The Temporary Detective

Chapter Thirty-Three

If Frank realized what Isobel had seen on his computer the day before, he gave no indication. Isobel tried her best not to scrutinize him more closely when he handed her a sheaf of papers to file and told her he didn't want to be disturbed under any circumstances. She returned to her little nook and surveyed the three desks.

And then there was one, she thought.

She was about to start Frank's filing when she heard her cell phone ring in her bag. She rooted around for it, grabbing the call just before it went to voice mail. It was Sunil.

"I'm glad I caught you," he said. "The girl they cast as Rachel in Two by Two got a non-Equity tour of Fiddler."

"How nice for her," Isobel said, unable to keep the envy from coloring her words a middling green.

"The point is, she has to drop out and we open next week. We need to find someone to replace her ASAP."

"Oh!" Isobel sat up in her chair, as her jealousy turned to excitement. "Me?"

"I said you were a friend of mine. They remembered your audition, but they, um, have some questions."

"About my sanity?"

"I wouldn't go that far. But they want to hear you sing more and read from the script. We're having an emergency rehearsal tomorrow night and they want you to come by early and basically audition again."

"Is there anyone else?"

"There's another woman who they called back last time. They'll hear you both and then decide. But you have to be prepared to stay and rehearse if they hire you. What do you think?"

It was a fifty-fifty chance, better than anything she'd had so far.

"I think I owe you!" She wrote down the address of the rehearsal studio. "Thank you so, so much!"

"I really hope you get it. Although you'd be playing my daughter-in-law!"

Isobel hung up the phone and leaped from her chair, taking advantage of the solitude of her little corner to indulge in a spontaneous happy dance. She wished she could do the audition right away. What a different sensation from the jitters that overtook her when she even so much as read an ad in Backstage. Knowing that the director wanted to see her, was expecting to see her, and was actively hoping she would be the solution to his problem gave her a feeling of optimism that was missing when she wandered into an audition anonymously.

Isobel hoped she could hang onto this confidence until tomorrow night. She was being given a chance to redeem herself, and she was determined not to let herself or Sunil down. She would blow the other girl out of the water and nab the part. She'd make her New York debut with Sunil in Two by Two and get every agent in town to see it. She began to hum quietly to herself, as if the need to warm up her voice was imminent and not thirty-six hours away.

Frank's line rang, and she picked it up.

"Edmund Jeffards for Frank Lusardi."

"I'm sorry, can I take a message?"

"Edmund Jeffards."

"And the message?" Isobel asked. It's love, her mind sang.

"EDMUND JEFFARDS."

"Yes, I got that part. Can I take a message?"

There was a pause. "Who the hell is this?"

A warning bell went off in Isobel's brain, and she shut off her internal music player.