Death Takes the Stage (A Rose Harbor Cozy Mystery Book 2)

by Ella White

  Death Takes the Stage

  A Rose Harbor Mystery Series Book 2

  Ella White

  Contents

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Copyright © 2016 by Ella White

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Prologue

  As the curtains rose, Tim struggled to steady his breathing. The play’s finale had come to a close, but the thrill and exhaustion of the last three weeks of rehearsal were just beginning to settle in. Looking around the lineup of his fellow actors, he could feel the tangible excitement emanating from their faces. A week from today would be opening night, and for the first time since he had begun rehearsing with this cast, he felt at peace.

  The director’s lone applause echoed through the large theatre, washing a wave of relief over the entire cast and crew. Delilah Adams was the hardest director Tim had ever worked with, and to receive her applause alone was like getting a cold drop of water in hell. Though he had worked with her in the past, they never seemed to get along as well as you would expect two theatre professionals should.

  “Good job,” she grumbled over the speakers. “Let’s call it a night. Call time is 11 a.m. tomorrow, so get home and get some rest.”

  As usual, the closing remarks of the director were followed by groupings of loud, chattering actors eagerly seeking each other’s reviews as they discussed the excitement of the play. Tim turned, only to be greeted by the usual throng of stage hands that made a point to praise his skills. Although he was grateful for them and their kind words, he didn’t feel much like talking to anyone, so he excused himself to retrieve a few costumes he had shed between scenes. By the time he had re-entered the stage, the cast had dispersed.

  Tim sauntered back to his private dressing room, which was one of the perks of being a star. All of the star actors had their own dressing rooms, while the extras shared a large room with an extended table. He stopped for a moment, wondering whether or not he had heard a noise. There wasn’t anyone around; he was sure everyone had either left or was on their way out.

  Heading to his closet, he spent five minutes organizing his costumes before he grabbed his overnight bag and headed towards the left stage exit. Just as his fingers touched the door handle, he felt the presence of someone coming up behind him. Hoping it was the director, Tim turned to find a lone figure fully clothed in black.

  “Can I help you?” he asked, feeling the impending danger he was in and hoping there was some way he could talk his way out of it.

  The figure moved closer, backing Tim against the door. Behind his back, Tim fumbled hopelessly with the door handle and watched in horror as the dark figure with gloved hands raised a steel pole into the air. In that moment, Tim knew he was not going to make it out of there alive.

  The sound of Tim’s body falling to the floor echoed throughout the theatre followed by the loud clanging of metal. A lone silhouetted figure dashed across the stage and out the back exit.

  Chapter 1

  “Mom, you’re taking forever,” Lydia groaned, as she tried to hurry her mom through the racks of costumes to the other side of the stage.

  They had been waiting outside in their little pink van for nearly half an hour before the director arrived to let them in. At this rate they would only have twenty minutes to set up, which wasn’t nearly enough time for them to get it done right. This was their first big job with the Acoustic Thespian Theatre Company since moving back to Rose Harbor, so Lydia was doing her best to make sure it was off the charts. They had three large flower arrangements to set up, but due to the size of their minivan, they had no space to carry such large pieces, so they had agreed to do the bases at the store and the rest on site.

  “Nonsense. How often does an old woman get to see what happens behind the scenes of one of her favorite plays of all time?” her mother answered, continuing to poke through several racks of costumes as Lydia watched on hopelessly.

  Lydia’s mother had short brown hair just like hers but with a few wisps of grey streaks. In fact, most of her features were similar to her mother’s, right down to the blue in her eyes. The specks of grey came from her father, a soldier who never made it home from the war. Lydia had never mourned the absence of her father, but that is mostly because she had never wanted for one. Her mother had remarried, and her husband had made the perfect father.

  “You know, I went to see the opening of this play when you were just a girl.”

  “Yeah, you’ve told me that a million times already today, and it’s just 9 a.m.,” Lydia sighed, adjusting her flower-filled travel bag on her shoulder.

  Barbara ignored her daughter. She may have been young enough to discredit the past, but Barbara was just happy she was still able to remember anything.

  “You could have worn something other than those jeans and that button down,” suggested Barbara in her usual chastising tone. “You’re going to meet some really handsome actors here today. Maybe even some possible marriage prospects.”

  Lydia shook her head and tried to ignore her mother’s comments.

  The director, who had been leading the duo backstage, came to a stop in front of a row of tables where they were expected to set up their arrangements for the rehearsal.

  “You guys can use the table over there just beyond that set of racks to set up. If you need any help, just call. I’ll be in my office right over there.”

  Lydia watched where Delilah pointed, confident that she could find her way through the mess to her office, if need be.

  “That’s all right. See you in a few,” Barbara beamed, stretching her hand out to the director. The director looked skeptically at her mother’s outstretched hand for a minute before shaking it. The women both watched as she walked away.

  “Why are you fan-girling over here, Mom?” Lydia teased.

  “An old woman can live, can’t she?” Barbara replied.

  Lydia grabbed her bag and began setting up her tools on the table. She had to make a few more trips to the car to get the flowers and other necessities.

  “I think it’s wonderful they’re reinventing this play after so many years. Think of the publicity, not to mention the fact that people from all over the world will come to see it. Maybe one of these young men will fall in love with your arrangements and marry you,” Barbara exclaimed.

  Lydia let out an audible sigh.

  “You have the strangest super power, Mom. You can change any topic into a conversation about marriage.”

  Barbara’s laugh echoed through the theatre, but quickly came to an abrupt stop.

  “I think I see someone laying on the floor over there,” Barbara said as she walked towards what she assumed was an actor playing around. From what they had been told, there would be no actors in the theatre while they were there, so it was a bit of a surprise to see one lying on the ground.

  “There are no actors here, Mom,” Lydia said from behind her. “There won’t be any for a few hours, remember?”

  “Well, you better come on over here then, because this does not look like a mannequin,” countered Barbara.

  Lydia walked over to where her mother stood and was instantly taken ab
ack.

  “Oh my,” she gasped. “I think this man must have fallen.”

  Barbara rushed over to where Tim’s body lay lifeless on the ground. She stopped short when she realized his head was lying in a pool of blood.

  “I doubt there’s much we can do,” Barbara whispered sadly. “This man’s skull looks to have been bashed in.”

  Lydia walked past her mother, sidestepping the puddle of blood that had pooled around the man’s head, and gently shrugged his shoulder. His body felt rigid, and she knew without a doubt he was dead. She grabbed a hold of his wrist, but felt no pulse. Standing up, she walked back to her mother. Aside from the shock and displeasure of coming across such a scene, Lydia also felt a bit excited. She had witnessed a dead body in person as well as a possible crime scene she could investigate.

  “Mom, I think you should go and get the director and tell her we found a dead man on her set.”

  “Oh dear. That’s the worst omen for a good play. They say break a leg, but who would have thought someone might break their neck in the process?”

  In the process of looking around to see if she could find anything else to identify the body, Lydia’s foot clanged against something hard and metallic. She reached down to pick it up and stopped short when she realized it was covered in blood.

  “You said something about a dead body?” Delilah asked, coming up to the scene with Barbara in tow.

  ‘”Yes,” Lydia replied, wondering why the director looked so unaffected after hearing there was a dead body on the ground.

  “Oh, it may just be some props,” Delilah sighed, obviously annoyed that she had been interrupted.

  “Um, the body is right over there,” Lydia said, pointing to Tim’s lifeless body.

  Lydia watched carefully as the director walked over to the dead man’s body and stooped down.

  “Oh my gosh!” she screamed. “This isn’t just some body. This is my star actor!”

  Chapter 2

  Lydia watched as the theatre became overrun by local police officers. She had been canvasing the area for a few minutes before they rushed in with their guns drawn. She stood talking with Delilah, while her mother did everything she could to avoid looking at the dead body.

  “So you say you had a fight yesterday?” Lydia asked Delilah, who was gripping a small cup of coffee as if it was her only anchor to this world.

  “Oh, yes,” she answered, shaking her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I… I had called him into my office to talk about his behavior on the set. He was a brilliant actor, my God, but he was so stubborn and impossible to fix.”

  Lydia noted that Delilah’s fists were balled up at her side, but she also noted the remorse in her voice. She genuinely believed the woman had nothing to do with the murder. Even so, she kept in mind the fact that this woman was the director of a world class theatre agency, so she could just as well be pretending to be sorry.

  “I believe you,” Lydia reassured Delilah before moving on so the officers could talk to her.

  She stood amid the officers outlining clues and instructing them on the best ways to preserve the scene. So far, all they had found were the body and the murder weapon. There was no clue of who might have done it or who else could have possibly been at the scene of the crime.

  As she walked the length of the stage, she tried to put herself in Tim’s shoes during the last minutes of his life. From what the director had told her, he had gone backstage immediately after the curtains went up. His dressing room was currently being canvassed, but by the looks of it, Tim had kept it neat and tidy the entire time he had been there. There was nothing out of place and no fingerprints but his. At this point, she had a clear idea of who Tim was. According to the director, he was a superb actor, but not a very good person to work with.

  The police had taken statements from all three women. They were keeping an eye on the director, but they had no concrete evidence that could lead to any suspects in particular. The only thing everyone was sure about was that Tim had been murdered.

  “All right, boys. Time to pack this up and head on down to the station.”

  Lydia turned to find herself facing Chief Wyatt. She tried to conceal herself from him, but as usual he spied her out.

  “I hope you’re not here to start any trouble again Lydia,” he said.

  Wyatt was as old as time. She remembered knowing him as an officer as a child, which made her very surprised that he was still serving in the force. He was fully grey, and she was pretty sure he was half blind. She remembered running around petty crime scenes as a child before he would chase her off and threaten to tell her parents.

  “I never create trouble,” she said sheepishly.

  An hour later she stood at the main exit of the theatre loading her van. The rehearsals would have to go on, and as such, she had done her best to create beautiful pieces in the short space of time she was given.

  Just beyond the police barricade, Lydia spotted her friend Gwen. Gwen had been her best friend from childhood. Unlike her, Gwen had always had platinum blonde hair with golden streaks all over and contrasting green eyes. Over the years she had grown to realize that not only were their looks almost total opposites, but so were their personalities. Nevertheless, Gwen was always like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. She always tried to look for the good in everyone, while Lydia always tried to uncover the dark secrets. Growing up, everyone always commented on how different they were – some even called them “yin and yang”. When Gwen had left to go to university, they almost lost touch, but coming back to Rose Harbor after those few years brought them even closer than before. Gwen had changed after becoming a reporter. While she still thought everyone had some good in them, she had been exposed to a world where investigations were the only way to prove the good or expose the bad. Lydia walked over to where Gwen stood, noting her suspicious expression.

  “I should have known that you might be involved in the biggest murder scandal this town has ever seen,” Gwen joked, holding out her phone so Lydia could read the headline of an online article: Local florist unearthing dead bodies.

  Lydia laughed. News traveled fast in a small town.

  “It’s mere coincidence,” Lydia insisted, while moving away from the crowd so she could talk to Gwen alone.

  “Well, what happened?” Gwen asked in hushed tones.

  Lydia felt Gwen’s reporter instincts kicking in, so she did her best to give an unbiased report of everything she saw.

  “Wow! That’s crazy,” Gwen exclaimed, when Lydia finished talking. “You got all this from looking at a dead body and snooping around cops?”

  “Well, yeah. It was easy enough because I found the body, but the cops really didn’t hold anything back while we were around.”

  “Do you have any idea who they want for this?”

  “No idea,” Lydia replied, feeling a sense of excitement course through her veins. There was nothing like a ‘whodunit’ case. “I was hoping that you’ll update me when the cops finally release their suspects. For now I only have the director in mind, since she was the only one here when we came, and it’s hard to believe she wouldn’t notice a dead body lying on the floor. Not to mention the fact that the two of them had been fighting consistently throughout the rehearsals.”

  “Well,” Gwen said, “I will tell you as soon as I have any information on the suspects so you can get them checked out.”

  “Thanks. That would be awesome. I think we might have ourselves a nice little case to work on.”

  Lydia walked back to the van where her mother sat anxiously waiting to leave.

  “Back to the shop?” Barbara asked incredulously, knowing full well that Lydia was about to run off hunting killers.

  “Yes, back to the shop,” Lydia replied, ignoring her mother’s tone.

  Ever since she was a child, Lydia had been a sleuth. She had done her best to grow out of it, but nothing she tried worked. She had gone off to college to study business in hopes of ridding herself of the thir
st for mystery, but instead she ended up doing a double major in forensic science, which turned out to be much more satisfying than she had ever imagined.

  When she got back to the flower shop, she immediately locked herself in her office and turned to the blackboard she had installed for times like these. She took the cast list she had gotten from the director and began researching each member. They all seemed to be a haphazardly grouped bunch except for Tim Maddow and Jason Smyth, who had worked together on at least three plays before. She tracked down as much information on the two of them as far back as she possibly could. The two, it seemed, were in constant role rivalry. In the productions they both worked on, they had played each other’s understudies consecutively. Looking closely at their pictures, Lydia realized they both could have passed for brothers.

  Tim and Jason both shared jet black hair and chiseled cheekbones. They had similar facial features, but the only large distinguisher was their eye color. Jason had dark brown eyes, while Tim’s eyes were a light grey. If you didn’t know them separately, you would think they were the same person. Otherwise, they both had had competitive roles throughout their careers. Lydia listed him as her primary suspect as well as the director. She couldn’t quite give up on that angle yet without more research. She also listed a few other actors who were known to be the last ones leaving the set. This was just for pooling purposes. She was sure the list would be lessened once alibis came in.

  “Lydia! You need to come out that office,” Barbara shouted from the within the store front. Lydia ignored her mother as usual, but when she checked the time, she realized she had been in her office more than four hours just staring at her computer screen and the backboard. That was what she called a good day’s work. She looked proudly at the assortment of facts and faces she had pinned up and began analyzing. Five minutes later her door was thrown open by her mother.