Софи Келли - Final Catcall

“Hannah, do you remember telling me that Ben didn’t really like Hugh?”

She nodded.

“Who told you that?”

She frowned. “Chloe, I think. She’s worked with them both. Why?”

I rubbed my fingers over the arm of the chair. “It’s not true.”

She looked at me, clearly puzzled. “Why would Chloe lie about something like that?”

“Because it made Ben look like a suspect in Hugh’s death,” I said.

Her blue eyes widened. “You think Chloe killed Hugh? That’s crazy. Why would she want to kill Hugh?”

I took a deep breath. “Because of what happened when you were all working on Yesterday’s Children .”

The color drained out of her face. “That stupid play,” she whispered.

“Hugh bullied his actors, didn’t he?”

Hannah nodded. “He did. He pulled some incredible performances out of people, but I didn’t like the way he went about it. “

I glanced over at Marcus. I couldn’t read his expression. “I heard a story that he rode one actress so hard she started cutting herself.”

Hannah pulled at the fabric of her sweatpants. “I heard that, too. I don’t know if it’s true.”

“I think it is,” I said. “I think the actress was Chloe. I think that’s how she got those scars on her arm.”

Hannah shook her head. “No. She was in a car accident.”

My palms were sweating and I wiped them on my jeans. “I don’t think so. I did a search in the archives of the newspaper in Chloe’s hometown in Florida. I can’t find anything about an accident. I don’t think there was one.”

“Why did she lie?” Marcus asked.

“I’m not positive, but I think probably because she didn’t want anyone to know she’d had psychological problems. She probably thought she wouldn’t get hired if word got around.”

“She wouldn’t have,” Hannah said. She looked at me and something changed in her face. “You think Chloe killed Hugh.” She shook her head again. “No. Not Chloe.”

I leaned forward, arms on my knees. “I think she lied about when she got to town. She told me that Hugh wanted her to take part in the festival when really she was the one who went after the job.”

“Why would Chloe want to kill Hugh? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does when you know that Chloe had to back out of a movie role because of her psychological issues—issues that Hugh contributed to. That same part turned out to be the breakout role for the actress who replaced her. There’s already talk of an Oscar nomination for a movie she has coming out later this year.”

“Chloe thought that could have been her life, if it hadn’t been for Hugh,” Marcus said. He shook his head.

I steeled myself for my next question. “Hannah, did you see anything that night at the marina?”

“I already told you, Kathleen. I wasn’t there.” Her eyes never left my face and nothing in her expression gave her away, but I saw her left hand clench tightly into a fist.

“I know about the Share the Change, Be the Change contest,” I said.

“What contest?” Marcus asked.

I didn’t say anything. I kept my eyes fixed on Hannah and waited for her to answer.

“How did you figure it out?” she said in a low voice.

“Chloe told me you were working on a script when the two of you were rehearsing Yesterday’s Children . She said it was based on your volunteer work with a program for teenage alcoholics.”

Hannah nodded. “Hester’s Girls. It was a terrible script,” she said softly.

“But it was a winning article.”

She gave me a small smile. “They’d all heard about the Share the Change, Be the Change contest, where people could vote online for the most deserving project. They needed the money so badly.” She chewed the corner of her lip. “There’s never enough money. It’s a program for teenage drunks. There’re no cute little puppies or big-eyed seals, just kids who get into fights and puke on their shoes.”

She shrugged. “Deidre—the piece was her story—had them all convinced she could write an article that would get Hester’s Girls enough votes to win. When I read what she’d written, I knew it was a pipe dream. And I knew I could do better.”

“How did Hugh find out?”

“He didn’t. Not for sure. He’d seen a rough draft of the piece I was working on back when I was in Yesterday’s Children . He read the article that won. He was suspicious.” She shook her head. “The thing was, he didn’t need proof. All he had to do was raise the suspicion. Deidre would have caved. They would have lost the money.”

“He thought you would help him get the directing job before you’d let Hester’s Girls lose the money,” I said. Hugh had been willing to blackmail Abigail for money. Why not Hannah?

Hannah closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. Then she looked at Marcus. “I couldn’t tell you.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand. “You could have,” he said, his voice raspy. “I’m sorry you didn’t know you could.”

“Hannah, what happened the night Hugh was killed?” I asked.

“I got back from Red Wing sometime between five thirty and six. I came in the side entrance and I heard Hugh and Abigail talking. It was like she was flirting with him. I knew there was something going on between them—I’d seen them whispering about something more than once. I followed them. I thought maybe I’d catch them in some kind of compromising situation and I could . . . hold that over Hugh’s head.”

“Except you didn’t,” I said.

“I didn’t even drive into the marina parking lot. I like Abigail. I couldn’t do that to her. I pulled over and sat on the side of the road for a while. You’re right—I did drive past the marina. And I really did go up to that bar and get drunk. I thought . . . I thought it was all going to come out.”

She looked at me, tight lines around her eyes and mouth. “You’re really certain it was Chloe who killed him?”

I nodded. “I just don’t know how to prove it.”

22

Hannah went to take a bath. Before she left, Marcus wrapped her in a hug.

“I’m in trouble,” she said. “What I did was fraud.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Marcus said, kissing the top of her head.

Hannah turned to me. “If Chloe killed Hugh, it’s because she’s sick.”

I nodded.

“I’m not making excuses for her, or saying he deserved what happened, but Hugh helped make her that way.”

“I know that,” I said.

“Thank you for . . .” She shrugged. “Thank you.”

After she left the room, Marcus turned to me. “What are you going to do?”

I rubbed my wrist. It was starting to ache, which meant rain no matter what the forecast said. “I don’t know. I don’t have any real proof, just a lot of maybes and guesses.”

My cell phone rang then. “I better check that,” I said. “I left my mother home with Owen and Hercules. Who knows what the three of them could get into.”

I pulled the phone out of my bag. CHLOE MILLER, the screen read. I held it up so Marcus could see as well.

He frowned. “Why is she calling you?”

“Let’s find out,” I said.

“Hi, Kathleen. It’s Chloe,” she said. She sounded warm and friendly and I wondered how much work it took to keep up the act.

I sank down onto the arm of the sofa where Marcus had been sitting. “Hi,” I said.

“At lunchtime you mentioned you were thinking about putting up a display with photos and background on some of the people involved in the festival. Are you still going to do that?”

“I think so,” I said. “I have a friend who’s an artist and I think she’ll help.”

“I have something you might be interested in,” she said. “I found some pictures in my bag. I have no idea how long they’ve been there. They’re from a rehearsal of Yesterday’s Children . There are a couple with Hugh and Hannah and me. If you’d like to use them, it’s fine with me.”