Chapter 18

The run-through with Claire standing in for her sister went great—if you didn’t take into consideration Megan’s depressed face, Devlyn’s aloof attitude, and the parents’ helpful suggestions that made the rehearsal three times longer than it should have been. But by the time I’d dismissed everyone, I was confident that the students were as prepared as possible. Megan might hate sitting on the sidelines, but it was the right decision. How teachers did this year in and year out was beyond me.

Larry gave the kids a final pep talk and told everyone they had to be in their rooms by ten o’clock. While he spoke, I noticed Christine McCann standing near one of the ballroom entrances. She’d changed out of her work attire. In her light blue denim capris and yellow T-shirt, she blended in with the parents. Except for her eyes. Those were all business as they took in the way the students listened to my aunt discuss the makeup process for the next day.

When the notes had been given and the departure time for tomorrow morning announced, I gave the kids one final warning to get some sleep and called an end to rehearsal. The kids gathered their things and raced out of the ballroom to get in one last swim before bed. I headed in Christine’s direction.

“What’s she doing here?” Larry grabbed my arm and pointed toward Christine. “Do you think someone else d-d-died?”

Everyone still in the room turned toward us. Oh no. Larry’s less than subtle volume had struck again.

“I asked Christine to meet me here to discuss backstage security. The last thing we want is for our costumes to be tampered with. We also don’t need parents getting involved in this issue.” I sent a deliberate look at Chessie’s parents, who had gotten out of their seats and were headed in this direction. “I don’t think either of us want our team to get booted before they ever get the chance to compete.”

Larry got the hint. He headed off to intercept Chessie’s parents while I crossed the ballroom to where Christine McCann waited.

“Your team is impressive.” Christine smiled. “I thought they were good when I watched their videos online, but they’re better live.”

“I’d think most teams are. It’s hard to capture the energy of a live show and the mix of the voices on cell phone video.”

Christine laughed. “You haven’t been in this business long enough to understand how far some directors will go to ensure their team looks like the one to beat. I know several who have spent a great deal of money overdubbing the vocals and touching up the video with enough imperfections to make it look as if it was recorded live.”

Wow. If I had that kind of money, I’d find a better use for it than creating a fake version of our team’s musical numbers. Who wastes their bank account on that kind of thing?

“Two years ago, a team from the West Coast was invited to this competition based on their moderate competition success and a video that was sent for the selection committee’s review. When they got here, it was clear that they weren’t in the same league as the rest of the teams. They were eliminated on the first day, but based on their ‘success’ their coach was offered a position at a private and better-paying school.”

Yikes. Although after what I knew about some of the coaches, including the dearly departed Greg Lucas, I guessed I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d thought succeeding in show business was bad. Add academics into the mix, and it brought the stakes to a whole new level.

“Maybe Donna had a similar reason for her actions yesterday.” I pulled Chessie’s cell phone out of my purse. It took me a few minutes to find the gallery icon, but soon the small screen was filled with Donna’s brown-wigged figure coming through a door. “One of my students was playing hooky from her master class and went to our staging room. She heard the sound of ripping cloth coming from nearby and decided to see what was going on.”

I slid my finger across the screen and the image of ripped satin appeared, followed by another shot of Donna’s back as she headed down the hallway. The photos had been taken in a hurry. I doubted they would hold up in court if it ever came to that. But the widening of Christine’s eyes said that she had recognized Donna’s face despite the off-kilter photography and all that curly brown hair. The time stamp on the photograph sealed the deal.

“Donna had a family emergency yesterday.” Christine’s voice lacked the authority she normally had. “She wasn’t in the performing arts center.”

I flipped back to the first picture. “It looks like Donna was dealing with an emergency closer to home. One that involved Scott Paris.”

Christine’s head snapped toward me. “Scott? Do you have a photograph of him, too?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure he and Donna are in this together.” Quickly, I ran through the things I’d discovered. The perfectly repaired costumes. How Scott warned me off my investigation for Christine. Finally, the look on his face after I accused him of being involved with the sabotage.

Christine shook her head. “There might be a simple explanation for those things. Something that has nothing to do with the damage from yesterday.”

There could be, but off the top of my head I couldn’t come up with what that might be. Especially not when I factored in Donna’s willingness to be blackmailed by a teenager in order to keep her actions confidential. I was going to say that, but Christine was on a roll.

“Donna is such a recognizable face around here.” She looked down at the phone in my hand. “It’s almost impossible for her to go anywhere without being noticed. She probably didn’t have time to deal with the usual fanfare when she came to the theater yesterday. That must be why she chose to wear a wig.”

Wow. Christine had earned an A in justification. I almost hated to burst her creative bubble, but there was a lot more at stake than Christine’s well-developed fantasy.

“Why don’t you call them and see what they have to say?”

Christine’s head snapped up. “Do you know what would happen if word got out that I accused a country-western star or one of the most celebrated choir directors of wrongdoing without more proof than this? The sponsors would pull their support for sure. School districts would no longer be interested in sending their students to our program. The competition would be finished. I can’t let that happen.”

“You also can’t risk anything worse happening.” I slid Chessie’s phone back into my purse and pulled out my own. “What would the press and the sponsors say if another incident occurred tomorrow and they learned you had information that could have stopped it? Unless you want to leave that up to chance, I say we call Donna and Scott now and ask for an explanation.”

Christine’s eyes narrowed, and I stepped away to give her a chance to think. Christine struck me as the type who hated being backed into a corner. No doubt that feeling was the reason she had forced me to look into yesterday’s incidents. I’d done my part, but if she felt like I was being too pushy, she could still make good on her threat to have my kids blackballed.

As Christine mulled over the possibilities, I looked around the ballroom. Larry must have successfully smoothed the feathers of Chessie’s parents. They were now gone. The only person remaining was Devlyn. He was seated in one of the chairs, watching me. The anger I’d seen earlier was gone. Now there was curiosity and a hint of wistfulness that, despite my resolve, tugged at my heart.

“You’re right.” Christine blew a lock of hair off her face. “None of this will get reconciled without talking to Donna and Scott, which I plan for us to do right now.”

Christine pulled out her cell phone and started messaging the parties involved. One thing I would say for the woman was that when it came to rapid-fire texting, Christine had skills. I could never manage to get my fingers to hit the right buttons on the first try. Thanks to autocorrect I had a tendency to send messages that meant something completely different from what I’d intended. Christine must not have that problem since moments later her phone dinged. Donna had texted back. She and Scott would be here as soon as they could get across town.

“They’ll meet us in the front of the hotel. Is there somewhere more private than this where the four of us can talk?” Christine asked, sending a deliberate look toward Devlyn. “I think we’ll have an easier time learning the truth if Donna isn’t worried about being recognized.”

While I doubted that anything about this conversation was going to be easy, I couldn’t deny Christine’s point. “We can use my hotel room.” If nothing else, I’d have several hands to help stack instrument cases. Multitasking at its finest.

“I have calls I need to make. Let’s meet in the lobby in ten minutes.”

With those words I was dismissed. Christine put her phone up to her ear, and I headed for the exit farthest from Devlyn’s watchful eyes, hoping the hospitality area of the lobby still had coffee brewing. I needed caffeine, and I needed it now.

The coffee urn was still full. The bad news was the coffee machine had been unplugged and the coffee was now cold. Bummer. I’d just have to make do with a soda from the vending machine.

I was debating between a Diet Dr Pepper and a Diet Coke when a voice asked, “Is everything okay?”

Devlyn.

“Everything’s fine.” Or it would be once I chugged my drink. I unscrewed the top and took a hit before turning toward Devlyn. “There are a few details Christine needs to iron out, but our team will be able to compete fair and square tomorrow.”

Devlyn gave me one of his slow, sexy smiles. “That’s good to hear. The kids owe a lot to you, even if they don’t always know it.” His smile faded. “They’re not the only ones who owe you something. I owe you an apology. I had a knee-jerk emotional reaction to the news about your audition. It was juvenile and unfair and I’m sorry.”

As far as apologies went, Devlyn’s was pretty darn good. And he wasn’t done.

“Your aunt spoke to me before rehearsal and told me that you scheduled your flights so that you could be here for our team’s performances.” He shoved his hands into his back pants pockets and sighed. “I should have known you’d never let this audition get in the way of showing your support for these kids. I should’ve asked you about it, instead of assuming you were abandoning everything we’ve created together. Can you forgive me?”

Devlyn reached out his hand. Part of me wanted to meet him halfway. But instead, I looked at my watch and said, “Christine is waiting for me in the lobby. I have to go.”

He stepped out of the doorway. As I walked by he said, “You’re still mad.”

I stopped walking and turned to look at him. His face was just as handsome as the first day we met. I could still remember the way my heart jumped when he gave me a smile. My heart wasn’t jumping now.

“I’m not mad.” Sad was more accurate. “There’s just a lot going on. We need to focus on getting the kids through the competition. Once we’re back in Chicago, we’ll have time to talk. Okay?”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I had a text message, but I wasn’t concerned about that. All I could think about was the hurt blooming in Devlyn’s eyes as the subtext of my words hit home. We could talk when we got back to Chicago, but an in-depth discussion wouldn’t change what I knew to be true. The boundaries of Devlyn’s life were set. He was looking for someone willing to live within those lines. With a little more time, I could probably fall in love with him. But this week had taught me something important. Devlyn wanted to be supportive of my performing career. He told the truth every time he said he believed in my talent. But I now knew that he also believed the job he was doing was more important than my dream of being onstage. If my career ever took off, I would be forced to choose between him and my dream. It was better to feel sad now than to have my heart broken later.

“Sure.” Devlyn’s fingers brushed mine. “I’m going to go help Jim play lifeguard. If you need me for anything, just give me a call.”

I watched him walk down the hall toward chlorine and chaos and then fished my cell phone out and looked at the screen. Alan had texted. He wanted to know whether I’d decided what I was singing on Friday. If not, I needed to figure it out soon. I tapped back that I would send him my choices tonight, hit “send,” and shoved the phone back into my purse. Alan was right. I needed to pick my audition pieces and make sure they were polished and ready to go. And I would. But first things first. I had to meet Christine and company. It was time to learn what Donna and Scott were really up to.

The duo in question was pushing open the glass entryway doors when I arrived in the lobby. Christine was nowhere to be seen. Donna’s eyes turned to slits when she spotted me near the concierge desk.

“I should have known you were behind this.”

Despite anything negative anyone might say about Donna’s songs, which, if memory served, were heavy on heartbreak, the woman knew how to project.

Donna’s white, high-heel boots clicked as she stormed across the tile floor. “Who do you think you are, accusing me of trying to ruin this show? Don’t you know who I am?”

“We all know who you are, Donna.” Christine’s voice cracked like a whip from across the room. “And if you aren’t careful, everyone at this hotel will recognize you and wonder what you’re doing here.” Donna opened her mouth to speak, but a strangely subdued Scott squeezed her arm and she closed it with a frown.

Christine nodded. “Now, I suggest we go to Paige’s room. She’s graciously agreed to let us use the space so we can talk without being overheard.”

Taking my cue, I led the three to my door, slid the key card in the slot, and warned, “The room might be a little crowded. Between the broken loading dock door and the damaged belongings, our team has been using this as a staging room.”

My team didn’t disappoint. Instrument cases were once again piled precariously around the room. With a wide smile, I said, “These all just need to be stacked over there.”

Donna’s face turned red, but the speed with which Scott picked up several cases and moved them to the other bed ruined whatever angst she was going to unleash. Perhaps it was small and petty of me, but seeing one of country music’s darlings be a roadie for my team made me all warm and fuzzy inside. For once, karma had smacked the right person in the ass. And if I was right about Donna’s involvement in yesterday’s destruction, karma had a whole lot more butt-kicking to do.

When all the instruments were stacked, Donna and Scott took a seat on my bed. I couldn’t help noticing the way their legs and arms touched or the tender look in Scott’s eyes when he looked at Donna. No wonder Donna was upset when she thought I had a personal interest in Scott. The two of them were definitely a couple and for some reason were keeping that information a secret. Boy, did that sound familiar. I had to wonder whether anyone in this business was capable of a normal relationship. If not, I was doomed to remain single for the rest of my life. Millie would just have to marry Aldo in order to plan the wedding of her dreams.

Christine took a seat on the other bed. “Donna, can you explain what you were doing in the performing arts center yesterday? And before you claim that you were out of town, you should know you were not only seen but photographed.”

“That little—”

“Be careful what you say about one of my students, Donna.” My voice was quiet, but I could tell by Donna’s pursed lips that she’d heard the threat behind the calm. Chessie might be headstrong, exasperating, and a pain in the neck, but she was mine. No one was going to call her names around me. Especially not someone who had done a great deal worse.

Donna took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I was hoping the young lady in question would keep silent about what she’d seen, that the competition would go on as planned, and that all of this would just go away.”

“All of what?” I asked.

Donna looked at Scott. He took her hand in his and answered, “LuAnn Freeman called me three weeks ago. Somehow she had gotten her hands on the list of judges for the competition and had discovered that I had connections to two of them.”

Christine sent Scott a sharp look. I wasn’t surprised. All coaches were required to sign a waiver that affirmed we had no knowledge of any of the judges in the competition. The judges themselves were given a list of the choirs and asked whether they had personal ties to any of the participants. Since show choir was a tight-knit community, knowledge of or having been introduced to any of the judges was permitted. But a deeper relationship was considered taboo. If a judge did know a coach on the final roster, he or she was supposed to contact Christine immediately so that Christine could secure a more impartial judge. Coaches who learned the identities of any of the judges were also supposed to contact the organization. The system wasn’t perfect and relied a lot on the honor system. It was obvious that Scott wasn’t all that honorable.

But now wasn’t the time to point out the obvious. Christine held off on the much-deserved tongue-lashing and let Scott continue talking.

“LuAnn said if I didn’t use my influence with the judges to help her daughter’s team get into the finals, she’d report my relationship with them to you and get my team disqualified from the contest.” Scott straightened his shoulders. “I told LuAnn that the judges weren’t going to cheat for me and that I wasn’t about to ask them to do it for her.”

And dogs and cats were going to declare a worldwide truce.

“Both judges have since pulled out of working on the contest for personal reasons.” Scott looked at Christine in a way that said he believed that should make everything better.

Christine propped her hands on her hips. “How does this explain Donna’s actions from yesterday?”

“LuAnn also discovered that Donna and I were seeing each other. She threatened to leak the information to the press.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Neither of you are married.” Or professed to be gay. “What’s the big deal?”

Donna let out a dramatic sigh. “The big deal is that I just landed my own reality dating show. The concept is that as a celebrity it’s hard to find true love. The host of the show is the head of a matchmaking website who promises she has what it takes to bring me the man of my dreams. The whole show is going to end with a marriage proposal followed by a blowout wedding to the man of my dreams.”

Huh . . . that seemed like a lot for one show to promise. Especially since love had a way of being unpredictable and the people on those shows less than honest about their feelings. Donna was either incredibly brave to promise she’d marry the winning guy or she had stacked the deck in her favor.

“Is Scott going to be on this show, too?”

Scott gave me a sheepish grin. “I planned on putting in my notice to my principal after the competition. Donna and I are already planning to get married. We’ve been keeping our relationship a secret so that it wouldn’t distract our students. When this offer came up, Donna thought it would be a great way of going public and skyrocketing both of our careers.”

Donna smiled up at him. “We’re going to record an album of duets and release it on our wedding day. Scott has a fantastic tenor voice. Wait until you hear it.”

I wondered whether he’d get the chance to record that album or whether the next time he’d use that tenor would be singing gospel songs from jail. The two seemed completely oblivious to the fact that they’d done anything wrong.

“I’m confused,” I said. “How does ruining other teams fit into all of this?”

Scott ran a hand through his hair. “LuAnn showed up on Monday with a press release she’d created about our relationship. It alleged the two of us were colluding with judges to make sure our teams were at the top of the podium as well as a bunch of other fairy tales. Donna’s seen firsthand that tabloids don’t care whether the stories they print are true. If anyone ran with LuAnn’s information, Donna would lose the reality show and I wouldn’t need to tender my resignation. I’d probably be fired. So when LuAnn asked us to help her damage the competition’s costumes, we had no choice. We had to say yes.”

“But we tried to find a way to give LuAnn what she wanted without ruining everything for the kids.” Donna laced her fingers through Scott’s. “It would have worked, too, had it not been for LuAnn’s insistence that she help.”

Aha. “That’s why some of the costumes were ripped in places where they could be easily repaired.”

Scott nodded. “All the teams that Donna and I targeted had problems that could be fixed without much effort. Having two teams that hadn’t loaded in yet made it easier for us to keep LuAnn out of most of the staging rooms. LuAnn was pissed about Donna’s team not loading in. She liked the idea of Donna or me having to destroy the costumes we’d created.” Scott looked over at me. “She was pretty angry that your team didn’t have costumes and instruments in their staging room, Paige. If she could have blamed me for the broken loading dock door on stage left she would have. I swear the woman looked for reasons to confront people. She was never happier than when she was in the middle of a fight.”

It sounded like LuAnn should have gone into law instead of social work. All that aggression would have had a constructive outlet.

“We were just lucky that LuAnn was so happy about the mess she saw in my team’s staging room that she never noticed those costumes and most of the others were ripped at the seams. She only noticed the spare ones that I brought, which were already shredded. And she got so freaked by the falling lights and so angry that Paige wasn’t booted on her accusation that she never noticed the people I’d hired to fix the costumes hanging around before the theater was closed.”

Huh.

Donna sniffled. “We felt really bad about the two teams that LuAnn handled. Their costumes really were trashed, but a costume designer I know in the area has gotten them brand-new outfits, which, according to the directors, were better than the ones they had before. They’re practicing with them tonight to make sure the costumes don’t hamper the routines.”

Okay, the sabotage thing sucked, but I was reluctantly impressed that Scott and Donna had opted to fix what they’d broken. Too bad they’d freaked out a whole lot of kids in the process. Had they been smarter, they would have gone to Christine and had her work on the problem. Of course, now that I thought about it, Christine didn’t have the best track record when it came to dealing with LuAnn. As far as I could tell, all three of these people were lucky the cops hadn’t dragged them into the station for questioning in LuAnn’s death. They all had a motive—or twelve.

“So what happens now?” Scott asked. “Are you going public with what we did?”

“You can’t.” Donna stood. “All the teams are fine now. LuAnn is gone. Christine, we’ve done everything possible to make this right. We even found the competition a new sponsor so you wouldn’t have to worry about the old ones bailing. There’s no reason why anyone needs to know about what we did or why we did it.”

“I’m afraid the cops are going to want to talk about it at length,” Christine said. “I was late coming to meet you because I had a call from the Nashville police. First thing tomorrow morning they will be at the performing arts center to interview anyone who had contact with LuAnn on the day she died. That means all three of you.”