“I DON’T THINK Arden smoked,” Felicity said.
Isobel paused outside the door to Felicity’s office, which was open a crack. She waited for a response, but when Felicity spoke again, Isobel realized she was on the phone.
“I see. No, of course. I understand. Please let me know when you have more information. Thank you.”
Isobel lurked for a moment, waiting to see if Felicity was the sort of person who talked to herself and might repeat whatever had just been said on the other end of the line, but all she heard was the desk drawer open and shut and the clacking of computer keys. She rapped lightly on the door.
“Come in,” Felicity bade her. “Are you here to sign your Equity contract?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Makes things easier all around.”
Isobel had a flash that Hugh was right and she was somehow getting the short end of the stick, but she’d made up her mind decisively after speaking to her brother Percival, whose opinion she valued more than any of her friends’. He’d encouraged her to take the risk and had given her an idea.
“On one condition,” she said.
“Oh? And what’s that?” Felicity said with a touch of amusement.
“I’m helping you out of a difficult situation by saving you the time and expense of finding someone to replace Arden, but it’s costing me money. I think it’s only fair that the theater split the Equity initiation fee with me.”
Felicity stared at her, and for a moment Isobel feared that she’d miscalculated. But to her surprise, Felicity’s mouth widened into the first true smile Isobel had seen since her false friendliness at the auditions. A chuckle welled up from deep within her.
“Why not? Kelly has your contract ready to go,” Felicity said. “She’ll be in at one.”
Isobel had prepared herself for a flat no or at least an indignant outburst. Before she could recover and express her thanks, voices raised in argument distracted them both. Isobel heard footsteps in the hallway before Jethro and Ezra burst in.
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Ezra said.
“We are not cutting the duet,” Jethro insisted.
“But you said yourself she can’t sing it.”
“Stop!” Felicity put up her hands.
Isobel backed out of the room but didn’t leave entirely, positioning herself behind the two men, whose double girth made a convenient screen.
“Delphi stays. If she can’t sing the duet, it’s out,” Felicity said firmly. “I’ve made that clear.”
“But—”
“Jethro!” Felicity’s bark was so unexpected that Jethro took a step backward and almost trampled on Isobel, who skittered out of the way just in time. “With everything else that’s going on, you’re being maddeningly shortsighted. Hugh will work on a solo version with Chris. From there, we’ll have to see.”
“I want to audition new actresses for the part,” Jethro said.
“This is ridiculous!” Ezra exploded.
Jethro wheeled on him, forcing Isobel to dart around the corner. “You are trying to sabotage my show!”
Ezra’s whole body shook with rage. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m trying to save your show, you—you ape!”
“You rigged the masking to fall, you poisoned the coffee, you tampered with the orchestra parts…” Jethro took a deep breath and geared up for the final accusation. “And you tipped off Roman Fried, who trashed the show!”
Ezra shook his head in disbelief. “Why would I do anything to sabotage a show that has my name—my good name—attached to it?”
“Because I threw out your boyfriend’s score.”
Isobel gave a tiny squeak of surprise and clapped her hand over her mouth.
“How…dare…you,” Ezra seethed.
“Do you deny it?”
“Geoff brought me in on the project, yes, but he is absolutely not, nor has he ever been, my boyfriend. Not my team. I have no idea what put that in your head.”
“Fine, play dumb.”
“I’m not the one who’s dumb. No matter how much I might have preferred Geoff’s score, I would never—ever—sabotage my own work. Nobody in their right mind would do such a thing. So stop talking out your ass and making excuses for your own failures.”
“That’s enough,” Felicity said sternly.
“I suppose next you’re going to accuse me of killing Arden,” Ezra bellowed.
“Will you two stop—”
“Of course not,” Jethro said. “I know who killed Arden.”
A pregnant silence filled the air. Isobel held as still as possible.
Finally, Felicity spoke. “What are you talking about? We don’t have any reason to believe her death was a result of foul play.”
“Oh, but it was.” A cryptic smile overtook Jethro’s doughy features.
“Then who killed her?” Ezra asked, rising to the bait.
“The ghost of Robert Livingston,” Jethro said somberly. “He haunts the theater, you know. I’ve seen him.”
“OH, MAN,” SUNIL SAID. “And what did Ezra say to that?”
Isobel followed him as he turned his grocery cart down the frozen food aisle. “He was more or less speechless,” she said. “And then Jethro launched into this whole song and dance about how the ghost of Robert Livingston appears from time to time in full Revolutionary regalia, but only when he doesn’t like someone’s performance.” She pulled a box of frozen spanakopita out of Sunil’s hands and tossed it back in the bin. “Did you read the fat content on that?”
Sunil retrieved the spinach pie and dropped it in his cart. “Take it up with Hugh. Since he’s stuck in rehearsal with Delphi, he asked me to pick up some stuff for him.” Sunil waved a ripped sheet of music paper covered in Hugh’s careful English schoolboy penmanship.
“I should probably pick up some stuff for Delphi, now that you mention it.”
“Who was Robert Livingston anyway?”
“One of the Founding Fathers. Haven’t you ever seen 1776?”
“The movie, yeah. Wait, is he the guy from New York who keeps abstaining courteously?”
“No. That’s Lewis Morris. Livingston gets a verse in the quintet. The one about popping the cork.”
“In old New York. Right.”
“Anyway, Felicity declared the duet down for the count, and kicked them both out. But this was interesting. Jethro accused Ezra of tipping off Fried in order to sabotage the show.”
“Why would Ezra do that?”
Isobel stopped her cart and examined the nutritional information on a box of frozen pizza. “Jethro claimed Ezra was Geoff’s boyfriend and he was getting revenge.”
“Ezra? Totally struck me as straight.”
“Me, too. So did Geoff, for that matter, although I only spoke to him for a second. But my gaydar is pretty dependable.”
“By the way, did you ever find out what Geoff said to Hugh?”
“It was only a brief exchange of pleasantries, and I don’t think he’s seen Geoff since.” She replaced the pizza and selected a different brand. “Boyfriend or not, I suppose Ezra could be trying to tank the show before it tarnishes his reputation.”
“But what about the other pranks?”
Isobel tossed the second box in her cart and pushed on. “Ezra has full access to the theater, so that’s not a stretch. The only thing is now he’s stuck up here after his contract is over, when he could be on to the next thing.”
“I’m sure Felicity will pay him.”
“That’s not the point. Why would he have done all that stuff if the result meant he had to associate himself with this show longer than necessary?”
“Because he thought the pranks would shut it down, not extend his job.”
“He volunteered to stay. I heard him. He didn’t have to.” They turned the corner into the soda aisle, where she added two bottles of Adirondack seltzer to her cart. “Are you almost done?”
He snatched a bag of lime Tostitos from a column of chips. “I don’t suppose you’re going to let me get these?”
“Damn you. My kryptonite!” Isobel moaned. “Fine, throw ’em in. We need something to snack on when we play Celebrity.”
“I wonder when we’ll know more about Arden,” Sunil mused.
“Felicity was talking to someone on the phone about her when I got there.”
“You have an uncanny knack for being well hidden in the right place at the right time.”
“The door was ajar,” Isobel said innocently. “She seemed to be answering basic health questions about Arden. Didn’t get much.”
They turned into the cereal aisle, where Sunil grabbed a box of Rice Krispies and Isobel selected Kashi Crunch.
“It could have been natural causes if she had an underlying health condition of some kind. Or maybe she OD’d on beta-blockers,” he said.
Isobel held up a box of fudge Pop-Tarts. “I wonder. I mean, we don’t know much about her personal life, except her pageant career.”
“And there’s no reason to go digging. Not yet, anyway.” He pointed to the Pop-Tarts. “Hypocrite.”
“A treat for Delphi. They’re her kryptonite.” She dropped the box in her cart.
“Ice cream and then we’re out.” He leaned in suggestively. “You know you want it.”
They returned to the frozen food section, and Isobel stopped short, causing Sunil to bump into her. Geoff and Talia were standing halfway down the aisle, engaged in heated conversation.
Isobel abandoned her cart and pulled Sunil behind a tower display of two-liter Sprite on sale.
Talia’s clear soprano carried down the aisle. “I’m not playing games anymore.”
Isobel’s eyes widened, and Sunil put his finger to his lips.
“All right, I’ll do it,” Geoff said in a tight voice.
“Do you promise?” Talia asked.
“Sealed with a kiss. Can’t do better than that,” Geoff said.
“Then the answer is yes,” Talia said.
Geoff didn’t respond, and a few moments later, Sunil peeked around the side of the Sprite tower.
“Gone,” he said. “That was certainly unexpected.”
“It sure was.” Isobel followed him to the ice cream compartment. “But it couldn’t be more obvious what they were talking about. She’s been doing his dirty work and she wants to stop. She’s a musician, so she could easily have marked up the parts.”
“What did he promise? And what did she agree to?”
“I don’t know.” Isobel grabbed his carton of Pralines and Cream and slammed it back in the freezer case.
“Hey, you okayed the ice cream!” Sunil protested.
“We’ve got to get out of here and go tell someone.”
He stopped her cart with his foot. “Tell someone what? You have no evidence. They could have been talking about anything.”
“Like what?”
Sunil threw up his hands. “How should I know? But running around spreading hearsay is not going to do much for your reputation around the theater. Now give me my ice cream back.”
She sighed and retrieved the ice cream. “You’re right. But we did learn one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Sealed with a kiss? Obviously when Talia was telling us about Geoff, she left a few things out.”