A Bite to Remember Read Online Free PDF Page A

temporarily, but it wasn’t all at once, and it certainly wasn’t my choice,” he muttered unhappily as he took the seat across from her, then explained, “One by one I had to delay the openings of each play scheduled to begin, and temporarily shut down plays that were already open.”
    “Why? Bastien mentioned accidents and minor catastrophes.”
    “Yes.” Vincent ran a hand wearily through his hair as he thought of the events that had taken place over the last several weeks. “We’ve had two plays suffer minor fires, an accident where paint got spilled over every single costume for another play—”
    “Slow down, slow down,” Jackie said with a frown. She’d started to try to take notes as he spoke, but he was going too quickly and she couldn’t keep up. “Perhaps we should go over the events one at a time and in order. What was the first incident that you think is tied into all this?”
    “That was here in L.A. A can of paint got knocked off a shelf in the costume department and splashed over every costume in the room.” His mouth tightened. “No one knows how the paint got there, or why the lid was off, or who knocked it over.”

    Jackie considered the matter, thinking that it could have been an accident.
    “The next accident was a fire in one of the theatres in Canada,” Vincent continued. “It was a small fire. The theatre itself didn’t sustain much damage, but our stage set was ruined. It, too, seemed to be an accident at the time, a cigarette in a garbage can. It wasn’t until the other stuff started happening that I thought perhaps those two incidents hadn’t just been random accidents.”
    When Jackie merely nodded, he continued, “Next, there was another fire, this one here in Los Angeles. It was a bigger fire than the one in Canada.”
    Jackie arched an eyebrow. “Was anyone hurt?”
    “No, fortunately the building was empty at the time, but the fire destroyed the theatre entirely, taking our costumes and sets with it,” Vincent said grimly.
    Jackie made another note on her notepad.
    “The next event was at the second play in Canada. I was told a cable broke loose and a part of the stage set fell on the female lead.” Vincent grimaced. “She broke her arm. I had to replace her.”
    Jackie frowned and made another note, then put an asterisk beside it.
    “Then the male lead of another play here in Los Angeles fell down a set of stairs and broke his leg. I was still thinking it was just a run of bad luck,” Vincent admitted with a grimace and shook his head. “Dan Henson, the actor, claimed someone had pushed him, but I didn’t believe him until later.”
    “Why?” she asked.

    “He was a drinker and drunk at the time.” Vincent shrugged. “I thought it was just—”
    “An accident,” Jackie finished for him dryly. “When did you start to realize these accidents might not be accidents?”
    “When the cast of the New York play I was in started dropping out sick one right after the other with contagious anemia.”
    Jackie stared at him with disbelief. “Contagious anemia?”
    “Yes.” He gave a short laugh. “I think my family thought I’d fed myself out of a show.”
    “Did you?” Jackie asked.
    Vincent stiffened, then turned a cold look her way. “No. I don’t feed off my cast and crew. In fact, I don’t feed off people I know or employees. Usually,” he added dryly, as if he might be willing to make an exception in her case.
    Jackie shrugged. She’d had to ask. “So, your cast started falling ill with anemia and you shut down the show and flew back here to California.”
    “I didn’t have a choice. You need a cast to have a play.” Vincent shrugged and then added with regret, “I hated to do it, though. It would have been a big hit.”
    Jackie stared at him doubtfully. “I believe Bastien said the play in New York was called Dracula, The Musical ?”
    “Yeah.” He sighed. “It was good. The next Rocky Horror Picture Show .”
    “Right,” Jackie