Murder in the Second Row (4 page)

Everything was
in order so she crossed back, slipped out through the private box,
and was on the landing leading to her office just as the front
doorbell rang, heralding the advance party from the rental.

‘Hi guys,
welcome to Whetford and the Regent Theatre.’

The three young
men from The Shakespeare Company looked around appreciatively at
their surroundings.

‘Wow, this is a
real theatre, isn’t it? Much better than the boring old school
assembly halls we usually perform in.’

Jessica warmed
to them immediately and gave them the full tour of the place. They
laughed when they got backstage and saw the maze of passages and
stairs.

‘I guess this
place has had a few additions over the years. Funny how the
builders couldn’t agree on one level for everything. It’s a
fantastic old place, isn’t it? You’re so lucky to have kept it
running.’

The tallest
performer ducked his head as he went up the steps towards the Rose
Room. ‘What’s this room used for?’

‘Multi-purpose
really – we use it for meetings and rehearsals, and as an extra
dressing room when needed.’ Jessica pointed out the plaque on the
door. ‘It’s called the Rose Room after an old lady who was a
stalwart here for decades – she left a bequest to build it, the
dear old thing. Her ghost probably watches over the place even
now.’

‘You have
ghosts?’ asked the shortest one. ‘Do they bother you during
performances at all?’

‘No, no,’ said
Jessica with a straight face. ‘Only the psychic people in the
audience can see them, and they’re pretty used to that sort of
thing. You guys won’t even know they’re there.’

His mouth
dropped open.

The other two
nudged him and jeered.

‘Ya
sucker!’

‘Gotcha!’

Jessica
completed the administration details, promised them that Gazza
would be along shortly to get their lighting requirements, and left
them to get organised.

‘Those
Shakespeare guys were odd dudes,’ commented Gazza when he next saw
her. ‘Littlest fella kept looking over his shoulder the whole time.
Nervous about something.’

It was the
first construction session for Appointment with Death, and the
usual team had turned up at 10am on Saturday morning to help haul
whatever was needed out of the storage cages under the stage.

Jessica grinned
at Gazza. ‘I may have mentioned the theatre ghost,’ she said. ‘Was
that wrong?’

‘Which one –
the grey lady or the balcony suicide?’

‘I thought the
grey lady was the one who committed suicide,’ said Howard. ‘Watch
out, I’m just going to pull out this flat.’

Gazza and
Jessica stepped aside to allow the framed section of wall to slide
past them.

‘No,’ Gazza
corrected Howard. ‘The grey lady died in seat L13 in the middle of
a show. The balcony suicide jumped over and died in row J.’

‘Probably rows
J, K and L, wasn’t it? If he got a good run at it from the circle.’
Jessica added.

‘Jessica!
That’s not nice. Give us a hand with that window section, will
you?’ said Howard. ‘And Gazza, can you take the other end?’

They added the
piece to the pile of flats collected against the wall of the Green
Room and dusted off their hands.

‘Fine, that’ll
do us for now. I can’t do much about putting it together until that
blasted art student turns up to explain his set design. I can’t
figure out how he’s going to get the bits to work together. Shall
we have a look for a counter while we’re at it?’

Howard led them
into the dimly-lit area below stage, where old bits of construction
from shows long ago came to die.

‘What about
that?’ said Jessica, looking at a brown box end sticking out from
under a roll of hessian. ‘Could be about the right size.’

They manoeuvred
themselves closer, stepping over lengths of pipe and empty beer
crates.

‘Can’t see from
here,’ said Howard. ‘Grab the hessian, Gazza. See what’s
underneath.’

Jessica moved
to help him, then froze. ‘Whoa, hold it a second, Gaz. What’s
that?’ Jessica pointed, her other hand up to her mouth. ‘Does that
look like…a foot?’ Her voice ended in a squeak.

Gazza dropped
the end of the roll quickly and stepped away.

‘Where?’

‘Just there, on
the floor beside the box!’

He peered more
closely at the spot she was pointing to.

‘Can’t see.
What do you mean?’

She reached
forward slowly, then pulled out a stuffed leg with a high-heeled
shoe attached and brandished it under his nose.

‘This!’

Gazza reared
back then saw what it was and growled.

‘Stop wasting
time, Jessica! If you find a whole woman I might be interested, but
just one leg doesn’t do it.’

‘Didn’t work
out too well for Paul McCartney either, did it?’ chuckled Howard.
‘Come on, let’s get this box shifted so we can see what we’ve
got.’

The box turned
out to be too short for the counter they needed, but in the next
storage bay they found one that could be dressed up to suit. They
now had all the flats for the hotel scene. Stewart turned up to
give them a hand and they hauled out a good variety of chairs and
tables as well. They were setting them out on the stage to check
the effect when a tall slender youth appeared, led by
Clara-Jane.

‘I found him at
the front door,’ she announced. ‘Can we keep him?’

The youth
flicked back bushy black dreadlocks and looked at her warily.

‘I’m Nathan,’
he said. He looked hopefully towards Gazza and Howard. ‘Is one of
you Howard Daniels? I’ve brought the set designs for Adam’s
show.’

‘Hi Nathan,
glad you could make it. I’m Howard, this is Gazza, that’s Jessica,
young Stewart’s over there, and I see you’ve already made an
impression on Clara-Jane. Come on out to the Green Room where it’s
lighter and we’ll have a proper look at these designs of
yours.’

With visible
relief, Nathan escaped the threat of Clara-Jane’s ample bosom and
followed Howard to the Green Room table where he spread out his
papers for the others to study.

‘So, how is
this wall supported, Nathan?’

Howard
indicated the area on the skilfully-drawn hotel set sketch where an
ornately carved series of arches led to an open terrace.

‘Er, I thought
there’d be some struts or braces to hold it up. It should be secure
enough, shouldn’t it? We can fasten the back arches to the side
walls – I’m sure it won’t fall down.’

‘It’s not the
falling down that worries us,’ said Gazza. ‘It’s how we shift it
between Act One and Act Two. It’s hardly fair to the audience to
keep them hanging about for a half-hour interval while we dismantle
the entire Jerusalem Hilton, is it?’

‘Oh God, sorry.
I didn’t think of that.’

Noticing
Nathan’s distress, Stewart came closer to the table and reassured
him quietly.

‘It’s a great
design, Nathan; we just need to figure out how to make it work on
stage. I’m sure between the experts here we can find a solution,
can’t we?’ He glared at Howard and Gazza. ‘Not everyone knows the
technical details of set design, guys. Give him a break.’

‘Yes, yes, fair
enough. All right, what if we build the back wall as a drop and fly
it out – would that work with your lighting bars, Gazza?’

‘It’s worth a
go. The side walls can go on trucks and swing out when the rock
flats go on for Act Two.’

By the end of
the afternoon they had figured out ways to make Nathan’s drawings
work, and Howard drew up a building schedule ready for the next
day’s construction.

Tamara had Phil
Jessop cornered. The arm of the couch creaked against his back as
she leaned towards him and said passionately, ‘You must come away
with me! I want you to! It’s not too late.’ Her arms went round him
and her chest heaved.

Phil held onto
his script with one hand and pushed her away with the other.

‘Please, don’t
talk like this.’ He looked entirely discomfited, and Jessica could
see that he wasn’t having to act.

‘Stop there,’
said Adam. ‘Tamara, you’re putting a little too much heat into the
exchange. Nadine and Lennox are a married couple. You’re not trying
to physically seduce him, you’re just persuading him to leave with
you.’

There was a
small snort from Pippa on the other side of the room.

‘But wouldn’t I
have a better chance of winning him away from her if I really,
like, laid it on?’ asked Tamara innocently, while entwining her
fingers into Phil’s hair.

Phil stood up
abruptly and moved across towards the actor playing Jefferson
Cope.

‘Like to swap
places? Your character’s supposed to be in love with her – see how
you get on.’

While the men
exchanged seats, Pippa shot Tamara a look with all the blunt force
of a lead pipe in the library.

Jessica tiptoed
out of the Rose Room and left them to continue the rehearsal.

Construction
was going well onstage. Howard and Gazza were bolting together the
flats for the back wall, which was currently lying face down on the
stage.

‘That girl’s
going to cause trouble,’ Jessica told Howard. ‘She’s just thrown
herself all over poor Phil in rehearsal – I thought Pippa was going
to have a fit. Who do you think would win if they actually came to
blows?’

‘Pippa, hands
down. Tamara would just slap and scratch but Pippa can pack a
decent punch. I’ve seen her in combat classes at the gym and you
wouldn’t want to mess with her!’

‘That Tamara
wants neutering,’ said Gazza. ‘Only way to deal with a sex kitten.
Remember the last show she was in? She worked her way through
nearly every guy in the place. It was “Here today, on Tamara” right
up to Final Night party.’

Howard snorted
in appreciation.

‘Let’s hope
Adam can keep her under control,’ said Jessica. ‘At least she can’t
seduce him.’

‘Want to bet?’
said Howard. ‘I reckon Adam swings both ways.’

‘Maybe, but if
he does, I’m damn sure he’d pick someone with more class than that
little tart!’

‘Ooh, put your
claws away, girl! Do you fancy Adam yourself then?’

‘No! Of course
not. How could I possibly fancy him when – ‘she clasped her hands
to her chest, ‘my heart belongs to… Austin!’

Howard and
Gazza threw down their spanners in disgust.

‘Jessica!’

‘Oh, don’t even
say that. Get out of here. Go and make us a coffee, woman.’

Jessica
chuckled as she walked past Gazza and pushed his cap down over his
eyes. Out in the Green Room there were newspapers spread across the
floor where Nick and Stewart were busy painting chairs for the
hotel scene.

‘Got time for a
coffee break? I’ll even make it for you if you ask me nicely.’

Nick leapt to
his feet.

‘Oh, and just
how nicely would you like me to ask you, Jessica?’ His voice was
velvety and his brown eyes were full of mischief.

‘Down, boy! I’m
only offering coffee.’

‘Oh all right
then.’ He sighed. ‘Blonde with two legs, please.’

She rolled her
eyes. ‘I suppose that’s milk and two sugars, is it? What about you,
Stewart?’

‘The s-same,’
he stammered, ‘but I can make my own. I mean, you don’t have to do
it.’

‘It’s all
right, Stewart. You’re pulling your weight – even more than the
others since you’re onstage as well as doing construction. I’m
perfectly happy to make you coffee now and again. Aren’t you needed
for rehearsal today, then?’

‘No, Adam’s
just working with principals for the next few sessions.’ He smiled.
‘I’m going to help Nathan paint the scenery when it’s built. He’s
amazing. You should see these awesome sketches he did for his class
project. They’re incredible.’

‘Good. I look
forward to seeing what he’ll do with the set.’

She picked her
way across the newspaper to the kitchen and lined up a row of
scuffed glass mugs ready for coffee.

When she
delivered Howard’s to him on stage, he was patting his tool-belt
and looking round distractedly.

‘Have you seen
where I put my pencil?’

‘Again?’
growled Gazza. ‘I’m going to tie a string round it and staple the
other end to your arm one of these days. Here.’ He threw Howard a
chunky red carpenter’s pencil and took the coffee Jessica handed
him. ‘Thanks.’ He tipped his cap back and drank long and thirstily,
then handed her the warm empty mug and got back to work.

Just a week
later and she was doing coffee duty again, preparing for a quick
production meeting before the Sunday rehearsal and construction
session. She filled the cups and took them into the Rose Room where
Clara-Jane and Gert were already seated on the sagging sofa. On the
table in front of them were piles of clothing and several pages of
lists.

‘Here you are,
guys. Coffee to oil the wheels of industry.’

The rest of the
production team turned up before their cups got cold, except for
Nick who hadn’t yet put in an appearance.

Jessica called
the meeting to order.

‘OK, progress
reports. Clara-Jane, we’ll start with you and go round the room
that way. How’s wardrobe looking?’

‘Pretty good
for most of the stuff we need. I was just asking Gert if she has
any white sheets in the props room so I can make up some sort of
robe for the hotel clerk. His outfit needs to be simpler than the
dragoman’s full Arab gear.’

Gert nodded.
‘There are a couple of single sheets in the upstairs props cage and
I think there’s some plain calico there as well, if you want to
work with cream instead of white, dear?’

Clara-Jane
frowned in thought, pushing her hair back. ‘What do you think?
White would match the rest of the hotel décor, but cream would make
him look less important.’