Free Lights Out Tonight by Mary Jane Clark Page A

anything, Valerie. And I am certainly not going to let people think that I failed as a husband. (With menace.) Letting you go is completely out of the question.
    (VALERIE turns toward the balcony and EXITS. DAVIS, still carrying the gun, follows VALERIE offstage. Lights dim to dark.)

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25
    Belinda stepped out of her green velvet gown, and Meg carefully hung it on the freestanding clothes rack. She folded and draped the petticoat over a wooden hanger and hung that alongside the gown.
    “Oh, that feels good.” Belinda sighed as Meg loosened the corset strings. “How did women in the eighteen nineties live with these things?”
    Meg took the corset and put it away, then busied herself with other things as Belinda stripped down, and dressed again in jeans and a form-fitting shirt with a plunging neckline.
    “Here. Let me take that,” said Meg, reaching for the cotton tank top Belinda had worn under the corset. “I want to get it to the laundry.”
    As Meg exited the dressing room, Langley Tate was waiting in the hallway to come inside. Meg hesitated just a second before continuing on to the laundry room. She couldn’t figure it out exactly, but something about Langley made Meg feel protective of Belinda. She didn’t want to leave the star alone with her understudy.
    Meg dropped off the undergarment and turned to go back to the dressing room when her cell phone sounded. Checking the number, she knew she had to respond this time. There was no avoiding it. She was going to have to have dinner with her stepmother. But rather than answer the phone and have to talk with her, Meg waited until Caroline left a voice-mail message and then text-messaged a reply.

    Belinda sat before the large mirror, wiping away her heavy stage makeup. Langley stood behind her, talking to Belinda’s reflection.
    “You were wonderful tonight, Belinda.”
    “Thanks, Langley.”
    “In the second act, especially, I was scared to death. The way you portray Valerie coming to the realization that her husband is going to kill her is just so incredible, Belinda. I learn so much from watching you. All those years of experience just shine through.”
    Removing the clips that fastened her upswept hair, Belindashook her head, and the ash-blond locks tumbled down. “You’re making me feel old, Langley.” She laughed.
    Langley appeared concerned. “Oh no, Belinda. That’s not what I meant at all. It’s just that you have such breadth of experience. Your range is staggering. It makes me feel so inadequate.”
    “Come on, Langley. You are very talented and you know it. You just need to give yourself more time.”
    “Forgive me, Belinda, but that’s easy for you to say. When you were my age, you’d already won an Academy Award.”

MEET U @ THAI PLACE ON MAIN. MIDDLE OF BLOCK.
    Meg snapped her cell phone closed and strode back to the dressing room. As she opened the door to go inside, she heard Langley Tate’s voice.
    “I can only pray, when my turn comes, I’ll be able to do half as good a job as you do, Belinda.”

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26
    After the e-mail address and password were typed, and the Sign In button clicked, the fake account that the killer had set up as Amy’s mother opened on the laptop screen .
    There were no new messages.
    No response from Brightlights. No answer from the person Amy had contacted in the moments before she died. The only person who could spoil everything.

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27
    They both ordered pad Thai.
    “Well, there’s something we can agree on,” said Caroline as she closed the menu and handed it to the waiter.
    Meg smiled weakly.
    “And I know there’s something else we agree about.”
    “What’s that?” Meg took a sip of water.
    “We both love your father.”
    Meg took another drink but didn’t answer.
    Sensing she shouldn’t push any further at the moment, Caroline shifted the conversation. “So, how’s it going? Is the apprenticeship living up to your