Chapter 12

We satin the back of the large auditorium of the Maharaja Majestic, trying to observe the latest rehearsal of The Snake Charmer's Slave with the new addition of Aria Valentina in the title role. As Raja Kahn had mentioned at his house the other night, Serafina had indeed managed to get Errol Hemingway released from police custody due to lack of evidence, arguing that anybody could have planted the body of Miss Duprey in Errol's dressing room. Stanley Small, however, remained behind bars for the time being. A disgruntled Miss Overton had been given the task of taking over Stanley's job while he was detained. She may have been an actress, but she was doing a lousy job of hiding her contempt for the fact that she hadn't been offered the lead role following the murder of Miss Duprey. Now, to rub salt into the wound, she was hauling pulleys, fetching props, and opening and closing curtains for the actors on stage. It didn't take a genius to figure out a job as menial as stage manager made the aspiring starlet feel overlooked, humiliated and downright angry.

On stage, Aria Valentina was belting out a song that made no sense to me, and even less sense to Stella who had shoved a blob of chewed gum in each ear to shut out the noise.

My head was still drowning in thoughts and fears over my relationship with Harry, and the song was starting to get on my nerves. "Jesus," I muttered to Stella, slouching in my seat. "I don't think I can stand any more."

Stella looked at me and shouted at the top of her already-loud voice. "I can't hear you! I have gum in my ears! Did you say you think she's a whore?"

Signora Valentina came to an abrupt halt as though someone just kicked over a gramophone, and everyone at the front of the theater—including Barnabas, Raja, Errol and Serafina, who were all sitting in the front row—turned to glare at us.

"If you don't mind, we have an opera opening tomorrow night," blasted Barnabas Blake. He turned back to Aria on stage. "My sincerest apologies, Signora. I assure you that as soon as the police have enough evidence to convict Stanley Small, Mr. Baxter will no longer be required to continue his investigation. In the meantime, would you like a break?"

"Perhaps a short rest," Signora Valentina said, patting her cheeks with a lace handkerchief. "This opera is exhausting, and my talent is clearly unappreciated," she added, shooting a look of death at me and Stella. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my dressing room for the next ten minutes."

"Very well," Barnabas declared, clapping his hands for attention, "Everyone, take a short break and be back here in ten minutes to rehearse The Dance of the Cobra scene."

As Signora Valentina left the stage, Barnabas, Errol and Raja all dispersed, as did Miss Overton who appeared briefly from the backstage curtains, wiping her brow, before disappearing in the wings.

It was Serafina Somerset who came storming up to the back row. With both hands on her hips, she stood over Stella and me like an angry schoolmistress. "What the hell do you think you're doing? It was difficult enough for me to convince Signora Valentina to fly halfway across the world to appear in a production that's already getting bad press before the damn show even opens. She doesn't need imbeciles like you two giving her any reason to pack her bags and—"

Suddenly an ear-piercing scream echoed throughout the whole auditorium. Even Stella heard it through her gum. We all turned in the direction of backstage, before I leapt to my feet and started running, with Stella hot on my heels, pulling the sticky gum from her ears.

"Stay here," I told Serafina as we dashed away.

Stella and I raced backstage. There was nobody else in sight. Was everybody out having a cigarette? Or had they vanished for more sinister reasons?

"It must have come from over there," Stella said, pointing to the open door to Signora Valentina's dressing room.

We rushed to the door and stopped in our tracks when we saw the motionless body of Signora Valentina splayed on the floor. I rushed to kneel by her side and saw the blank, wide-eyed stare on her face. Stella was looking over my shoulder.

"Jeepers, that's one dead diva!" Stella said. "I guess now we can finally get some peace and quiet around here!"

"Stella, quick. Look for clues," I told her. "Before anyone else gets a chance to mess up this crime scene… including the damn cops!"

"What kinda clues?"

"Anything. A weapon. Signs of a struggle. Anything that looks out of place."

"You mean like this?" Stella asked. I turned around to see her standing behind me, holding the cobra prop by the tail. "Shouldn't the stupid fake snake be in the props room?"

Suddenly my eyes bulged wider than the dead opera singer's. "Stella! That snake ain't a fake!"

As Stella looked down with a gasp, the head of the cobra she was holding twirled upward to come face-to-face with the horrified little person. The scream that came from Stella was almost loud enough to wake Signora Valentina from the dead.

Stella panicked—

—and hurled the live snake straight at me!

The cobra wrapped itself around my neck and I screamed too. I flapped my arms madly, hooking the serpent off me and throwing it to the floor before turning for the door.

It was closed.

"What the hell did you shut the door for?" I asked, grabbing the handle.

"I didn't!"

I rattled the door handle in my fist. "Someone's locked it from the outside!"

I turned back to look where the snake was, only to see it chasing Stella straight toward me. Stella crashed into my legs… then started climbing. Like a cat up a tree she clawed her way up the entire length of my torso until her arms and legs reached my head and shoulders, her paws and heels digging into my face to try and get as high as possible.

"What the hell are you doin'?"

"Savin' my ass!" she shrieked.

I pushed her hands out of the way of my eyes and looked down to see the cobra slither directly towards us. I jumped to the left and began climbing furniture as fast as I could. I clambered onto Signora Valentina's dressing-room table. The bright bulbs framing the mirror blinded me momentarily.

"Buck! Behind you!" Stella squealed.

I blinked the starriness out of my eyes to see the cobra slithering up over the edge of the table, hissing at us.

I looked around, desperate for something to use in defense. I caught my reflection in the mirror and quickly raised my fist to smash the glass with the intention of arming myself with the sharpest shard I could find. But Stella, still perched awkwardly on my shoulders, seized my hand.

"Are you crazy? You wanna begin seven years of bad luck face-to-face with a cobra!"

At that moment, the serpent raised its head, fanned its neck and made a jab at me, its fangs missing my leg by an inch. I stumbled backwards and fell off the table.

Stella and I tumbled across the floor.

The snake practically launched itself off the table at us. That cobra sure as hell had a mean streak.

I grabbed Stella. "Quick, get in the closet."

"I always thought you hated being in the closet!"

"Not today!" I shoved her into the freestanding wardrobe and jumped inside with her, empty coat hangers jangling in my face, before I closed the doors shut behind us.

I leaned forward to peer through the gap between the two doors and the wardrobe rocked slightly. I could see the snake circling the floor in front of the wardrobe, as though it were trying to figure out a way in. I had an idea.

"Hold on to something," I told Stella.

She clung to my leg.

I pushed my weight to the rear of the wardrobe, and then lurched forward. The closet teetered. I did it again and the wardrobe pitched even more. With one last thrust of my weight backward, then forward, the wardrobe rocked on its legs and began to fall facedown. I held the doors shut as best I could just before the wardrobe hit the floor with a thud and a loud squish!

Snake blood began to ooze up from the now cracked doors beneath us.

"Nice work!" Stella cheered. "Just one question—how do we get out of here with the doors facing the floor?"

I answered it by kicking my foot clean through the back of the wardrobe, sending splinters of wood into the air.

As I climbed out and helped Stella up, Errol shouldered open the locked door to the dressing room and stumbled inside, followed by Serafina, Barnabas, Raja and Miss Overton.

Miss Overton saw the snake half-squashed beneath the toppled wardrobe and screamed.

Serafina saw the dead body of Signora Valentina on the floor and groaned. "Oh that's just terrific. Another dead actress. Who the hell are we going to get to play the title role now?"

All heads turned to the doe-eyed Miss Overton… including mine as I gazed suspiciously at the one person who was now clearly suspect number one.