The rest of the evening was a complete blur. Thomas arrested Tom and took our statements. Kerry tended to Carlos’s arm. I should have gone with my first instinct, which had been not to trust Tom, but there had been so many other suspects who all seemed to have valid motives for wanting Jimmy dead.
When we finally made it home, I collapsed into bed and was asleep in minutes. I barely woke to the sound of my alarm the next morning, which was not typical for me. I felt almost hungover as I tugged on a pair of jeans and a thin hoodie with a T-shirt underneath, and tied my hair into a ponytail.
It was a relief to start the day knowing that Jimmy’s killer had been arrested, but I couldn’t shake the sluggish feeling, not with my first cup of coffee at Torte or a sugar-coated cardamom bun. The events of the past week had finally caught up with me.
I spent the bulk of the day talking with the team about the new roles we’d be hiring for, and chatting with a couple of former colleagues about potential replacements. I was motivated to try and get new hires in place quickly so they could shadow Steph and Sterling for a few days. As much as I wanted to wallow in losing two of my favorite staff, I had a job to do, which in some ways made the reality easier to face.
Around noon I went upstairs to check on the dining room. As I circled past tables, clearing dishes and refilling coffees, I noticed Bertie, Olive, Ed, and Sophie gathered at one of the booths.
“Can I top anyone off?” I held up the fresh pot.
“Yes, please.” Sophie passed over her cup.
“I’m guessing you’ve heard about Tom?” I asked as I poured the aromatic brew.
“It’s so sad,” Sophie said, fighting back tears. “Why did he have to kill Jimmy?”
“If you ask me, it sounds like things got out of hand,” Ed said, holding his cup for a refill. “I wonder if he had planned to kill Jimmy, or if things escalated once they had the confrontation in the cellar.”
“Yeah, but the police mentioned money and investments.” Sophie blew on her coffee. “It sounds like Tom may have planned to kill him for that reason alone. He was desperate for money and saw Jimmy as the only obstacle in his path. It’s just mind-numbing to me that someone could kill another person in cold blood over something as stupid as money.”
Olive unzipped an oversized purse, pulled out leather notebook, and flipped it open. “Speaking of money, I know I owe you all an apology. I’ve started making an itemized list of everything I sold. I’m going to work with Lance and Arlo on a repayment plan. I wish I could go back in time and make a different decision, but instead all I can do is try and make it up to you and assure you that even with my financial challenges, I never would have resorted to violence.”
“That’s the problem with working in the arts,” Bertie said, placing her hand over her cup to signal she didn’t need a top-off. “It’s a real challenge to pull in a living wage. We constantly hear this message about doing it because we love the work and the craft, but the truth is we all need to pay rent and eat.”
“I appreciate that,” Olive replied. “It doesn’t excuse what I’ve done, though. And, to your point, Sophie, I think Jimmy ultimately sealed his own fate. He confronted me about stealing from the company and wanted a cut. When I spoke with the detectives and confessed about what I’d done, they told me that Jimmy had a habit of blackmailing people for money. He was good at learning secrets and using them for his benefit.”
“You think Jimmy was blackmailing Tom?” Sophie asked with a gasp.
“I’m sure of it.” Olive shot her an apologetic smile. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, and I don’t think it condones Tom’s behavior, but if Tom saw Jimmy as an obstacle in his path, it was because Jimmy was threatening to go public with Tom’s secrets. I’m speaking from my own experience. Jimmy gave me an ultimatum. I either had to split the money I’d made with him, or he was going to tell everyone what I’d done.”
That tracked to what Lance had learned about Tom’s poor investments. Tom had been tight-lipped when Lance confronted him last night, but I agreed with Olive. I didn’t know how, but Jimmy must have learned about Tom’s predicament and attempted to use it to his advantage. It was likely what got him killed.
“What’s going to happen with the Fair Verona Players now?” I asked. That hadn’t come up with Lance last night, although that wasn’t surprising given that we had helped apprehend Tom. If it weren’t for Carlos blocking Tom’s getaway in order to give the police time to arrive on the scene he might have gotten away.
When I thought about it, it didn’t seem real. Had my husband really placed himself in the direct path of danger to bring Tom to justice? It made me love him even more, but I never wanted him to do something like that again.
Bertie answered first, looking directly at each member of the troupe. “The show must go on. In fact, that’s just what I was saying to the group. We’re having an all-hands meeting with Lance later today. The rave reviews continue to come through. We have a week to reset and regroup.”
Her pep talk reminded me of Lance. I had a feeling Bertie was going to make a great director one day.
“I think we should dedicate the next performance to Jimmy,” Ed suggested.
“Wow, I’m shocked to hear you of all people say that about Jimmy,” Sophie said, staring at him with wide eyes. “I thought you hated him.”
“Jimmy and I never were going to be the best of friends, but that doesn’t mean that I wanted him dead.” Ed frowned. He reached his hand out to Sophie to comfort her and then pulled it back, as if he wasn’t sure how.
“I thought you killed him for a while there,” Sophie said, taking a long drink of her coffee. “Come to think of it, at different points I thought each of you did it. Which reminds me, why were you in Jimmy’s dressing room that night?” she asked Bertie.
Bertie thought for a minute. “When?”
“After the show. I saw you sneaking out of his dressing room shortly before he was killed.”
“Oh, that.” Bertie nodded in acknowledgment. “Show notes. I left them for all the cast members.”
“Why were you being so secretive about it?”
“Was I?” Bertie shrugged and guzzled more coffee. “I don’t know. I didn’t think I was sneaking. I was trying to hurry back outside to patrons and didn’t want to disturb the winery staff. I knew that I wasn’t going to have a chance to speak with Jimmy because everyone was going to want autographs, so I figured I would leave my notes for each of the actors to review and then we would discuss the next day.”
“Oh, okay. I was probably being paranoid. Once I learned that Jimmy was killed, you sneaking around in his dressing room seemed so suspicious. When I think about it now, it doesn’t even make sense. How would you have killed him upstairs and dragged his body to the cellar?” Sophie’s voice quivered. She laced her fingers together tightly and tried to compose herself. “I’ve been so desperate to figure out who killed him, I guess I probably should have taken a breath and let the authorities investigate instead of accusing all of you. It’s pretty terrible to think the worst about your colleagues.”
“Yeah, but in fairness to you, we all had reasons to lie,” Ed added, glancing at me, his chin dipping to his chest as his shoulders sagged slightly with remorse. “I think Tom set me up. He gave me the key to the cellar. He wanted me to take the wine so that I was the one seen in the basement. He wanted me to take the fall. Once you realize that you were near the crime scene, even if you’re innocent, it’s hard not to freak out a little.”
Olive nodded in agreement. “We’re our own worst emeries.”
“Hopefully we can change that moving forward,” Bertie said with confidence. “We have such a good thing going with this production. It has the potential to put the Fair Verona Players on the map, and all of you are part of the show’s success. We need to reward that and make sure that we compensate you accordingly. I’m going to speak with Lance about raising pay. I know that he’ll be in full support of the idea. Tom was the one who insisted that his aunt’s money not be earmarked for salaries. It’s time to change that. It sounds like everyone is barely scraping by, and I’d rather scale back our expansion plans and focus on better equity for the cast and crew first.”
“That would be another awesome way to honor Jimmy.” Sophie brushed away a tear.
“Maybe we can set up a Jimmy Paxton memorial fund,” Ed suggested, which made Sophie cry harder and throw her arms around him.
I left them to brainstorm and discuss what was next for the Fair Verona Players. It sounded like, despite the terrible events, the troupe was all committed to making the outdoor theater a success.
They had also inadvertently answered several questions that had been bothering me, like why Bertie had been in Jimmy’s dressing room and what had motivated Olive to steal from the company.
I hoped that they could find funds to raise salaries and pay the artists what they were worth. I made a mental note to talk to Lance and Carlos about what else Uva might be able to do to support their efforts.
The artistic community in Ashland was unparalleled, and I would do anything I could to make sure that more artists could not just continue to live here but also to thrive.