The next morning, they have some important decisions to make. They do agree that Vincent should go to the theatre as he is supposed to, to play tonight's show. He will take a gun and long knife with him to make sure he can defend himself on the way. But should he confront Simon, the male lead who set the gang on him, with his deed?
'I don't like the thought of your pretending nothing happened, Vincent, it will only invite other attacks.' Victor has a point, but..
'I want to continue acting, Victor, and without lead actor, there is no play, so I can't very well expose him. I'm not afraid of losing my self-control, but I don't want to stay victim of his tricks either, who knows what lengths that one'll go to remove me from his life more permanently?'
Adison agrees wholeheartedly with that last statement.
'You shouldn't just ignore what happened, my love, I suppose the best thing to do will be to inform the director. He hinted at the possibility of something like this happening, and he told you to come to him if you were set upon.'
'I'm sure that is my best option, he'll want to keep his play running, but he can also help to protect me from further attacks, if only by letting the other actors and staff keep an eye out.'
There are so many ways to have an accident in a theatre, with props and special effects possibly going wrong, that they are all very glad Simon was lazy and let others do the attacking. Staging an accident in the theatre would have had a much greater chance of succeeding.
Accordingly, Vincent goes to the theatre half an hour earlier than his usual time. They all feel some apprehension, though Vincent has proven repeatedly in the past that he can handle himself in a tight spot.
He goes straight to the director's office and spills the beans. The director is shocked, even offended that one of his players would sabotage their livelihoods in this way. Then he is concerned about Vincent's health, both physically and mentally. He did have to kill to protect himself, and he is clearly stiff and still sore from the attack. Vincent ensures him he can play his role tonight, and has no problem facing Simon on stage.
Having the director believe him is the most important thing, and a great relief to his feelings. They decide to keep quiet for now, leaving Simon in the dark about how much Vincent knows about his involvement in the attack on him and his friends. The staff and the actor playing the elderly villain will be informed and asked to also keep an eye out for foul play.
The stage-rats will do more than their regular check-ups of all their equipment behind the scenes, and they will watch Simon from their hidden places backstage when he is in the building and not on the stage. Simon has always treated them with contempt, so they will be eager to catch him in some mischief.
'And when this play is done, he will be out on his ears, and you can take his place as my lead player,' the director promises, 'I wish we could give him up to the guard, but that would be the financial ruin of my theatre, and besides, you did kill those men so they'd undoubtedly be asking you all kinds of difficult questions.'
Like where I was born, and who my parents are, Vincent thinks, hoping they will count the bodies left in the street as signs of a gang war flaring up.
And that evening the director does his own share of acting, welcoming his cast as usual as they prepare for the show, pretending this is a regular evening. But he keeps a sharp eye on Simon's reaction when that one notices that Vincent is present and no worse for wear.
The lead actor's stunned reaction as he sees Vincent sitting at his dressing table, innocently putting on his costume and getting his make-up done, apparently unharmed and ignorant, speaks volumes of his guilt. The other staff have been warned and instructed to safeguard Vincent from further attempts, as long as he is in the building.
Knowing for certain now that his lead player has endangered the financial future of the whole theatre and its staff and cast, the director makes his next move and calls Vincent into his office.
'I've seen enough, my boy,' he starts as soon as Vincent has seated himself. 'How well do you know the lead role?'
Having rehearsed together for months, every player knows at least half the lines of the other players by heart, inevitable for an actor if he wants to know when to deliver his own lines.
'Rather well, actually, sir.'
The director affirms with a nod. 'How long would it take you to know it perfectly? I want him out as soon as possible.'
'I think it will be two weeks work to replace Simon, I have seen his scenes in rehearsal dozens of times, and I already know most of his lines.
But who would replace me, who would play the villain? It is a small role, but it cannot be removed from the play or added to the main villain's role.'
The director has clearly not thought of someone yet, and Vincent sees his chance, and dares to try for it.
'I may know someone with a talent for acting who could take on this part in the same two weeks. I'll coach him towards it. He's a friend of mine, a Chinese man called Bruce.'
'I have never heard of Chinese acting in an English play. Are you certain he will do?'
'We've been exchanging lessons, martial arts for English language and acting, he's good. But I can understand if you think the risk is too high, he has no experience on stage at all.'
Never having worked with, or even seen a Chinese actor, the director wants to consider it first. But the more he thinks about it, the better he likes it, and he decides to give him a secret try-out in a week's time.
Vincent is amazed. Not only does the director believe his story, he is also determined to get rid of the snake in his group, and even willing to try out a total novice on his recommendation.
To the audience of that evening, something seems off.
The hero of the tale seems a bit subdued somehow, as if the actor's heart is not totally in his role. And though he kills off the villain's minion in a welter of blood, the new actor that everybody is talking about plays that smallish role with such fervour, and dies by the hero's hands with such pathos, that it almost seems as if the hero is the one who has sold his soul to the devil.
But of course everyone knows that heroes are good and villains are bad, so soon Simon manages to convince himself that though his plan failed, no-one seems to know what he has done. And he soon gets his act together, playing the handsome hero flamboyantly again, not noticing that his prop sword is checked and re-checked every time he has touched it, and that he is followed around and watched from behind the scenes wherever he goes in the theatre.
As Simon starts to feel glad his attempt on Vincent failed, realizing it would have cost himself too dearly had he succeeded, the rest of the staff is counting the days until the boss will confront him with his deed and throw him out of their group in disgrace.
And only the director and Vincent know that will be sooner than anyone suspects, to have him replaced by the object of his hatred.
Seeing Vincent leave to go to the theatre has been very hard for Adison. She knows she can't go with him, but she has no clue how she will get through the day, not knowing how he fares. They visit their patients, then settle in the doctor's workshop in the morgue to study a new object, a body just arrived which apparently has some interesting muscle and bone deviations.
Soon they are caught up in the dissection of the body, removing tissue layer by layer, carefully drawing and documenting each section before moving to the next layer. Adison has been tempted briefly to check the morgue for the thugs of yesterday evening, mainly to see if there were any survivors. But she feels it might be too big a risk to seem too interested.
Suddenly there is a disturbance in the hall leading to their room. Victor, his concentration broken by the noise, is trying to work on doggedly, ignoring the ruckus. But Adison, always the curious one, moves towards the hall to investigate.
A small group of people is coming towards their room, led by a staff-member of the morgue, pushing a body-cart covered with a sheet. Three people are unknown to Adison, a beautiful but slightly sinister looking woman, a gentleman of about sixty, and, she cannot think of another word for the guy's looks, a cowboy.
'This is the man you are looking for,' their colleague says, and heads back.
The trio enters confidently, clearly irritating Victor even more, so much so that he does not acknowledge their presence and just keeps going. The party has not seen Adison yet, focussing completely on the doctor. She decides to leave things that way, see what happens. It is clear that the three visitors want the doctor to take a look at their body, but it is also clear Victor means to be stubborn about this.
He greets his visitors with a sneer, not even looking up. His whole demeanour speaks disdain, such a difference from how she knows him. But the visitors will not be ignored. They seek to interest him in their corpse, telling him it is very important that no-one but him studies it. They address him one by one, from politely to very insistently, and still he will not budge.
Adison thinks it's high time to show their visitors that there is someone here who does have some manners. She walks towards them, and excuses him.
'Doctor Frankenstein is in a crucial stage of the process right now, he will be right with you.'
