Murder on Opening Night: Myrtle Clover #9

Chapter Nineteen

Blaine stepped out from behind the curtain. His smile was pleasant ... until he saw the papers in Myrtle's hand.

"Why have you got my script, Miss Myrtle?" asked Blaine in a very even voice. He took a couple of steps closer to her and Myrtle casually took a few back until she had a hand leaning on the table she'd put the bag of squash on, for balance.

"What—these papers?" asked Myrtle, looking down at her hands as if surprised to see them there. "Mr. Toucan and I were talking on the phone and when I mentioned I was going downtown, he asked if I could run by the theater and pick up some things for him."

"Like my old script?" asked Blaine, raising an eyebrow. "He didn't want something from his office instead? That seems odd, doesn't it?"

"Does it?" asked Myrtle brightly. She pushed her hand slowly backward until it connected with something solid.

"Nice try, Miss Myrtle. And my hat's off to you. It was stupid of me not to destroy that draft. I'd just assumed that no one would think much about the play itself. Art, you know. It so frequently goes unnoticed." Blaine took another menacing step forward.

Myrtle quickly said, "Why did you do it, Blaine? Did Nandina not want to break up with you?" she studied Blaine's face thoughtfully. "No, that's not it, is it? It was Veronica. Veronica wanted Nandina out of the way. You two were already a couple, although no one knew it. Nandina was pushing Veronica out of all the roles she wanted. She represented a threat to Veronica."

Blaine laughed. "You've got a very simple view of the universe, Miss Myrtle. You think that I would kill over Veronica's pique over losing roles?"

"I don't think that's all of it, no." Myrtle took a deep breath and decided to go out on a limb. "But I think you were devoted to Veronica. And when she told you that Nandina was blackmailing her over stealing petty cash from Mr. Toucan, you took it upon yourself to eliminate the problem for her. In the hopes that she would end up caring for you as much as you care for her."

The smile left Blaine's face and now he appeared displeased. "She was upset. I took care of it. Problem solved."

Myrtle remembered the scene on the boat earlier. The body language told a story. A story that Blaine was feeling a lot more amorous than distant Veronica was. She said slowly, confidence gradually making her voice stronger, "Veronica never actually asked you to murder Nandina, did she? She must have been horrified that you'd do such a thing on her behalf. She's a thief, not a killer. But you took her unhappiness as a directive. Without her guidance."

"So she's a little ungrateful." Blaine shrugged. "She'll come around eventually. She was just surprised, that's all."

"More than surprised. I believe Veronica was merely playing a prank. I overheard Cady saying that Veronica played pranks on people—one time signing somebody up for every junk mail list she could find. Veronica slipped sleeping pills in Nandina's drink ... right? She probably told you about it. I can just see her now: wouldn't it be funny if Nandina was too sleepy to act? But you took it farther. You told Veronica you were going to change the script to make a scene where Nandina was in a bed. Even better! Nandina would be very drowsy, would be in the set bed, and then she'd look really foolish and unprofessional. What Veronica didn't know is that you were planning on quickly finishing her off during the set change. You changed the script to make it easier for yourself."

"What's another script change?" asked Blaine with a twisted smile. "I was making changes all along—why not another?" Blaine almost casually picked up a lashing used for set changes. Myrtle's throat constricted when she saw it, but she was determined to remain calm. She needed to rely on her wits to get out of this.