Something Wicked by Carolyn G. Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

for once, at a loss for words. She gaped.
    “Henny, how are you?” Max asked cheerfully as he got to his feet.
    “Dear boy, I am in full cry.” She marched across the room. As she hurried, an apple tipped out of her skirt pocket and bounced on the floor.
    Annie reached down automatically to retrieve it.
    Henny paused, pulled another apple from the pocket, polished it on her skirt, and took a generous bite.
    Annie began to grin.
    Managing somehow to chew and talk simultaneously, Henny gestured with the partially eaten apple. “I
know
who’s behind the sabotage!”
    “Really!” Annie exclaimed.
    “Good going,” Max applauded. “Who is it?”
    “It’s obvious, clear as the nose on your face. No two ways about it.” An English accent became pronounced at this point.
    They waited.
    Henny Brawley nodded emphatically and the complex hairdo began to wobble. “Our troublemaker is Shane Petree.”
    She said it so confidently that they both leaned forward, entranced.
    “How do you know?” Annie asked eagerly. “Did you see him with the prompt card? Did you find some cards in his car? How did you figure it out?”
    Their visitor ignored the questions. Instead, she gnawed ferociously on her apple, chewed, swallowed, then demanded, “Who
obviously
doesn’t want to be in the play? Who was cast
only
because his wife made it a condition of her financial support of the players? Who has
refused
to learn his lines, been consistently late to rehearsal? In short,” and she spaced the words out dramatically,
“who—is—the—only—person—not—trying—to—make—the—play—a—success?”
    “Shane!” they chorused.
    Henny beamed her approval at their sagacity, then finished the apple, tossed the core toward a wastebasket, which it missed, and wiped her hands on her cardigan. Another apple bounced onto the floor. Annie picked it up.
    “Proof?” Max inquired mildly.
    “Proof? Why, a woman’s intuition, my dear. You can count on it every time.”
    Swinging around, Henny darted back to the front door, and another apple went careening across the room. “So, I just wanted you both to know. Just in case.”
    “Just in case what?” Annie cried, as the door opened.
    “I’m off to keep an eye on Mr. Shane Petree. He won’tdo any more dark deeds, I can assure you,” and she was through the door and gone.
    Annie looked down at the two apples in her hand. “Ariadne Oliver,” she announced.
    Max was stretching out again on the couch. “Spare me. I don’t think I want to know any more than you’ve already told me.”
    Annie crossed to the bookcase, slipped her hand along the C’s, withdrew
Hallowe’en Party,
and tossed it to Max. Then she threw an apple.
    Absently, she began to eat the one she held. “Darn it,” her voice was indistinct, “she really had me going. I thought maybe she was on to something.”
    Max firmly put his apple and the Christie novel on the table and picked up his coffee mug.
    Annie gave a muffled whoop of pleasure as she found the notebook she’d been seeking underneath a stack of
Ellery Queen Mystery
magazines.
    Max watched indulgently as she listed the malicious tricks that had been played on the cast and crew of
Arsenic and Old Lace.
    SABOTAGE
    1. May 6. Blocking rehearsal. Someone erased the chalk marks denoting furniture placement from the previous blocking rehearsal. A minor inconvenience, time-consuming. Assumed at the time to be accidental.
    2. May 8. Stink bomb explodes in basement dressing room. Cast driven out of auditorium by smoke and fumes.
    3. May 13. Notices removed from the callboard, so cast members missed next rehearsal.
    4. May 19. House curtain collapses. Rope, ¾ inch jute, partially sawn through. Curtain’s weight ultimately tore through the remaining strands. Could have caused injury had anyone been under the curtain when it fell.
    As for number five, was that an unforgettable night! Janet had dropped the glass of elderberry wine she was offering Mr. Witherspoon