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“Otis is in the auditorium,” Bob’s voice calmly declared from an unknown location. “Come up here.”
Sandra looked at Peter to see if he’d heard Bob as well, and he obviously had, because he was hurrying toward the door. She didn’t like the look on his face. That was too much anger for a ten-year-old. “Slow down, this doesn’t mean he’s the one who grabbed you.”
Peter didn’t answer. He just kept trucking toward the stairs.
“Where’s he going?” Gloria asked.
“To the auditorium.”
Gloria flew out the door, not only leaving her kids behind, but acting as though she’d forgotten all about them.
Sandra gave them what she hoped looked like a kind smile. “You guys might want to stay here. This is almost over. I think.” She stepped out into the hallway to see her son about to bound up the stairs. “Hang on, we should get Ethel. She won’t want to miss this.” Peter ignored her, or maybe didn’t hear her. She chose to believe the latter. She stopped outside the prop room door and pounded on it. “Come up to the auditorium. We think it’s Otis, and Bob found him up there.”
The door flew open. Had she been standing there with her hand on the knob? Ethel blinked in the bright lights, the giant flashlight dangling from her hand. “How long’s the power been on?”
“Only a minute. I’ll see you up there.” She ran for the stairs. Part of her wanted to wait for Ethel. The rest of her wouldn’t let that part have its way. By the time she got to the spacious auditorium, Gloria was already shoving the phone in Otis’s face, trying to steal Sandra’s thunder. “It was you!”
Otis did such a good job of acting innocent that Sandra wondered if he was. His son having a relationship with Treasure didn’t make him a murderer.
“Everyone, just calm down,” Jan said, surprisingly serene given the circumstances.
Gloria looked at Jan and stuck her arm out toward Otis, a sharp accusing pointer finger quivering at the end of it. “He killed Treasure!”
“I did no such thing!” Otis boomed.
“Why would you say such a horrible thing?” Jan cried.
Gloria wiggled the phone in the air. “You think it’s just a coincidence that there are—”
Sandra grabbed Gloria’s out-of-control arm and forced it down to her side. “Calm down!” she said with an authority that surprised her. “We don’t know anything for sure. Let’s just talk this through.” Sandra knew she wasn’t an interrogation expert, but she was also certain that she could do better than Gloria. She looked around the room. Everyone was present except for Matthew and Ethel. What was taking Ethel so long? Was her head injury more serious than they thought? “Can we all just sit down for a minute?”
Some people sat down. Otis didn’t. Neither did Gloria.
Sandra sat anyway, hoping they’d follow suit. “Now, we don’t know that Otis is guilty of anything, so let’s not jump to conclusions. Like Jan has said all along, Treasure might have just fallen.”
Gloria started to argue, but Sandra talked over her. “The reason Gloria is so upset is that there are some photos on Treasure’s phone. And while we—”
“I can explain!” Otis cried. “Just because my son had a relationship with her doesn’t mean I killed her.”
Laughter echoed out from backstage, and everyone turned to look at the empty set. The laughter continued as Matthew wobbled out onto the stage. “You?” He grabbed his belly and laughed some more. “You didn’t have a relationship with Treasure.” His fingers made air quotes as he said the word “relationship.” Then he stood there with his hands in the air as if he’d forgotten he’d raised them.
“Not me, you ijit. I said my son.”
Matthew was no longer laughing or even smiling, but his hands were still up in the air. Because Sandra was staring at him, she didn’t realize Jan was approaching Otis.
Suddenly, she was only inches in front of him. “Your son was having an affair with Treasure?” She spoke the words slowly, as if she had trouble pushing them out.
Otis tried to look ashamed and failed. “No, wait, it’s not what you think—”
Jan raised her hand as if she was going to slap him. “I covered for you! I believed you! I’ve been such a fool!” She whirled toward Gloria with her hand still in the air, as if she couldn’t decide whom to smack.
“How did you find that phone?” Jan asked as if Gloria were on trial and she was the district attorney.
Gloria’s gap-mouthed expression made it clear that she had no idea how she’d found that phone.
Peter stepped forward. “I’m really good at climbing up mountains in freezing rain.”
Jan clamped her mouth shut and looked at Sandra. “Is that where he was when he was missing?” Still using that same accusing tone, as if she were the only righteous person in the room. She didn’t give Sandra a chance to answer her question. “Otis was there when Treasure fell. He told me it was an accident, and I believed him. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to tarnish this theater’s reputation. I figured the police would see that it was nothing but an unfortunate accident.” She glared at Otis. “I didn’t know the creep had a reason to kill her! He lied to me, and I fell for it! So much for it being an accident! This poor theater! I was just trying to protect it from scandal.” A sudden onset of sobs shook her shoulders. “We’ve lost money the last four years in a row.”
“Oh, Jan,” Frank said, using the saddest voice Sandra had ever heard. He walked up to his friend and took her into his arms, his chest muffling the sound of her cries.
The puzzle pieces were starting to coalesce into a picture, but that picture didn’t quite make sense. “Jan, why did you hide the phone?”
She mumbled something into Frank’s shirt.
“What?” Sandra said.
Frank translated, “She knew it would look suspicious that Otis took it. An accidental death doesn’t result in a missing phone. So when she heard it was missing, she wanted to make sure it stayed that way.”
“It was an accident!” Otis cried. “I was just trying to get the phone away from her. But she wouldn’t give it to me! She tried to hit me with a hammer! I’m the victim here—”
“Wait!” Matthew hollered from the stage. “Who was sleeping with Treasure, exactly? You or your son?”
As they each waited for someone else to catch Matthew up, Otis took off running for the front door. At first, Sandra didn’t even give chase. Where did he think he was going to go? An old man in an ice storm? But Peter went after him, so then Sandra chased after Peter.
Just as Otis reached the door and was about to push his way outside, out of nowhere a giant flashlight crashed into the back of his head. “Ugh!” He toppled over sideways, and for a second, Sandra feared that Ethel had killed him. But then he got to his feet and stumbled outside, one hand holding the top of his head.
Peter charged out after him. “Come on, Mom! We can stop him!”