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THEY SAW THE DOOR KNOB turn from the other side. Their eyes widened. Their breaths stopped.
Dana then rushed to the dresser to find something, anything that she could use to defend themselves, just in case.
“What if it’s the killer?” Katie whispered.
“I know. Maybe we should call the...”
Just then the door swung open.
Dana’s eyes opened wide.
“Relax, it’s only me.” It was Steve, the back up dancer.
Steve was dressed in a black leather jacket and had a Starbucks coffee cup in his hand. He had on blue jeans and black leather ankle boots. He sported a stubble, or more likely a five o’clock shadow that Dana hadn’t noticed before. If she remembered correctly, Steve was always clean-shaven—which fell more in line with his line of business in showbiz as a stage dancer. Right now, he looked rather rugged as if he’d been up all night.
“Oh, Steve. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you two ladies the same thing. I’m just here to get the rest of my stuff.”
“Late at night?”
“What are you two doing here?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why are you in Gigi’s dressing room?”
Dana didn’t know what to tell him. “Um...well, we just came to...um...”
“Now, let me guess, you’re not here about Carlos’s murder, are you?”
“N-no, of course not,” Dana laughed nervously. “We’re not cops. Why would we be investigating...a...um...a murder?”
“Because you solve murder mystery riddles on that blog of yours. I follow you on Instagram.”
Dana flushed. “You do?”
Wait a minute. Focus, Dana. Don’t let him throw you off guard.
“Yes, I do. Everybody follows you. You’re a rock star on the internet, man.”
Dana tried not to gush. “Well, I don’t feel that way, but thanks anyway.”
“No problem. So you mind telling me what you’re doing here?”
“Well, we were just looking around, but then we heard some noises like somebody was following us so we just came into the dressing room.”
“I see.”
“By the way, did you see anyone else around here?” Dana’s mind swirled with suspicion. She still didn’t quite buy why he was there alone at night with all the lights turned off. All the lights were off for goodness sake, which clearly meant that he was not too keen on alerting anyone to his presence there.
“Nope.” He casually took a sip of his coffee. The aroma permeated the air and made Dana thirst for a steaming hot mug herself. But then the last thing she would need right now was more caffeine to keep her up all night. She’d had her quota of caffeine intake for the day.
“No?” Dana echoed dubiously.
“Nope.” His tone was unwavering.
Okay, strange. He was acting very strange. Perhaps, he didn’t see anyone because he was the one who locked them in the dressing room. But why? What was he doing outside the room while they were locked inside?
Destroying evidence?
“Well, we’d better get going now.”
Dana couldn’t wait to tell Detective Troy, but then again, Troy would have a huge fit if he knew Dana had been snooping around the crime scene in the dark late at night.
Probably best not to worry him for no reason.
But Dana made mental note of this Steve character. He was one to watch for.
He was hiding something. He was definitely hiding something.