Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading this story. An especial thank you to max2013, TinDog, and Cherylann Rivers for your reviews. Each one of them means a lot to me.
Chapter III
"That's horrible," Iola said in indignation, surveying the ruined painting. "You'd nearly finished this one."
Callie nodded, struggling not to let anyone see that she was on the verge of frustrated tears. "I don't know why anyone would do something like this. It's a stupid prank."
"Are you sure that's all it is?" Joe blurted out.
Callie looked at him in surprise and a little confusion. "What else could it be?"
Joe shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems like there are a lot of problems with this play all of a sudden. And I'm no theater person myself, but I'd be kind of surprised if mysteriously vanishing leads, exploding dishes, and vandalized backdrops were ordinary problems to run into in a production."
"You're right," Iola agreed. "There is something weird going on. I just don't see what or how or why."
"Well, if you as the assistant director wanted Frank and me to find out, we're ready, willing, and able," Joe said.
"I already know what's going on." Chet's voice was serious.
"You do?" Callie asked.
"It's Joe," Chet went on.
"Me?" Joe raised an eyebrow. He realized that Chet was no doubt teasing, but he didn't see where he was going with it.
"Uh huh." Chet nodded solemnly. "I heard all about how you brought down the curse of the Scottish play on the whole production."
Joe groaned and rolled his eyes. Callie couldn't help but grin a little and shake her head.
"I must have missed something," Frank said.
"Oh, so Joe didn't admit to you that he said the M-word at the rehearsal and cursed the play," Chet went on.
"Who told you about that?" Joe asked. "It wasn't you, Callie, was it? You were the only one there besides Evan."
"Honestly, I'd forgotten about that until just now," Callie told him.
"I heard it from Len Bertrand," Chet told him.
"But Len wasn't even anywhere in the room," Joe protested. "How would he know?"
Chet shrugged. "Someone else must have told him. What's the big deal?"
"Nothing, I guess," Joe replied. "It's just that if the whole school is gossiping about me, I'd rather if they were saying something more complimentary than that I accidentally cursed the play."
Frank looked at his wristwatch. "We're late already. We'd better get to class. When we get a chance, Joe and I will come back and see if we can find any clues. In the meantime, if anyone runs into Julie or Jason, we need to ask them what's going on with the rehearsal."
"Jason said he's not going to be in school today," Iola reminded him.
"I know," Frank said, "but just in case."
HBHBHBHBHB
As it turned out, Frank himself was the first one to run into Julie McVera in the hallway between classes later that morning. Frank only had a few moments to plan out how to start the conversation, which were moments that he definitely needed. As far as he could remember, he had never talked to Julie other than saying "hello" in the hall a few times. Going up to her and starting a conversation would be awkward, and if she had anything to hide, she would certainly be on her guard, since pretty much the whole school knew about the Hardy brothers' detective career.
Thinking through all of that took up the few moments that Frank had, so he had to just jump right into the conversation. "Hi, Julie."
"Hi," she replied. She kept walking, apparently not suspecting the conversation to last any longer.
"I hear you're directing the school play." Frank fell into step beside her. "And that the play's been having some trouble."
Julie stopped suddenly, but didn't make eye contact with him. "Who told you that?"
"Considering that my brother, my girlfriend, and one of my best friends are all working on the play-" Frank said.
Julie nodded and looked at him. "Right. Of course. I'm just a little on edge. What about it, though? Are you wondering if there's a mystery to solve?" As she asked the last question, her voice took on a defensive tone.
"The scenery Callie was working on got vandalized," Frank told her, "and I heard about what happened at rehearsal last night and that the rehearsal tonight got canceled. It can't all be coincidence."
Julie took in a deep breath and lowered her voice to a whisper. "It's not. But I don't want to talk about it here in front of all these people. How about you and Joe and Callie and Iola meet me at my house after school? To be honest, I'd feel a lot better getting some advice about all of this."
Before Frank could say another word, either accepting or refusing the information, she hurried away down the hall.
HBHBHBHBHB
At lunch, Frank filled the others in on his encounter with Julie. Besides Joe, Callie, Iola, and Chet, the rest of their particular group of friends were sitting at the table also, listening with rapt attention. These were Biff Hooper, Tony Prito, Phil Cohen, and Jerry Gilroy. Because they hadn't heard anything about the case before this, they had to be filled in on everything.
Joe, Callie, and Iola all talked over each other, trying to get the story out. When they had finally delivered a sufficiently coherent version of the story, Chet had to add the details about the curse.
Joe groaned and gave him a playful shove. "Nobody cares about all that curse business, Chet. You don't have to keep telling it to everybody."
"You mean you just don't want everyone knowing that you're the reason the play's having issues," Chet replied.
Biff shook his head. "I don't think the play's being cursed by the ghost of Macbeth or whatever. It's just suffering from the Hardy curse."
"The Hardy curse?" Frank repeated.
"Yeah," Biff said. "Every time you guys get involved in anything, a mystery always pops up. You should have never asked Joe to help you if you wanted everything to go smoothly, Iola."
Iola smirked. "You could be right. Looks like, either way, it's all on you, Joe."
Joe knew the others were just teasing, but he still couldn't help feeling a pang of frustration at their words. Frank felt it, too, so he hastened to shift the topic of the conversation.
"Whatever's causing it, we all know it's not a curse," he said. "I just don't see any reason for sabotaging a school play. Do you girls have any idea? You've been the closest to what's been happening."
Callie bit her lip thoughtfully, and then leaned forward over the table. Instinctively, everyone else also leaned forward to hear what she had to say.
"I can think of one person who might want to sabotage the play," she confided. "Clarissa Margot. She was furious that she got only a small part. She's convinced that Julie and Chris didn't give her lead role because they're jealous of her. Maybe she's trying to get revenge."
"It could be," Iola agreed. "Clarissa is your traditional diva, with all the temper and pettiness that comes with it."
"Then we'll look into her," Frank said.
"Hey, I don't suppose that while you guys are talking to Julie, you could let us investigate Clarissa," Biff suggested.
"Yeah, that's a great idea," Tony agreed. "We've spent enough time around you guys, we ought to know what we're doing by now."
Frank and Joe exchanged looks, knowing each other well enough that they were able to come to an agreement just by that one action.
"Okay," Frank said. "You guys can give it a try."
"Just don't weird her out or anything," Joe added.
"You don't trust us?" Biff asked, pretending to be taken aback.
"Well, now that you mention it –" Joe left his sentence off with a grin.
HBHBHBHBHB
"There's her house." Callie pointed out a modest two-story home on the right side of the street from where she sat in the front passenger seat of the Hardys' car.
Frank parked the car next to the curb, and all four people in the car climbed out. Frank and Joe paused for a moment to survey the house. Although it was small, it was well-kept. It looked like it had been painted a pleasant cream color recently. There were flowerbeds all around the house, but this late in the fall, they were empty. A very neat picket fence surrounded the lawn.
"Looks like the McVeras do a good job keeping their place up," Joe commented.
Iola nodded. "They take a lot of pride in the home. Honestly, in everything they do. It must be killing Julie to be having these problems coming up with the play."
Before they reached the door, Julie opened it and greeted them. "I'm glad you came. Come in."
The first room they entered was a living room that was just like the outside of the house – small but neat. Julie's mother was sitting on the sofa, reading a book. She looked up when the guests came in.
"Hello," she said. "I don't believe I've met any of you before."
Without giving any of the others a chance to say anything, Julie quickly introduced them. "This is Callie, Frank, Iola, and Joe. They're helping me on the play. Come on, guys, let's go up to my room and we can talk it over."
Julie led them up a staircase and then into a bedroom. There was no place to sit besides the bed, so all five of them remained standing. Julie began to rummage around in a drawer of her dresser.
"Doesn't your mom know what's going on?" Joe asked.
"No," Julie admitted, not looking up from her search. "I haven't told anybody about this yet. But you guys can help. I hope. I'm so scared, I – I almost want to call the whole play off."
"What?" Iola blinked. "Why? What happened?"
"This." Julie pulled a piece of paper out of the drawer and handed it to Frank. "I found that tucked inside one of my school books yesterday."
Frank unfolded the paper and read aloud the message, which had been printed from a computer:
If you keep holding rehearsals, you'll be rehearsing your own death.
"Ouch." Joe winced as if in pain.
"I know, right?" Julie said. "It's pretty creepy."
"Oh, yeah, I guess so," Joe replied. "I was thinking it was pretty corny. It sounds like something straight out of a cheap mystery story."
"It probably is," Frank told him. "I mean, whoever wrote it most likely goes to our high school and isn't a hardened criminal. Probably most of what they know about crimes comes from what they've read."
"Well, corny or not, I don't like having my life threatened," Julie interjected. "Why would anyone do it? Why would anyone go so far just to wreck a play?"
Frank shook his head. "That's what we've all been asking ourselves."
"A death threat, corny or creepy, is serious business," Callie added. "I think you should tell the police, or at least the school officials."
"No," Julie said. "I – I don't know how to explain it. I don't want people to start gossiping about all of this, at least not until it's over. Do you guys think you can find whoever is responsible?"
"Sure we can," Joe replied without hesitation.
"We can try, anyway," Frank countered. "I really think you should go to the police and the school like Callie says. If we don't turn anything up in twenty-four hours, I'm going to insist that you do."
Julie took in a deep breath and tilted her head just slightly as she weighed the suggestion. "Okay. Twenty-four hours. I just hope you find something before then."