Who Killed Opal Westwood

Who Killed Opal Westwood?: Part 2

Jodie frantically tried covering the body and searched around her, "What happened? Does anybody know what happened?"

Everyone shook their heads and raised their hands as if they were innocent, but Jodie knew that someone was responsible for this. She stood up and directed the guys to carry Jasmine off the stage, while she gathered everyone backstage.

She lined everyone up and observed all of their body language. When no one said anything or questioned why she'd brought them back there, she finally spoke up, "At least one of you knows what happened to Jasmine. And I intend to find out who before the cops get called and people figure out what's actually happening."

She looked over at the boys and pointed, "Jacob Lance. I need to speak with you privately." He followed her with no questions asked and entered the changing room.

He sat down in a chair, "Uh, did I do something wrong?"

She gave him a look of disbelief, "Please don't play dumb with me right now. I know you had something to do with what happened."

He put his hands up in defense, "Woah, I just helped move her like you asked, I didn't do anything else."

"You were in charge of the lights! It's real convenient how Jasmine was killed only after the lights shut off for a few seconds. So what happened!?" She yelled.

He looked confused, "That wasn't me! I asked Lindsay if she could take over for me while I went to the bathroom. I literally just got back after you guys closed the curtains. I didn't know if they'd went off script or if Jasmine was really dead. I'm sorry I wasn't at my post, but I had to go. I felt...sick almost. It was strange. I drink my coffee every day with no problems and I hadn't eaten anything yet. So the fact that I was in so much pain made no sense."

"So Lindsay was the one in control of the lights?" She asked firmly.

"Yes, I swear, I wasn't even out of the bathroom when the show started. I didn't want to take too long because I only expected to be a couple of minutes. So I cut it short and came back, and that's when you know what happened", he admitted.

She took a deep sigh, "Okay. You can go back out there. Tell Lindsay to come see me."

He nodded and got up from the chair. A few moments later, Lindsay walked in with a nervous look on her face. Jodie directed her to take a seat in the chair and she did. She kept looking around the room, avoiding eye contact with Jodie until Jodie got right in her face so she couldn't avoid her any longer.

"You want to tell me why Jasmine ended up dead right after you cut the lights off? And don't try to lie to me either, Jacob already told me you were up there when it happened", she said.

She softly shook her head, "I-I didn't know that was going to happen, I swear! Jacob asked me to watch his spot and so I did. He handed me the script, I saw the light cues and followed along. On the script that was handed to me, it said to shut the lights off right after the curtains draw, so I did!"

"Why would the curtains draw in the middle of a scene!? I can assure you that I did not write that into the script", said Jodie.

Lindsay stood up, "I can show you."

Jodie followed Lindsay to balcony where the control booth was located. Lindsay picked up the script from the desk beside her and handed it to Jodie. She pointed, "See for yourself."

Jodie inspected her script. She knew it like the back of her hand so she was sure of what she did and did not write. Once she saw that the lighting cue was in fact in there, her eyes widened, "Somebody changed the script. Is everybody's like this?"

Without another word, she ran back down to where everyone else was still standing and she demanded all of their scripts. After going over each one, she realized that the only one that had been tampered with was the one Jacob had handed to Lindsay. But Jodie didn't come to the conclusion to blame Jacob again, instead, she believed that someone had swapped scripts with him to make him look bad. But Jodie couldn't prove that. And time was running out as she tried piecing the clues together.

Jodie sighed, "I guess Farrah and Jacob got the same script. She was in charge of the curtains. I gotta talk to her and ask her some questions. Thank you for showing me this."

"Of course, but um...Farrah isn't here", she said.

Jodie almost snapped her neck turning around so fast, "What!? She is here, what do you mean?"

Lindsay shook her head, "Nope! Right before you got everyone's scripts, and we went up to the balcony, I saw her leave. But I didn't register that it was her until we got back down there and everyone handed you their scripts. I thought you would've noticed, but you didn't say anything so neither did I."

Panicked, she grabbed Lindsay by the arms, "Did you see where she went? Is she still in the building?"

Lindsay shook her head, "I don't know, I'm sorry!"

"Move", she said as she let go of her and pushed her out of the way. She sped walked out of the changing room and headed toward the main auditorium. As she got off the stage, her eyes scanned the room to see if she could find Farrah.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Jasmine's mother and panicked, "Oh, hi Mrs. Brown! What's-what's going on?"

"You tell me! Where's my daughter? You guys have been backstage for far too long", she said in a demanding tone.

Jodie put her hands out, "Okay, just calm down. We're just having some...technical issues right now. Everything's okay-"

"Everything is not okay! I heard my baby scream and then you guys just left us in the dark about what happened. That was not apart of the script. I know because she's practiced this a million times. Is there a problem? Can I go back there and make sure she's fine?"

"No, no, no! Everything's...fine. I know how it may seem, but I promise I'm figuring things out. Sometimes people go off script and start to improvise when things don't go according to plan. The show will resume once the intermission is over. Please go back to your seat", Jodie pleaded.

Jasmine's mother gave her a suspicious look before saying, "You have ten minutes before I call the police."

Jodie's eyes widened but she tried hiding her nervousness. She let out a nervous laugh, "Right...police."

Jodie quickly went back up the stage again. She knew that she didn't have any time to waste. Whether she could figure this out on her own, Jasmine's mother was going to contact the police in ten minutes time. And time was that wasn't on Jodie's side.