Page 86 of Script Swap
Right?
I took out my phone and called Fox.
“What is it?”Fox asked.“I’m busy.”
“I need to talk to Betty.”
“Good luck.I’ve known Betty for as long as I’ve been alive, and I can barely get two words out of her unless we’re talking about the theater.”
“I was wondering if you’d go with me.Maybe, uh—”
“Keep you from getting murdered?”
“Not in so many words.”
Fox’s silence was drawn out.“I understand that you suspect Nora, and I hate to say that I think you might be on to something.But Betty wouldn’t hurt someone.She’s a good person.”
“Good people do bad things sometimes.”
When they answered, they sounded tired.“I can meet you there in half an hour; let me get rid of these doves.”
“What doves?”I asked.
But they’d already disconnected.
Chapter 20
When I got to The Foxworthy, the lobby was dark, and a closed sign hung in the door.
And after forty-five minutes, there was still no sign of Fox.
Not that it was a hardship to wait.The previous night’s storm had cleared out the muggy heat, and Hastings Rock was back to its usual summer perfection: pleasantly warm, with a brisk breeze that kept it from being too hot; blue skies streaked with high, thin clouds; and all the sounds of summer—gulls cawing as they wheeled overhead, the jingle of the ice cream truck, tourists laughing and talking as they walked heedlessly into traffic.(They all survived, mostly because Hastings Rock locals knew not to go faster than about five miles an hour.)
I spent the time making my usual rounds.It had been a while since I’d been to Crepe You Very Much, and Mr.Potter, who owned it, came out of the back to pump my hand and tell me he was so glad I was back in town, and he’d start making extra batter again.(I love personalized service, and I ate two ham-and-Swiss crepes as app-e-teasers.) Let’s Taco Bout Tacos was next.It’s hands down the best food truck in the entire universe and serves the best tacos in the galaxy.LaLeesha gave me a five-minute lecture on not scaring people (because apparently, she had assumed the worst when I’d stopped showing up for my weekly taco appointment, which is a real thing and not something I made up).She was crying a little at the end until this rail-thin middle-aged man in a quarter-zip started complaining that I was holding up the line.LaLeesha stared at him, wiping tears from her eyes.The man didn’t burst into flames (miraculously, in my opinion), but he did grab his shopping bags (full of candles!) and scuttle away.Then Sergei had to come out of the truck, and for about ten minutes, he held me and sobbed.
He also patted me on the head.Like, alot.
But three Baja fish tacos later (Sergei knows I like extra batter), the world was set to right, and I was trundling—er, is that the right verb?—off toward Two Girls in a Scoop, which is legitimately the best ice cream in the world.Alicia and Calista (sisters—can you tell they were born in the ’90s?) made me take about a million selfies with them, and then they showed me three new Dashiell Dawson Dane flavors that were selling like hotcakes.(They’re called Dash flavors because they’re half-and-half mixes, because yours truly occasionally has trouble deciding what to get, and the three new ones were: peanut butter and honey granola, brownie with white chocolate raspberry, and peach cobbler with classic vanilla.I had to try all three obviously.)
Fox still hadn’t shown up.
And for some reason, I was starting to have a bit of an upset tummy.Nothing serious.Just nausea that grew into cascading waves of sweat and generally pukey-ness.Probably because I’d been doing all that gratuitous exercise, and the negative side effects were finally catching up to me.
I decided I’d had enough fresh sea air and sunlight for a while.(Also a frequent cause of unexpected illnesses.) I made my way back to The Foxworthy.The lobby was still dark.The CLOSED sign still hung in the door.
And then, on the other side of the glass, someone moved through the lobby.
Not Fox, I could tell that much—they were dressed in black, and I was fairly sure they had their face covered.(Not suspicious at all.)
Taking out my phone, I placed a call to Bobby as I made my way around the building.
My call went to voicemail.“Just wanted to let you know that Fox still hasn’t shown up, and I’m heading into the theater.You know what would be awesome?If we did this every time we went anywhere, and we said things like ‘Over and out’ or ‘Copy.’Do you copy?I mean, obviously you don’t because this is a voicemail—”
At that point, the recorded voice cut in and told me I could either save the message or try again.Since I’d pretty much nailed it, I saved the message.
The backstage door was propped open with a bucket of sand, and as I got closer, I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke.The sounds from the street faded.It was dark on the other side of the door, and with the day so bright, I couldn’t make out anything.
Just to be safe, I tried Fox.The call went to voicemail.
