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still. It all happened so fast I didn’t think the paramedics would have been able to do anything even if they’d found us right away.
    The logistics of the whole episode were a mess. Nell had never handled anything like this before and didn’t realize she needed to contact security so the paramedics could get in and find us. She pretty much had a meltdown, and by the time the paramedics finally showed up, she had fainted and was on the floor, too. The man and woman in the dark blue uniforms had much more success treating her.
    They just had to roll Nell on her back and put her feet up. But Robyn showed no signs of life and there was nothing they could do to help her.
    I was in shock to put it mildly. One minute the young woman with the Martha Stewart haircut was complaining about her latte, and a few minutes later, she was gone.
    Adele was hanging on to me for dear life. “I tried to give her first aid,” she said to the paramedic pair, “but nothing seemed to help.” Adele let go and tried calming herself with her crochet hook and yarn. I was surprised to see something I’d never seen before. Her stitches were a mess.
    I lost track of the time, and security people came in and took the three of us out into the hall. They asked a lot of questions and then a bunch of uniforms showed up and asked more questions about what had happened. The most I could find out was that despite what was going on, it hadn’t interrupted the show. Then just when I thought they were going to let us go, the cops separated us. I don’t know where they took Adele and Nell, but I was taken to a small lounge and told to wait to speak to a detective. When I tried to find out why, it became abundantly clear that they only asked questions and didn’t answer them. After what seemed like eternity, the door opened and Barry walked in. He was completely in his detective mode, flipping open his notebook. Only when he looked up did his expression break.
    “Molly?” Barry said. There was a squeak of surprise in his voice, and then he began shaking his head, obviously realizing that once again he was going to have to step down from a case because I was involved. “What are you doing here?”
    I told him the whole story and he shook his head again. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to the show last night?”
    I actually thought he might be more upset that I hadn’t told him about my plans than the fact that I had just witnessed someone dying. I reminded him that he’d left rather abruptly and explained the plans had been last minute.
    I glanced vaguely in the direction of the audience waiting room where everything had taken place. “She must have had some kind of attack?” I said before describing what had happened. Barry had on his cop face again and he just looked at me when I’d finished. “That’s right, isn’t it, you’re just here investigating because she died suddenly and not in a hospital, right?”
    Barry’s face showed no emotion. It was maddening how he could do that. But then he’d been at his job long enough, it must have been second nature to hold it all in.
    “You’re all right, then?” he said. There was a flicker of emotion in his eyes, which was a relief from robot Barry. He knew that I knew that his not confirming what I’d said meant they suspected foul play. He looked toward the doorway, which was empty, and crossed the space between us and hugged me. “Just answer the questions and let it go, okay?”
    Before he could realize that I wasn’t agreeing with his order, he was out the door.
    Murder? It couldn’t be murder. They had to be wrong.
    I had a pretty good idea who was going to replace him investigating. Detective Heather showed up a few minutes later in a cloud of Vera Wang perfume. Okay, her real name was Heather Gilmore, but in my head and when speaking among my friends, I referred to her as Detective Heather. I always said if they ever made a homicide detective Barbie, she’d look like