Michelle Bravo's Seduction ch 3

The lights came up on a set with two entrances stage left and right, a fireplace, a radio with a British voice broadcasting winter weather news, chairs and settees, and a window at the back which had snow falling behind it.

"A murder has been committed..." said the radio voice.

Anne Greenstreet smiled with joy as the characters gradually came on stage... the wife Molly, shivering with cold, annoyed to find her husband had mis-painted the sign for Monkswell Manor, the husband coming in with dark grey hat, dark scarf and a dark coat (as the radio announces that police in London wish to question a man wearing just such an ensemble), and then the guests who will occupy the guest-house for a snowed-in weekend of murder and suspense.

It was a local theatre group - an amateur theatre group - and Anne hadn't been sure what to expect. And it was true that their English accents varied widely - some did a good job, some were barely passable. But they were all good actors and believable in their characters.

The actor playing Christopher Wren played his part for all he was worth and, as usual, got all the laughs and all the sympathy from the audience.

The actor playing Detective Sergeant Trotter did not have as showy a part - indeed, no one did! - but he was quiet and in command and commanded the stage.

Anne had chosen her seat carefully - three rows back in the center. She would have preferred to have been in the first row, but certain actors had a tendency to spit as they projected their lines to the back row. Plus she didn't really want to catch an actor's eye and be noticed.

She was working seriously on a play and  had started going to see the same play over and over again, just to see the blocking and the stage craft, as well as the actors and how they performed the same part differently each night. She'd gotten some strange looks from the actors and had been afraid that they would think she was stalking them as a rabid fan, when all she was doing was stalking the play itself.

She'd treated herself to one night on the "floor" of the theatre, and, assuming she liked the play - and she found herself loving it - she would return the next night and watch it from the balcony.

The first act ended. Anne wasn't hungry or thirsty, but she wanted to support the theatre's efforts so she went out to the lobby and purchased a cup of pop and a chocolate chip cookie. The actors again were handling the lobby sales - all except Trotter and Wren, for which Emma was duly grateful. While they'd been mingling before the play, now that their roles had been established it would probably diminish Trotter's authority to see him handing out cookies, and Wren probably had to rest for the emotional second act.

Anne returned to her seat with pop and cookie and waited for the second act.