The next day was the day before the play, so this time, the cast was in the gym. Jenny, who wasn't onstage at the moment, went to go get a soda.
"Murder!!!!!" she screamed once she was out in the hall.
All the extras ran out there, then ran back in after seeing the gruesome sight. Someone (presumably the killer) had shoved Christina into the giant fan, and what remained of her closely resembled raw hamburger meat.
"Okay, there goes my dinner," Megan moaned, running to a nearby trash can. "That ain't a pretty sight."
"Hey, can we get a mop out here?" Lindsay called.
"Not funny, Lindsay," Megan said.
"Who said I was trying to be funny? We need a mop."
"The killer's getting creative," Melissa remarked. "This is the first death that hasn't been a stabbing."
"Maybe it's a different person," Susan suggested.
"You mean there could be two serial killers out there?" Lindsay asked. "That's a scary thought."
"One serial killer and one murderer," Melissa corrected her. "The two have very distinctive styles."
"Did you pick Nancy Drew for your book report or something?" Jenny asked. "You seem to be very knowledgable about criminology lately."
"No, I've just been to too many play rehearsals."
"But that's Katy's part. She's the future criminologist; you're just an extra student."
"Where is Katy, anyway?" Darrell wondered.
"Yeah, I haven't seen her in awhile," Adam, who was here to watch them practice, said. "Not since the last time she was onstage."
As if it had been cued, a perfectly timed scream came from the locker rooms.
"What is it?" Jenny called down the stairs.
"It's Katy!" Neil yelled back. "She's...dead!"
"How?" Melissa asked, walking downstairs. Jenny, Darrell, Lindsay, and Megan followed her, wondering the exact same thing.
Neil held up one end of a rope. "She was hanged."
"Hung?" Megan said.
"Whatever. Look up."
Everybody saw Katy's body dangling from a rafter by a piece of rope.
"But why Katy?" Lindsay asked. "Why?" She sounded as if she could break into tears at any moment.
"And how are we going to have a play tomorrow night with two of our main characters dead?" Megan wondered. Everybody glared at her. "Sorry," she said apologetically. "Just wondering."
"Why did the killer hang her?" Melissa said. "None of this fits into the pattern--or lack of one."
"Well," said Jenny, "at least we can assume that we're safe for the rest of the night, since there's only been one day with more than two murders."
"Where's my cast!!!" Mrs. Bailey shouted. "I need you guys on stage, now!!!"
Almost everybody ran upstairs, leaving Lindsay sitting on a bench and staring at Katy's corpse. Suddenly, she heard muffled screams coming from a closet.
"Let me out! Someone! Anyone! Help!"
Lindsay got up and opened the door, revealing a tied up, but definitely still alive, Christina.
"I thought you were dead," she said.
"No, that was my evil twin sister," Christina explained. "She tied me up and left me in this closet. Did the serial killer get her?"
"Yeah, and shoved her into one of those big fans. Your evil twin is hamburger meat."
"Eww. Err...would you mind untying me?"
"Oh, sure." Lindsay untied the ropes around Christina's feet and hands.
"Lindsay!!!"
"Oops...I think I need to be up there before Mrs. Bailey kills me, let alone whoever's killing everybody else." She ran up the stairs, barely making it in time for her entrance. Christina followed at a much more sedate pace, going back to the gym floor to watch.
***