Celia lowered her eyes at a table near the rear.
Emily could see that her words hurt the owner, and she decided not to soften them.
“If this performance ends and nothing changes, then all we’ve done is turn a bad evening into expensive entertainment,” Emily said.
“I don’t want that.”
She looked at Walter.
“That’s everything I wanted to say.”
Walter nodded and moved her chair away from the performance table so that she could sit with her colleagues.
There was no applause cue.
The room remained quiet until the cellist played a single low note.
Then the next scene began.
CHAPTER EIGHT — THE INTERRUPTION
Halfway through the second act, the dining room doors opened.
Victoria had returned from the Clarion Hotel with Conrad at her side.
She was no longer wearing her green jacket, and the dark necklace hung crookedly against her dress.
Conrad carried the revised program in one hand and a black folder in the other.
They stopped near the entrance while the performers continued speaking.
Mara approached them and whispered that the room was in the middle of a performance.
“I know,” Victoria said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Conrad stepped into the aisle and raised the folder.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption,” he announced.
The actor at the table stopped in mid-sentence.
Mara closed her eyes briefly, then gestured for the musician to hold the next cue.
“This program has been altered without permission from the event sponsor,” Conrad continued.
“The sponsor would like to clarify the arrangement.”
Celia rose from her seat.
“Conrad, you were removed from supervision this evening.”
“I am not supervising,” he replied. “I am presenting a contractual concern.”
Oliver Knox appeared behind him, looking as if he wished to be somewhere else.
Conrad opened the folder and read from the agreement he had negotiated.
The sponsor’s contribution was tied to a closing acknowledgement and the presence of a designated guest of honor.
Without that acknowledgement, he argued, the restaurant would owe a substantial refund.
Victoria stepped forward.
“I funded this evening to support excellence,” she said. “The performers have converted it into a public attack on a paying customer.”
Walter moved to the edge of the platform.
“Nobody named you until you arrived,” he replied.
“Everyone knows who this is about.”
“That was your choice as well.”
Bennett stood from his table.
“Victoria, come sit down,” he said.
“You don’t understand what this will do to the family’s reputation.”
“I understand you threw water at a woman who brought someone food.”
“She was rude.”
“You have repeated that all night,” Bennett replied. “It hasn’t become more persuasive.”
Several guests murmured agreement.
Victoria looked startled that the murmurs came from people she knew.
