She saw one EMT, listening through a stethoscope to Robbie’s chest. The seconds stretched into minutes, which felt like hours. Finally, he sat back on his heels.

He looked grim as he glanced at his watch. He turned to Emma and said, “I’m sorry, he’s dead.”

13

“What?” Violet cried. “No, there’s been a mistake. He’s just unconscious. Check him again.”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry,” the paramedic said. He looked at Emma and said, “We’re going to need to move him now.”

“Of course,” she said.

“No! Robbie, no!” Violet cried. She looked as if she’d launch herself at his body, but Emma caught her by the arms and held her.

“Violet, it’s no use,” Emma said. Violet let loose a desperate, keening cry and collapsed into Emma’s arms.

Lindsey couldn’t catch her breath. She could feel her heartbeat rushing in her ears and closing out all sound, as if it could drum out the paramedic’s words. It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t be dead. But there was no denying the still, lifeless form of Robbie Vine.

She tried to speak, but her throat was raw, as if her vocal chords had been severed and couldn’t push out the words.

She cleared her throat and tried again, “Violet, I’m so sorry.”

Emma glanced up and waved her over. When Lindsey knelt beside them, Emma handed Violet over to Lindsey and said, “I’m going to have to interview everyone. No one leaves.”

“I understand,” Lindsey said.

The paramedics loaded Robbie onto a stretcher. Violet reached out and gripped his lifeless hand in hers for just a moment. Lindsey found herself staring at Robbie’s handsome face. She saw flashes of him smiling, laughing and teasing her. When they draped a sheet over his head, she wanted to yell for them to stop. Like Violet, she simply couldn’t believe that a spirit as bright and vibrant as Robbie’s could have been extinguished.

Instead, she leaned close to his covered head and whispered in a voice that was rough with unshed tears, “Good-bye, merry wanderer of the night.”

The paramedics wheeled him away, and Violet continued to sob. Lindsey held her close and rocked her. There were no words of comfort that she could give. All she could do was give her friend a comforting circle of arms in which to weep.

Emma left with the paramedics. While she was gone, Nancy came running onto the stage from the back room with Mary right behind her.

“We snuck out of the green room and were eavesdropping,” she cried. “Oh, Violet, oh, I’m so sorry.”

Violet raised her head, and Lindsey moved so that Nancy could sit and take her post as chief comforter.

Mary looked closely at Lindsey and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Lindsey lied. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying, but her eyes stung and her throat burned from the effort.

“Lindsey!” Sully came tearing onto the stage from the loading dock at the back with Ian right behind him. “Are you all right? What happened?”