I flipped the paper over. There was no signature.
My heart beat furiously in my chest, and a loud whooshing sounded in my ears.
Somebody knew. Someone had figured it out.
This couldn’t be it.
This couldn't be the end. There had to be more for me.
The sound of the locker room door made me jump, and I quickly crumpled up the note, tossing it in my locker before slamming it closed.
No one else could find out about what I’d done. I’d make sure there wasn’t a person alive who knew I was the one who killed Cheryl.
Lights Out
Eve
Thecloudspresseddownon the city, humidity heavy in the air as thunder rumbled in thedistance. It felt ominous, like something dark was lurking just around the corner. I rolled my shoulders as I entered the rehearsal building, shaking off the sense of foreboding prickling just beneath the surface of my skin.
I reasoned that the unease simmering in my gut was merely due to the building pressure of the incoming storm, as well as the growing restlessness of cast and crew. We were balanced dangerously on the edge of a precipice with no real answers about what had happened to Cheryl which left everyone near their boiling point.
I walked into the breakroom to find Nick and Derek standing nose to nose. Derek's face flushed red, and his hands fisted tightly at his side. Nick's lips curled in contempt as he muttered something too low for me to her. Before I could make sense of what was happening, Derek threw the first punch.
Nick’s head snapped to the side at the impact, but he swung back, clocking Derek right in the eye. And then they were both on the floor brawling like we were at some seedy bar instead of our place of work.
“Hombres estúpidos.”
I dug through my bag, pulling out the pepper spray I kept inside. I stalked toward the idiots rolling on the breakroom floor and covered my eyes as I took aim.
The scuffle stopped as quickly as it started as they rubbed at their eyes and coughed and sputtered out curses.
“What the hell, you guys? Are you trying to get fired? What is wrong with you?”
Nick squinted a glare in my direction. “I was defending myself from him.” He wiped at his red, irritated eyes.
“Go rinse your eyes out and wash your hands, Nick.”
He skulked out of the room, and I narrowed my gaze at Derek, who looked suitably chastised.
“What the hell were you doing throwing the first punch like that?”
He clenched his fists, glaring down at me. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You told us this was your last chance before Sophie took the kids and went back to L.A. Don’t ruin it. This production doesn’t need any more drama.”
His jaw ticked irritably, but he gave me a tight nod before walking out to rinse offthe pepper spray.
Wind pelted a mixture of rain and hail against the tall windows of the studio as I sang my big solo. I was hitting the big crescendo when the music cut out and the rehearsal studio was plunged into semidarkness.
“Everyone, sit tight,” Ed demanded. “I’m calling downstairs to see what the hell happened.”
There were brief murmurs, and the light of a few cell phones piercing the room with an eerie glow. I made my way over to Blake, whose cell phone cast a faint circle of light in front of him. A group of us gathered in the center of the room, flashlights from phones illuminating faces like we were sitting around a campfire about to tell spooky ghost stories.
“Well, this is strange,” Derek said in hushed tones.
Scarlette nodded her agreement.
“What do you think it is?” I whispered.
