She Wore Red Lipstick…
By Kathleen Osborne
Standing off stage, Judith fingered the tube of red lipstick
that had come to her with a copy of the script. Definitely not her color. As a cast member of the show ‘Red Lipstick’ she was being told to wear it. Putting it on ‘screamed’ she was being fired, since she was to play the part of the next ‘victim’ in the show.
“Someone else can wear it. But I’m
not going to,” she thought as she set it beside another script that was lying
on the table next to where hers had been. “They can wear it,” she muttered.
~~~
Why had she stayed tonight to study
her lines? Seeing the time, she gathered her things to leave, and was turning
off her room lights, when she heard voices. She quickly hid under the desk. She
shouldn’t to be there. Everyone had gone home; she had watched them all leave.
At first the voices she heard were indistinct,
but the closer they got the clearer their words came through, as if she was
standing there with them. That is when she heard them planning a murder of the richest
person in the city and oh my God, they were using the plot from the show ‘Red
Lipstick.’
One of the female voices said, “We
need to stop. The cops aren’t stupid, ya know. Someone will realize we are
using the scripts as our plans.”
A man’s voice replied, “You are
right, this will be the last one. This guy is the worst on our list. The police
and FBI could not touch him, either. Remember, we’re helping them do a tough
job. What we do is righteous, and someone has to do it. Vigilante justice has
been around for centuries and it no different from a citizens’ arrest.”
Trembling so hard she had to wrap
her arms around herself to keep from hitting the sides of the desk she has been
hiding under. Judith could hear footsteps walking away and the voices were fading.
The sound of the side door opening and closing. She waited a few minutes to
make sure they had left.
Muttering to herself about being in
the wrong place at the wrong time, she knew she has to do something, but what? She
can’t report it. Who would believe her, a fairly new actress against the word
of a group of headliners? They hold these people in high esteem from all their
charitable activities, and they had tons of money to pay for a defense.
Something she didn’t.
Hoping there had been no evidence of
her presence, she got up and moved swiftly out the door to the bus stop around
the corner.
~~~
Oh crap. They knew she had been there. How?
Her acting must be better than she thought
because no one else noticed how terrified she was at the looks she was getting
from the ‘Script Murderers,’ she had dubbed them that on her way home. Going to
the police now, it would be her word against theirs. She had no proof. They
could say they were rehearsing for a future show. And these were very
influential people, while as she was not really a blip on the screen yet. But
it wasn’t just her life at stake. More would die if she didn’t do something.
During their lunch break, she went
to her dressing room to think of what she could do that wouldn’t be so
confrontational and protect her. And a way to make sure the police knew what
they were doing. Instinctively, she grabbed a tablet and started writing
everything she heard. Dates and times. Names of those involved. Next door was
the admin office. She slipped over and made two copies. She put one copy aside to
put in her safe deposit box after the show, and another in a sealed envelope
addressed to David Cragg, her friend, Chief of Police, in Chester, Arizona. He’d
know what to do with it. Looking at the clock she saw she still had 15 minutes,
she dashed to the main lobby where visitors began their tours of the TV set and
picked up a phone in a corner where she could watch as she talked. She called
the Homicide Division and blurted everything out, then slammed the phone down.
Running to the dressing room, she touched up her lipstick, smoothed her hair
and walked out joining the other actors.
The Stage Manager shouted across the
stage, “Places everyone.” Judith, wearing pink lipstick, went to her stage
spot.
The lights dimmed.
Thump.
Something large fell to the ground.
A scream filled the room.
The Stage Manager yelled, “Lights!”
Judith was still screaming as she tripped
over a woman’s body. Oh my God, it was one of those she’d overheard. Glancing
at the victim, as she struggled to get away, Judith saw she was wearing the red
lipstick and a hatpin through her heart.
Judith felt a man’s arm helping her
untangle herself, but her eyes were so fixed on the victim she didn’t notice
who it was. When she went to look up, men and women were milling around. She
smoothed her dress down out of nervousness and started when she felt something
in her pocket. Pulling it out, she found a crumpled note. Opening it, she read,
“Join us or die.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Kathleen Osborne is a new author. She writes Short Stories and is editing her first full length novel, Modrog Warriors – Bride for an Alien Prince. Her website is https://www.kaosborne1.com and she also has a private fan page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/kathleen.osborne.author. You are welcome to check out both.
~~~~~~~~~~
Be sure to come back tomorrow for another guest author!
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