A Midsummer Night's Scream

an officer in the room with the big table and will summon you one at a time. You may use your cell phones, if you have one, to call home and warn your family.“
    Clearly no one liked this, Mel included. This was just the first set of interviews he’d do himself, and it had been a long day already. He had an officer sitting behind the interviewees taking shorthand notes on what was said.
    The first person Mel called for was Norman Engel, the young man who was now the substitute for Denny’ s role. Mel gave him the standard warning. Norman said he didn’t need an attorney.
    He launched into his explanation without any prodding. “I’m one of Professor Imry’s students. He asked me to turn up last night at the rehearsal. I had no idea why he wanted me there. So I obediently showed up. That’s it.“
    “He didn’t explain that you were to replace Denny?“
    “Not a word. I went back to the dorm, wondering what the point had been. It wasn’t until Imry called me early today that I understood. That’s when he admitted he was going to drop Denny and replace him with me.“
    “He didn’t mention that Denny was already dead?“
    “Not until the end of the conversation. I’d told him I didn’t think it would do my career any good to be secretly hired to replace another actor. That’s when he told me that Denny had died, so I had to fill his shoes. Imry didn’t even mention that it was murder.“
    “Had you known Denny Roth before this production?“ Mel asked smoothly, not commenting on the murder.
    “Not really. We were in one theater class together, but it was the one for all the students of the drama school. Not one of the small classes.“
    “What are your feelings about Professor Imry?“ Mel asked.
    “Not good ones. I never liked him to begin with, and when I learned what he’d planned to do, replacing another actor with me, I didn’t like it. It’s not professional.“
    “Thank you, Mr. Engel. If I have other questions, I’ll ask them later.“
    The Buntings, together, were next. He gave the same warning, which they both waived. Mel asked them the same question he’d asked Norman Engel at the end of his interview. “Did you know Denny Roth before you got here?“
    Both said they hadn’t.
    “What is your opinion of Professor Imry?“
    Gloria Bunting fielded this question. “We learned early in our professional lives never to give opinions of our co-workers.“
    Mel had a grudging admiration for her speaking so plainly.
    “Where were you on Wednesday night?“
    John Bunting took over. “I was out late with old prep school and college friends.“ He named the bar and grill where they always met when he was in town.
    “And you, Ms. Bunting?“
    “Sound asleep. It had been a long day and I knew John wouldn’t stagger in for hours.“
    Mel dismissed them and doggedly worked his way through the rest of the cast and crew. Nobody admitted to knowing Denny before the rehearsals started. Nobody liked Professor Imry.
    When Jane arrived home, she tried to write another page or two of her manuscript, but her mind kept wandering back to the real murder.’ Everything Shelley had said was true. They didn’t have enough knowledge of any of these people to even guess who had committed the horrible act. Professor Imry was, in both their minds, the primary suspect. Which wasn’t really fair.
    They’d made up their minds, as had most of the cast, that he wasn’t a nice person. But that proved nothing. Lots of offensive people went through life without killing anyone. Hurting their feelings, yes. Maybe harming their career, yes, very likely. Though people like him, Jane guessed, never gave a thought to how much they’d harmed anyone with words alone.
    Shelley was also right to say that Mel would find out about everyone’s background, and that she and Jane should stay out of it. Even petty crimes often showed up in legal records. And if not, acquaintances remembered them. Mel would have to dig deep into everyone’s lives, even those who weren’t actors. Denny might have done something awful to one of the other people involved in the production. Stagehands, the volunteer students who were making the set. Even Tazz or Evelyn Chance.
    On the other hand, Shelley and Jane had often provided information to Mel that only they knew. He’d seldom asked for their opinions. This time, he had asked Jane what she thought of Imry and even agreed with her. That made things different.
    Or did it? Jane and