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"Oh, all right! I’irl now, and I’etto throw herself into Cy’s arht that wasn’t Da we’re not at the OK Corral! Hey, everyone, take a gander at all the activities out back Kids, you can reat jewelry And don’t forget that while you’re in town, you can catch these fine folks perforht at the Gilded Lily!"

Jane stood still in the street for a rateful on the one hand, ridiculous on the other

A little boy walked by saying, "I thought there was going to be a gunfight!"

He wasn’t happy

But a cluster of twenty-so thereat to co it up!"

"Who would’ve figured?" Henri Coque said, walking up to her He shook his head "Never saw you as a drama queen, much less someone who’d be so quick with i to try As a law enforcement officer in the twenty-first century, of course," she said

"And it was good!" Valerie said enthusiastically, co up beside her "Jennie still hasn’t shown up She usually screa she’s Jenkins’sif Jennie isn’t here," Henri said, frowning "Valerie, will you run in there and see if she’s in her roo in the Gilded Lily by myself!" Valerie said "Even our staff is all out on the street now I can’t go in there alone"

"I’ll go," Jane said "Which room is Jennie’s?"

"She’s next to Brian and Brian is next to you," Henri explained "You don’t mind? Thank you! I hope she’s okay" His voice orried

Jane nodded and hurried into the Gilded Lily It did seee to be in the theater when it was so silent The main doors behind the old Western slatted doors were open; apparently, Henri wasn’t worried about break-ins, but then it was true that everyone who belonged in the theater was pretty ht in front of it

Jane ran up the stairs and realized she was still clutching the antique guns Cy and Brian had been about to use for the duel reenact to Jennie’s roouns They were replica Colt 45s, also known as Peacees She opened the cylinders, and the cartridges fell out The bullets froun were obviously blanks

From the other

She had learned to shoot; she knew the action of her own gun She also knew the un--when loaded and in the wrong hands, it beat brawn every tiuns, emptied, on her bed, and stashed the blanks and the questionable cartridges in tissues and then in one of her shoes

Then she ran down the hall and knocked on Jennie’s door There was no answer She called the woman’s name Still no answer She tried the door--which was open Hesitantly walking in, she continued to call the woman’s name

Jennie wasn’t in the bathroo sense of unease and even checked under the bed Again, no sign of her

Cohost aiting for her on the second landing by the stairs, and as Jane approached her, Sage drifted down the stairs She walked around to the bar and behind it

Puzzled, Jane followed her

Sage went through the door at the far end of the stage Jane opened the door to a set of stairs that led to the basee’s skull had been found

Jane carefully went down the stairs It was broad daylight outside, she reminded herself, and when she tried the switch on the wall, the base

The baseth of the theater Fros that now sat on mannequin heads, old and new Most of them had faces either carved into them or drawn on them; they were supposed to be artistic, Jane supposed Mostly, they were grotesque

She was, however, glad to see no skulls a them

She walked around the center of thewith costumes, most of theuns, props and boxes everywhere She saw no sign of Jennie

"Jennie?" Jane called out

No one answered her

She realized there were three rooms that led off the main section of the basement; they were separated by foundation walls There were no doors, just arched separations with handsoo, had detere areas

Jane h crates and boxes to the first of the rooms

It contained more crates and boxes

Irritated, she shook her head