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I bobbed my head in a quick nod. He held me under the arms and dragged me backwards through the wardrobe and into the dressing room. He was shouting something, but I couldn’t understand it until the smoke cleared and suddenly I could see clearly. The door to my dressing room had been smashed open on its hinges, and through the open doorway Ryan and Andy came rushing in with fire extinguishers at hand. Ryan gave me a fearful glance in passing as he followed Andy through the wardrobe and into the hidden room, spraying foam ahead of them in loud hisses.
Braden’s face appeared over mine as he rubbed my cheek. “It’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay. I’m here now.”
I tried to thank him, but all that came out was another muffled groan through the rag. He quickly began untying the rope from around my mouth.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Braden said, “because I’m never going to let go of you again.”
61
Nadia
With Ryan and Andy fast at work, the fire was extinguished within moments. A quick investigation around the exterior rooms showed that it hadn’t spread beyond the old sound testing room, where it had feasted on the flammable sound-proof foam. A few other cast members were shaken up by the smoke, but otherwise there was no damage or panic.
Director Atkins called the police, who sent over two new detectives to survey the damage. The trapdoor in the hidden room led to a crawlspace between the air conditioning and sewage lines underneath the building. It ran for 50 feet before exiting at a drainage grate in an alley beside the theater.
Tatiana Vandercant was found two blocks down the street, watching the theater with a pair of binoculars and waiting for it to go up in flames. She was taken to a police station in handcuffs. We learned about this second-hand from the detective on site, and never got to see her again.
Braden wrapped me in a blanket and gave me bottled water to sip. The phlegm I coughed up for the next ten minutes looked like black sludge, but otherwise I felt fine.
“I can’t believe it was Tatiana,” Director Atkins whispered. He was in shock as he paced the length of my small dressing room, which was crowded with people now. “She could have just run off if she didn’t want to be in the show. She didn’t need to hurt anyone.”
“Tatiana didn’t seem very sane when she tied me up,” I said. “I think the stress and pressure had gotten to her.”
Ryan sat next to me on the couch and rubbed my arm. “You sound like you feel sorry for the crazy bitch.”
“In a way, I do. But only a little bit,” I quickly added. “She did try to kill me.”
The police detective cleared his throat. “Everyone but Nadia needs to leave. I want to take everyone’s statement one at a time, so wait outside to be called.”
I jumped up from the couch. “How long is that going to take? We have to get back to the show!”
Andy touched me gently. “Nadia. It’s been an hour since intermission started. People are starting to leave.”
“Which is why I need to know what’s going on,” someone shouted into the room. He was wearing a tuxedo and had a wand in one hand. The orchestra conductor. “My woodwinds are getting anxious. When will the second half begin?”
“Tonight’s show will be canceled,” Atkins said definitively. “Andy, go make an announcement so everyone can go home.”
“No!” I protested. “It’s not too late!”
Dorian gave me a sympathetic wince. “It’s over, Nadia. It sucks, but…”
I pushed past them and ran down the hall. The rest of the cast was there backstage, and began shouting questions at me as I passed:
“Nadia! You’re okay!”
“I heard you died.”
“Did they catch the saboteur? Someone said there was a small fire.”
“Are we starting the show again?”
I ignored them and rushed to the curtain, finding the gap and slipping through to the side of the stage facing the crowd. A quarter of the seats were now empty, with more people getting up to leave. A short cheer went up when the audience saw me, but there was an annoyed buzz in the air that remained.
The orchestra conductor appeared down in the orchestra pit. He spoke a few words to the men and women holding musical instruments, and they began packing up their things. When the audience saw this, even more people began to get up to leave.
No, no, you can’t leave, the show isn’t over!
And in my desperation, I did the only thing I knew how to do: I started the second half of the show.
