The Last Pas de Deux – Part 3: Opening Night

The lights went out.

In the dark, Theo's voice was perfectly calm. "There's a fire door behind the mirrors. Henrik doesn't know. We used it for smoking breaks when we were students."

They found it by touch. It opened onto a narrow stair that led down to the stage door, where the rain was pouring. Ida called the police from under the awning, her voice steady, her hands shaking.

Henrik was arrested in his office with the insurance papers still on his desk.

Opening night went ahead two weeks later, under a new director.

Ida stood in the wings with her headset on, calling cues the way she had a thousand times. But tonight she missed one, just one, because she was watching Theo.

He danced the final pas de deux with Jonas, the two of them moving like a single breath. When the music ended, the theatre stood up and roared.

Afterwards, the crowd gone, Theo found her backstage, still in costume, a towel around his shoulders.

"You saved my life," he said.

"Twice," she said. "I'm keeping count."

He laughed and pulled the grey silk scarf from his bag, then wound it gently around her neck against the cold.

"Walk me home along the canal?"

She took his arm. Outside, the rain had stopped, and the water was full of lights.

Some partnerships, Ida thought, only begin when the music ends.

---

Next: The Florist of Amalfi, a new mystery on the Italian coast.