Double Take (eBook)

Barbara Siebeneick (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
9798350993714 (ISBN)

Infos

Monterey California's First Theater reopens after being closed for a decade. During the production of an original melodrama, the lead actress, Donna, is killed and Detective Brad Evans tries to unravel the mystery of her death. During his investigation, more actors from the troupe are killed, leading him to wonder if the killer is someone from within the group. When Donna's identical twin sister appears, Brad's professional and personal life become even more complicated.

Barbara Siebeneick grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, with stays in Germany and New Jersey. After retiring, she and her husband moved back to California, settling on the Monterey Peninsula. She earned a degree in History from UC Santa Barbara and a graduate degree in Pastoral Ministry from the College of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. 'Double Take' is her fifth mystery novel set in Monterey. Her books not only weave engaging mysteries but also showcase the beauty, history, events, and lore of the place she calls home.

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Monterey California's First Theater reopens after being closed for a decade. During the production of an original melodrama, the lead actress, Donna, is killed and Detective Brad Evans has to work with the State Parks Rangers to unravel the mystery of her death. During their investigation, more actors from the troupe are killed, leading him to wonder if the killer is someone from within the group. When Donna's identical twin sister appears, Brad pursues the idea that Donna's death may be a case of mistaken identity or even, sibling rivalry. As he grows attracted to the sister, Brad's professional and personal life become complicated.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Homicide Detective Brad Evans was enjoying a day off in the, usually quiet, town of Monterey. Fog crept in from the bay as he walked toward the First Theater to see a play where his twin sister, Bea, was making her local acting debut. The spectators heading in the direction of the theater were abuzz with expectation. At that moment they didn’t have a hint how their excitement would soon turn to tragedy.

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“Boo! Hiss!” the crowd went wild as a man in British military uniform strode forward. Brad looked at his niece as she shouted loudly along with the crowd of onlookers. Her eyes glistened with excitement as the roar of people around her rose ever higher. She gripped his hand and squeezed it with enthusiasm.

Looking at his petite, blond, niece, Claire, Brad was amazed to see how far she had come in just a few years. When his twin sister, Bea, first found the soaking wet little girl on a pew at San Carlos Cathedral, she was traumatized by the murder of her mother. She wasn’t able to speak and was small for her young age. Under Bea and Pat’s loving care she had blossomed into a chatty, intelligent pre-teen who was excelling in school and was well liked by the other children and teachers. Next year she would be going into Middle School and he worried how she’d handle all the changes of classes, teachers and friends. After her parents deaths and her emotional struggles with their loss, Middle School might be hard for her to navigate all the new people and experiences. But today, the blonde, blue-eyed girl bore no resemblance to the small child they first found. Her underweight body had filled out and her skin shone with health.

Brad smiled to see her so excited. The historic First Theater in Monterey had just reopened after years of renovations and was producing a melodrama called, “Putnam, The Iron Son of ‘76”. A small theater group was re-enacting the melodrama that was first shown in the theater in 1848. During the opening ceremonies and introduction to the play, a California State Park Interpreter gave a brief history of the building and encouraged the crowd to participate by cheering the heroes and booing the villains. Brad recognized him from when they were both students at Monterey High School.

Brad, his brother-in-law, Pat Oakley, and niece, Claire, had come to cheer on his twin sister, Bea. Before they left home that night, Bea had been extremely nervous about her part as Mrs. Cabbageall, one of the comedic relief roles in the play.

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The night before, Bea had told her family, “I haven’t been in a play since high school. I thought they would give me a part in the crowd or village. I certainly didn’t expect to have a bigger part. It’s not the lead, but I guess it’s important to the plot.”

You’ll be great Bea. You know all your lines.” Pat encouraged.

“This play is a lot harder to do than just memorizing my lines. I have to go against my natural inclinations and play a bossy woman and exaggerate all my movements like they did in the old melodramas.” Bea straightened out the costume she was trying on.

“Language has changed since the eighteen hundreds and sometimes it doesn’t even make sense to me. Being in my late forties, I’m too old to play Clara, the lovely young maiden. I must say though, I do enjoy being the stronger one in the marriage and picking on my henpecked husband!” She looked toward Pat and laughed.

Pat had grinned at Bea and put his arm around her shoulders, “Forty isn’t old. At least I hope not. That would make me old too. I’m fine with you acting like a domineering wife…as long as you are just acting!”

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Brad leaned over to Pat and whispered, “Bea is doing a great job. I don’t know why she was so nervous last night.”

Pat replied, “She is good, isn’t she? Thank goodness it’s only a part she is playing. I couldn’t ask for a better wife. She’s been a fantastic mother to the boys and just when they were on their own, she took in Claire. Shh, here is one of her big parts.”

“O, what a fool husband I have got! Old Praywell used to say at the old meeting house, ‘What is to be will be;’ and that’s some comfort. Speaking of comfort, I’ll just go in and take a little whiskey, blow up my fool of a husband, and then I shall be happy. What a blessing it is to have someone to quarrel with.”

The crowd hooted and laughed at her, but Brad could see her blush under the thick makeup. Claire looked at her mother with pride and said to Pat, “Mom’s so good! It’s hard not to cheer when she comes on stage.”

The lights came on for an intermission before the last act. The small crowd moved into a wooden room in the oldest section of the building. The theatergoers ordered snacks or just milled around, stretching their legs. A large wooden bar took up an entire side of the room and on the wall behind the bar were shelves with old bottles and historical pictures of the theater. Some women in costume were selling snacks to the patrons from behind the counter. Posters of plays from the past adorned the walls. One end of the room had a fireplace with an artificial fire in it.

When they had arrived earlier at the First Theater and stepped onto the front porch, Brad and Pat admired the decorative large whale bones attached to the posts outside. They arrived a little late, so they hadn’t had time to thoroughly look at the gathering room with the bar, but now they had time to look around.

“This place is really a gem in Monterey and the history of California. I’m so happy they took the time to fix it up again and make it ADA compliant,” Brad said.

“Did you notice all the doors along the front of the adobe building, Brad?” For a while they used that part of the building as a boarding hall. The theater was partitioned into rooms with a door and a window each. During the day, the partitions would be pulled up to the ceiling and the room would be used for dances or plays.”

“I’ll have to look more closely when we go back in for the final act.” Brad responded as he paid for a couple of cookies at the counter.

He had just handed a chocolate chip cookie to Claire when he noticed a State Park Officer with the typical light brown uniform, green jacket and a pinched-top campaign hat, coming toward him. He recognized Randall Dickerson. They had both gone to Monterey High School and swam on the swim team together

“Randall, great job you did explaining the history of the First Theater!”

“Thanks, Brad. Can you come outside with me for a minute?” He asked quietly.

“Sure, Randall. Is something wrong?”

“Would you please come with me? I don’t want to talk about it here.”

Nodding to Pat and shrugging his shoulders to let him know he didn’t understand what was going on, the two men walked through the crowd and out the back entrance.

Randall said, “I didn’t want to say anything inside, but we have a problem. I know you are a homicide detective and I’m not sure what to do. One of our actresses has been murdered.”

Brad jerked involuntarily and stopped walking. “Was it my sister, Bea?”

“Oh no, I’m sorry. I should have started by telling you Bea is alright. The woman who was playing the part of Clara was found in the Swan Adobe that we use as a storage shed. If you’ll follow me, she is back here.”

“Are you sure she was murdered and it wasn’t an accident?” Brad asked.

“Definitely not an accident, unless she cut her own throat.”

Entering the small, one room, fieldstone house behind the main building, Brad immediately saw the young blonde woman in Colonial clothing on the ground. A pool of blood had spread on the plywood floor and was dripping through the cracks onto the dirt underneath. He remembered seeing her in the play and had been taken by her beauty.

“We need to close all the doors in the theater and tell everyone there has been an emergency and no one is allowed to leave. I will call the police department and get some officers over here. You also need to call the State Parks Department and see how they want to handle this. They can take over the case, or I can, or we can work together. It’s your property even if it is in Monterey”

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Brad walked carefully around the small stone building. The iron smell of blood was in the air as he quietly made his way around the room. Brad made sure he didn’t step in blood or on any footprints that were left in the dust. There were crude shelves on each side of the room filled with boxes and buckets. A few signs were on the walls behind the shelves and looked like they were from old plays. Folding tables and chairs leaned against one wall and a bucket in the corner held pieces of stone that were probably used for repairs to the wall or walkways. He stepped closer to the victim and bowed his head to say a brief prayer. As with all his victims, he asked for the repose of her soul and help to find justice for her.

Brad asked, “Did you find her or was it someone else?”

Randall replied, “Actually, Bea found her. They were about to start the next act and no one knew where Clara was. On the off chance she had gone into the garden for some fresh air, Bea went outside and saw the light on in the shed. When she opened the door, she saw the victim. She immediately ran out to find me.”...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.5.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-13: 9798350993714 / 9798350993714