Free Final Act by Dianne Yetman Page A

hairdresser by the way , Camira was ambivalent about the Director .  She raved about his talent and ranted about his sex life .  I think we should bring her in, apply a little pressure.”
    “ Right, I’ll arrange it tomorrow, no time today.”
    “Keep me out of it , Camira’s cousin is a good friend of mine.”
    “Okay, I’ll ask Shirley to sit in.”
    Kate looked down the list of names.
    “ This Brenda Parsons , what did you think of what she had to say to Withers?”
    “ Stone’s protégé ?   Didn’t really say a lot, l oyal to Stone , and no doubt worried about her future.  Not that she needs the money.  According to Shirley’s background check, she’s married to a Jim Parsons, an Engineer employed by none another than Eleanor Foster -Sutton’s ex, Donald Sutton.  Small world, isn’t it?”
    “ Not that small.  I wonder if there’s a social connection between the six of them.  Maybe we could ask Shirley to check it out. ”
    “ Y up, the woman doesn’t have enough to do.  About the poison , it’s going to be damn near impossible to determine who put it in the bottle.   On the night of the murder, it was full house, v irtually everyone associated wit h the theatre had access to it. Victim’s fingerprints only on the bottle , naturally .  
    “Maybe the bottle wasn’t put there on the evening of the play ” , Kate said.  “W hat about the night before?  There would be less chance of being seen .”
    “ You’ve got a point.  According to the interviews, after the play closed, Ed was on stage getting the set read for the final night’s performance .   He says no one came on stage and he was the last one to leave the building .”
    “ The killer must have come in after that .”
    “ Could have been anyone, Kate.  According to what Ed said practically everyone in the company had their own key to the back entrance. ”  
    “ Every case needs a challenge.  So, if we start with the premise that the poison was placed in the bottle sometime after midnight and before 10:00am the next morning, we need to get onto the taxi drivers , the buses don’t run after midnight.  Maybe one of the cabbies picked up a late night passenger near the theatre.”
    “I’ll ask one of the Incident Room team members to get on it.”  
    “ Once the lab report and autopsy results are in, we’ll have more to go on.  Let’s hope we get the m quickly.”
    “Come on Kate, you know w e’ll have the reports whenever George is good and ready and not before.  Our esteemed pathologist has only been married for three months so I ’m guessing he’s more interested in working on live bodies .”
    “ Funny .  I’m off to interview Catherine.  Good luck with Henry Ward.”
    The two partners checked into the precinct car pool t ogether then went their separate ways .
    Chapter 3
    Kate’s friend, the Reverend Hanya George , Anglican Priest and part-time University lecturer, leaned back in her chair, propped her legs on the desk, and scowled at the picture of the 2008 Class of Theological students hanging on the wall. Darn trouble with office sharing , you can’t pick and choose the decor , she thought .     
    Her scowl turned to a deep frown as her thoughts moved on to her meeting with Chris, her supervisor.  She rehearsed varied conversations to use in her pitch for support for her student’s proposed outing . 
    Easing her numb legs down from the desk, s he stood, stretched and walked to the window, hoisted it high and breathed in the fall air.  The crimson and orange colours of the oak leaves were breathtaking.   Nothing but s how offs , shamelessly flaunting their colours at the lone pine .
    The cool air began to turn her less than warm office colder so she closed the window and put on the kettle .  Ten minutes later, she was seated again in the chair, sipping her tea, legs under the desk.  Tea always helped to calm her.  She had so many memories of her grandmother putting the kettle on