Murder in the Past Tense (Miss Prentice Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) Read Free Page B

him on the wall of the studio. He was the star of Serena’s School of Dance who went on to make it in show business.” She curved one arm in a graceful circle and executed a shaky ballet turn. “ Tour jeté ,” she said under her breath.
    “I don’t remember him, Lily. If he made it in show business, why haven’t I heard of him? Besides, that was Barb who took all those lessons.”
    “Oh, that’s right, I remember. She told me you cried so hard at your first lesson that they made you breathe into a paper bag and you never went back.”
    Was there no aspect of my private life my sister had not announced to the town at large?
    “That’s not the point. I just don’t remember this guy. Tell me about him.”
    “Well, he’s pretty old. He was maybe seventeen when he stopped taking lessons at Serena’s, and then he went to New York, so that would make him ten or twelve years older than me.”
    “Than I.” Lily was careless about her grammar and it was my duty to correct her.
    “What? Oh, all right, teacher’s pet—I. Anyway, where was—I?”
    I did a quick calculation. “He’s about thirty. Maybe even older.” It was an advanced age.
    “Oh, yeah. Well, his dad gave him the money to go study in New York, and he was in all kinds of shows on Broadway.”
    “Which shows?” I knew them all and had albums for nearly every one.
    “ The Rockets , of course. That was early in his career and he played one of the teenagers. He had big parts in Hearts in Motion and San Juan Hill . He played the younger Teddy Roosevelt in the first part of the play. I saw the picture in his wife’s scrapbook. He wore those little pinchy glasses and had a moustache. And—”
    “Glasses like that are called pince nez ,” I put in, using the French pronunciation, “Any big shows?”
    I wasn’t impressed with the resume so far. The shows Lily mentioned were short lived. Hearts in Motion never even put out an original cast album.
    “Wait a minute. I was just getting to it. He was in Othello in Brooklyn . Understudied Ian, you know, the best friend who’s really the villain? He even got onstage once or twice.”
    “Wow! Co-starring with Elizabeth Trotter! She won a Tony for playing Dolores in that play, you know.”
    “I know! There’s a picture of Terence with her in Pat’s scrapbook. I’ll ask her to show it to you.”
    “And so now he’s running this theatre. Where’d he get the money?”
    “Well, when his father died, he inherited Clancy’s Tavern, so—”
    “Clancy’s? That was his father? My dad talks about him.”
    It was a standing joke at our house that when Papa became overwhelmed with all the femininity around him, he would say, “Well, I guess I’ll just get my hat and coat and go down to Clancy’s Tavern.” He never really did, though.
    “Sure, didn’t you know that? Clancy Jamison. So Terence sold the tavern, and he used part of the money to start this summer theatre. His sister Deirdre told me that. Hurry up, we don’t want to be late. Terence always gives a little speech at the beginning of every play. I heard it four times last summer, so I practically know it by heart. Pas de chat ,” she mumbled, and gave a little ballet hop. She’d already been there, and I hadn’t, and she was rubbing it in.
    Lily was wearing madras Bermuda shorts. I bent over and squinted at the back of her leg. “Boy, you got eaten up, didn’t you? Looks like you have about six bites there.” Summer in the Adirondacks meant mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds.
    She stopped and scratched behind her knee. “Aww, why’d you remind me? Now it itches again!”
    “Careful, Lily, you’ll make it bleed!”
    I’d mentioned the bites on purpose, and now I felt guilty. As insufferable as Lily was, she was still doing me a favor. I had seen all four of last summer’s plays: Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, Carousel, and The King and I , and I seethed with jealousy watching Lily and Allison in costume and makeup being part of