”
“Confess to what?” William demanded, grabbing Penny’s arm.
She turned to face him. “I pulled a bunch of nails out of the balcony rigging, hoping that it would end up really shaky and scare Sienna. I was hoping she’d quit.”
“But you didn’t know Sienna was going to do Juliet,” William said insistently.
Penny laughed hollowly. “Sometimes you’re very transparent,” she told William. “When Sienna had one of her tantrums half an hour before the show started, you told her, right in front of all of us, that you’d make sure she had a bigger part in the show. I knew the only place you could make any big changes was the balcony scene, so I knew you’d be giving her my favourite role. My heart was broken,” she said, as more tears spilled down her face.
William shook his head and then pulled her close. “My darling, darling, Penny,” he said. “You could have killed Sienna.”
Penny looked up at him. “I’d kill for you,” she said with scary intensity. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before she’d be forcing her way into more than just my favourite scene. I’d do anything to stop her getting you.”
“She wasn’t going to get me,” William said soothingly. “I’m all yours.”
“Except when you aren’t,” Penny said bitterly.
“I’m always yours,” William said insistently. “No matter what.”
“Ms. Jakubowski, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you down to the station for questioning,” John interrupted the pair.
Penny nodded, suddenly looking exhausted and several years older. “I really didn’t mean to hurt her,” she said to Bessie. “I just wanted to make the balcony feel unstable. I thought she would get up there and it would throw her off in the scene, and then William would have a reason not to use her again.”
Bessie nodded. “What about Scott?” she asked the woman.
“Scott? What do you mean?” Penny sounded confused.
Bessie shrugged. “I’ve been trying to figure out if Scott’s death was tied to Sienna’s accident in any way,” she said. “What do you think?”
“Why would I have hurt Scott?” Penny asked, still sounding puzzled.
“Someone killed him,” the inspector pointed out.
“Well, yeah, but it wasn’t me,” Penny replied.
“And yet, you just told William you would kill for him,” Bessie pointed out.
“I meant Sienna,” Penny said. “And I might have killed her if she’d stayed with the troupe and kept going after William like she was.”
“But is that feeling mutual?” Bessie asked.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” William said. “If you’re trying to suggest that I had anything to do with Scott’s death, well, that simply isn’t worth commenting on.”
Bessie looked at him and sighed. “Sienna wanted Scott alive so that he could help her. Candy needed him alive; he was her only client and worth a fortune to her. Penny was also hoping he might help her out, and you as well. That only leaves Adam and yourself as possible murderers.”
William laughed sharply. “Sorry, Adam, I think Miss Marple here is about to get you arrested.”
Bessie shrugged. “I’m sure Adam hated Scott enough to want him dead, but I’m not sure he hated him enough to kill him.”
“Well, if you’ve eliminated all of the others, it must be him, mustn’t it?” William said with a shrug. “I suppose the inspector will have to arrest him as well?”
“I think you hated Scott enough to kill him,” Bessie told William. “You thought he and Penny had an affair.”
“A minor hiccup in my relationship with Penny,” William said airily. “Sienna had an affair with him as well.”
“Maybe, but as I understand it, Sienna and Adam had something of a, um, flexible relationship,” Bessie said, wondering if the term was correct. It wasn’t something she was used to discussing, after all.
“As do Penny and I,” William said in a bored voice.
“I’m not sure that Penny would agree with that,” Bessie said. “Would you?” she asked Penny.
“No,” Penny said tearfully. “William’s had affairs, but I’ve always been faithful.”
“Except with Scott,” William said quietly. “You had an affair with Scott.”
Penny shook her head. “I didn’t, actually,” she told him. “It was all just pretend. I wanted to make you angry. I wanted to make you understand just how much it hurt me when you cheated. But you didn’t even notice. You didn’t even care.”
William gave a bitter laugh. “I didn’t care?” he asked. “I sat at home, alone, counting the minutes until you’d return, smelling of Scott’s cologne and trying to look innocent. Do you know how difficult it was for me to pretend I didn’t care?”
“No,” Penny sobbed. “Because you were very, very good at it.”
William shrugged. “I’m an actor. I played my part. If you’d known how devastated I was, it would have changed our relationship. I don’t want anything to change what we have.”
“Anyway, that was all over a long time ago,” Penny told Bessie. “It can’t have had anything to do with Scott’s death.”
“You didn’t forget, though, did you, William?” Bessie said. “And you never stopped worrying that Penny and Scott might get back together.”
William frowned. “I think now might be a good time to ask for my attorney,” he said stiffly.
Penny gasped and grabbed his hands. She held them in hers and stared into his eyes. “Is Bessie right?” she demanded. “Did you kill Scott?”
William opened his mouth, but for a moment no sound came out. Candy began to laugh quietly.
“See what you get for pretending to cheat?” she said to Penny. “You drove the man to murder.”
Penny shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said quietly.
“I would kill for you,” William said, echoing Penny’s earlier words. “And I did. As soon as I saw Scott that night I knew why he was here. He’d been calling you, keeping in touch. I knew that he was going to take you back to London with him. You’d have been crazy not to go. He could offer you everything I couldn’t.”
“But I didn’t love him,” Penny said. “I love you.”
“He would have taken you from me,” William said, his eyes filling with tears.
“No, he wouldn’t have,” Penny insisted.
Will
iam shook his head. “I knew, a year ago, that I might lose you to him. That’s when I started making plans.”
“What are you saying?” Penny asked.
“I decided to kill him,” William said in a monotone. “And then you stopped sneaking around with him, and I decided to let him live.”
Penny shook her head. “It was all pretend,” she said softly.
“But I knew it wouldn’t last,” William continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I knew he’d want you back one day. So I pretended that my knife was stolen. I thought that would give me an unbreakable alibi, you see. And I waited and I watched for him to try to get you back.”
“Mr. Baldwin, I think maybe you should just come to the station with me and we can talk there,” the inspector interrupted William’s words.
William shrugged. “Penny needs to understand,” he argued. “When I knew he was calling her, and then when he turned up here, I realised what was happening. He wanted her back and I couldn’t allow that. He had to go.” William shook his head. “It was simple really. I always kept the knife with me. It was so precious to me. That’s my biggest regret, you know, using that knife.”
Penny burst into tears. After a moment, Candy pulled her into her arms and began to pat her back. Rockwell took William’s arm and began to lead him away. After a few steps, he stopped.
“I forgot we all came together,” Rockwell said to Bessie and the others. He pulled out his phone and called the Peel station, requesting two cars be sent to the castle. Only the sounds of Penny’s sobs broke the silence while everyone waited.
As soon as the cars arrived, Rockwell handed William over to the uniformed officers from one of them. Then he turned to Penny.
“Ms. Jakubowski, I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with me,” he said.
Penny raised her head from Candy’s shoulder. “He loves me,” she said, looking at Bessie in amazement. “He loves me enough to have killed for me.”
Bessie wasn’t sure she had even felt so speechless in her life. She stared back at Penny.
“All these years, I thought he didn’t really care,” Penny said. “If only I’d known.”
Aunt Bessie Decides (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 22