Welcome to Amateur Theatricals, book twelve in the Operation Quickline series. The stage is set for a major operation as Lisa, Sid, and Nick go undercover at a university to find who’s killing KGB moles in training. You can read the first episode here, and catch up on the series here.
It was bittersweet the night Richard closed. I must admit, the sound of the applause was very gratifying. The cast party afterward was a blast. Sid and I even let Nick attend, although I kept a careful eye on him. There was a lot of booze flowing, and Nick does like wine. He doesn’t overindulge, but there was always the chance it would sneak up on him. Fortunately, it didn’t.
We never would find out what had set Kaspar off, but he had been determined to wipe out the finishing school. There was a note to that effect in one of the other drawers of his desk. He died the night he was arrested, apparently from some poison.
At the cast party, Mark seemed… Not off, but different.
“You okay?” I asked him.
“I’m fine.” He shrugged. “I’m a KGB agent, you know. But I’m defecting. I just did one last job for those SOBs, then the CIA is going to let me do what I really want to do. To write scripts and see them produced.”
“That sounds great,” I said. “But why are you telling me this?”
“I’m telling everyone.” He grinned.
I had a bad feeling he had really wanted me specifically to know.
I said goodbye to everyone, including Dr. Dorfmann, with a small pang, knowing that I would not likely ever see them again. But that was how our business worked.
Sid turned in his resignation Monday morning, then called the movers. We spent the rest of the day packing those items we wanted to take home and getting them shipped. The rest of the stuff in the house would be donated to charity when the movers came the next morning.
Raylene came by that afternoon, utterly indignant. “You’re leaving us?”
“I’m afraid so,” I said. “Charles got offered a tenure track position back in California, and that’s where we really want to be. I should even be able to get my old teaching job back.”
“You know, Carl was going to offer to make his position here permanent.”
“I’m glad Carl thought so highly of him.” I smiled at her, this time genuinely. “It was nice knowing you, Raylene.”
“Nice knowing you, Linda.” She sighed and walked back to her house.
Mimi did not come to say goodbye. When I went to the test school the next morning to formally un-enroll Nick, Ms. Westmore told me that Jimmy Deering had not only gotten in trouble again, he had gotten beyond the attempt and had raped another young woman. [I was glad that Irene kept track of them. Fortunately, Jimmy was tried as an adult and did some jail time, and I’ve heard here and there that he’s been in and out of jail on rape charges. – SEH]
Irene and Randall showed slightly after the movers did to drive us to Kansas City and the airport. They also had news.
“We’re coming out of hiding,” Irene said. “We get to have our old names back and we’ve got posts at Northwestern University. Randall, I mean, Max, even found a way so that the work we published while we were here would be credited to us, which means we’re that much closer to tenure at NU.”
“Oh, I’m so happy for you!” Grinning, I gave her a big hug.
The first call for boarding on the flight to Los Angeles rang out over the loudspeaker. Irene sighed.
“Does this mean we’re not going to see you again?”
I smiled softly. “I’m afraid so.” I slipped a small piece of paper into her hand. “But Sid Hackbirn, Lisa Wycherly, and Nick Flaherty would love to hear from you when you get settled. Keep you on the Christmas card list and all that.”
Irene laughed and hugged me solidly. Nick was a little teary-eyed as he hugged Randall, but then the three of us got on the plane and headed for home.
Thank you for reading. For more information about the Operation Quickline series, click here.
Please check out the Fiction page for the latest on all my novels. Or look me up at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Vroman’s, in Pasadena, California.