Part 01

Chapter 1

Senior Detective Howard Stegner turned off his engine and stared through the rain running in sheets down the windshield. A call had come in from the Paradise Theater about an hour ago. The building had been closed up for days, the cast off on a retreat.

According to the call, the manager had found four victims on stage when he showed up this afternoon. Uniformed officers had secured the area, but even in the rain, strings of police tape had attracted the usual band of onlookers.

Christ, didn’t these people have jobs or homes?

The detective climbed out of his sedan, and turned his collar up against the rain. What little hair he had on top his head was plastered to his skull almost immediately, and he jogged across the street and ducked under the tape.

There was a uniformed officer standing guard in front of the door which led to the theater’s lobby. Stegner went through the door and found the manager sitting in a chair next to the empty refreshment stand. Stegner’s partner, Detective Paul Jenkins, was talking to the visibly shaken gentleman.

The younger detective glanced up and raised his index finger, before looking back to the pale and trembling man. Stegner knew that Paul was supposed to be in a parent-teacher conference this afternoon. Obviously he had been closer to the theater when the call game in.

Jenkins closed his notebook, and Stegner saw the manager wince as Paul reached out to pat his shoulder. The guy was definitely spooked. Stegner started toward them, but Jenkins intercepted him before he could cross the lobby.

“Paul.” Stegner nodded, shifting his eyes toward the theater’s manager then back. “Are we having fun yet?”

“Howie. You're not gonna believe this one.”

“What do we got?”

Jenkins shook his head. “Follow me.You need to see it for yourself.”

He led Stegner through the double doors, and into the theater. The house lights had been turned up, but the colored stage lights were still on and they illuminated the strangest tableau the aging detective had ever seen.

On stage were four women, but they looked more like marionettes than humans. They had some type of cords attached to their wrists, ankles, and heads, and these “strings” disappeared into the area above the stage. The four had been posed with their arms and feet extended, as if frozen in mid-dance.