Redding shrugged. “Anyway, that’s why Thornton checked out of the hotel. He didn’t want to face Will. Will was already looking for another manager, so Thornton decided to cut his losses and represent me instead.”
Nancy tried to keep Redding talking.
“So you did this all by yourself?” Nancy said. “I guess it’s like ‘Cop.’ You’re a one-man show.”
Redding smiled. “Right. You’re as good at solving crimes as I am at making them up. How’d you figure it out, anyway?”
“From your notes,” Nancy said. “You kept talking about reruns and ‘The Sands of Time,’ which I finally found out was an episode of ‘Nightside.’ Once I saw the film clip, I knew you were holding them in the theater. I also knew how you were planning to kill them.”
“Not how I was planning,” Redding said. “How I am planning.” Redding flicked his lighter and leaned toward the sandbag rope.
“And I figured out it was you after I saw the real color of your eyes,” she said quickly. “I found your blue contact lens on Sally’s bathroom floor.”
“Too bad about that,” Redding said, pulling the lighter away from the rope. “It’s one more reason I have to get rid of you too. I really am sorry about that.”
Redding singed a little more of the rope. Below the catwalk, Will and Sally wriggled helplessly in the net.
“Wait!” Nancy cried. “There are still a few things I don’t understand. What was that piece of gray cloth I found in Will’s room?”
“Oh, that,” Redding said. “I disguised myself as a security guard and got some maid to let me into Leonard’s room.”
“Where’d you get the uniform?” Nancy asked.
“Let’s just say I ‘borrowed’ it from the Security department,” Redding said.
“And you tore it in a fight with Will?” Nancy asked.
“You bet I did,” Redding said, rubbing one arm. “I have to say one thing about the guy. He doesn’t give up easily.”
“And you were the one who put the bullets in the gun? And pretended your hood didn’t fit right?”
“You bet.”
“And you’re the one who broke into our room and made that phony call about the gallery.”
“It all comes together, doesn’t it?” Redding asked. “By the way, I was the cabdriver too.”
“I figured,” Nancy said. “I guess you learned that stunt in your stuntman days.”
Redding shook his head sadly. “It really is going to be a shame to kill you. You’re a clever kid.”
“You don’t have to kill me,” Nancy said. “And you don’t have to kill Will or Sally either.”
“I didn’t plan to kill them,” Redding said sadly. “They weren’t supposed to know it was me. I wore a ski mask and disguised my voice. But today, when I brought them back to the theater, my mask slipped off. They saw me. So now I have to kill them.”
Redding let the tiny flame stay near the rope for several seconds. The sandbags shifted slightly. Below them, the net began to sway.
“Yeah,” said Redding almost to himself. “This is gonna work real nice. These two should fall hard. And then, Ms. Drew, it’s your turn.”
16
In the Spotlight
The smell of burning rope grew stronger. The rope had burned almost all the way through. Just a few strands held the sandbags up. And once the sandbags fell down on one side, Will and Sally would fall down on the other.
Desperately Nancy looked around for something, anything, to use against Redding. But there was nothing. In just a few seconds the rope would snap. Nancy could imagine the sickening thud as first the sandbags hit the ground, then Will and Sally.
“Bye bye, ‘Nightside,’ ” Redding said. The final strand holding the sandbags started to give way.
Nancy leapt forward, grabbing the end of the rope with one hand. She heard a huge thud beneath her as two sandbags hit the stage.
Nancy dangled from the rope, forty feet above the stage. She felt as though her arm were being pulled out of its socket. Across from her, Sally and Will dangled from the other end of the rope.
Nancy’s weight was enough to keep all three of them from dropping to the ground.
“I’ll get you for this!” Redding cried. He lunged toward Nancy.
Suddenly all the theater doors flew open at once. The lights burst on with sudden brilliance. An authoritative voice yelled, “Police! Freeze!”
A dozen police officers ran down the aisles toward the stage. Overhead Nancy heard a struggle as other officers grabbed Dan Redding. “Let me go!” he screamed in fury. “Let me go!”
Nancy knew there was no way Dan Redding would get free.
Bess and George ran from the wings to the stage below Nancy.
“You okay?” Bess called.
Nancy nodded weakly.
