Bridie was alone – almost. A wet nose nudged her hand. She looked down at Barney. He had a paint blob on his nose where he’d been ‘helping’ Maisie paint some background scenery on the stage. She took out a tissue, knelt down, and holding his muzzle she wiped the green paint from his black button nose. ‘It’s just you and me then.’
Barney tilted his head, listening to her voice.
‘I don’t want to check the rest of the theatre,’ she said softly. ‘What’s the point?’
Her hand shook as she found Jack’s number. His work phone. The one he’d given her so his wife wouldn’t ask questions. The call connected. ‘Jack, I need to speak to you.’
‘It’s you, isn’t it?’
Her stomach dropped. ‘Jade?’
‘I’ll be brief,’ Jade said crisply. She didn’t waste any time confirming Bridie’s fears. ‘That theatre will never turn a profit. When it fails, he’ll call in the loan.’
What loan?thought Bridie. Her stomach lurched at the paperwork she’d signed without even reading it.
‘Then you’ll have to sell. And we’ll finally be rid of that place.’
Of me, Bridie thought.
‘I’ll tell you something else,’ said Jade. ‘If he ever leaves me, I’ll clean him out, just like I did with my first husband, and he’ll be left with nothing, back where he started.’
Bridie thought what a horrible person Jade sounded.
Jade continued her tirade down the phone. ‘I can’t wait until this is all over and he’s torn the place down so we can finally move on.’
‘Is he making sure of that – sabotaging the theatre?’
‘Sabotaging the theatre?’ Jade paused. A sharp laugh. ‘Why would he sabotage it when you’re so close to failing anyway? You’ll never get a show off the ground – you know that, right?’
The call ended.
Bridie stood very still. She was thinking about the ghost of Isobel Raine. Was that him too, hiring some woman to hang around the theatre and scare people, scare off her cast and crew and potential audience?
‘Isobel Raine,’ she called out. ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are!’ Her voice echoed in the auditorium.
The lights went out for the second time.
Bridie froze. She wasn’t alone.
Bridie still had the light on her phone. She grabbed Barney, holding him awkwardly in her arms, and ran – down the aisle, through the foyer, out into daylight and straight into a blazing argument between Jack and Oliver.
She stopped abruptly before she ran into them.
‘What’s going on?’ all three said at once.
‘I stayed,’ Oliver said. ‘To make sure you were okay.’
‘I came because I saw something online,’ Jack said. ‘About auditions.’
‘No,’ Oliver said, his voice rising, ‘you found out what was going on – and came to see if your sabotage worked.’
‘I told you already, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I don’t believe you!’ Oliver shouted in his face.
‘I swear it wasn’t me!’
‘Rubbish!’ Oliver rounded on him. ‘I found out about your planning application for the theatre.’
