“I know!” Sara said. “Now I know many things.”
“So who killed Sean?” Kate demanded.
“That’s the one thing we don’t know,” Byon called from across the room.
“Please,” Sara said to Kate. “We’re trying to get the scripts ready and we need every second. How’s Chris? Has anyone fed him? Have you eaten?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. I guess he’s fine.”
Sara clasped Kate’s wrist. “Go find Chris. Have a picnic. Clive is on his way back, so he and Jack will be creating the sets.”
“He’s with Teddy.” Kate didn’t like that she sounded like a petulant preteen.
“Diana is going to take her into town to buy a dress. It’ll have to be shortened.” Sara’s eyes were pleading. She’d often complained that time to write was one of the biggest problems of her life.
Kate stepped back. “Okay. I’ll steal food from Mrs. Aiken and find Chris.”
Sara glanced over her shoulder at Byon, who was glowering for her to quit talking and get back to work. She leaned forward and whispered, “Take Nicky’s tux to him. I think it’ll fit.” Sara gave Kate a knowing look, then shut the door.
Kate stood there for a moment, as the realization dawned on her.
Twenty minutes later, she had a basket full of food—Mrs. Aiken prepared it when Kate told her it was for the man who was going to play Nicky—and a tuxedo in a garment bag. She did her best to stay out of sight of everyone as she hurried to the gatehouse to find Chris. They sat outside and ate, and she told him everything she knew—and the two of them conjectured on what they didn’t know.
Twenty-Four
Just after five, Jack arrived in one of the little work trucks in a flurry of gravel and dirt. He was carrying two sealed brown envelopes.
Chris and Kate were sitting outside, the lunch basket nearby.
Jack handed them the envelopes. “Read your parts and memorize your lines. Get to the house at six thirty.” He looked at Chris. “Wear your tux.”
“I need to get dressed,” Kate said. “There isn’t enough time for me to memorize anything.”
Jack pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Nadine isn’t seen until Act Five. And by then, I’m dead.”
“Who killed you?” she asked. “I mean, killed Sean?”
“You think I was told that?” He looked at Chris. “Your script is fat. I think you have a lot to do.”
“I’ll help you with your lines,” Kate said. “We can—”
“No!” Jack said. “Orders from Queen Sara and Byon, the Court Musician. No one is to read anyone else’s script.” He looked at Kate. “Stay or go?”
She got in the truck beside him and looked at Chris. “You’ll be okay?”
Jack snorted. “Do you mean can he dress himself, read and walk all the way to the house by himself?”
“Stop being a jerk,” Kate said.
“I’m in character. Poor ol’ Sean dies tonight.” Jack turned the truck around, gave a thumbs-up to Chris and drove as fast as the vehicle would go back to the house.
Kate ran upstairs to her room, flopped down on the bed and began reading her pages as Nadine. In the first part she was in the bathroom. Pregnancy made her throw up. “A fun part to play,” Kate said.
As she turned the pages, her eyes widened. What happened after Nadine discovered that Sean was gone fascinated her. It called for her to retrieve something that might or might not still be there.
She looked at her watch. Maybe she had enough time to do a little preplay searching. When she got off the bed, she saw the note that had been slipped under the door between hers and Jack’s room.
Sara said you can’t go and look. jack