Murder at the Mikado by Julianna Deering

like anyone being able to come into his sanctuary without his permission. And now the key is missing.”
    “You didn’t have a key?” Drew asked.
    “No. Not even when we first came here. Not ever. He absolutely wouldn’t have it.”
    Drew examined the label on the bottle of bay rum that sat on the dressing table. “And no one he may have had in here would have had a key? Not even Mrs. Landis?”
    The blonde shook her head. “He wasn’t like that with his lady friends. He didn’t want them to feel at home here. This was his domain, and we weren’t allowed to ever forget it.”
    “I suppose you’ve already been through all this with the police,” Drew said. “Anything else you think important enough to mention?”
    “Not that I can think of.”
    “I understand someone claims to have seen the killer. Do you know anything about that?”
    “That would be Conor,” the actress said, and she looked annoyed. “But you’ll have to ask him about what he saw. It’s possible that Fleur killed Johnnie, but I wouldn’t have thought she’d be stupid enough to be seen doing it.” She shook her head, her eyes shining now with tears. “Johnnie was really quite a monstrous cad, you know, but one couldn’t help being charmed by him. At least for a while. I suppose now I will spend the rest of my life thinking more fondly of him than I did when he was alive.”

Six
    M iss Cullimore gave them permission to look about the theater on their own. Later, when Drew and Madeline and Nick returned to the stage, everyone was gone. Everyone but Tess, who was collecting the scripts left behind after the rehearsal and tidying up the place.
    “Pardon me,” Drew said, and she started.
    “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were still here. Is there something else you needed?”
    “Are you terribly busy at the moment?” Drew asked.
    “Not terribly, no.” Her expression was wary. “May I help you?”
    “You’re the script girl, correct?”
    She looked down at the stack of scripts in her arms. “Not officially. Millie eloped, and we haven’t anyone to replace her yet. I’m actually wardrobe, but I help out wherever I can.”
    “I see. We were wondering if you could tell us about Mr. Ravenswood. You knew him fairly well, didn’t you?”
    She looked down, clutching the pages against her chest.“I’ve worked here for the past five months. I first met him when I started. I’d seen him onstage before that, of course, but never to speak to. So, no, I can’t say I knew him well.”
    Nick glanced at Drew and then again at the girl. “Could you tell us your impression of him?”
    Tess shrugged. “Like Miss Cullimore told you, he was very charming. Not that he ever meant a word he said, but he was very attractive saying it.”
    “Miss Cullimore seems to hold rather a low opinion of his moral convictions,” Drew said, and the girl blushed.
    “He was a man of the world, as they say, and he certainly had no end of admirers. But for all that, underneath I’d say he was a bit unfeeling. He was one to say the way he was going to have something be, and that was how it was. No good asking him to think about how someone else might see it. He wanted his own way and didn’t much mind anything else.”
    “He directed the plays as well as acting in them?” Nick asked.
    The girl nodded. “Sometimes he and Mr. Benton would quarrel over a bit of business or what have you. Nothing of any importance most times.”
    “What about Mr. Benton?” Drew asked, encouraging her with his eyes. “What’s your impression of him?”
    A faint color rose in the girl’s cheeks. “Mr. Benton, he’s . . . uh, I don’t know him that well, though he’s been very kind to me. I think he sings beautifully and he’s quite a good actor.”
    Drew nodded. “These disagreements with Mr. Ravenswood, none of them was particularly serious, was it?”
    The girl’s smile was rather tentative. “Oh, no. It was just that Mr. Ravenswood had been doing