TALIA LOOKED DOLEFULLY around the room. “How did you figure out it was me?”
“Sunil and I saw you and Geoff in the frozen food aisle at Price Chopper,” Isobel said. “We overheard part of your conversation, but it didn’t make sense until we found out that you were the original Jennie and got bumped for Arden. And that you and Geoff had a thing.”
“I didn’t kill Arden,” Talia insisted. “You have to believe me.”
“People keep telling me I have to believe them,” Isobel said to Delphi.
“And do you?”
“In this case, I’m not sure.” Isobel turned to Talia. “Tell me why I shouldn’t believe you killed Arden in revenge for her taking your role. After all, you were perfectly willing to believe it of me.”
Talia flicked a strand of silky, dark hair behind her ear and sighed. “Geoff wrote the role for me. In his score, Jennie was a coloratura soprano. Lots of wonderful period-sounding parlor songs, an impassioned love song to Sousa, it was great stuff. His score really made the show. There was a gorgeous duet where Jennie accused Sousa of loving the band more than her, but Jethro made him take it out. Nothing could tarnish the image of his sainted Sousa.” Talia snorted in disgust. “Then we did the workshop for the Donnelly Group—”
“Wait, it was mounted just for the Donnellys?” Isobel asked.
“Not just for them, but they were the big fish. Otherwise it was a lot of random people. I remember one woman with witchy hair and wild eyes telling me she was going to invest twenty thousand so she could come to the opening night party on Broadway. Which was crazy, because at that point Broadway was a long shot.”
“And it became an even longer shot when Geoff’s score got junked,” Hugh said.
Talia nodded. “But the Donnelly Group was enthusiastic, and Felicity raised a bunch of money that day, but next thing we heard Jethro was revising the score and they were recasting Jennie. Geoff was crushed. I mean, I don’t know how much he let on to you, but he really was. I was, too. Marjorie Moody was always a character singing the opera arias, and Geoff got Felicity to let me play her. So I agreed to do it in return for my Equity card.”
“I can relate.” Isobel gave Hugh a triumphant look. “And then what happened?”
“Well, it looked for a while like the show might be kind of good.”
Delphi stifled a squawk.
“On what planet?” Isobel asked incredulously.
“It was a quality cast. Say what you will about her, Arden had star power. You guys are so good and you weren’t even playing big roles, and Chris has the right energy. This was at the beginning. I was excited.” She sighed. “Maybe I just wanted it to be good.”
“I can relate,” Hugh said, returning a look to Isobel.
“Anyway, I said something along those lines to Geoff, and he blew up at me. He said no way was this show going to succeed without him.” Talia took a deep breath. “He asked me if I would help him sabotage it, and I said no.”
“So he enlisted another ex-girlfriend,” Isobel said. “One so mousy and unprepossessing nobody would ever suspect her.”
“Heather,” Talia confirmed. “He never cared about her, but she mooned around after him like he was Beethoven. I think sometimes he preferred her adulation to my challenging him on musical matters. Our bond is based on mutual talent. With Heather, he could pretend he was special.”
“You knew what Heather was up to?”
Talia sighed. “Yeah. When I refused, he said fine, no problem, he was sure Heather would be willing to help. I was sure, too, so I put it out of my mind and tried to stay out of the way. First the masking fell, and then the thing with the coffee happened.” She blushed a bit. “You all know how sick I was. That pissed me off. That’s why I let slip to you guys that it might be Geoff. I told him you can’t hurt people trying to bring down the show.”
“What did he say to that?”
“You had your chance, and you chose not to help. Sorry if you were collateral damage.”
“Harsh.”
Talia sighed again. “Harsher still, he and Heather got back together. And I have to admit, I was jealous. When you saw us in the store, he was giving me the chance to help him out again, and this time I did, but I made him promise to dump Heather. We bought the shrimp that day, and then he and I were able to sneak back into the theater early the next morning because Heather had made him a set of keys.”
“Why did you even bother with the shrimp after Arden was dead? If that wasn’t going to kill the show, the shrimp wasn’t.”
Talia couldn’t resist a smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. The shrimp did shut down the show, albeit temporarily.” She sobered. “Besides, at that point we didn’t know Arden had been murdered. If we’d known that, we never would have done it. At least I wouldn’t have.”
Isobel leaned forward. “I don’t think you killed Arden any more than I did, and I don’t see Heather going that far either, but how can you be certain Geoff didn’t?”
Talia’s face whitened. “He wanted the show to fail, but he wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“How well do you know him? How well do we really know anyone? What about Oliver?”
Isobel could feel Hugh’s disapproving gaze on her, but she kept her eyes trained on Talia and saw doubt play across her delicate features.
“But don’t you think the person who killed Arden is the same person who killed Thomas?”
“Yes, of course,” Isobel said.
Talia looked palpably relieved. “I know who killed Thomas. I saw him.”
“What? Who?”
Talia shrank back into her chair. “I’m not sure if I should say.”
“I’m not sure if you’re being coy or if you’re legitimately scared, but I don’t care,” Isobel said. “Let me put it this way. Geoff is figuring pretty high on our list of suspects right now. If you can provide a credible alternative, I suggest you do. Otherwise, my next phone call is to Detective Dillon. About all of it.”
“Fine.” Talia clasped her hands in her lap and steeled herself. “It was Chris.”
Delphi gasped, Sunil made a “hunh” sound, and Hugh exclaimed, “Chris?” but Isobel remained silent. If Talia was telling the truth, Isobel was spending most of the show alone onstage with a murderer. Anything could happen—had already happened—in full view of the audience, and she would be powerless to protect herself.
“You don’t believe me,” Talia said when Isobel didn’t respond. “It was right at the top of act two, during the chorus bit, before the seaside concert scene. I had ducked into the bathroom offstage left to check my makeup. When I took my place in the wings, I saw Chris off to the side, near the alley door. He looked a little wild. He was tucking his shirttail into his pants, and there was a splotch of blood on it.”
“Wait, you didn’t actually see him kill Thomas?” Isobel asked.
“Well, no. I never left the building. But he must have just come back inside after having done it.”
“And then what happened?”
“At the time, I didn’t know about Thomas, so I put it out of my head. Then we went onstage.”
“Did you tell anyone else?” Isobel asked.
Talia shook her head. “I didn’t, because of the other stuff. I was afraid that would all come out somehow. My involvement. And Geoff’s.”
“And Heather’s,” Delphi added.
“I don’t give a shit about Heather,” Talia said hotly. “If she hadn’t gotten her claws back into Geoff, I wouldn’t be involved at all. And he’s only using her. He and I have something special.”
Isobel resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and instead cast her mind back to the night Thomas was murdered.
“I don’t remember anything off about Chris. It was my second performance, and he was pretty attentive. Not distracted or anything.”
“All that means is he’s able to compartmentalize,” Talia said.
“He didn’t the night Arden was killed,” Hugh said. “I was watching him from the pit. He looked completely freaked out when she collapsed.”
“He would have to, wouldn’t he?” Isobel pointed out. “He was in full view of the audience. If he’d been all ‘oh, yeah, dead soprano, no biggie,’ people would have pinned it on him immediately. Don’t forget, he’s an excellent actor.”
“And he killed Thomas because…?” Sunil asked.
Isobel turned to him. “Because Thomas figured out how Arden was killed.”
“Which was how?” Talia asked.
“Remember she sat on an exposed wire during tech?”
“Yeah, but Thomas fixed it.”
“Someone unfixed it and dipped it in pure nicotine. Pretty effective way to deliver a fast-acting poison.”
Talia blanched. “What? How?”
“Chris must have gotten the idea when she complained about it during tech,” Sunil said. “You told us Chris and Arden used to be engaged. Do you know what happened between them?”
“No, but whatever it was, it ended badly.”
“Obviously,” Delphi said.
Talia shot her a look. “I mean before this.”
“How did you even hear about them? Did Chris tell you? Arden?”
“Marissa told me. She may know more. You’d have to ask her.”
“Dillon brought Chris in for questioning but didn’t keep him,” Isobel said. “I wonder why.”
“Not enough evidence, probably,” Sunil said.
“I wonder…” Isobel began.
Sunil jumped suddenly, and like a ripple effect, the others started in response.
“What the hell?” Delphi yelped.
“Sorry, my phone buzzed.” He pulled it from his pocket, and a curious expression took over his face.
“What is it?” Isobel asked.
“A text from Kelly.” Sunil looked up. “Chris is sick, and Ezra vetoed Jethro. I’m on as Sousa tonight.”