Hyde (Dark Musicals Trilogy)

by Laura DeLuca

  Rebecca choked back a sob and glanced away. The sight of the chef’s body froze her so completely that once again Fernando had a hard time getting her to move forward. In the distance, she could hear the whispered chorus of Murder still resonating, as though this were only part of the stage act and not her very real life falling to pieces yet again. As the panic overwhelmed her, Rebecca shut her eyes to block the whole terrible scene from view.

  “Rebecca,” Fernando urged, “we have to get out of here! I have no idea if the kil—”

  Rebecca didn’t see what happened, but Fernando’s words were cut short by what sounded like the ringing of a gong. Instantly, Fernando’s grip on her arm loosened as he slumped over. Rebecca didn’t have to open her eyes to know he’d hit the ground. She heard the thump when Fernando’s body smacked against the linoleum. Instead of being happy to have escaped her employer, Rebecca felt an entirely new panic. She was unsure of whether she was going to greet her savior or someone even more crazed than Fernando, but she knew she couldn’t wait another moment to find out. Rebecca forced herself to open her eyes and face the newcomer. Relief flooded through her when she saw who was standing there. Rebecca breathed a sigh of gratitude.

  “Oh, Victoria, it’s only you!”

  The Latina stood in front of her, a frying pan still raised high above her head, as though she were worried Fernando would get up and attack them at any moment. She nudged him a few times with her toe but received no response. Only when Victoria was certain Fernando wasn’t going to get up off the ground did she finally acknowledge Rebecca.

  “Oh my God, Becca, are you okay?” There was a clatter as the frying pan hit the floor and with tears streaming down her cheeks, Victoria ran to Rebecca’s side and embraced her. “Did that bastardo hurt you?”

  “N-no.” Rebecca stammered. “Victoria, what … what is going on? We have to call the police! I have to find Justyn!”

  Rebecca pulled away from Victoria’s stranglehold and at least tried to act rationally. She ran to the business phone on the wall, but when she lifted the receiver, there was no dial tone. Of course, her own cell was back in the dining room in her discarded handbag. She cursed as she slammed the phone back onto the charger. Rebecca knew she was on the verge of hysteria, even though she hadn’t quite started screaming, and Victoria wasn’t in much better condition. Considering there were now possibly two bodies in the room with them, it was an understandable emotion.

  “The police are on their way,” Victoria assured her. “I called as soon as I saw poor Joe. The lines are down in the building, but I got through on my cell a few minutes ago.”

  “What about Justyn?” Rebecca demanded, her voice rising in pitch as her panic escalated. “Have you seen Justyn? I have to find him!”

  “He went into the cellar with Fernando,” Victoria revealed, her voice trembling. “But only Fernando came back out. When I saw him with you, I just lost it. I had to stop him before he hurt you too.”

  Hurt her too. Rebecca’s legs almost gave out on her at what that simple statement insinuated. Her head started to swim. She glanced down at Fernando. His head was bleeding, but he was still breathing steadily. He wasn’t dead, but he also didn’t seem very threatening anymore. Even in his frenzy, he had only acted concerned with getting her to safety. Was it all a performance? Could Fernando have harmed Justyn? Was her husband lying somewhere in a pool of blood just like the poor chef with the bloody sneakers?

  “But why?” Rebecca asked. “Why would Fernando do this?”

  “Don’t you get it?” Victoria sounded almost annoyed she had to explain. “It was Fernando all along. Albert was working for him—not only as his chef, but as his dealer. Fernando is the one who framed Justyn, who killed Al. It was all Fernando!”

  Rebecca shook her head. “No. No, he can’t be. I…”

  Victoria huffed at her obstinacy, but it was a little too much for Rebecca’s pregnant stomach to handle. She barely managed to lurch over to the sink before the little she had managed to eat that day came back for an encore. She held on to the edge of the counter to support her weight and shut her eyes for a minute. That didn’t shut out the horror of what Rebecca had discovered. Fernando was a family friend. Someone they had trusted explicitly. How could he do something so horrible? It was like Debbie all over again. But Rebecca hadn’t given up the day Debbie held her at gunpoint. She had fought with all her strength when Livy was trying to shove those pills down her throat. She certainly wasn’t going to give up without a fight this time either. When Rebecca finally opened her eyes again, she saw her own pale reflection staring back at her from the shiny chrome, and the terror-stricken image sickened her in a completely different way.

  What are you doing? Rebecca chastised herself. Your husband needs you.

  The thought gave Rebecca the jolt of adrenaline she required to start taking action. The cops might be on their way, but she wasn’t going to wait around for them. They had already let her down once, and Rebecca had no intention of ending up like Emma. She wasn’t going to cradle her husband’s body in her arms on their wedding day. She would find Justyn and make sure he was all right. Rebecca wiped her mouth on her arm and ignoring the taste of bile that still lingered, she turned to Victoria.

  “Come on,” she ordered. “Let’s go get Justyn.”

  Victoria glanced down at her discarded frying pan as though considering whether or not to retrieve it. Instead, she reached across the counter for the chopping knife lying beside the batch of blood-splattered vegetables poor Joe must have been slicing for salads.

  “Just in case,” Victoria whispered, clasping the handle of the blade firmly in her hand. “And stay behind me. We don’t want nothin’ happening to that baby.”

  Rebecca was in too much of a hurry to argue. The two girls left the kitchen and slunk as quietly as possible down the corridor. Fernando might have been temporarily out of commission, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have some other lackey like Albert waiting in the shadows to back him up. After all, hadn’t Steve been lurking around? Rebecca hadn’t seen a gun on her boss and that only made her worry even more that there was another—

  “—killer on the loose.

  Muuuurderrr!”

  The sound of the music finally started to drown out as Victoria and Rebecca crept into the bowels of the old building. When they reached the wooden steps leading to the wine cellar, Victoria gasped and pointed to the ground. All around their feet, there were drops of what resembled fresh blood. Some of it had even splashed against Rebecca’s white satin pumps when she took a step. She had to fight the urge to heave again. What if it was Justyn’s blood?

  “Dios te salve, María,” Victoria muttered a prayer in Spanish under her breath and crossed herself. “Virgin Mother, help us.”

  If Victoria had any intention of turning back at that point, Rebecca didn’t give her the opportunity. Fear for Justyn’s safety overwhelmed all common sense. She pushed past Victoria and ran down the dark cellar steps, ignoring the damp cold that suddenly surrounded her. She reached above her head for the pull switch she remembered from that first tour with Fernando and found it almost instantly. After a yank on the string, the room flooded with light.

  “Oh, Justyn,” Rebecca whispered.

  When Rebecca saw her husband, she gasped. Though she was frozen to the steps, one hand flew to her mouth while the other clutched the bannister so tightly her knuckles turned white. Behind her, Victoria had stopped praying, but Rebecca was sending up a dozen prayers to the Goddess that somehow she would find a way to save the man she loved.

  Justyn was unconscious, his body propped up precariously against one of the shelves lined with wine decanters. The cause of his condition was obvious. There were shards of glass left behind from a broken bottle and a puddle of dark red liquid formed a pool on the cement floor. Justyn’s pale skin was drenched with a mixture of blood and wine. The two mingled until it was hard to tell one from the other, but there was no doubt that the blood originated from the
gaping wound on his forehead.

  Seeing Justyn wounded was almost more than Rebecca could bear, and yet it wasn’t the most disturbing part of the scene. The thing that stilled Rebecca’s heart, the thing that left her paralyzed on the stairwell, was the man kneeling beside her husband’s limp body. His face was hidden behind a top hat and fur cloak, both props Justyn usually adorned for his role of Hyde. At first, despite the odd wardrobe, Rebecca hoped perhaps the individual had come to Justyn’s aid. But the thought was quickly shattered when she noticed the hypodermic syringe clutched in the wrinkled hand, making the stranger look like Dr. Jekyll’s alter ego. Rebecca cringed as the man studied the needle and lifted his croaking voice in song.

  “Each man that you meet has not one face but two.

  Let no one tell you this fact is not entirely true.

  It’s called a façade, and the reason is clear.

  That darkness inside is what all of us fear.”

  Only when the last ear-piercing note faded did the man finally lift his face into the light. Ever dramatic, ever the artist, this older gentleman couldn’t help but make his reveal a moment to be remembered, even if he was the only one left to recall it once everything was all said and done. Rebecca gasped when she saw the face of the real Hyde who had been lurking among them. No longer was it the façade of the sweet, fatherly old man Rebecca had grown so fond of. Now she saw only a cold and calculating murderer.

  “Hello, my dear,” Robert whispered. “So happy you could join us.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Rebecca froze in the doorway at the bottom of the steps. Her heart pounded like a sledgehammer. Her hands were so sweaty they almost slipped from the railing she clung to. Justyn lay strangely still beside Robert, and terror gripped Rebecca’s heart. Though she saw no gaping bullet wounds, she still couldn’t be sure her husband was breathing. The awful cut along his forehead oozed blood down his face, over his closed eyelids, but there was no fluttering in response.

  As terrifying as it was, Rebecca knew she had to find the strength to move forward. Obviously, no help was coming from Justyn. This was all up to her and Victoria. The thought gave her a small burst of courage. Two strong women against one old man had to be pretty good odds, even if one of them was pregnant. Aside from the needle he was clutching, Robert didn’t appear to be armed. If he had the gun used to kill Joe, he probably would have brandished it already. Maybe Fernando had the weapon after all. Rebecca wished she had searched her boss before leaving him back in the kitchen, but it was too late to second guess herself. Luckily, Victoria had the presence of mind to grab the butcher knife. That provided them with at least a small advantage, and it wasn’t the only one.

  “Let Justyn go, Robert,” Rebecca demanded. “You’re never going to get away with this. The police are already on their way.”

  Robert threw back his head and guffawed. “Oh, my dear, I have already gotten away with it. And believe me when I tell you the police will be of no use to you now.”

  Rebecca ignored the snide comments. Distracting him long enough to get Justyn away from him was her primary concern. She had to save her husband before Robert decided to attack. Rebecca had dealt with guns and razor blades and came out unscathed. A little needle wasn’t nearly as intimidating—unless of course Robert was hiding the revolver or some other weapon under the large fur coat. Just in case he had some secret armory, Rebecca didn’t plan to approach him empty-handed. Never taking her eyes off Justyn, she gestured to Victoria. If the Latina wasn’t going to use the only weapon they had, Rebecca had to take control of it.

  “Victoria, give me the knife,” Rebecca ordered.

  When there was no response and she didn’t feel the hilt of the blade being thrust into her palm, Rebecca finally turned to face Victoria, who still lurked at the edge of the doorway, acting as though she was tempted to run back up the steps and flee. Rebecca assumed her silence was due the fact that she was too shocked or frightened to speak. Rebecca understood that type of paralyzing fear, but she also knew they didn’t have time for it. However, when she met Victoria’s gaze, there was no shock in her eyes. No panic either. There was only a deep-rooted sadness. Victoria refused to meet Rebecca’s curious gaze. She shook her head and slipped the knife behind her back, out of Rebecca’s reach.

  “I’m so sorry, Becca,” she whispered. “I didn’t wanna help him, but they have Elliot! They have my son.”

  Rebecca gasped. “Oh my God. You’re a part of his too, Victoria. You, Robert, and Fernando?”

  “Fernando?” Robert laughed again—a hard belly laugh that actually made the wine bottles behind him rattle. “Is that what you think, you silly girl? That rightwing fool has never even had a parking ticket. Do you honestly believe he would be smart enough to kingpin one of the largest drug rings to ever hit this prissy little town?”

  Rebecca felt the earth move along with the tremors that shook her body. She was such an idiot. She had allowed Victoria to lead her into a trap. Obviously the claim that the police were on their way had been part of the ploy. There was no help coming. Even worse, poor Fernando really had been trying to save her when Victoria attacked him. The two cast mates she trusted the most had ganged up on her and tried to destroy everything she and Justyn had worked for. Now, Fernando could be dead, Robert had Justyn at the mercy of his mystery needle, and Victoria was armed with a butcher knife, blocking her only exit.

  Rebecca considered trying to take down Victoria on her own, but she quickly dismissed the plan. Even if she managed to overpower the Latina without being struck down by the knife, Rebecca would be leaving Justyn at the mercy of a self-proclaimed drug lord. Robert might not have a gun, but Rebecca was certain whatever was in that needle would finish the job he’d already started on Justyn. Feeling trapped and desperate, Rebecca could only turn imploring eyes on Victoria.

  “Victoria, please,” Rebecca pleaded. “I know you don’t want to do this.”

  Victoria swallowed hard. “Ahh, Becca, I—”

  “Don’t look to her for help, my dear,” Robert interrupted, his tone condescending. “Victoria has been part of my plan all along. She’s my little go-to girl. I couldn’t have pulled off any of this without her. Why, no one even considered for a moment it was Victoria who planted those drugs in Justyn’s car. Lucky for me, she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty either. Whether it’s sabotaging a taillight or drilling a hole in a gas tank, she had me covered. Which reminds me—I wouldn’t expect your little friends to be riding to the rescue anytime soon. Their car probably ran out of fuel halfway down the parkway.”

  So that’s what happened to Tom and Carmen. Rebecca wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or angry. She was glad her friends were safe, but would anyone else find them in time? Fernando was out of commission, and the unsuspecting guests wouldn’t be arriving for at least another hour. That was more than enough time for Robert to finish …whatever he was planning. Maybe it really was going to be the end for her and Justyn. Maybe they had pushed their happily-ever-after a little too far.

  “Oh, don’t look so surprised, my dear.” Robert scoffed. “Like they say in Hyde, everyone has two faces. Everyone wears a mask. It’s no different for Victoria. She was pretending to be your friend because she was working for me. It wasn’t anything personal.”

  If Robert was trying to distract Rebecca by forcing her to turn her fury on Victoria instead of him, it was working. Rebecca spun on the Latina with angry tears in her eyes. “How could you?” Rebecca demanded. “I tried to help you when Albert was hurting you. Justyn’s mom even found you a job! How could you betray us like this?”

  “I’m so sorry.” Victoria was sobbing, but Rebecca felt no pity for her former friend or her pleas for sympathy. “Don’t you see I didn’t have no choice? Sayin’ no to a guy like Robert—it just ain’t an option. But I really thought it would all be over after the arrest. I thought Justyn’s fancy lawyer would get him outta trouble. I never expected things to go this far. No one was supposed to get h
urt.”

  “Tsk, Tsk.” Robert shook his head. “You aren’t going soft on me now, are you, Tori?”

  “Screw you, Robert!” Victoria waved her knife in his direction. “I never wanted no parts of this, and you know it!”

  “You wanted your freedom no matter what the cost!” Robert pointed an accusing finger, showing the first signs of annoyance Rebecca had ever seen the older man display. “That’s what you told me when we made our little deal. I’ve held up my end of the bargain. You received your freedom in more ways than you imagined. You should be thanking me instead of whining. Now bring her over here.”

  “I just wanted a new start—a chance to stop dancing and get away from here,” Victoria insisted, though she still followed his instructions and nudged Rebecca toward the center of the room. The blade of the knife was dangerously close to her waist. “I never wanted nobody to get hurt. Not even Al deserved what you did to him. The money—it ain’t worth all this!”

  So Victoria had sold them out for cash. As furious as that made her, Rebecca tried to stay calm. Her eyes darted back and forth between her two adversaries. Obviously there was some tension between them. Rebecca wondered if she could use that to her advantage. It had worked well enough with Livy and Professor Carter. The only problem was that this time Rebecca wasn’t dealing with someone who was insane and easily distracted. There was no hint of madness in Robert’s eyes. This was all business for him. Rebecca wasn’t sure which scenario was scarier—a madman with nothing to lose or a drug dealer whose industry was hanging in the balance.

  “Why?” Rebecca asked suddenly, hoping if she got him to talk, it would buy her some time. “Why did you do this, Robert? What was the point in framing Justyn? What possible advantage could it have given you?”