Chapter 45
As the crafters gathered around the table, Jane pulled out a deck of playing cards.
“So most artist trading cards are the same size as playing cards. You can use anything you want as a base, but many of us use playing cards. We cover it with paper or fabric,” Jane said, reaching for some peach scrapbooking paper.
“Fabric?” Lisa said. “I love that idea.”
Jane placed the paper on the paper cutter and quickly cut the size she needed. “See, you choose your background paper and then start to decorate.”
“What? How do you know what to do?” Vera said. “I mean I can see how similar this is to scrapbooking. There’s no pictures or reason behind this.”
“It’s just for fun and creative expression. It’s always best to come up with a theme. Like the seasons. Or Christmas. Or, I don’t know . . . chocolate,” Jane said, and smiled at Cora.
“Now you’re talking,” Cora said. She was trying to enjoy the fact that these women came together in an impromptu craft experience, but the phone call to Gladys niggled at her. For Brodsky to follow up so quickly meant that he considered it important. What did he hope to learn from Gladys?
“Try it,” Jane said, and handed Vera the paper and the card. “Let’s go with the autumn theme. We’ve got stamps, stickers, every kind of paper imaginable. And let’s not forget all of the embellishments.”
“Excuse me,” Cora said. “I need to make a phone call. Please carry on without me. I’ll be back.” She slipped out of the room. The others barely lifted their heads to acknowledge her departure. She took that as a great sign.
After looking up Gladys’s phone number, she dialed her.
“How can I help you, Cora?” she said. The happy noise of kids playing in the background came through the phone.
“How are you? You seemed a bit upset earlier,” Cora said, leaning against a wall.
“I’m okay now,” she said. “But it was intense.”
“How so?”
“Just everything at that theater that’s happening.”
“I’m glad you brought that up because I wanted to get your opinion on what’s been happening there.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the whole thing. The way it’s run, Stan’s death, and you mentioned something about the mothers of some of the other kids. What’s going on there?”
She hesitated. “This is Ella’s first play there, and I don’t have much to compare it to, but she won’t be going back even to audition, as far as I’m concerned.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, for one thing, it’s always the same kids that get picked. The same people. I viewed the kids’ auditions, and some superb kids tried out and didn’t get in. And I hate to be ugly, but they were more talented than those Trex sisters, who get into everything.”
The Trex girls had a fascinating mother, Cora knew. They were one of the wealthier families in the community.
“I hate to think it, and I certainly hate to say, but their mother made it clear that she supports the theater and expects her girls to get the best parts,” she said.
“What?”
“Yes,” she said. “She buys her kids roles. Do you believe it?”
“Yes,” Cora said after a minute. “I do. What had you so upset today?”
“The bickering between her and Maisy Everheart. It was vicious.”
“Was it over Stan?”
“Yes,” she said. “Stan had promised a lead role to Maisy’s daughter and gave it to Jenny Trex.” She paused, thoughtfully. “I just don’t know what gets into people. Community theater used to be fun. Well, back in the dinosaur ages when I was a kid.”
“I hear you,” Cora replied. There was a lot of backbiting and angst for a community theater group. She had wondered if perhaps she was a little naïve when she was an involved kid. Maybe all of this was going on, and Cora was completely unaware.
“I just don’t think it’s good behavior to model for your kids.”
“I agree,” Cora said. Was that enough for Gladys to be so upset over? “And then the whole Stan thing. Who would want to kill him?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Hold on! Jason, put down that rock. Thank you. Sorry, where were we? Yes. Who would want to kill him? I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
“He seemed so dedicated,” Cora prompted.
“I think he and Maisy were having an affair,” she whispered into the phone.
“What? No!”
“Oh yes . . . and maybe Tina Trex was aware of it. There was a lot of innuendo and secret glances. Don’t you just hate when you’re in a meeting, and feel as if everybody else knows what’s going on and you don’t?”
Cora had been in that uncomfortable position.
“I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on. But whatever it is, is serious.”
“Murder serious?” Cora couldn’t help but ask.
Silence on the other end of the phone.
“Gladys?”
“I hate to think that of anybody I know. But those women are ambitious and vicious and every cliché you’ve ever heard of about stage mothers. I don’t know ... But Maisy . . . had this dead-cold stare in her eyes. I’ve never quite seen anything similar,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go. Jason! Get back here!”
Cora knew the exact look Gladys was talking about. It chilled her.
“Thanks for talking with me,” Cora said.
“Anytime.”
Was Maisy having an affair with Stan? In such a small town, wouldn’t that be an incredibly foolish move on both of their parts? This was all interesting gossip. She wasn’t certain she had anything to tell Brodsky. Still, she told him that she’d call. Could either of his women have killed Stan by stabbing him? She didn’t know either one well enough to say. But people surprise you.
She dialed Brodsky.
“Cora,” he said.
She paced in the foyer. “I just talked to Gladys.”
“And?”
“Well, it’s all gossip I’m sure.”
“Sometimes gossip has a nugget of good information in it. So please go on.”
“She said that she thinks Maisy Everheart was having an affair with Stan.”
“Oh yes, that’s been confirmed,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Oh,” she said. Her heart sank at the thought of it. She had a husband and kids and was fooling around with Stan? Her stomach tightened. “Does her husband know?”
“He does now,” Brodsky said.
“Oh boy,” Cora said.
“Gladys said that Maisy and Tina Trex were fighting,” she added.
“Interesting.”
“Quite vicious, apparently,” Cora said, and then relayed the rest of the story. “I’m sorry. This doesn’t seem helpful.”
“Well, it’s helping to paint a clearer picture of Stan and his life. That in itself is useful at this point.”
“I didn’t care for him,” Cora said. “But I don’t think he deserved to be killed.”
“Yeah, sounds like an arrogant SOB,” Brodsky said. “He ruled that theater like it was his kingdom. What surprises me is that he’s gotten away with it as long as he has.”