Page 44

Ellery threw a final, doubtful look at the door to Lara’s suite, and followed Jocasta downstairs.

Chapter Eleven

The cafe was crowded seemingly to capacity, but it turned out membership really did have its privileges. Ellery and “Call Me Jo” hadn’t long to wait before they were led to a small booth in the sunny greenhouse style dining room.

As soon as they were done with the business of ordering their coffee and food, Jocasta said earnestly, “I’m sorry about Neil. He’s under so much pressure. We’re all justreallystressed. We were hoping to get a lot more media coverage, but so far there’s been nothing.Zilch.”

Hearing thatzilchwouldn’t exactly make Sue Lewis’s day.

Ellery said, “Saturday’s the big night, right? So maybe tonight—”

“I’ve been trying to get hold of every contact I have at every music mag still in existence. Lara was on the cover ofRolling Stone twice, but they’re not even returning my phone calls. It’s notfair.”

First rule of show business: Life was not fair.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’d think between Stephen Foster and Lara Fairplay, someone would be interested!”

Gosh, it sounded like Stephen Foster’s reps weren’t pulling their weight! But, of course, Ellery kept that thought to himself. “You’d think,” he said neutrally.

“And then all the threats. Andnowall these accidents! Shouldn’t that be a story in itself?”

Ellery studied Jocasta’s face. Did she understand what she’d just said? “I thought you were keeping a lid on that? That you and the festival organizers didn’t want word getting out about threats against Lara.”

Jocasta looked like she didn’t understand. “If something happens, it’s not like we can hide it.”

The waitress arrived with their breakfasts. Ellery’s brows shot up. He had a healthy appetite, but Jocasta had ordered enough food to feed half their road crew. Maybe she—

Nope. Jocasta picked up her fork and dived right into that stack of blueberry pancakes.

As the much-impressed waitress moved away, Ellery said, “Well, right. About last night’s accident—”

Jocasta lowered her fork. “No, it’s okay. We heard about Mr. Carter’s girlfriend. And that you were there when it happened.”

“Well, not exact—”

“Nobody’s blaming you for last night. It could even have been an accident.”

Yeah,nobodythought it was an accident. Thatcould even have beenwas a dead giveaway.

“Maybe.” Ellery sincerely doubted it. He knew for a fact the trapdoor had been nailed shut after the previous year’s close call. Still, the theater and stage were long due for an overhaul. Maybe itwaspossible something had broken loose. “What exactly happened?”

“Lara was right in the middle of ‘Fool Me, Fool You,’ and the trap door just…opened. It fell open. She moves around a lot on stage so, luckily, she wasn’t standing squarely on it. She almost lost her balance, but caught herself and stepped back. “Jocasta added proudly, “She didn’t even miss a beat.”

“The show didn’t stop?”

“Nope. Mr. Carter and the stage crew ran down there and shored it up again. I don’t think most of the audience even knew what happened.” She swallowed. “What nearly happened.”

He’d have to talk to Dylan and get his take, but two close calls, two maybe-accidents in twenty-four hours seemed like a lot.

“Your security guys didn’t have anything to do with preventing Lara’s fall? Because your brother-in-law said the only reason she wasn’t in the hospital was thanks to your security team.”

Jocasta’s sigh seemed weary beyond her years. “Neil’s just saying what he wishes was true. He wants to be Lara’s knight in shining armor. He couldn’t protect her before, so he wants her to see he’s protecting her now.”

Maybe? Ellery hadn’t been keen on Neilson before the run-in upstairs, and he was even less keen now. But just because he didn’t like the guy, didn’t mean Neilson wasn’t doing the best he could with the tools he had.

“Okay, well, our agreement was that if I came to the conclusion that Lara’s life was in danger, you’d go to the police—”