Deadly Overtures: A Music Lover's Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Cameron came over to join me and Mikayla by my locker.
    “Do the police want to talk to you guys too?” I asked.
    JT nodded. “Since we were in the theater when the woman died.”
    “Not this part of the theater, though,” Cameron said. “I don’t know what they expect to get out of us when we weren’t anywhere near the washroom when she died. Not to mention the fact that we wouldn’t have used that washroom anyway.”
    “I guess they’re just trying to be thorough,” Mikayla said.
    I nodded in agreement with her, thinking over the issue of the timing of Pavlina’s death. She’d been alive before the concert started, and she was dead by the time Mikayla and I reached the washroom shortly after the concert ended. And she’d likely died before that, since she hadn’t appeared on stage with Sherwin. That narrowed the time of death down to approximately two hours.
    Something else occurred to me. Pavlina should have been sitting in the audience with the other finalists until the performance of Sherwin’s composition ended. At that point—as I knew from the dress rehearsal—Olivia would have ushered Sherwin and Pavlina out of the audience and up to the wings to await their moment in the spotlight. If Pavlina was in her seat when Olivia went to fetch her and Sherwin, the window for the timing of her death narrowed significantly. There would only have been a couple of minutes for her to slip off to the washroom before she was meant to appear on stage.
    Since all of us musicians were present on the stage at that time, I didn’t see what we could add to the investigation. Those who had remained backstage during the concert would be far more likely sources of valuable information. Still, I knew Mikayla was right. Since the police didn’t know for certain what had occurred, they needed to be thorough. Even so, I hoped the taking of statements wouldn’t eat up too much time. It was already getting late and I had to stifle a yawn as we stood around waiting for Constable Ryan to return. At least it was Friday, so I didn’t have to teach violin lessons the next day, but I still didn’t fancy staying at the theater until the wee hours of the morning.
    Cameron seemed even more anxious to leave. While Mikayla, JT, and I settled on one of the lounge’s couches, he paced around, checking his cell phone every minute or two. His edginess was getting on my nerves when, thankfully, the door opened and Constable Ryan reappeared with three other uniformed officers.
    All the conversations going on died off and everyone’s attention fixed on the police officers.
    “We’ll start talking with each one of you now,” Constable Ryan announced. “We’d like to start with those of you who were first on the scene.”
    Mikayla and I stood up and a teary-eyed Janine stepped away from the group of musicians she’d been huddled with in one corner. I exchanged a quick glance with JT and headed toward the officers with Mikayla. One officer remained in the lounge, gesturing to the musician standing closest to him, and the other three led me, Mikayla, and Janine out into the corridor. Once out of the lounge we split up, with one officer each.
    Constable Ryan stayed with me, and led me a short distance down the hallway where he paused, a notebook and pen in hand. Once I’d given him my name and told him about my connection to the orchestra, he asked me to fill out a witness statement form, relating everything I could remember about finding Pavlina’s body. That wasn’t a whole lot, and it didn’t take long to write down all the information I had. As I signed the form, Fred came around the corner and hovered a few feet away from us.
    “Officer?” he said, his tone hesitant.
    Constable Ryan looked up. “Yes?”
    Fred stepped forward and offered his hand. “I’m Fred Marsh, a maintenance worker here at the theater. Is it possible that the young woman’s death wasn’t an accident?”
    Constable Ryan’s eyebrows drew together.