Page 3 of Role Play

Chapter Three

Jane

I wrappedmy coat around myself, hiding the sequined dress with the plunging neckline and blood covered bullet hole. The ironic thing about the costume was that the plunging neckline would probably garner much more attention than the bullet hole. My role as a nineteen fifties Marilyn Monroe style starlet had been short-lived. My character, Virginia, was also this weekend's murder victim. Playing the part of murder victim meant that I only had to work for a few hours. Once they carted away my dead body, I was free to go. It also meant only one night of pay. That part sucked because my bank account was already down to two digits and neither of the numbers were a nine.

I pulled out my phone to see if Toby, the night manager of Bulk Mart, had found some weekend hours for me. He never returned a text, which meant no.

The elevator reached my floor. It was well past ten, and the only sound in the hallway was the murmur of television sets. I had managed to avoid Brock all week. I'd lied to him about my role in the Murder Mystery for the weekend, telling him that I'd be there until Sunday. He wasn't making the breakup easy but then that didn't surprise me. Brock was always one of those guys who liked to get his way. But I was done with him.

Just before I reached my door, the door across the way swung open. It was Aidan, my extremely large new neighbor. He stopped in his doorway and nodded, not recognizing me in my blonde wig and heavy makeup.

I smiled. "It's me, Jane."

His eyes rounded. A relieved laugh followed. "For a second there I thought I was hallucinating that Marilyn Monroe was walking up the hallway. You changed your hair."

I reached up and fingered the heavily hair-sprayed wig. "No, the real me is under this blonde bombshell do. And before you start to wonder if I'm a crazy—I'm not. Well, maybe a little. I work for a Murder Mystery theater. Guests pay to spend the weekend at a big house and someone gets murdered. Well, fake murdered." I opened my coat to expose the sequined dress with the bullet hole. And just like I'd predicted, it was the plunging neckline that got the attention more than the gory display beneath it.

Aidan looked slightly dumbstruck. "Wow, that is a great dress. Ignoring the bullet hole and blood completely."

Of course. I closed the coat again. "I was the victim this weekend. Corpses only have to work Friday night."

"Nice deal for the corpses. Hey, since you're on the cold slab for the rest of the night, there's a great little diner a few blocks from here that serves breakfast all night. I was just heading down there. Are you interested in some pancakes? My treat."

"No, I've got to peel out of this dress and hose off this makeup. I'll take a rain check."

"No problem. I'll probably bring the food back. I can pick you up something." He was a menacingly big man, but something about his demeanor seemed genuinely kind. And I was hungry.

"You know what, being murdered has made me kind of hungry. I'll take an order of the strawberry French toast. If it's not too much trouble." I reached for my purse.

"No trouble and it's my treat. I'll be back in thirty minutes."

I should have gone inside, but I was having too much fun marveling at the impossible width of his shoulders in the narrow corridor.

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