"Really, Violet?" Robbie asked. "I know you don't cook, but surely the purpose of a knife hasn't escaped you."

"You know what I mean-" Violet began but she was cut off as a body came tripping toward them out of the dark.

"Robbie!" Lola crouched down on his other side and hugged him close. "Are you all right? What happened? Did you fall?"

"I'm fine," he said. He spoke through gritted teeth, and Lindsey realized the jostling Lola was giving him was causing him severe pain.

"How about the lights?" Violet turned and yelled up toward the balcony. "Ian, any luck?"

Another beam of light shone down from the balcony for a second before it vanished again.

"I'm working on it," Ian yelled. There was the sound of banging and some cursing.

"Here, let me help you up," Lola said. Her long, brown hair was tied back and she wore a low-cut blouse, which gave Lindsey an eyeful of cleavage when she bent over to lift Robbie up by the underarms.

Robbie let out a hiss when Lola tried to drag him to his feet. Lindsey moved with them to keep the pressure on his arm. She looked at the wadded-up shirtsleeve and noted it was saturated in blood.

"Lola, get off of him," Violet snapped. "In fact, back up and move away. Everyone else sit ti-"

In a flash, light filled the theater again. Lindsey blinked and glanced around the stage. She caught a glimpse of Milton and Ms. Cole holding hands just before Ms. Cole snatched her hand away. Beth was huddled in a corner with Dylan, Perry and Heather, while several crew members were stranded on the piece of set they'd been painting at the back.

"Robbie, your arm. Oh, my god, you've been cut!" Lola said. She looked closely at the blood-soaked rag and then slumped on top of him in a dead faint.

"Oh, good grief," Violet said. "Someone check her, please."

Sully wound his way back to Lindsey and handed her the first aid kit. Without a word, he rolled Lola off of Robbie's chest. Her face was pale, but she was breathing.

"Fainted," Sully said. "Luckily, Vine broke her fall."

"Can you take her to get some air?" Violet asked. "In fact, everyone go out front for a few minutes and get some fresh air. We'll call you when we're ready to rehearse again."

The voices of the cast and crew rose and fell as they scattered from the stage. Lindsey watched as Sully lifted Lola up into his arms as if she weighed no more than a child and carried her out front with the others. She felt a twinge of what she suspected was jealousy but she refused to acknowledge it. Sully was just helping the woman; besides, whatever Sully did was no business of hers.

She turned back to Robbie. "Can you sit up?"

"Sure," he said. She and Violet spotted him while he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Gently, they shifted him so that he was leaning against a piece of the set designed to look like a cave.

"I'm going to get some rags for that blood," Violet said. "Be right back."

"Hold this," Lindsey said to Robbie. He put his hand over the shirtsleeve still pressed to his cut.

Lindsey popped open the metal first aid kit. It had disinfectant wipes, rolls of gauze and assorted bandages. It would do until Robbie got the wound dressed by a professional.

She glanced at his arm. What remained of his sleeve needed to be rolled up, so she tentatively began to fold back the shirt.

The bottom of a tattoo appeared, and curious, Lindsey pushed the fabric up a bit more so she could see it. It was a stylized sun done in reds and yellows with a blue outline. In the center of the sun was a date: 10-23-95.

"Nice tattoo," she said.

"It marks the most significant day of my life," he said, "although I didn't know it at the time."

Lindsey remembered Nancy's lighthouse tattoo and she felt her throat get tight. What was it Charlie had said? A person's tattoos could give insight into the most important events of his life?

"Sometimes dates are like that," she said. "You don't know it's important until later."

"Indeed," Robbie agreed. "Sort of like September fourteenth of this year."

Lindsey looked at him. "What happened on that day?"

"I met you."

His gaze met and held hers, and Lindsey felt her pulse pound in her ears. She wasn't ready. She couldn't feel that way about someone yet. And he was so far out of her league. Her thoughts chased each other around in her head until she couldn't think.

She glanced down at his cut, breaking the moment.

"Let me know if I hurt you," she said.

He didn't answer, and she glanced up to make certain he heard her. Their faces were just inches apart.

"You won't," he said.

Lindsey blew out a breath and took the wadded-up fabric off of his cut. She then reached into the kit and took out the alcohol wipes.

"This is probably going to sting," she said.

The cut was a clean slice and probably it was going to require stitches, but the worst of the bleeding seemed to be over.

Lindsey shook out one of the wipes and gently dabbed at the cut. Robbie sucked in a breath through his teeth and she cringed, knowing it was going to get worse before it got better.

She held his arm still with one hand and ran the cloth over the cut with the other. She felt his muscles bunch beneath her fingers, and he let loose a string of mild curses while he kicked at the floor with one of his feet.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Lindsey said. "I know it hurts. Just one more pass and it'll be good, I think."

She swabbed the cut one last time and Robbie let out a shout.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Is there anything I can do?"

"One thing," he said through gritted teeth. And before Lindsey realized his intent, Robbie cupped the back of her head and kissed her.

Lindsey was too surprised to move and the kiss was over before she could even register what had happened. In fact, the only thing that convinced her of what had actually just happened was the fact that her lips were still tingling. Well, that and the fact that Sully had returned to the stage and was glaring at them.

"Okay, then, let's get that bandaged up, shall we?" she asked.

Robbie grinned at her. It was a wicked grin, the sort that bespoke all sorts of trouble for the person on the receiving end of it. Lindsey found herself grinning back, although she knew if she'd had any sense of self-preservation she wouldn't have.

While she wrapped Robbie's arm, she was increasingly aware of Sully, who had been joined by Ian and Violet. The three of them were having a low, murmured conversation, but she couldn't make out what was being said.

"You seem to be having a lot of bad luck on the stage lately," she said to Robbie.

"Agreed." He sighed. "I'm getting the feeling that someone is not interested in seeing me play Puck."

"Well, you are-" Lindsey stopped before she finished her sentence.

"I am what?" he asked.

Lindsey paused while wrapping the gauze around his arm and met his gaze.

"You are a bit of a polarizing personality," she said.

"Me?" he asked. He looked so surprised at this that Lindsey had to laugh.

"Surely you've noticed," she said. "You seem to bring out either the absolute best in people or the worst."

Robbie watched her while she fastened a strip of adhesive tape around his arm to keep the gauze in place.

"I hadn't thought of it like that," he said. "I guess my only question now is-"

"Who do you bring out the worst in and why would they want to harm you?" she asked.

"No, actually," he said. Lindsey glanced at him in surprise and again she was overly aware of their close proximity. Up close, the green in his eyes was as vibrant as a new leaf, and she noted that his eyelashes were blond on the tips.

His voice was lower when he continued, "My question is what do I bring out in you, Lindsey? The best or the worst?"

Lindsey felt her throat go dry. She swallowed hard, trying to think of a way to answer that didn't encourage him, but then she wondered if that was really what she wanted.

"Time to go see a doctor, Vine," a voice said from behind them.

Lindsey snapped her head up and saw Sully standing behind Robbie with his arms crossed over his chest and an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh, I think Lindsey has patched me up just fine," Robbie said. His eyes were still on Lindsey and he made no move to rise.

"Sorry, Violet's orders. Here let me help you," Sully said. He didn't wait for Robbie to stand but hooked him under the arms and hauled him to his feet.

"Thanks, mate," Robbie said, although Lindsey noted that he sounded more annoyed than grateful.

"You should have a doctor look at it, just to be on the safe side," she said. She stood beside them, clutching the first aid kit to her chest.

"After you," Sully said. He nudged Robbie in the direction of the stairs-and he was none too gentle about it.

"Well, I see what you mean about the worst," Robbie muttered to Lindsey as he passed her. He made a mock horrified look at Sully, and Lindsey smiled.

"Thanks for taking care of me," he said. Then he blew her a kiss and Lindsey felt her face get hot.

She watched as he walked up the aisle and pushed through the door to the lobby. She barely caught a glimpse of Lola as she pounced on Robbie once he stepped outside. She knew it shouldn't bother her, but still she turned away from the sight.

Sully was standing there watching her, and Lindsey felt inexplicably irritated with him. "Go ahead and say it."

"Say what?" he asked. His voice was mild as if he had no idea what she was talking about. This made her even more annoyed.

"Go ahead and tell me that Robbie is bad news and I should stay away-you know, the whole spiel. Get it off of your chest," she said.

"I wasn't going to say that," he said. He looked genuinely hurt and Lindsey felt her annoyance slip away.

"No?" she asked.

"No," he said. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and blew out a breath. "You should do whatever makes you happy. You deserve to be happy."

Lindsey stared at him. All she could think when she studied his handsome face was, you make me happy. But of course she didn't say it. Instead, she said, "Thanks for taking him to the doctor. That's very good of you."

Sully stepped close to her, and she could smell that particular scent that was his: a citrusy, sea airsoaked smell that filled her senses and made her dizzy.

"Just be careful, Lindsey," he said. "Like I said, you deserve to be happy, but I'd hate to see you get hurt."

She watched as he left through the doors to the lobby.

"Do you think it's safe enough to have everyone come back in?" Violet asked Ian.

They were walking across the stage toward Lindsey, and she turned to see Ian run a hand over his bald head.

"I think so," he said. "But Violet, whoever tampered with the circuit breaker meant business. We need to call Chief Plewicki and tell her what happened."

"Do you think whoever damaged the circuit breaker did it to get to Robbie?" Lindsey asked. The coincidence was just too much.

Violet and Ian both looked worried and Lindsey knew that was her answer.

"But why would someone want to stab him?" Lindsey said. "I mean I understand that he puts some people off, but to cut him, I mean, that's . . . well . . . scary."

"It's worse than that, I'm afraid," Violet said.

"What do you mean?" Lindsey asked.

"We don't think they meant to just stab him," Ian said. "We think they planned to murder him."

12.

"Murder?" Lindsey gasped. "Surely it was just a warning of some sort, maybe, from someone who wants to stop the show?"

"Lindsey, you dressed the wound," Ian said. "If it had been over just a few more inches, it would have been his heart."

"And the attack wasn't made using a prop sword, either," Violet added.

"No," Lindsey agreed. "That cut was most definitely made by a very sharp blade."