Read It and Weep (A Library Lover's Mystery) by Jenn McKinlay Page B

tree trunk off of him. As soon as they lifted it, she and Beth tugged Robbie out from underneath it.
    Robbie grunted as they pulled. Violet hurried across the stage to join them as Beth and Lindsey gently helped him stand on the wooden stage.
    “Robbie, are you all right? What happened?” Violet asked.
    “Bloody hell! I was leaning against the tree just like we blocked it, and the next thing I knew it was falling on top of me.”
    Sully was kneeling by the base of the tree, checking the bottom of it. When he glanced at Robbie, he frowned.
    “The base of this has been damaged,” he said. “Any pressure on it and it was going to fall.”
    “Well, how did that happen?” Violet asked. “We used it last night and it was fine.”
    “It could have been damaged when it was moved earlier,” Ian said. He was frowning like Sully, and Lindsey got the feeling he wasn’t happy with the idea that the pieces of the set could be damaged so easily.
    “Robbie!” a voice shrieked from the side of the stage. A buxom brunette came running across the stage and flung herself against Robbie who had just lowered himself into a seated position.
    “Easy, Lola,” he said. “You hit harder than the tree.”
    “Sorry,” she said and sat back on her heels. “It’s just—when I saw—are you all right?”
    Robbie carefully moved his leg. He cringed as he bent his knee and put his foot flat on the floor.
    “I think I’ll live,” he said.
    “Ah!” The woman called Lola clapped a hand over her mouth and turned to scan the crowd. With a shaking hand, she pointed into the crowd that had gathered and said, “You did this!”
    Lindsey glanced over to see Kitty, the same woman who had warned her away from Robbie, standing at the edge of the crowd with her arms crossed over her chest and a sour look on her face.
    “Please,” she said. “If I wanted to hurt Robbie, I’d get him in his wallet. After all, I’m still his wife while you’re just his ex-girlfriend.”
    Lola narrowed her eyes and growled, “Only because you won’t sign the divorce papers.”
    “Are you that desperate to have my sloppy seconds, Lola?” Kitty asked. “How pathetic.”
    Lola snarled and launched herself at the other woman. Before she reached her, Sully jumped forward and snatched her up around the waist while Ian blocked Kitty from engaging.
    “Enough! Take them outside to cool off,” Violet ordered.
    “I don’t need to—” Kitty began, but Violet gave her a menacing look that made her close her mouth in midsentence.
    “Go,” Violet said.
    Everyone watched as Sully took Lola out toward the back door and Ian led Kitty out the front.
    “Come on, let’s see if you can stand.” Violet gestured for Lindsey and Beth to help Robbie up.
    Lindsey took his right while Beth took his left.
    “Upsy daisy,” Beth said.
    Robbie put an arm around each of their shoulders, and together they got him up on his feet. He gingerly put weight on his left leg. Lindsey saw his mouth tighten, but his arm on her shoulder was light.
    He took a few steps forward and Lindsey and Beth walked with him. He gave them both a quick squeeze and released them.
    “Thank you, my lovely angels of mercy,” he said. “I think it’s just going to be bruised.”
    Violet was watching him and said, “I want you to have it checked by a doctor.”
    “Will do,” he said.
    “You might want to keep it elevated, and ice it to keep the swelling down,” Beth said. “I think we have some ice in the machine in the concession stand.”
    “Excellent,” Violet said. “Could you get him an ice pack, Beth?”
    “And, Robbie, for the rest of tonight’s rehearsal, you are chair-bound. Milton, could you grab a chair from backstage?”
    Lindsey watched Robbie wince as he took a step in the direction of the side of the stage. She hurried over and took his arm and draped it over her shoulders.
    “You really shouldn’t push it, you know.”
    He looked at her and his face cleared and his dimples