Set the Stage for Murder by Brent Peterson Read Free Book Online Page A

note because of what happened between Roz and Ed?” Ethan asked.
    “ Well, it could be one explanation,” Vicki admitted. “Although it doesn’t really sound like Sally, does it? She must know that Ed sleeps around. If she wrote notes to every woman he’s been with, she have terminal writer’s cramp and wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”
    “ Maybe it’s different this time because it’s Roz,” Marc offered. “Ed’s not going to leave Sally for a lovely, but destitute, chorus girl . . . ”
    “ But he might for another wealthy, successful actress?” Vicki pondered. “You’re right, the stakes are certainly higher when the other woman is Roz Whiting.”
    “ Good Lord, this weekend is going to be interesting.” Ethan stood up and started picking up the dishes, feeding Clementine scraps of bread from the leftover sandwiches. “We’ve got quite the gathering of personalities.”
    “ And we haven’t even mentioned Connor,” Vicki said, draining her glass and putting in on the tray in Marc’s hand. “Who I understand is a bone of contention between Roz, Meg and Juliet right now.”
    “ Yeah,” Marc said. “What’s that all about?”
    “ I’m not sure. They’ve all known each other for years. Now I hear they don’t want Juliet to have anything to do with him. It’s all too much for me to figure out after two martinis.”
    “ Well all I know,” Marc began as he started toward the house, Clementine at his heels, “is that we’re not putting out the best dishes, just in case someone starts throwing them. And there will not be steak on the menu; something tells me we shouldn’t set sharp knives on the table.”

Chapter 4
     
    Teddy McDowell’s family had been entrenched in the theater ever since his great-great grandparents had married. James and Lenore McDowell had instilled a love of all things theatrical in their children and that interest had grown exponentially over the generations. McDowells of both genders had worked in the theater for more than a hundred years. There had been performing McDowells, directing McDowells, and designing McDowells. There had even been other producing McDowells, the most successful being Teddy’s great uncle, Cyrus, who had backed a series of wildly successful revues in the 1920s before getting married to a French countess and moving to Paris. Through the years, McDowell homes, including the one in which Teddy was reared, had hosted the brightest and best that the stage had to offer. The great American composers had sat at his parents’ grand piano and played while some of the most famous voices of the twentieth century belted out early versions of songs that were now classics. And more than one gifted dramatist had relied on the generosity of a McDowell and his or her well-stocked liquor cabinet while writing a play or at least thinking about writing a play. At this point there was not a credible accounting of American Theater history that didn’t list the contributions of the McDowell family.
    Had he not been raised in such an environment by such a family, there is no telling what Teddy would have done with his life. Most likely, he would have gone into the other family business, the one that kept all the McDowells afloat. It had started as banking many years ago and grew to encompass just about anything involving money. It was now known as McDowell Financial and it had been around for almost two hundred years. There were branches of MF in every major city in the world. Teddy’s father, John Jr., ran the company until his death. Although both Phoebe and Teddy sat on the board of directors, it was Teddy’s brother, Andrew, along with his cousin Meredith who now held the reins. So Teddy was free to do the thing that he had wanted to do ever since he was that little boy who had sat under his parents’ grand piano during parties; he put on shows, and he did it well. His track record over the past 24 years was enviable. Business rivals were quick to