Murder in the Second Row (5 page)

‘Perhaps you
could check with Adam on that one,’ said Jessica. ‘Thanks,
Clara-Jane. Gert, any problems with props so far?’

‘No dear,
everything’s fine, thank you.’

The rest of the
departments gave their reports; all were running smoothly and
within budget, and Jessica was about to end the meeting when the
Rose Room door burst open and Nick came in clutching a newspaper,
looking grim.

‘Nick? What’s
the matter?’

‘Jeez, mate,
it’s only a production meeting, don’t look so worried.’

‘Are you all
right, dear? Come and sit down.’

He thumped the
paper down on the table.

‘That’s what’s
the matter. I just grabbed this from today’s print-run at the
Whetford Mail to check our ad. Take a look at what’s on the front
page. It’ll be on the streets tomorrow morning.’

They all peered
at the headline and half-page colour photo.

‘What’s that?
“Council Welcomes City Shake-up.” What do they mean by that?’

‘What’s that
picture, some fancy mall in the Big Smoke?’

‘Best read it
out to us mate, then we’ll all know.’

Nick picked it
up and looked at Jessica.

‘You’re going
to hate this. Just don’t shoot the messenger, OK?’

He started to
read the article.

The Whetford
city council today approved in principal plans for an exciting new
development which will expand the city’s retail area by twenty-five
percent. The city block bounded by King Street, Albert Street,
Willow Avenue and Diana Drive is targeted to become a three-floor
shopping mall with restaurants, a cinema complex and a gym.
Purchase of the properties involved is already well under way, and
building will begin as soon as the public consultation process is
completed. The proposed mall is expected to open in 18 months’
time. The developers, Bayldon Oliver, estimate that the mall will
provide 800 new jobs during construction and a further 950 full and
part-time positions upon completion, bringing a significant number
of people into the central city and doubling current retail
turnover.

‘Whoa whoa whoa
– hold it a second. Where’s this mall going to be? King Street and
Albert Street? Has anyone asked us if we’re planning to move?’
Gazza was working up a good head of steam as his righteous
indignation boiled over. ‘What, are we supposed to pop the theatre
onto a nice big truck and wheel it away to someplace more
convenient to the bloody developers? I mean, we’ve only been here
for a hundred and thirty years, we don’t want to overstay our
welcome.’

‘Take it easy,
Gazza,’ said Howard. ‘Let’s just look at this clearly for a minute.
Nobody can force us to sell the theatre, or to move it. The council
only has a forty percent holding so they can’t dictate what we
do.’

‘I knew it was
a mistake letting them have that much,’ grumbled Gazza.

‘Well it was
either that or lose the theatre altogether, wasn’t it? We didn’t
have a lot of choice at the time. Anyway, we need to plan some sort
of strategy to deal with this situation. How does it look to you,
Nick?’

‘There’s quite
a buzz about it at the paper and the radio station,’ Nick replied.
‘The general view seems to be that the city needs something like
this to kick the economy into gear. I’m not sure how they’ll react
if we try to prevent it. It’s going to look a bit self-serving, one
little old theatre standing in the way of progress.’ He looked
guiltily at Jessica. ‘Not that I think that. But I’m afraid we may
have a hard time convincing the public that a theatre is more
important than a mall.’

Jessica cleared
her throat and all eyes turned towards her with concern. The room
went quiet, awaiting her response. She took a deep breath.

‘You know, this
isn’t really the place to be discussing it. Obviously we need to
call a committee meeting and get our ideas sorted out, but until
then, let’s focus on the job in hand, which is to get this show
organised. That’s what this meeting is for. Nick, how are
promotions coming along?’

He looked
startled at the sudden change of direction. ‘Er, I think we’re
fine. Let me just, um, have a look at the ad in today’s paper. It’s
a small one to start with.’ He flicked through to the entertainment
section and glanced rapidly up and down the columns. ‘Ah, there it
is. It’s in quite a good position on the page. I used a fragment
from a diary page for the opening night date, with “Appointment
with Death” handwritten across it. Should get people talking.’

‘Good. When
will the roadside signs go up?’

‘It depends on
whether we pay a sign-writer or get a volunteer to do them. I’ve
got the design worked out and I’ll see if Nathan will help us out,
shall I?’

‘Yes, OK. Right
– any more problems that need solving, anyone? Other than the
possible loss of the oldest operating wooden theatre in this half
of the world?’

The room was
silent.

‘Meeting closed
then.’

Jessica’s face
was expressionless as she packed up her papers and left the
room.

Nick started
after her but Clara-Jane put a motherly hand on his arm.

‘Leave her for
a bit, Nick. She’s upset but she’d hate anyone to know it. This
place means the world to her, especially now that’s it’s her job as
well. Give her some time to get herself together.’

‘You sure I
can’t be the handsome male shoulder for her to cry on? It might be
my big chance to finally break through her reserve.’ He smiled
weakly. ‘She doesn’t give me much opportunity, and God knows I’ve
tried hard enough.’

She looked at
him more closely. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you? Nick, I don’t think
I’ve ever known you to be serious about anything. We all thought
you were just fooling around. OK, go on then, see if you can be the
knight in shining armour – but don’t be surprised if she shoves you
in the moat.’

Nick took the
stairs to the office two at a time and knocked gently on the
door.

‘Jessica? Can I
see you for a minute?’

There was a
moment’s pause.

‘Yeah, sure.
Just a second…’ She opened the door. ‘What’s up, Nick?’

‘Are you OK? I
thought you might be upset. I’m so sorry it had to be me that
brought the bad news.’ He tried to get closer but she was framed in
the doorway and made no move to let him past.

‘I’m fine,
really, Nick. It’s not your fault what they put in the newspaper.
Let’s just get on with the show, shall we? I don’t want to let the
outside dramas get in the way.’ She slid deftly past him. ‘I’d
better get down to rehearsal because Austin’s going to be
introduced to the cast as stage manager and I want to make sure he
doesn’t say anything inappropriate. Thanks for your concern, Nick.
I’ll see you later.’

He watched as
she walked steadily down the stairs and disappeared along the
corridor.

As Jessica
reached the stage, she found the cast assembled there listening to
Adam’s instructions.

‘Look out for
the white tape marks on the stage. They show you where the set will
be, so don’t try to walk across them. I’ve set up the chairs and
tables in their correct positions, and we’re going to begin
blocking your moves. Write the notes on your scripts please – I
don’t want to have to remind you where to stand next time.’

As she stood in
the wings, she felt someone come up close behind her. A sour aroma
of tobacco breath and old clothes floated over her shoulder.

‘Hello,
Jessica,’ murmured Austin.

She took a step
away from him. ‘Austin, hi. Checking out what you’ll be dealing
with on stage?’

Stained teeth
gleamed in the half-light.

‘Not a bad
looking bunch from where I’m standing. That girl’s top doesn’t
leave much to the imagination, does it?’

She followed
his gaze to where Tamara was leaning on the hotel counter, offering
Phil a clear view down her cleavage. Phil was holding his script
like a shield.

A few minutes
later, Adam caught sight of Austin and Jessica waiting in the wings
and called Austin over to introduce him to the cast.

‘This is your
stage manager, Austin Sudgeway. For the newcomers amongst you, this
is how it works. From opening night onwards, Austin takes over
authority from me and my job is finished. He is fully in charge of
everything that happens on stage during each performance, so
there’s no room for tricks or pranks – is that clear? We give our
best performance every show, for every person in the audience, no
matter how many or how few of them there are. Is there anything
you’d like to put in here, Austin?’

‘As the actress
said to the bishop, eh?’ He chuckled. ‘No, you carry on, Adam. I’ll
just sit and enjoy the view for a while.’ He winked at the girls on
stage and went down to the front row of the stalls.

Later on, when
Jessica went back to the Green Room, she heard him telling jokes
while the cast took a break. He held court in the centre of the
room while everyone tried to ignore him.

‘Come on,
you’ll like this one. This guy comes to bed and his wife complains
of a headache as usual. Perfect, he says. I’ve just powdered my
dick with aspirin. How would you prefer to take it?’

‘Mr Sudgeway!’
Simone’s deep voice rattled the windows as well as Austin. ‘I
hardly think that telling off-colour jokes is a fitting example to
set to the young people amongst us. Kindly keep your smutty little
remarks to yourself in future.’

‘Oops, sorry
folks. Didn’t mean to offend.’ He sidled up to Tamara and put his
arm round her. ‘You didn’t mind, did you darling? You’re a
broadminded young lass.’

She shrugged
herself free with an exclamation of disgust, leaving him flushed
and laughing. He winked at the rest of the cast. ‘She loves me,
really.’

There was a
light tap on Jessica’s shoulder.

‘Could I have a
word?’ murmured Phil. ‘Somewhere quiet?’

She took him up
to the Rose Room and closed the door.

‘What’s
up?’

He twisted his
wedding ring absentmindedly, staring at nothing in particular.

‘Phil? What did
you want to talk to me about?’

‘That bloody
Tamara,’ he burst out. ‘She’s driving me insane. She was bad enough
at school a couple of years ago. Those newly-minted gifts of
puberty sent her right off the rails, and now they’re more like
weapons of mass destruction. God knows they’ve just about destroyed
my relationship with Pippa – you must have seen how she’s
reacting.’

‘Yes, she does
seem a bit twitchy.’

‘Twitchy!’ He
laughed bitterly. ‘She’s way past twitchy. I’m pretty certain that
castration is her foremost thought these days.’

‘Why is she
reacting so strongly? You guys have been married a few years now.
She must know you wouldn’t fall for a kid like Tamara.’

‘She’s been got
at by the local lesbian mafia,’ he said darkly. ‘Her sister’s
husband left home recently – just deserted Jill and the three kids
and took most of the household assets with him. The women’s group
came round and fitted her out with replacement furniture and
appliances, looked after her very supportively and completely
poisoned her mind against men. All men. And Pippa has been right in
the thick of it.’

He slumped on
the couch with his head in his hands. ‘I am so screwed.’

‘Ouch. I do see
your problem. But don’t worry – leave it with me and I’ll see what
I can do. I’m sure a quiet word or two in the right ears will sort
all this out.’

She managed to
sound more confident than she felt. Marital woes weren’t really her
area of expertise, but perhaps Adam would help out with his
experience and understanding of human nature.

‘Come on Phil,
better get back on stage or Pippa will be accusing us of having an
affair!’

He looked at
her reproachfully, walking away like a condemned man.

Jessica sought
out Adam after rehearsal. He was sitting outside the back door,
face turned to the sun, sipping from a water bottle.

‘Can I bother
you for a moment, Adam?’

He opened wide
blue eyes.

‘Of course
Jessica, what’s up?’

‘You’ve
probably noticed the trouble Phil’s having with Tamara. He’s taking
it seriously because Pippa’s getting so upset by it.’

‘That Tamara’s
a predatory little minx, isn’t she? I was hoping she’d lose
interest in him once we were working onstage, but she’s not showing
any signs of it so far.’ He stretched like a cat and breathed
deeply.

‘God, that
sun’s wonderful.’ He sprang up and patted her on the shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, Jessica. I’ll have a word with her; point out the
need to be professional and have respect for other cast members. I
won’t have my show disrupted by teenage hormones no matter what
sort of package they come in.’

He bounded back
inside the theatre, leaving Jessica saying ‘Thank you’ to a
rapidly-closing door.

The Rose Room
was buzzing with murmured conversations. The entire committee had
assembled to discuss their concerns over the proposed mall
development.

Howard Daniels
called the meeting to order.

‘Thanks for
coming, it’s good to see such a full turnout and we’re going to
need all our resources for this. I’d like to keep the meeting
informal so we can move quickly, but Fenton will still take
minutes, OK?’

Fenton looked
up, tapping a pen against his pale chin; he nodded to Howard.

Howard held up
a sheaf of papers. ‘Right, the facts that we have so far are that
developers are proposing a mall that includes the land that the
theatre stands on. The theatre owns 60% of the property with the
council in control of the other 40%. No sale can be made without
this society’s consent, but there is likely to be considerable
pressure put on us to give that consent. I’ve been speaking to some
high-ups at the council and they indicated that we would probably
be offered land on one of the council parks to put up a small
community theatre which the council would fund. I’d like to get
your feelings on that so take a few minutes to discuss it amongst
yourselves; then I’ll take comments from the floor.