Sinister Stage (Wicks Hollow #5) - Colleen Gleason Page 0,16

is your biggest client. And her voice is so amazing,” Helga said. “I just loved her in Wicked when I saw her in Chicago. Too bad you couldn’t get her to do Elaine Harper…”

“I know. I really do like her—and she is so very talented—even though she is a little high-strung. But, ugh, she thinks just because I’m in Wicks Hollow that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth.” Vivien shook her head. “She was really upset when I told her I was moving, but I don’t need to live in her zip code to do my job. After all, I’ve been working with Tanya Rheim out of L.A. for years. Anyway, Louise should be happy—I’ve got a line on her doing some paid posts for…”

She trailed off when she saw the way Helga was looking at her—with that don’t even try lying to me—I’m a cop look.

“What?”

“You should be playing Elaine Harper,” said Helga. Then she just looked at Vivien, whose expression must have said it all. “Do we need to order another glass of wine to get through whatever this is?”

“I’m thinking a whole bottle,” replied Vivien. “Ugh.”

“We’d probably better get some food too, then,” said her friend, and flagged down a server.

And then, being the patient, pragmatic, close-to-perfect friend she was, Helga settled back and waited for Vivien to talk.

It took a few minutes for Vivien to figure out how she was going to unload everything, then she decided to just start at the beginning and walk her friend through the upheaval of her life.

“The phone call yesterday was from the bank with the final approval on the loan,” she said, then raised her almost-empty glass in response to Helga’s congratulatory toast. “Yes. I am very excited.”

“You should be, but you don’t look it, VL. I know you’re probably a little scared and nervous. Look, we really need something like the Stage here in Wicks Hollow, and who better to make it happen than Vivien Leigh Savage? You’ve got the name, the experience, the contacts—and you’re basically a local girl. A child actor who never went off the deep end. The Olivia Dee Theater is going to be great, girlfriend.”

Vivien gave her a sad smile. The child actor who never went off the deep end—despite her tragic life.

She hadn’t known Helga when she and Liv were in their “heyday,” such as it was. In fact, Vivien hadn’t met Helga until she and her mother moved permanently to Wicks Hollow, five years after Liv died and right when Vivien was about to start high school.

Helga, who had already been taller than everyone in their freshman class—and most of the sophomores and juniors as well—and seriously sensitive about it, had been assigned as Vivien’s mentor for the first day of school. They hit it off, and feeling like misfits, they’d clung together like Jack and Rose on the scrap of wood through the stormy years of high school. Fortunately, neither of them had been dumb enough to let go of the scrap of wood that was their friendship.

Therefore, Helga didn’t know how close Vivien had actually come to being a child actor who went off the deep end, so to speak, because by the time she got to high school, her Gran had made certain Vivien, at least, was in therapy. Her mother was a different story.

“I appreciate your confidence,” Vivien said. “Thank you. But I’m actually not so worried about that. The business plan is solid, and my goals for the year are achievable. The bank wouldn’t have approved the loan if they didn’t think so too. But something weird happened at the theater yesterday.”

Helga leaned forward as Vivien described her experience walking into the theater, the sudden burst of light, and then the glowing words on the wall after.

“You should have called me,” Helga the Cop said flatly. “Right away.”

“I… Well, I thought about it, but it seemed pretty benign, all things considered, and—”

“Benign my ass. You were alone in the theater, the lights came on, and there was a threat painted on the wall? That’s not benign—”

“But wait, there’s more,” Vivien said, then settled back in her chair as the server arrived with a full bottle of the Sancerre. There was a pause while their glasses were refilled and they agreed on a pizza to share—Trib’s famous Wise Guy—and then they were left alone again.

“So I got out of there, went to my car, and then decided I wasn’t going to be chased away from

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