In a room at the Gotham Grand Theater, Schiller sat across from the troubled theater troupe boss, who introduced himself, "I'm Andover, the boss of the Angelica Theater Troupe. Angelica was my great-grandmother's name. My grandfather founded the troupe under that name. At first, we were only a small troupe, but by my father's generation, the Angelica Theater Troupe had become renowned far and wide."
"I've been running this troupe for more than twenty years. We've traveled all over the East Coast, even to some western cities, but we've never encountered anything this dangerous..."
The troupe boss let out a deep sigh. "A few days before the play was due to open, one of our leads died. That's not a good sign. We've plastered the whole city with programs. If we postpone the performance now..."
Schiller placed both hands on the table, his fingers interlaced. Looking at the troupe boss, he said, "I'm sorry, but may I ask what made you decide to perform in Gotham?"
"It was my grandfather's dream. He wanted the troupe he founded to conquer the entire East Coast, and Gotham was the only city left. We needed to give a perfect performance here, but who would have thought..."
Schiller nodded. But Gotham was that kind of city—the more you hoped something would not happen, the more likely it was to come true.
"Let's talk about the victim. I've heard of Miss Vicki. Did she have any enemies in the troupe? Or was she particularly close to anyone?"
The troupe boss rubbed his hands awkwardly. Schiller pressed on, "Now that she's dead, whatever relationships she had in life no longer matter. Even if there were secrets, there's no need for you to keep them for her anymore."
After hesitating, the troupe boss said, "Vicki got along