“I won’t,” Jerry promised. “Now that my part is finished here, suppose we go somewhere for a bite to eat?”
“With that blotch of red ink on your shirt front?”
“Oh, I’ll change it. I brought an extra shirt along. Wait here and I’ll be right with you.”
Jerry stepped into the dressing room to make the change. Penny, while waiting, wandered back to the stage wings to talk to Salt. However, the photographer had gone out front and was busily engaged taking pictures of visiting celebrities.
After a few minutes, Penny went downstairs again. Jerry was nowhere to be seen.
The door of the dressing room stood slightly ajar. Penny tapped lightly on it, calling: “Get a move on, Jerry! You’re slower than a snail!”
No answer came from inside.
Penny paced up and down the corridor and returned to listen at the door. She could hear no sound inside the room.
“Jerry, are you there?” she called again. “If you are, answer!”
Still there was no reply.