Chapter 9 #3
It was a letter, but not addressed to anyone and not signed.
Indeed, it appeared to be a draft, with words crossed out and punctuation missing.
It was a love letter, of sorts. It began with the author’s confession of love for the unnamed recipient and went on to plead for them to be patient and to wait just a little while longer before they could be together openly.
It finished mid-sentence with “I do not love R, I love you, but he must think…”
R most likely referred to Lord Rumford. “Pearl wrote this?”
“That’s her hand. I know it well.”
“Who do you think she was writing to?”
He took back the letter. “I don’t know. It’s taken me by surprise. I thought she told me everything, but it seems she kept the name of her true love from me. I had no idea she cared for anyone but Rumford. She hid it well. But there’s more.”
He opened his palm to show me what he’d held back.
It was a man’s square-set black onyx ring with a plain gold band.
“This was inside the folded letter, and both were buried under her unmentionables in the left drawer.” He indicated the dressing table with its central narrow drawer and deep ones on either side.
“The letter could have been written some time ago. How long has she had this dressing room?”
“Years. The entire time I’ve known her, she’s had it.” He looked around and sighed. “It doesn’t seem right for Dotty to use it so soon after, but she insisted. She and Culpepper argued about it, and it seems she won.”
“I imagine if she walked out now, the production would be in jeopardy.”
“Lord, yes. Her understudy isn’t up to snuff yet. But Dotty better tread more carefully if she wants Culpepper to keep her on long-term.”
“Perhaps she doesn’t plan on staying long-term. Perhaps she’s hoping a man will come along and whisk her away to another life.”
He narrowed his gaze. “You mean she wants more than Pearl’s job? She wants her benefactor too?”
The door opened and Dotty Clare paused on the threshold upon seeing us. She stared at me a moment, as if she couldn’t place me, then entered. “You’re in early, Perry.”
“I wanted to finish up in here before you arrived, but I see you’re early too.”
“I had a meeting with Mr. Culpepper.”
Mr. Alcott motioned to me. “You remember Miss Fox from Pearl’s memorial.”
“How do you do?” She dropped her bag on the dressing table and threw her coat onto the sofa. “Have you come to help Perry?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Thank God.” She flounced onto the chair and peered at herself in the dressing table mirror. “I want it all gone. Every single thing. Gone. I don’t want to see so much as an eyelash of hers in this room.”
“I’m not your servant, Dotty,” he said with a steely edge to his tone.
“I know you’re not, darling, but I’m finding that woman’s things everywhere. It’s very upsetting.”
“You can say her name. Or are you afraid if you say it, she’ll come back to haunt you?”
She pulled a face at her reflection. “Don’t even joke about such a thing.
I swear I can feel her presence in here.
” She waved a hand at the box. “That’s why I want it all gone.
Hopefully her spirit will leave with her things.
God knows there are enough memories of her at every turn in this place, I don’t need more. ”
Mr. Alcott discreetly tucked the letter and ring back inside the box and picked it up. “She was a star here for a long time, Dotty. You can’t erase her a mere week after her death.”
“I don’t want to erase her, Perry, but Culpepper is being excessive. He’s just doing it for the publicity, you know.”
“Doing what?” I asked.
“Keeping her things around. Her picture on the posters, photographs in the foyer, her name on my door. While the newspapers are still talking about her, he’ll continue to associate her with the Playhouse.
Ticket sales have been good since she died.
Did you know that?” She looked at me over her shoulder before turning back to the mirror.
“The seats have been full, whereas they were half empty before.”
Mr. Alcott rested the edge of the box on the dressing table and glared at her reflection in the mirror. “Are you suggesting Culpepper killed her for publicity?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I never said that. But let’s be honest with one another.
Her star wasn’t going to be rising for much longer.
She only had a few years left before her looks began to fade.
When that happened, the public would move on and Mr. Culpepper would need a new star to attract the audiences again.
The lovers would disappear too, of course. ”
“Lovers?” I asked. “Plural?”
Dotty looked up at me through her lashes and smiled. “She’d be a fool to have just one.”
“Wouldn’t that invoke jealousy?”
“Yes! But isn’t that the fun of being beautiful? Come now, Miss Fox. Don’t look so shocked. I’m sure Pearl had a lot of fun, but she also knew it couldn’t last forever. She’d be the first to admit that her life was better off ending now at the height of her fame.”
“Dotty!” Mr. Alcott cried.
She removed a hairpin and a tendril of blonde curls fell past her shoulder. “Although I’m sure she would have wished to die in a different manner.” She shivered. “Her scream as she fell was blood-curdling.”
“You were here in the theater when she died?” I asked.
“Of course. We all were. We had a show that night.”
“Where were you?”
“In the privy, if you must know. I’d just come out when I heard her scream. Then there was silence. It was very strange. Unnatural, almost.”
“It took everyone a few moments to work out where the scream had come from and what it meant,” Mr. Alcott said quietly. “Then Pearl was found and…it was chaos.”
“Who found her?”
“Culpepper was first on the scene,” Dotty said. “He shook her as if he couldn’t believe she was gone. Then when it did sink in, he held her in his arms.”
Mr. Alcott wiped away a tear. “I can’t talk about this anymore. Forgive me, Miss Fox, but I think we’re finished here.”
I followed him out and we walked back along the corridor together. “What will you do with her things?” I asked.
He studied the box in his arms. “Give them to her sister, I suppose.”
I was about to ask him if I could keep the letter and ring for a while when the door we were passing by suddenly opened and Mr. Culpepper almost bumped into me.
“It’s Miss Fox, isn’t it?” He frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“She came to see me,” Mr. Alcott said before I could speak. He indicated the box. “I’ve been cleaning out Pearl’s dressing room.”
“I’ll take that.” He reached for the box.
Mr. Alcott drew it away. “I was going to give it to Mrs. Larsen.”
“I’ll pass it on to her after I go through it. Property belonging to the theater should remain here.”
Mr. Alcott handed the box over and we continued along the corridor. Once we were out of earshot of Mr. Culpepper, he said, “I hope he doesn’t destroy the letter.”
“So do I.”
It wasn’t a complete disaster if he did, however. I’d recognized the ring.