Bridie stood there silently for a moment before she found her voice. ‘You may know me, or you may not …’ She looked around the audience. ‘But I’m going to put on the show of a lifetime here, and this just wouldn’t have been possible without all your hard work and now you can all be part of the next stage, everyone here. I need actors, and ushers, and stage managers, and crew to shift props, and costume designers, and …’ Bridie reeled of the endless list that she remembered from years of theatre work that went into staging a production. ‘Now, who wants to play a part?’
Every hand went up in the audience.
‘Right let’s get this show on the road. We’ll start with auditions for the acting troupe and orchestra, then everyone else can register an interest in the backstage work. Just as important. Without you there will be no production.’
An hour in, when they were making real headway, the lights suddenly went out. There were gasps around the auditorium as they were plunged into darkness.
Mobile phone lights illuminated the darkness.
‘Everyone all right?’ Oliver shouted out.
People waved their mobiles in answer.
‘Sorry,’ Bridie apologised when the lights did not miraculously come on few minutes later. Someone shouted out, ‘There isn’t a power cut in Aldeburgh, so it must just be the theatre.’
‘Oh, bother,’ Bridie said. She’d been sitting in the front row watching the auditions from a surprisingly talented pool of local people, including the schoolchildren in Oliver’s drama group. She thought they could give the London productions a run fortheir money. There she had been, wondering how she would find any talent for her production, and now she had quite the opposite problem – there was too much to choose from.
The last one she’d seen was Layla, and just as Bridie had expected, she looked as though she was born to act on the stage. Bridie had turned to Kate, seated next to her, wondering what her reaction would be.
‘I never knew she was so talented,’ Kate had said tearfully. ‘And to think I was trying to stop her doing what she was born to do.’
Bridie could have cried too. But she didn’t have time for that. The electrics had blown, and she needed to find out why. She had no idea how long it would take. She had no choice but to abandon the auditions for the day.
She stood up, turned around and was just announcing the continuation of auditions the next weekend when William came running out on the stage, breathless, the green exit signs still lit over doorways and casting sufficient glow for William to see to run on stage.
William was there with his stepmum, Hannah’s friend, Lili, who ran The Potting Shed. Bridie had rarely seen her – she was very busy with her landscaping business. Lili said, ‘William – where have you been? I thought I told you to stay with your sister?’
‘Yes, but Maisie was busy painting the props and I got bored with a capital B.’
There was a ripple of laughter from the audience.
William smiled shyly. He seemed to have forgotten he was on the stage in front of everyone. That didn’t deter him from adding. ‘I went exploring …’ He had an old trilby hat in his hands and a costume he must have found in a dressing room. The outfit was too big for him, but it was definitely something she imagined an explorer from the 1920s would wear. He put the haton his head and made a show of putting a hand to his forehead looking left and right, like he was in some silent movie.
Everyone was shining their mobile phone lights in his direction so he could be seen.
Bridie smiled at Lili’s young stepson. She knew he didn’t have Maisie’s talent as an artist, but had anyone ever told his stepmum and his dad that he was a born entertainer?
‘And there it was …’ William pointed to an imaginary spot on the stage, holding everyone’s attention as they wondered what he was going to say next. ‘Or should I say there she was. The woman. I saw her! The one who haunts the theatre – Isobel Raine.’
There were gasps from the audience and suddenly everyone was out of their seats and rushing for the door.
‘No, wait. Please don’t go. William was just making it up!’ Lili exclaimed.
‘I wasn’t. I saw her,’ William shouted from the stage.
‘William! What did I tell you about telling fibs?’ his father, Nate, called out.
‘But I’m not!’
Chapter 48
The sudden hush in the auditorium felt louder than the noise that had preceded it – the thunder of many people’s footsteps as they clamoured to exit the theatre as fast as they could. Despite their mobile phones lighting the way, some tripped over one another in the dark in their rush to leave.
Bridie turned to Kate, her voice low. ‘They will come back, won’t they?’
‘Of course they will,’ her sister said, leaning back in her seat, surprisingly calm. ‘That’s just the way people are. Someone says ghost and bolts, then the rest follow like sheep. They’ll feel pretty foolish when they get home.’
‘But what if the rumour puts people off coming back?’ Bridie asked, scanning the darkened rows.
