Show Time by Suzanne Trauth Page B

wondering who might have been in that SUV.
    I had just shifted my focus back to the stack of bills in front of me when I heard a familiar voice. “Dodie, hi,” Lola said. She sounded upset.
    â€œHi. What’s up?”
    Lola scooted into the booth. “Dodie, we’re in trouble.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” I said.
    â€œYou know how Walter told Chief Thompson he’d report the missing money if he hadn’t found it in twenty-four hours?”
    I remembered. “Did he find the money?”
    â€œNo.” Lola flipped her blond locks behind her shoulder. “I was in the box office straightening up. No one has cleaned up in there since Jerome died. There were food wrappers and Xeroxes of scenes from Romeo and Juliet . . . probably Penny hanging out.”
    â€œAnd . . .”
    Lola hesitated. “I threw out the trash and opened the top drawer under the counter by the ticket window. Just to see if it needed to be cleaned out, too. Jerome spent so much time in front of house that he just thought of the box office as his personal space. He kept some things in the drawers. Like a tie he wore opening nights and paperback novels and . . . things.”
    â€œLola?”
    â€œI found a small ledger in the drawer that had an accounting of ELT income and expenses for the last six months. Most of it was pretty straightforward. Costume and scenery purchases. But every so often, Jerome made a notation. WZ. And next to the initials were amounts of money.” She withdrew a black, five-by-seven notebook from her bag.
    â€œWalter was borrowing from the box office?”
    â€œAnd Jerome was keeping track of it.”
    I opened the book and scanned the pages. The last notation was made the fourteenth. The day before auditions. After he and I had had our conversation in the Windjammer.
    â€œOh, Dodie, if the board hears about this . . . Walter has a real problem.”
    â€œEspecially since, according to Jerome’s notes, it adds up to a thousand dollars. That’s grand theft.”
    Lola put her elbows on the table, her head in her hands. “I know Walter isn’t always the most considerate person, but I thought he was honest. The divorce has changed him.”
    I didn’t agree. I’d always thought he was a pain in the neck. I thumbed through the ledger again. Walter’s initials first appeared the previous December, just about the time he was in the throes of his chaotic divorce. Jerome’s accounting ended half-way through the book. The rest of the pages were blank, but on the last page, someone, presumably Jerome, had written MR and a date: 4/16 .
    â€œDid you see this?” I pushed the book across the table.
    Lola stared at the writing and shook her head. “What does that mean?”
    â€œI don’t know. The sixteenth was the morning Jerome was found. This looks like a planned meeting. I wonder why Jerome made a note in the ledger in the box office? Is there someone with these initials connected to the theater?”
    She thought a minute. “I don’t think so. What should we do with it?” “Let’s save it for now. Maybe we could find out who or what MR is?”
    â€œHow would we do that?” She handed me the ledger as if for safekeeping.
    â€œI’ll think of something,” I said and patted her hand. I had no idea how I was going to get this information.
    Lola leaned in closer. “Dodie, we need help at the ELT. Things are in an uproar. With Jerome gone, there’s no one to run the box office, and Penny is more disorganized than ever with the murder investigation and the press. I don’t know how she’s going to get us through rehearsals. And Walter is so preoccupied. You have to help us,” she pleaded.
    â€œMe? I have a restaurant to manage.”
    â€œYou did such a great job at auditions. It would only be a few nights a week just to make sure everything is running smoothly. To keep