“We’ll need some reaction from townspeople for the piece,” said Annabelle as they walked out of the Warrenstown Inn. “Why don’t we go to the memorial service for those kids? We can get general shots of the population in mourning and grab a few interviews.”
“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Caroline. “I told Meg I would look over her speech.”
Annabelle didn’t say anything, but Caroline got the feeling the producer didn’t appreciate the thought of her being distracted from the task at hand.
“It won’t take long,” she said. “I promise. I’ll meet you at the theater at two o’clock.”
“Thanks for coming, Caroline.” Meg’s face brightened as she opened the door of her dorm room.
“I said I would, didn’t I?”
“I know you did, but I still wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it.”
“How’re you doing on your speech?” Caroline asked.
“Better than I thought I would,” said Meg. “But it’s a pain having to write in longhand. I hope I’ll be able to read my own writing.”
“Want me to take a look?” asked Caroline.
“Better yet, why don’t I read it to you?”
Caroline pushed the button on the timer portion of her watch and listened for the next six minutes as Meg talked about Amy and how their friendship had developed over their weeks as apprentices. She explained the bond the two had instantly felt when they learned they’d each lost their mothers. She listed Amy’s qualities and talents, and spoke of Amy’s happiness over her budding relationship with Tommy. She described the pleasure of receiving the e-mails from Amy that documented the fun the young couple had had on the last day of their lives.
“Except for one that wasn’t worth using, I’ve had all the e-mail photos printed on leaflets that will be distributed at the memorial service,” explained Meg. “Everyone will be able to see what Amy and Tommy were doing right before they died.”
“All right, Meg. Good luck and relax. I know you’ll do a wonderful job.” Impulsively, Caroline leaned over to kiss her stepdaughter on the cheek. To her surprise, Meg didn’t pull away.
“What are you going to do about your computer?” asked Caroline.
“Well, it was a couple of years old, and I was going to ask Dad for a new laptop for my birthday anyway. Until then, I can use the ones in the computer lab when I go back to school in the fall,” said Meg as she picked up some pages from her desk. “But I wish I’d been printing out my journal entries all along. It’s going to be a big pain trying to re-create those so I can get credit for this apprenticeship.”
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There wasn’t an empty seat in the theater, and people stood crowded at the rear and a third of the way down the side aisles. All of the Warrenstown Summer Playhouse community and many of the local citizenry came to pay their respects to the deceased apprentices. Each mourner had received a leaflet printed with photographs of Amy and Tommy.
The killer had a seat toward the back and watched as, one by one, people came to the podium to deliver their memories of the young couple. When Meg McGregor began to talk, the killer stiffened, knowing what was going to have to be done when the memorial service was over.
C H A P T E R
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As people filed into the theater, Meg spotted Caroline with the KEY News crew. She went over to her stepmother and held out her tote bag. “Would you mind holding this for me, Caroline, until after the service?”
But after the memorial, Caroline and her colleagues stationed themselves in a corner of the lobby. Lamar and Boomer recorded B-roll of the mourners and the interviews that Caroline was able to conduct with people willing to talk about Belinda Winthrop’s disappearance. Most had heard nothing about Remington Peters’s arrest for marijuana possession and were shocked at the news.
Spotting Keith, Langley, and Victoria talking near the doors, Caroline approached. The director, actress, and playwright all seemed tense.
“It was a moving service, didn’t you think?” asked Caroline.
“Yes,” said Victoria. “I thought Meg, in particular, did a lovely job.”
“That’s nice of you to say, Victoria,” said Caroline. “Meg has been very upset about all this.”
“That’s understandable,” Langley interjected. “I used to see Meg and Amy hanging out together all the time.”
“Let’s hope we don’t find ourselves having to plan a memorial service for Belinda,” said Keith. “Victoria just told me that the police came to her with a shoe found in the woods. Victoria identified it as Belinda’s. Has anybody heard what’s going on with Remington, by the way?”
Caroline nodded. “He’s been released on bail. Actually, I’m hoping one of you can help me. We’re working on a story for tonight’s Evening Headlines. We checked with the audiovisual department to get a copy of the tape of the opening night performance of Devil in the Details and were told that they can’t find the only copy they made.”
“That’s because I have it,” said Victoria. “I wanted to look at it, but I’d be glad to hand it over to you—or better yet, I should give it back to the AV department to make some copies.”
“That’s wonderful,” said Caroline. “But we don’t really have the time right now to make a copy. Could I have the original? You have my word. I’ll deliver it myself to the audiovisual department when we’re through so they can make the appropriate copies.”
“Fine,” said Victoria. “The tape is out at Curtains Up.”
“Great,” said Caroline. “We wanted to come out there anyway, to record a stand-up. If that’s all right with you.”
“I suppose I don’t have a problem with that,” said Victoria. She turned to look at the director. “Right, Keith? Any publicity is good for the play.”
Keith didn’t answer.
Caroline turned to Langley. “Yesterday, I said we would like to interview you, Langley. Would you still be willing?” “Sure I would. When?”
“We have to feed in all our material to New York at about five-thirty. So it would definitely have to be before that. In fact, the sooner the better.”
“I have a couple things I have to take care of right now,” said Langley. “How ’bout we meet in my dressing room at around four o’clock?”
As they followed Victoria to Curtains Up, Caroline roughed out a script. She wasn’t sure exactly what sound bites she would be using, but she had a general idea of the types of things she would be choosing from her interview subjects’ comments. She left spaces in the script for sound from Langley Tate, representing the theater world, two of the mourners to give public reaction to everything that had been happening, and a spot for some sort of reaction from a law enforcement official or perhaps Remington’s attorney if they could get that. New York had told Annabelle they were allotting two minutes for the story, a generous amount of time as Evening Headlines pieces went.
When they got to Belinda’s estate, Victoria had already run inside the farmhouse and retrieved the videotape. She handed it to Caroline through the car’s open window.
“All set then?” Victoria asked.
“Yes, this is great,” said Caroline. “Thank you. Now, if we can just shoot that stand-up?”
“Sure, go ahead,” said Victoria. “But you won’t mind if I don’t hang around, will you?”
“No, of course not,” said Caroline. “We’ll be fine.”
“More than fine,” said Annabelle as they watched Victoria get back into her car and drive away. “I prefer not having anyone breathing down our necks while we work.”
“Holy crap,” said Boomer. “Is that Remington Peters?”
All four sets of eyes looked in the direction of the carriage house.
“Yep. That’s him all right,” said Annabelle. “Hurry, Lamar, get some pictures.”
The cameraman hadn’t waited for the command. He was already recording images of Remington standing in his doorway.
“I’m going to see if he’
ll talk,” said Caroline, starting up the hill.
“I’m not supposed to talk to you or anybody else,” said Remington.
“Is that what your lawyer told you?” asked Caroline.
Remington nodded.
“I can understand that,” said Caroline. “But I want you to know that KEY News is doing a story about you tonight on the Evening Headlines. You might want to give your version of things.”
“I don’t watch television.”
“Millions of other people do.”
“I’ve long given up caring what other people think,” said Remington in a low voice.
“Even if they think that you’re responsible for Belinda’s disappearance?”
The artist glared at Caroline. After a few moments of consideration, he made a decision. “All right. Have your cameraman come over here.”
Annabelle suggested they go inside the carriage house to conduct the interview, but Remington nixed that idea. “It’s outside or nothing,” he said. “I don’t want people seeing my personal space. It’s none of their business.”
The newspeople agreed, both because they had no other choice and because they didn’t want to risk having Remington change his mind about giving an interview at all. Lamar suggested a spot off to the side of the property, next to a pretty maple tree. Boomer wired Remington with a microphone while Lamar framed his shot.
Caroline began. “First of all, what do you say to the fact that the police found boxes of marijuana in your cellar?”
“I certainly had nothing to do with it.”
“You have to admit it doesn’t look good,” said Caroline.
“Haven’t you ever heard appearances can be deceiving?”
Caroline answered with another question. “Do you have any speculation about how the marijuana got there?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen things at night, things falling from the sky,” said Remington. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”
Caroline glanced at Annabelle. The producer rolled her eyes.
“What kinds of things?” asked Caroline.
“Boxes.”
“Do you think they were the boxes the police found?”
“They could be.”
“So these boxes fell from the sky and ended up in your cellar?”
“Someone had to put them there. I didn’t,” said Remington with decisiveness. “Now that’s all I have to say on the matter.”
Caroline switched subjects. “What about Belinda Winthrop’s disappearance?”
“What about it?”
“Do you have any idea what happened to her?”
Remington’s eyes began to water. “I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Belinda in it.”
“That doesn’t really answer the question,” said Caroline.
“No, I don’t have any idea what has happened to Belinda,” said Remington as he began to take off his microphone.
Caroline hurried with her final questions. “What about the new portrait of Belinda Winthrop you’re working on? How is that coming?”
“It’s incomplete.”
“Do you think it will ultimately be a tribute to Belinda? Will it express your feelings about her?”
“My portraits of Belinda are meant to capture her in her roles in Warrenstown each summer, so in that respect, I suppose you could say they’re almost historical,” said Remington. “And of course, an artist’s feelings for his subject influence his work.”
Caroline felt uncomfortable, knowing she had video of Remington’s disturbing painting of Belinda as Valerie and planned on using it with his last statement in the piece tonight. It wasn’t going to make him look good.
But what exactly did Remington’s troubling rendition mean?
“Eureka!” exclaimed Annabelle. “We have an exclusive with our perp.”
“Alleged perpetrator,” said Caroline. “And, at this point, Remington is only allegedly connected with the marijuana in his cellar.”
“All right, alleged,” said Annabelle. “But whatever you call him, the Evening Headlines producers will be thrilled.”
“And Linus is going to be royally ticked off,” said Caroline.
“Don’t remind me.” Annabelle glanced at her watch. “Come on. We better get going and record that stand-up. We still have to interview Langley. Why don’t you and Lamar and Boomer do that, while I go back to the truck and have the operator bulk-feed the rest of your video to New York so they can get this thing edited in time?”
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After the memorial service, Meg accepted compliments from several people who were moved, they said, by her words. A group of apprentices approached her, too, and asked if she wanted to go out with them for a beer.
It was the first time any of her Playhouse peer group had sought her out. Instead of begging off and going back to her room, as she instinctively wanted to, Meg forced herself to accept their invitation. If she wanted to have a better social life, she knew she had to make an effort.
She left the theater, forgetting all about the tote she’d given Caroline to hold.
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This was another type of noise, thought Belinda as she strained to listen in the darkness. It wasn’t the low growling she’d heard just before she’d so mercifully blacked out. This was a scratching sound coming from above.
The sound was repetitive and persistent. Belinda tried to imagine what it could be. The only thing that came to mind was the image of a dog digging a hole to bury a bone.
She called out, and the scratching sound stopped, only to resume a few minutes later. If it had been a human being up there, a voice would have called back. That meant it was an animal, desperate to get in.
Tears of hopelessness and utter fright trickled from the corners of Belinda’s eyes. She was buried alive, and nobody was going to find her. A wild animal was trying to get at her. Belinda groaned as she weighed which way would be better to die.
Belowground, she prayed as the female bobcat above tried to claw her way down to her cubs.
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Caroline hoped that Meg would be in the dressing room with Langley Tate when she arrived to interview Belinda’s understudy, but she wasn’t. Ever aware of the ticking clock, as soon as the crew signaled they were ready to record, Caroline got right to her questions.
“How are you feeling about filling in for Belinda Winthrop again tonight?”
“Of course, I would never want to get a role this way. These are difficult times, and I’m trying to do justice to Belinda and the role of Valerie.”
“When was the last time you saw Belinda, and how did she seem?”
“The last time I saw her was at the cast party at Curtains Up on opening night.” Langley shook her blond head with disbelief. “My, that was less than forty-eight hours ago. It seems like an eternity. Anyway, she seemed up and happy, for the most part.”
“What do you mean ‘for the most part’?” asked Caroline.
“At one point, I did see Belinda get pretty angry at her caretaker.”
“Gus Oberon?” asked Caroline.
“Um-hmm.”
“Do you know why?”
“I think it was because he was coming on to me.”
“Why would Belinda be angry about that?”
Langley shrugged. “Maybe she was a little jealous. Maybe Belinda wanted Gus to only pay attention to her.”
“Belinda didn’t seem to be running short on attention that night, Langley.”
Langley shrugged again. “You never know. Some people are never satisfied. They always want more.”
Caroline was surprised by how unself-conscious Langley was as she not-so-indirectly maligned Belinda. Wanting to wrap up the interview, she got back to the subject of Belinda’s disappearance.
“Do you have any thoughts on what could have happened to Belinda?” she asked.
“Not a one,” said Langley, her face
serious.
“Okay then, a final question, Langley. What do you envision this unexpected turn of events will do for your own career?”
“Of course, it isn’t going to hurt it,” said Langley.” It wouldn’t be honest to say otherwise. But as I said at the beginning of the interview, I didn’t want to get the role this way.” Langley stood up. “Now, if we’re through, I have some things I have to take care of before tonight’s performance.”
As she and the crew left to get to the satellite truck, Caroline considered leaving Meg’s tote bag so it would be waiting for her when she arrived at the dressing room. But she thought better of it. Meg had entrusted the bag to her, and she would hand it back to Meg herself.
“What did you think of the interview?” asked Caroline as they got in the car.
“I’d hate to have that one breathing down my neck,” said Boomer. “Langley Tate has ambition written all over her.”
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Meg joined in with the other apprentices as they toasted Amy and Tommy. She nursed a single beer, conscious of the time and of her responsibilities. She should be clearheaded when she assisted Langley in the dressing room tonight.
As she came out of the dim bar, Meg’s eyes adjusted to the brightness of the late-afternoon summer sun. There was still plenty of time before she had to report to the theater. Meg considered going back to the dorm and taking a nap. The anxiety about speaking at the memorial service had left her drained, and just that one beer had made her feel sleepy. But knowing someone had been in her room to steal from her made Meg feel uncomfortable about going back there right now. Plus, her room key was in the tote bag she had forgotten to take from Caroline.
The greenroom, thought Meg as she began to walk toward the theater. She could take a nap on the cot in the greenroom.
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The satellite truck had set up in the sprawling parking lot of an enterprising gas station owner. The KEY News team arrived to find that trucks devoted to Entertainment Tonight, ABC, NBC, and CBS were parked there as well. Caroline recognized several on-air talents standing outside their respective rigs, some of them talking on cell phones, others checking their BlackBerries and pacing as they practiced their lines for live transmission at airtime.
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