Lights Out Tonight by Mary Jane Clark Read Free Book Online Page B

doing something out there, Belinda, but you can’t be sure at this point that it’s anything wrong. Want me to go check it out?”
    Belinda considered the offer. “Maybe I should call the police,” she said.
    “And what if the police come and find there’s a completely reasonable explanation? Then you’ve shown your caretaker that you don’t trust him,” said Victoria. “And you don’t want that, do you?”
    “No, I guess not.”
    “Look. When we get back later, pull out one of those maps of the property that Remington did and mark where the hole is. As soon as there’s some free time, I’ll go out there and take a look. Right now, you’ve got more important things to do,” Victoria said. “Your focus has to be on the play.”
    The car traveled north along the winding two-lane road, reaching the Warrenstown traffic circle and bearing right. Belinda found a parking spot, and the two women got out and walked toward the brand-new theater building. As they reached the front steps, a pretty young blonde stood at the top holding the door open for them.
    “Thanks, Langley,” said Belinda. Victoria said nothing until they were out of Langley’s earshot.
    “I’m telling you, Belinda, that one wants to be you,” said Victoria. “It’s written all over her. She’s so damned obsequious. It’s disgusting.”
    Belinda smiled. “Oh, give her a break, Victoria. Langley is just a kid.”
    “A kid who watches your every move.”
    “That’s because she’s my understudy.”
    “No,” Victoria insisted. “That’s because she wants your life.”

 C H A P T E R 
17
    Caroline couldn’t stop staring out the car window at the rolling farmland and majestic mountains in the distance. The view of seemingly endless, undeveloped acreage was such a welcome respite from worrying about her stepdaughter, her boss, and whether or not this crew was going to give her a hard time.
    Eventually, she forced herself to pull the manila folder from her bag and began to read through the contents. She’d gotten the article from the KEY News reference library. It was a Vanity Fair piece on Belinda Winthrop that had run almost two years ago. It outlined Belinda’s most famous roles on stage and screen. There were pictures of her beachfront home in Malibu, her chalet in Gstaad, her brownstone in Greenwich Village, and her vast country estate in Warrenstown, Massachusetts.
    The article went on to describe Belinda’s passion for detail. How she decorated each home herself, selecting furnishings in styles appropriate to their locations. It also told of her penchant for entertaining and described some of the parties she had given over the years. Belinda, the article said, loved to give theme parties, often coordinated with a role she was playing.
    To celebrate her role in Treasure Trove, Belinda had given atreasure hunt. Caroline studied the artist’s rendering of Belinda’s Massachusetts estate that accompanied the article. The map, executed by the famed Winthrop portraitist Remington Peters, was marked with tiny stars indicating spots where Belinda’s party guests had to go for clues to where the treasure was buried. X’s—there seemed to be a dozen or so—warned of holes leading to underground caves that the guests should be careful of.
    Caroline highlighted the following passage:
WINTHROP’S RUN OF TRIUMPHS WAS INTERRUPTED THIS PAST SUMMER BY TRAGEDY. FOLLOWING THE TREASURE TROVE PARTY FOR THE WARRENSTOWN SUMMER PLAYHOUSE COMPANY AND PROMINENT LOCALS HELD AT CURTAINS UP, WINTHROP’S HOUSE-GUEST AND LONGTIME FRIEND DANIEL STERLING, WIDELY CONSIDERED THE DOMINANT HALF OF THE VICTORIA AND DANIEL STERLING PLAYWRITING TEAM, DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. STERLING, WHO HAD DIABETES, COULD HAVE BEEN SUFFERING THE EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE WHEN HIS CAR WENT OFF A DESERTED MOUNTAIN ROAD AND OVERTURNED IN A DITCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, BUT HIS WIFE SAID HER HUSBAND HAD TOLD HER HE FOUGHT WITH ONE OF THE PARTY GUESTS, THOUGH HE