Like several of the other actors, Spencer clustered around Billy when they were done, pelting him with questions. Eric, however, had slipped out with a few of the others, without so much as a good-bye.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Spencer said, as they rode the bus home. “I’ve told you that you’re the best sister in the world, right?”

“You can repeat yourself. I will allow it.”

“I just spent the night working with Billy Whitehouse. Billy Whitehouse. Do you have any idea what this means?”

Scarlett smiled. It was good to see Spencer feeling like he was on top of his game again. But why had Eric left so quickly? Obviously, there was nothing going on between them. He barely knew her. Still…

“It means,” Spencer went on, “that something is going right. When I get rich and famous, I’m going to get you anything you want. Name it. Helicopter. Airplane. One of those hairless cats.”

He had no idea how close he was to what she actually wanted. He could probably even help. All she had to do was open her mouth and ask.

“An indoor pool,” she said instead. “With a shark in it.”

“You,” Spencer replied, throwing an arm over her shoulder, “are clearly my sister. We share the same practical streak.”

THE EXCITING LIVES OF NEW YORKERS, REVEALED

For two nights, Scarlett had watched the famous Billy Whitehouse lead the cast through their paces. Sometimes he just ran them ragged, forcing them to run the room while they said their lines, sometimes he put them facedown on the floor, or had them stand on chairs. Random as it all seemed, it was amazing what could come out when Billy was ordering everyone around. Lines that had sounded like gibberish to her before (either because she didn’t understand Shakespeare or the actors were saying them wrong) suddenly had meaning. Little gestures could produce laughter or tears. Hamlet became more menacing, the king more duplicitous, Ophelia more tragic. Billy tempered some of what Spencer and Eric had been doing, giving them a winsome edge.

By Saturday, they had come to the last of the sessions. Billy had the cast gather together in a huddle in the middle of the room. It was kind of an intense moment, and sort of not for observers, so Scarlett let herself out quietly to wait in the hall. She walked around, trying to get cell phone reception. When she looped back, she found Billy and Mrs. Amberson standing by the stairs, at the dark end of the hallway. They couldn’t see her.

“You’ll never guess who’s coming in later,” Billy was saying.

“Someone famous? Someone amusing?”

“Donna Spendler,” he said.

The name crystallized Mrs. Amberson. The smile fell from her face like it had come unglued.

“I thought you might react that way,” he said.

Something in the air changed. Maybe it was the air conditioning cranking to life, or the opening of the door in the background as the cast left, but something wasn’t right.