Dark Secrets 2: No Time to Die; The Deep End of Fear by Elizabeth Chandler

escape up Goose Lane.
    I
    Did Mike have any idea how he affected me? I wasn't as good an actor as he, but I doubted he could see through my rocky performance. I probably just confused him, running hot and cold as I did. In the future I'd be more careful around him. As long as I kept my distance and he didn't leam my identity, I was safe—safe from being compared to Liza and getting my heart broken again.

Chapter 12
    Monday morning Tomas, several strong guys, and Arthur moved the gymnastic equipment I needed. The athletic department had given us permission to keep it at the theater for the next six weeks.
    Tomas explained to the cast and crew the changes to the set that Walker had authorized. Walker sat back looking a bit smug, as if the rough time he'd given Tomas at the beginning of camp was responsible for bringing him out of his cocoon.
    As before, there would be a waterfall-shredded Mylar lit with stage lights—cascading down the back stage wall. But now a stream would run from its base, and the bridge over the stream would have a balance beam as its downstage side. The vaulting horse, disguised as a stone wall, would be placed near the right wing, its springboard offstage. For one entrance I would appear to fly forward and upward, launched from behind the curtain, then use the "wall" and my arms to propel myself even higher into a one-and-a-half twist.
    "How about adding a rope?" Walker asked. "Jenny, can you shinny up and down a rope?" Sure.
    "Brian, I want you to check out a sports store and acquire what is needed for decent climbing rope. Arthur—"
    Perhaps guessing where the rope would be hung, the custodian was slinking toward the exit.
    "—we're going to hang the rope from the catwalk. Put it on your list."
    "When the ladder comes," he replied, and continued on.
    I had a feeling I'd be climbing the rungs to attach the rope, but I preferred that so I could make sure the rope was secure.
    Walker wanted to see the blocking we had worked on for Act 2, Scene I.I was wearing a leotard beneath my shirt and shorts and began to remove my outer clothes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Paul watching me. Of course, guys do that at gym meets and swimming pools, but his gaze wasn't the usual curious or flirty one—more like that of a cat, still and silent, observing its prey.
    Keri joined him onstage since she, too, was part of the scene. I turned my back on them.
    "Show 'em your stuff, Jen," Tomas encouraged me.
    I would. I wanted to do both of us proud.
    The scene went better than I had hoped. Though we weren't yet expected to be off book, I had spent the rest of Sunday memorizing my lines for that scene. And, as chilling as Paul could be offstage, he did his work like a professional onstage. There was spontaneous applause at the end, which made Maggie smile. Walker frowned a bit and made a few changes that I noted in my script. I was careful not to look at Mike until I was in the audience and he onstage and in character.
    Walker reviewed Friday's work on the end of Act 4, then began blocking Act 5. It came to a screeching halt at the play-within-the-play that is performed by the clownish rustics—Walker doing the screeching. Shawna was on top of things, but the other five actors couldn't get straight stage left and stage right, or anything else for that matter.
    Walker erupted. "What the hell are you doing?" he shouted.
    The kids on stage froze and glanced at one another.
    "Don't any of you listen? Do I need to put up traffic signs? If I did, would you bother to read them?" He paced the stage. "Perhaps I should get an orange vest, white gloves, and a whistle," he suggested sarcastically. "Make a note, Brian—a vest, gloves, and whistle."
    Brian glanced up and said nothing.
    "Did you make a note?"
    "A mental one," Brian replied calmly.
    "Dumbbel s!" Walker exclaimed, turning on his actors again. "You're supposed to play ignorant people, not be them. When I speak, you listen. When I say something, you do it. Is that a