Reign by Chet Williamson Page B

audience when Mr. Hamilton left to go upstairs?"
    "Yeah."
    "How much time passed between the time he left and the time the curtain fell?”
    “Oh Jesus . . . not long. Maybe a minute or two, like Curt says."
    "Could've been two minutes?"
    Sid frowned in concentration. "After Dennis ran out, the lights kept flashing on and off for maybe another minute. Then we heard the voice calling for Tommy.”
    “What did he say exactly?"
    "Something like . . . 'Tommy? Tommy Werton on stage . . . on stage . . . a little further . . .'"
    "He directed him?" Munro said sharply.
    "I . . . that's what he said, I think. You know, you might ask some of the performer types who were in the audience. I mean, a few of them have total recall.”
    “ Cissy does," Curt said.
    Munro crossed his arms. "Would you get her, please?"
    A moment later, Cissy Morrison was backstage with the three men. "'Tommy,'" she said to Munro. "'Tommy Werton , on stage please. On stage, Tommy. A little further on, Tommy. Go ahead.' That was it," she concluded.
    "All right," Munro said. "Thank you. You've all been helpful." They started to walk back down into the auditorium, but Munro stopped Curt and asked in a low voice, "Is there any way to get from the back of the auditorium to the stage without being seen?"
    "Well, around the outside, or through the basement. Other than that, the only way is to go above the ceiling."
    "Could any of those be done in two minutes? I mean, there and back again?”
    “Not by me," Curt said.
    Munro nodded and walked down the stairs to where Dennis and Robin waited, their faces turned away from the stage and what lay there. "Mr. Hamilton," Munro said. "May I speak with you for a moment? And if the rest of you would please go out to the lobby?"
    ~ * ~
    Munro led the way to the back of the theatre, where he sat on an aisle seat. Dennis sat in the row ahead of him and turned his head to see the policeman. "Why did you call Mr. Werton onto the stage?" Munro asked.
    "I didn't."
    "I have two hundred witnesses who'll say you did."
    "I don't care if you have two thousand." Dennis felt too weary and full of grief to argue, but tried his best. "I didn't call Tommy on stage."
    "Miss Morrison quoted you."
    "It wasn't me. When I was going up the stairs to the booth, I heard something through the speakers, but I thought it was Curt."
    "All right," Munro said. "I'd like everybody to leave this area now until —"
    Munro was interrupted by the entrance through the rear doors of three state policemen, a pair of orderlies with a stretcher, and a man with a black bag. He stood up, went over and talked to them for several minutes. Dennis could not hear the words, but Munro gestured toward the stage, and once toward Dennis. Then two of the policemen and the medical people walked toward the stage, and Munro brought the third trooper over to Dennis.
    "Mr. Hamilton, this is Trooper Pierce. He'll want to ask you some questions," he said, and without another word Munro joined the men on the stage.
    The trooper, a tall blond man with a surprisingly gentle manner, asked Dennis to tell what he had done that evening, and Dennis did. When the trooper asked him about calling to Tommy over the speakers, Dennis once more denied it, and was permitted to rejoin his friends in the lobby, where another trooper was asking questions of a number of guests. Dennis had just seen Robin on the other side of the lobby and was moving toward her, when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning, he looked into the pale and lovely face of Ally Terrazin . She whispered something to him, but he could not quite make out what it was.
    "I'm sorry, Ally. What?"
    "There's something here, Dennis," she said louder. "I felt it. Jesus, I can still feel it."
    "Something . . . Ally, I'm in no mood for this sort of thing. Now what are you talking about?"
    "A presence. Don't you feel it?"
    "Ally dear, all I feel right now is terribly, terribly sick. What happened to Tommy, my God . . .”
    "But that's what it's