Untimely Death Read Online Free Page A

rehearsal moving. Got all that?”
    Aaron nodded.
    “Right. Off you go.”
    The older actors, well used to the hurry up and wait aspect of theater and cinema work, milled around the stage, talking amongst themselves in low voices. A few ofthe younger ones pulled out their phones and thumbed through them.
    About ten minutes later, slightly out of breath, Aaron returned.
    “Charlotte’s gone upstairs to look for her,” he said to Simon.
    *
    It had been a long time since Charlotte had been up to the hotel’s second floor, but nothing had changed in years; the painted floorboards still creaked under the faded and frayed beige carpet runner that ran the length of the hallway. She checked the room numbers on the wooden doors that should have been replaced years ago to bring the building up to code.
    The metal numbers 1 and 5 nailed to the door told her she’d arrived at Lauren’s room. She knocked and waited. When there was no answer, she knocked again and, after a brief pause, tried the doorknob. She was a little surprised when it turned in her hand, and with a little pressure and a small creak, she opened the door a few inches.
    “Lauren, it’s Charlotte Fairfax,” she said in a voice just slightly louder than a normal speaking tone. “Are you there? May I come in?”
    When there was no response, she opened the door wider and, repeating Lauren’s name, entered the room. The curtains were drawn, and it took a moment for hereyes to adjust to the semidarkness. She made out a chest of drawers on her left and an unmade bed on her right. Lying on the bed, fully dressed but her dark hair tousled, was Lauren. Hand held out, Charlotte approached her.
    “Lauren! Wake up! You’re late for rehearsal,” she said. “They’re waiting for you.”
    When Lauren did not move, she took a step closer to the bed and bent over the still figure.
    Trying to quell the rising sense of panic by telling herself to remain calm, Charlotte gave Lauren’s shoulder a gentle shake and repeated her name, a little louder this time and with more urgency. She then touched her cheek with a slightly trembling hand and bent down, placing her face close to the girl’s. Lauren’s breathing was ragged and shallow, and her breath was giving off a strange, unpleasant odor. Charlotte gave the sleeping girl one last shake and, unable to rouse her, hurried from the unnaturally quiet room.

Chapter 5
    Lady Deborah Prentice steered the midsize American rental car up the long driveway that led to the Jacobs Grand Hotel. She slowed down and, fighting her deeply ingrained instinct to pull over onto the left shoulder, steered the car to the right as flashing lights behind her signaled the approach of an ambulance. When it had passed, she picked up speed and continued the rest of the way to the hotel and then drove around to the back and parked. She opened the rear door of the vehicle, lifted out two plastic carrier bags from Fifth Avenue stores, and entered the hotel through the service entrance. The long, empty back corridor led in one direction to the kitchens and in the other to the theater space, with the lobby and registration desk beyond that. She turned in the direction of the theater.
    Lady Deborah was just an inch or two short of six feet tall and finely made. She had that distinctive translucentskin so admired among the English aristocracy, and her carefully and expensively tinted blonde hair was swept back behind her ears and tied neatly with a small black velvet bow. Her eyes were a pale blue and her top lip was thin, with a full, pouty lower lip. She wore pearl earrings and a double-strand pearl necklace. Her Burberry raincoat was undone, revealing a tailored dark green suit. Her court shoes made no sound as she strode along the hallway, the Launer handbag she carried swinging gently in time with her steps.
    A few minutes later, she pushed open a door marked “Backstage Area—No Admittance” and entered a large open space. A few plastic chairs were