Thomas turned and glared at them, and Lonnie covered his mouth with both hands. “I guess we need to behave,” he said, from beneath his fingers.
“We?”
Lonnie pushed his hands tighter to keep from laughing out loud.
At the end of the scene Becca called a break, and Eric jumped off of the stage, making his way toward Casey, Leila close behind him.
“Uh-oh,” Lonnie said. “Here comes loverboy. And his lapdog.”
Casey smacked his shoulder, then got up to meet Eric. She pulled him to the side, away from Leila, and explained, in hushed tones, what Johnny had told her.
“A dryer killed somebody?”
“If Ellen was right. And if Johnny’s correct about what she said.”
Eric dropped into the nearest seat. “Todd didn’t tell you that?”
“No.” She sat down next to him. “He said what he and Karl talked about was personal, and had nothing to do with Ellen. But then, maybe he didn’t know she knew about it. Speaking of Todd…” She looked up. “Where is he?”
“He was here earlier. Probably went outside for break. So that dryer latch we have—”
“—is somehow connected. It’s got to be. I’m sure it’s not actually the lock of that particular dryer—at least I wouldn’t think so—but it’s important.” She leaned over and grabbed Eric’s hand. “Eric, when you met with your dad that day, was it about dryers?”
“No. I mean, we never talked about dryers. Except in really vague ways about production. Never anything about somebody dying.”
“Who’s dying?”
They looked up at Leila, who stood, hip cocked, beside Casey’s seat, her face betraying some kind of excitement.
“Nobody.” Eric’s voice was flat.
Leila gasped. “Eric, did you not tell her?”
Casey looked at him. “Tell me what?”
“Nothing,” Eric said in the same flat tone.
Leila’s nostrils flared. “So are you taking a break or not, Eric?” She glared at Casey, as if Casey was keeping him from his respite.
Casey stood. “I’m going outside. I need some fresh air.” She walked quickly away, not wanting to hear anything else Leila might say.
Todd was not outside.
She waited in the lobby, in the hopes he would come through there before rehearsal resumed, but she was out of luck. By the time Becca was calling for them to return, Todd still was nowhere to be seen.
Casey went back into the theater, only to see Todd slumped in the front row. She moved up the aisle and sat beside him. He looked at her warily from beneath his half-closed eyes.
“What do you know about dryers?”
“Dryers?” His face was blank.
“You know, the appliance that dries clothes.”
“I know what you mean. I’m not an idiot.” He looked around, but no one was close. “What about dryers?”
“Did you and Karl ever talk about them?”
“About dryers?”
Casey felt someone’s eyes on her, and she looked up to see Thomas staring at her from several rows back. “Yes,” she said to Todd. “Did you ever have a discussion about them?”
His expression went from blank to confused. “No.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Casey! Todd!” Becca was gesturing to them. “Act five, scene one.”
“Coming.” She stood and looked down at Todd. “If you remember anything—”
“I’m telling you, we never talked about them.”
Casey climbed the stairs to the stage, Todd following her to join Eric. Eric still hadn’t recovered from what she’d told him, if the pallor of his skin was real and not just a trick of the lights. Casey winked at him, and a smile flickered on his face.
The double doors at the back of the theater flung open, and Holly strode in, making her way to the front.
“About time,” Thomas growled.
Holly froze. “Excuse me?”
“You’re late. Rehearsal began at seven.”
She stood there, her mouth gaping, while the rest of the cast looked at each other with shock. Lonnie laughed out loud. Holly and Thomas both rounded on him, and he pinched his lips together with his fingers.
“Um, Act five, scene one, Holly,” Becca said. “You’ll be on in a few minutes.”
Holly swung her hair off her neck and sat regally in a front row seat, her head forward, eyes at stage level. Casey caught Eric’s eye, and he made a face.
“Okay, people,” Thomas bellowed. “Let’s go!”
They got through the scene, and the rest of rehearsal, without anyone blowing up or stalking out. The atmosphere wasn’t exactly relaxed, however, and Casey breathed a sigh of relief when Thomas called it quits for the night.
“No rehearsal tomorrow,” he said. “Take Sunday off.”
“Thank you, kind leader,” Lonnie said, then ducked the wadded papers Aaron and Jack threw at him.
Casey was making her way toward Jack, to see if Johnny’s news about dryers sparked any memories, when Thomas called her name.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Again?” Eric said.
Thomas bestowed an angry look on him. “I have the right to talk with my actors.”
“Sure, but Thomas—”
“It’s all right,” Casey said. “You go on. I’ll be fine.”
“But we need to figure out what—”
“I’ll be fine.” Shut up about the dryer, Eric.
Leila was waiting beside Eric, cracking a stick of gum, and did her part in getting him up the aisle and out of the theater.
Becca stood at Casey’s elbow, her arms full of notebooks. “Do you need me, Thomas?”
“What? Oh, no. You can go.”
She shot a glance at Casey before leaving the same way as the others.
“Thomas…”
“Listen, Casey. I don’t know who you are. But I know why you’re here.”
“You do?”
“I’m sorry I ever got involved in it, okay? I’m sorry I ever even went to Louisville. I’m out of it now. It’s over. Done. Finis.”
“Look, Thomas, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know what you were into—”
His head snapped up.
“—and it’s really none of my business. Whatever the deal is between you and Eric, well, that’s just the way it is.”
“Eric?” His lips formed a tight line. “This is way past Eric.”
“I don’t understand.”
He shook his head slowly. “I wish you wouldn’t play it this way.”
“Thomas, I’m not playing this any way. I’m telling you I’m not here for you.”
He laughed under his breath. “You said that the first day. I wish I could believe it.”
“What can I do to prove it to you?”
He stood and gathered his things, still not looking at her. “Nothing. Not anymore. Good-bye, Casey.” He strode quickly up the aisle and left, without looking back.
“Weird,” Casey said out loud, and followed him up the aisle. His taillights were already shining in the distance by the time she made it outside.
Eric, however, was still there. “Do not tell me to go away.”
“Okay.”
“I’m walking you home, and I don’t want any arguments about it.”
She held up her hands. “Okay.”
He cocked his head. “You’re not going to tell me to leave you alone?”
“No.”
“Oh. Well. Good. What did Thomas want?”
She let her hands fall. “He still thinks I’m a spy or a cop, or somebody, who’s come to reveal some hidden secret about his past.”
“Do you know one?”
“Not for sure. Certainly not from anything you’ve told me.”
He winced.
“But I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a little gambling debt.”
Eric’s mouth dropped open.
Casey blinked. “I’m right? Really? I’m right.”
Eric gave a humorless laugh. “No. Not exactly.”
“It’s not gambling.”
“Oh, it’s gambling, all right. But not just a little.”
Casey stared in the direction Thomas’ car had gone, then looked back at Eric. “So how not just a little are we talking about?”
Eric took a deep breath. “He gambled on horse races. Not just the Derby. But all of them. Whenever he could get away from the theater, and sometimes even when he couldn’t. He lost so much money he had to take out loans.”