Tate knelt down beside her, took her other hand, and stared into her eyes. “We all do things that aren’t very smart. It’s part of growing up. Right now you need to tell us the facts about when you left with him.”
“Devlin said I’d need my passport to prove my age to get into the adult party, but I couldn’t let him see that I’d lied. Did you know that Taylor Swift and I are exactly the same height? My friends said that boys hate tall girls and that’s why I never have any dates.”
Tate stood up. “Lori, heterosexual boys love any and all girls. And I’ll get you a date with a six-foot-two pop star if you’ll just tell us what happened.”
“Oh,” Lori said, and blinked a couple of times. “Devlin took me to a motel. He said we had to wait for the others to arrive, but they didn’t. I told him I wanted to go home, but he said we couldn’t leave. He wouldn’t let me leave! He watched me every minute. He…”
Casey took her hand. “Did he touch you in any way?”
“No,” Lori said. “I think he wanted to. The first night, he lay down beside me on the bed, but I started groaning. I said it was the wrong time of the month. I’ve never, you know, with a guy, and he’s really old. Too old to do that. Sorry, Mr. Landers. I know he’s your age.”
“That’s all right,” Tate said, smiling. “What about the note you left for your grandmother?”
“I didn’t write one. I wanted
to, but Devlin said I shouldn’t. He said that if I left on my own it would show Grams that I’m an independent being and that I’m tired of being treated like a little kid.” She looked down at her hands. “The girls were posting that I was a spoiled brat, so he was saying what I wanted to hear. He told me to pack a party dress and a bikini and that’s all I’d need. I put a lot more in my suitcase, but when we got to the motel, he took away my cellphone and my laptop. He wouldn’t let me talk to anyone. I tried to use the phone in the room, but he cut the line. By the second day I was really scared of him.” She started crying again.
Hugging her, Casey looked up at Tate.
“Lori,” he said, “listen to me. Did you see those men in suits backstage? They’re FBI agents, and they’re here because Haines took you away. He is not related to you; he has no rights of guardianship over you.” He glanced at Casey. “I think you’ve had enough of all this. We’re going to the FBI now.”
“But what about the play?” Lori asked.
“Forget it,” Tate said. “We can’t put you through any more of this.”
Lori stood up. “No! I can’t do that to people. The whole town is looking forward to this. And there are the charities and…”
“And if you’re the cause of stopping the play, the girls will butcher you,” Casey said, and Lori nodded in agreement.
Tate gave a one-sided grin. “Besides, you love the spotlight, don’t you? You like to hear the applause.”
“I do,” she said, staring at him as though daring him to contradict that.
“If anyone understands, it’s me,” Tate said. “So here’s what we’re going to do. For the next hour and a half, you’re going to be a professional actor. You’re going to be Lydia. Not Lori with her problems, but Lydia. Got it?”
She nodded.
Tate continued: “After the play ends, you’re going to be asked a lot of questions. Hundreds of them. And through it all, you’re going to be strong and answer everything honestly.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “It might help to imagine that you’re playing a role. It’s a cop show and you’re a fifteen-year-old kid who has escaped a kidnapping by an older man. Does that sound like something you can do?”
“I think so.”
Outside the room, the stage manager yelled, “Five minutes to curtain. Everyone onstage now!”
Tate didn’t release Lori’s shoulders. “I want you to remember that you are a born actor. It’s in your blood from your grandmother Olivia, and you need to live up to your talent. No more lies, no more feeling guilty. You did nothing wrong or stupid. Understand?”
Lori nodded again, and Tate stepped back. “Now go, both of you. I’ll see you on the set.”
Casey made more swipes at Lori’s face to remove the last trace of tears, then held the door open for her.
As they started down the hall, Lori said, “Is Mr. Landers actually my cousin, and do you think he could introduce me to Taylor Swift?”
Standing at the door, Tate rolled his eyes. But he was glad that the child hadn’t been physically molested. He went in search of Rowan.
The first scene of act three was when Lydia found out she was to go to Brighton with the Forsters. As Casey watched Lori laughing and talking about the clothes she was to take, she marveled at how the girl actually seemed to be Lydia.
Casey had few lines in the scene, so she stood aside and watched Olivia beside Lori. How had she not seen the resemblance? Lori was taller and had that wonderful agility of youth, but the two women looked alike. Their pale blondeness and their blue eyes—which could instantly go from laughter to cutting a person to size—were the same. When Lori moved her hand to dismiss her sister Kitty, Casey knew she’d seen the same movement from Olivia.
Kit sat to one side of the stage, his face hidden from the audience by a newspaper, but Casey could see that he was watching Olivia and Lori. There was so much regret in his eyes that Casey could almost read his mind. He had missed out on the life that had produced this beautiful girl. Olivia, their daughter, Portia, and Lori had all eluded him.