HIDDEN CREEK, CALIFORNIA
Five and a half years ago
The truth had always been there in the shadows. Emma Raj could have seen it sooner if only she’d looked in the right place.
She knows it’s not the smartest idea to reveal the truth live on stage. Still, she also knows that the person she believes can hurt her won’t be there. The danger will come later if she’s unable to prove her case.
She should be putting the last pieces in place, but she thinks of her beloved daughter. Emma has commissioned a custom charm bracelet for Tempest’s twenty-first birthday and set things up so Tempest will find out what Emma wants her to know if the worst happens. She hopes it doesn’t come to that, but she knows none of them will be free until the truth about Elspeth is revealed.
The Whispering Creek Theater is the perfect place for her show. She doesn’t tell the audience what’s in store for them that night. Instead, she makes an event of it. A one-time show at midnight in Hidden Creek by a briefly famous stage illusionist. Normally, residents would need to travel to a nearby town or across the bay to San Francisco to find this type of entertainment, so she thinks she’ll draw a crowd.
She’s right. The performance sells out.
Emma Raj doesn’t employ an assistant. It’s a risk to be on her own, but she doesn’t trust anyone with what she’s about to do. Not even her husband, which she regrets. But her darling Darius would never let her go through with it.
She thinks she knows what to expect at the theater—until she finds the Shadow Stage. A mirror of the main stage that facilitates elaborate set changes. It’s boarded up, but when has that ever stopped her?
Emma plays the fiddle from the wings as the audience files in. The houselights fade to black. She steps onto the stage.