Double Deception

Chapter 4: Threat

Raymond stood in the Broadway studio office building that night and received a call. He stared at the caller ID and sighed heavily before answering with an eyeroll.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Morelli?”

The voice that responded wasn’t polite; it was rude and straight to the point, as always.

“You know what!” he said.

“Relax, auditions are coming up soon!” Raymond protested with a pleading tone. “We will find your costar, Mr. Morelli.”

“You know how picky I am with who I perform with,” Mr. Morelli snapped. “None of these girls will make a good costar to my voice, GET IT DONE AND FIND HER!”

Raymond winced at Mr. Morelli’s yell and opened his mouth to reply, but Mr. Morelli hung up with a click. Raymond cursed him, sighed, and put his phone away.

“I hate him!” Raymond yelled, though no one was around.

“Was that Tobias Morelli?”

Raymond looked behind him to see a woman by the name of Sherry standing there. A tall, dirty blonde, older woman.

“Who else do you think?” Raymond sighed. He scowled. “He thinks he can boss us around as if this is HIS Broadway show.

“What’s his problem again?” Sherry asked, crossing her arms. She, too, was tired of Mr. Morelli.

“None of these girls can stand working with him,” Raymond informed her. “He’s hard to work with, you see, and he’s picky about who he sings with. I’m flying in hundreds of girls for this audition this week because none here seem to fit his criteria.”

“What is it about these girls he doesn’t like?” Sherry questioned.

“It’s their voice. He doesn’t like them.” Raymond told her.

“So at this audition, we will find him a voice that he does like,” Sherry announced with a smile.

The rain picked up at the police station across town, and the chief of police made a phone call from her office.

“Get me Detective Hunt and Detective Fenske first thing in the morning!” Trish ordered into the phone as she gripped the edges of her desk.

Of course, her assistant wanted to know why.

“Because someone made a threat against the Broadway singers!”