forty-nine

Fletcher leapt from his seat. “What the hell is going on?” he bellowed. He glanced over at Harper’s pale face. “This is outrageous!”

Peggy took a startled step backwards and looked at me. I nodded at her and stood up. “Actually, this was my idea,” I said as I made my way up to the stage to stand next to Nigel. “Could the rest of the cast come out on stage now, please?” I asked. “Oh, and you, too, Mark,” I added. My phone buzzed with an incoming text. I glanced down and gave a sigh of relief as I read the message from Marcy.

There was an awkward silence as Nina, Brooke, Mark, and Jeremy shuffled out onto the stage. They stared at Peggy in confusion. “Would someone please explain to me the meaning of this?” Nina asked.

“I’d be happy to,” I said. “As you all know, Dan Trados was murdered and the police have unfortunately focused their attention on his wife, Harper. I’m here today to prove her innocence.”

Brooke glanced nervously at Nina and back at me. “How do you propose to do that?” she asked warily. Mark stepped next to her and grabbed her hand. She leaned back into him.

I smiled at her. “Simple. I know you were told that Peggy had added a new scene to the play, but that’s not entirely true,” I said.

“Actually, it’s not true at all,” Nigel said.

I nodded in agreement. “That’s true,” I admitted. “The scene you just watched was one that I wrote. I asked Peggy to pretend that she wanted to add it to the play.”

“But why?” Jeremy asked.

“Because I wanted to know what someone’s reaction would be,” I said. “I didn’t mention this part earlier, but everyone was secretly filmed during that scene. It was very illuminating.”

“So … so you know who killed Dan?” Harper said in a dazed voice from her seat.

I looked over at her and nodded. “Yes, I do.” I shifted my gaze to the one pair of eyes; eyes which now held an expression of fear.

“Who?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Zack Weems,” I answered.