Mystery on Stage (6 page)

“You have a colorful part,” Mrs. McGregor reminded him.

“Well, yes,” Richard admitted. “But a brighter suit would make me stand out more in the Emerald City.”

Violet didn't know what to say. She nodded a little and continued painting. By the time rehearsal was over, the Yellow Brick Road was finished.

“Tomorrow, after the paint dries, they'll put the canvas on the big wooden frame Henry made,” Mrs. McGregor said.

Before she left, Violet went to the costume room to get her coat. She carefully checked all the costumes. Mrs. Adams had made Dorothy a new blue-checked pinafore, and it hung crisply on a hook. The Lion and Scarecrow costumes lay finished on one of the tables. Nothing had been touched.

Violet breathed a sigh of relief, until she looked for the poster. It was missing!

“What's the matter?” Nancy asked as she came into the costume room behind Violet. Violet's eyes were very wide.

“The poster I made is gone!” Violet's voice shook a little.

“It has to be somewhere,” Nancy pointed out. She began to look in the closet and under the table. “Did you notice anyone coming into the costume room when you were painting scenery?”

Violet frowned. “Well, yes,” she said. “Richard.”

Nancy nodded.

“And other people came in and out,” Violet continued, “but I didn't pay much attention.”

Nancy sighed. “I'm going to look for the poster backstage, then I'll make an announcement. Maybe someone already hung it outside.”

“No, I don't think so,” a shrill voice said behind them. Melody had silently slipped into the room wearing her pink ballet slippers. She waved her hands in front of her to show off her purple nail polish.

Nancy and Violet stared at her in surprise.

“What do you mean, you don't think so?” Nancy asked. “Have you seen the poster?”

“Why, isn't it over there?” Melody pointed with her purple-nailed index finger.

The poster stood in the far corner of the room facing the wall. Violet examined it carefully. Everything looked all right except someone had tried to make the letters in Richard's name bigger!

“Of all the nerve!” Nancy exclaimed.

Violet stared at her poster in silence. “I think I can fix it,” she said after a few moments. “I'll just have to make Sarah's name a little bigger, too.”

Nancy just shook her head. “I'm going to have to have a talk with Richard.” She hurried out of the room.

Melody paid no attention to the conversation between Nancy and Violet. “I want to see my Scarecrow costume,” she insisted. “Now.”

“It's right here.” Violet pointed to the patchwork jumpsuit filled with cotton and straw.

“It looks so itchy,” Melody complained.

Violet sighed. “It shouldn't be,” she answered. “The straw won't be touching your skin.”

“I wish I could wear one of these long dresses,” Melody said as she inspected one of the long pink silk gowns hanging on the rack.

“Melody?” Violet asked. “How did you know where the poster was?”

Melody played with one of the rings on her finger. “I just saw it there when I came in earlier to change into my ballet slippers.”

“Did you notice anyone fiddling with it?”

Melody held the pink gown to her body and examined her reflection in the full-length mirror. “What do you mean fiddling with it?” she asked without looking at Violet.

“I mean, did you see anyone changing the lettering on it?” Although Violet sounded polite, she was beginning to lose her patience.

“No.” Melody shook her long auburn curls. “The poster was just sitting there against the wall. I didn't touch it, if that's what you mean. Why would I want to make Richard's name bigger?”

Melody twirled in front of the mirror one more time before hanging the dress back on the rack. She left the room without saying another word to Violet.

When Nancy came back, she looked discouraged. “Richard's left for the evening. I promise you, I'll talk to him tomorrow.”

Violet sighed. “I think I'll finish this poster at home. I have lots of paints there.”

“Don't stay up too late,” Nancy advised as she put on her coat. “You'll need your energy for all those costume fittings tomorrow.”

“I won't,” Violet assured her as she gathered her things to leave.

As the Aldens walked out of the Community Playhouse, they noticed a big white car pulled up in front of the building. A man in a tweed coat sat behind the wheel drumming his fingers on the dashboard.

“Have you seen a girl named Sarah Bellamy?” the man called to the Aldens as they walked past his car.

“Yes, we know her. She's staying late to practice her lines with Jim, the director,” Jessie answered.

The man shook his head impatiently. “I can't wait here forever,” he complained as he leaned on his horn and honked.

“I don't think she can hear you,” Benny pointed out. The man glared in Benny's direction.

“Would one of you mind going inside to find her?” The man tried to sound polite. “You see, I don't want to lose my parking place,” he explained.

“I can go,” Benny said.

“I'll go with you, Benny,” said Jessie. She didn't notice any other cars parked nearby and wondered why the man was afraid of losing his parking place.

“We'll meet you at the house, then,” Mrs. McGregor suggested. “I have to get dinner started, and Soo Lee and Violet are helping me. Aren't you?” she added winking at them.

“I'll help with dinner, too,” Henry said as he stamped his feet a little on the pavement to keep warm. He took the poster from Violet to carry.

It took Jessie and Benny longer than they thought to walk backstage because they met some cast members in the lobby.

“Have you seen Sarah?” they asked.

“No,” Mrs. Adams answered. “But she did say something a while ago about wanting to stay late for practice.”

Once Jessie and Benny reached the auditorium, it was completely dark. “All the actors must have left,” Benny said.

The Aldens looked in the costume room, the dressing rooms, and on the stage. Jessie even turned on the house lights so she could see the whole auditorium, but Sarah was nowhere to be found.

“She must have gone home,” Jessie said finally as she turned off the lights. “Maybe she didn't know she was getting picked up.”

“It's funny Jim's gone, too,” Benny said. “He usually likes to stay late!”

“We seem to be the only ones here,” Jessie said, looking out at the darkened auditorium.

Benny nodded. “Let's go out and tell that man we can't find Sarah,” he said. “Do you think he's her father?” he added.

Jessie shrugged. “He might be. He does look a little bit like her.”

“He has dark hair and blue eyes,” said Benny. “Sarah does, too.”

Before they left, Jessie made sure all the lights controlled by the lighting board were turned off. She took the red flashlight near the board so Benny and she could find their way to the door.

“It's dark back here,” Benny said as he sidestepped a pile of lumber stacked near the wall. “I'm glad you found a flashlight.”

“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “I don't know why they turned the night-light off.”

“Jessie!” Benny whispered loudly. He grabbed his sister's arm. “I hear voices!”

Jessie moved closer to the backstage door. “Don't worry, they're just talking outside,” she whispered. “No one's backstage.”

“I won't let you do this!” a man's voice said angrily.

“Do you think that's Jim?” Benny whispered. “Who's he talking to?”

Jessie put her finger to her lips and shook her head. “I can't tell,” she said after a moment.

“You have to stop!” the man kept saying. The girl answered in low muffled tones.

“That's Sarah's voice!” Benny whispered. “But I can't hear what she's saying.”

Benny and Jessie looked at each other. Benny's big eyes grew even rounder. “Do you think Sarah's been the one doing all those things to the props and costumes … ?”

“And Jim's telling her to stop?” Jessie finished the sentence for her brother. She shook her head. “It sounds that way, but we don't know for sure.”

Jessie beamed the flashlight on the doorknob. “Why don't we go outside and see what's going on?” she suggested.

Suddenly the girl outside the stage door burst into tears. Jessie hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. “I don't think we should interrupt their conversation,” she said finally.

Benny nodded. “Okay. We can go out the side door,” he said.

Jessie turned, but something caught her eye.

“Look, Benny,” she called in a low voice.

“What is it?” Benny asked.

Jessie pointed the flashlight at the backdrop of the wizard's palace. “Somebody moved it,” Jessie whispered. “When we were working this afternoon on the Yellow Brick Road, I'm sure the Wizard's palace was facing the wall near those boards.”

When Jessie shone the light on the Wizard's palace, the Aldens could see it was splattered with big drops of black paint. Attached to the set was a big note written in red ink.

“Can you read what it says?” Benny asked. Jessie moved her flashlight. Softly she read the note aloud. It said:

Watch out, my pretty!

CHAPTER 8

Dress Rehearsal

J
essie and Benny stared at the ruined set in horror.

“Who would do that?” asked Benny. “Can it be fixed?”

It took Jessie a few moments to answer. “Let's go find Jim,” she finally said. “I hope that was his voice we heard. Maybe he's still outside.”

Jessie and Benny rushed out the backstage door, but no one was in sight.

“Let's go home. We can look up Jim's phone number,” Jessie suggested at last.

In the street, Jessie and Benny saw no sign of the man in the big white car.

“Maybe he found Sarah when we were backstage,” Benny said to his sister as they hurried home.

Jessie nodded absentmindedly. “I can't help thinking about that conversation we overheard,” Jessie said. “I just can't believe Sarah would do all those things. She's so serious about her acting — and about this show.”

At home, Mrs. McGregor waited to serve dinner until Jessie and Benny could call Jim. They were surprised to find his number wasn't listed in the phone book.

“Try Nancy,” Grandfather suggested.

“She's not home,” Jessie said as she put down the receiver a moment later. “What are we going to do?”

“You really think the set is ruined?” Violet said sadly. She couldn't believe it.

“We might be able to touch it up, but it will never really look the same,” Jessie said.

“Well, there's nothing you can do about it tonight. You've tried your best,” Grandfather said gently. “Why don't we all have dinner and try to forget these problems until tomorrow.”

But the Aldens could not forget. That evening, Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Soo Lee sat up late talking. They made a list of all the suspicious things that had happened. Then they tried to remember who had been backstage when anything had gone wrong. Their list of suspects included Melody, Richard, Sarah, and even the Tinman.

“After all, we've never even seen the Tinman's face,” Henry said.

“He doesn't even take his tin head off to eat!” Benny added.

“Maybe we should add Melody's mother to the list?” Violet suggested.

“She hasn't really been backstage at all since the auditions,” Henry reminded them. “What we really need to do now is watch these people carefully. I'd be willing to watch Richard and see what he does.”

“That's a very good idea,” Jessie said. “I'll take Sarah. I'm on stage with her so much anyway.”

“I'll tail Melody,” Violet volunteered. “She comes to the costume room a lot to complain about her Scarecrow outfit.”

“That leaves Soo Lee and me with the Tinman,” Benny said. “Between the two of us, we should be able to see everything he does.”

First thing in the morning, the Aldens rushed to the playhouse. Nancy and Jim were already backstage. After one look at their faces, the Aldens knew they had seen the ruined set.

“We saw it like that last night and tried to call you,” Jessie said. She was a little out of breath from running.

“Tell us exactly what you saw,” Jim said quietly. He looked very serious.

Jessie and Benny told him all they could about the white car, the man looking for Sarah, the darkened auditorium, and the discovery of the ruined set. They even told him about the conversation they had overheard between Sarah and someone. At the mention of the conversation, Jim looked puzzled, but he didn't say anything.

At the end of the Aldens' story, Jim sighed heavily. “Well, I must have another talk with the cast,” he said slowly. “In the meantime, we're going to have to redo this set.”