Chapter 24
I waited one moment more, then took a breath and pulled the door open.
As I’d hoped, the hallway was empty. I walked straight up to the case Niall had pointed to, unlocked it, and spotted a keyboard.
I grabbed it, closed up the case, and pushed it back to where it belonged.
I figured nobody would notice. Since there were no keys in the band, it wasn’t like a missing keyboard was going to turn into a huge emergency.
I had just started for the door, when I heard Freddie laugh.
I froze and turned around, but the hallway was still empty.
Then a moment later, I heard it again—a sound, I now realized, that was so familiar to me I could have picked it out anywhere.
It was coming from the greenroom, through the door that was pushed open just slightly.
Even without being able to see him, I could picture it.
Freddie wandering around, chatting to his bandmates, Alfie happily eating the prawns that would betray him, none of them realizing what was coming.
I knew that Freddie was nervous about the manager, but he hadn’t been able to share this with anyone—because in this version of tonight, we’d never met.
Which seemed impossible—but was somehow the truth.
“Hey!” I jumped and turned around to see Niall standing just inside the door, staring at me.
I looked down at the keyboard in my hand, then shook my head and handed it back to him. “Sorry,” I said, moving past him toward the door. “Let’s try this again.”