Wilmington, NC 10 - Much Ado About Murder

of the stage crew crept behind the scenery of waves and held up two yellow rubber ducks as if they were swimming along on the waves. The audience roared. But the director didn’t think it was funny. He went back stage and ordered the two pranksters out of the building.”
    I was so caught up in the story, I almost didn’t notice when the actors from Oklahoma! arrived until someone’s loud laughter made me look up. I was sitting with my back to the brick wall, facing the front door of the restaurant as they came streaming noisily inside.
    “Do you see what I see?” I asked Jon. “How can that be?”
    We were both gazing at the group of actors. Taylor Page and Simon LeBeck were holding hands. They seemed to be very much into each other.
    “I see them. And I don’t get it. Why, just the other day he was accusing her of stealing his guitar.”
    Taylor had changed out of Laurie’s sweet gingham pinafore costume and was wearing one of those stretchy short dresses. And platform heels. She was hanging all over Simon. Certainly making moves on him.
    I nudged Jon. “Well, they sure made up fast.”
    At our table, Binkie was telling Dalton about his trip to the Washington Monument and his viewing of the back of the Thalian Stone. He told Dalton that only a few letters of the inscription were visible. “Any idea what it means?” Binkie asked. “Your ancestors and mine were involved with raising money for the creation of the stone.”
    Dalton looked thoughtful. But before he could respond, Aunt Ruby said, “Dalton, as you’ve known Benjamin all of his life, perhaps you know how he got the nickname of Binkie ? He claims he doesn’t remember.”
    Dalton replied, “Oh, I remember. I asked my mother that question when we were boys. It seems Binkie’s mother admired an English actor whose name was Binkie something or other. Binkie was a popular nickname for Englishmen back in the thirties. The name just stuck.”
    “For all of his life,” Aunt Ruby said. “Well, I prefer Benjamin. That suits a man of his distinction much better.”
    Binkie turned to her and smiled indulgently. Anything Aunt Ruby said or did was just fine with him.
    Just then, Thomas came into the restaurant to join Simon and Taylor. He was hanging onto an actress who had been in the girls’ chorus. Angela. Angela somebody. She was wearing tight jeans and a very revealing tank top. Her right breast was tattooed with a thunder bolt. As a mother who had only recently nursed two babies, I wondered what this woman’s babies would think as they stared up at that thunderbolt.
    While Simon approached the host, Thomas’s partner reached up and pulled his face down toward the thunderbolt. Whoa! I was repulsed. Fortunately, before things could get any more torrid, Dalton called to them. “Hey, guys, over here!”
    On the way to their table, the four stopped to say hello. “Great performance,” Dalton said. “Did you ever find out what happened? Glad nobody got hurt.”
    “Somebody got the knives mixed up,” Thomas said. “I’m just glad I realized I was holding a real knife in my hand before we did that scene. I could have been stabbed.”
    “Why you?” Simon demanded. “Why is it always about you? I was about to jump off that haystack right at you. I’m the one who would have been stabbed!” And in a huff, he stalked off after the host.

7

    On Friday night after opening night of the show, Jon and I, and Melanie and Cam headed out to Wrightsville Beach to Scarlett and Ray’s house for the cast party. The play had gone smoothly. Splendidly, in fact. The actors performed wonderfully and bowed to a standing ovation from a grateful audience. There were no hitches, no real knives instead of prop knives. The whole show went like clockwork.
    Bless their hearts, Aunt Ruby and Binkie had volunteered to babysit so “you young people can go off and have some fun.”
    Jon drove out Martin Luther King Drive which becomes Eastwood Drive to the bridge to Wrightsville Beach. He picked up the southern leg of Lumina Avenue and followed it to the south end of the island. Both sides of the street were filled with parked cars for the party. We pulled into a paved driveway in front of Bella Aqua. At Wrightsville Beach, the houses have names. Bella Aqua is three stories tall if you count the enclosure under the house. The ground level housed a garage and storage rooms, an area that could withstand flooding without experiencing too much damage if sea water flowed