We pulled apart, breathing heavy, a dim light shining over the stage. Ben’s eyes stayed on me as my gaze found the ghost light illuminating the orchestra pit.
I stared in stunned silence, my brain trying to put together the pieces of what my eyes were seeing. Horror clung to me like thorns, digging into my skin and not letting go.
“Eve?” Ben said, worry coloring his tone.
“Oh my God,” I said, tears welling up in my eyes and spilling over.
Blood.
An awful amount of blood. It was the deepest red, like the petals of a rose, pooling in the pit, splattered on the stage. And Nick, eyes staring blankly towards the ceiling, his lifeless body proof that there was still something wicked lurking in the shadows.
I Didn't Know Shit
Ben
Ifollowedthedirectionof Eve’s gaze.
“Oh, shit!”
I jumped up, knocking the piano bench to the floor with a loud crash. My stomach churned, threatening to empty my lunch onto the theater floor.I grabbed Eve’s hand, pulling her behind me towards the nearest exit, wantingto put as much space between us and that dead body as possible.
A few people emerging from other rehearsal rooms gave us curious looks as we stumbled into the main hallway. I took deep breaths through my nose, attempting to curb the nausea roiling in my gut as I eyed the small group warily.
Would the murderer have stuck around? They could still be in the building and there was no way for us to stop them from leaving before the police got here.
I stamped down the panic and slid my cell phone out of my pocket, fingers flying over the screen to call 9-1-1. I gave the dispatcher the address, explaining the situation briefly before hanging up to wrap Eve in my arms. Tears streamed down her face, and I brushed my thumb across her cheek, catching them as they fell.
I glanced around, noting the still empty reception desk. There were a few security cameras placed to record the entrance and the main hallway off the little theater. Maybe it caught whoever did this going inside.
I turned toward the muffled sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, the steady rain still pattering against the glass windows and the skylight of the atrium. Two men descended the staircase, clearly surprised to see us here.
“What’s wrong, Eve?” the large man asked, his voice booming through the nearly empty atrium.
“Warren! It—it’s Nick. He’s d—dead,” she sputtered, ending on a hiccupping sob.
“What? What do you mean?” the other man asked, swiping his dark hair, which was graying at the temples out of his eyes.
“We found his body,” I muttered, studying their reactions to the news. They both had known Nick. For all I knew, they could be the murderers.
Their eyes widened in shock.
“What? When?” Warren asked. The others in the hallway broke out into murmurs of disbelief and shock.
“Where?” the other tagged on, glancing down the hallway like he thought there might be a body face down on the industrial carpet.
“Just now. When the power came back on. In the little theater.”
Warren gave the other man a significant look.
My nausea reemerged as I thought about the fact that I’d almost had sex with Eve in the same room as a fucking dead body.
Eve tensed next to me, her body going rigid as a realization dawned on her.
“Was it you, Derek? Did you do this? Did you kill him?” Eve accused, lunging at the other man suddenly.
I grabbed her around the waist, holding her back. She was probably in shock. I didn’t want her doing anything she might regret later. She was a scrappy thing. Feisty and fiery. I loved that about her.
“No one deserves to die like that,” she spit out.
