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The Show Must Go On! – Part 03

“As luck would have it, there was a woman who looked exactly like the dead Coco Rose,” Victorique continued. “She was a dancer at the theater, and her resemblance to Coco Rose had earned her the nickname ‘Downtown Blue Rose’. She had plenty of admirers as well. The men who placed the ad in the newspaper hired the woman—Nicole Leroux.”

“Why?”

“Simple.”

Up ahead, the actress playing Queen Coco, who would most likely receive critical acclaim on tomorrow’s morning paper, quickly catapulting her to stardom, stood still with a serious look on her face.

Another actress, her brown hair dyed golden, walked slowly toward her. She had long hair hanging down and wore a blue dress made of soft fabric, with ample opening around the chest area. They were wearing similar make-up. In the dimness, they looked like twin sisters, with similar facial features but completely different personalities.

“To have her become Queen Coco’s double. Because the real Queen is dead.”

The actresses raised their arms and slapped each other’s palms. A baton pass.

“I’m so scared,” the woman with the hair hanging down said, her lips quivering nervously. “I don’t know if I can act as well as you. You were so amazing. I can’t follow that up.”

“You’ll be fine,” the first actress reassured. “Coco Rose changed since she moved to the country house, like she was a different person altogether. You just have to do your thing. Act out your version of Coco. Go on, it’s your turn to be on stage. Good luck!”

“Thank you. Good luck!”

Spotlights once more illuminated the stage, where props for a country house stood, modest but lovely.

The second actress walked out with a spring in her steps.

She had the cheer that Queen Coco of the royal court never had. A woman one step short of frivolity. But it was this brilliant spirit that remained in people’s minds.

The audience welcomed the second actress with a warm applause.

“I have left the glamor of the palace,” the actress began, “but this place is just as beautiful. The air is clean, and it’s close to nature. It makes me want to sing. At the royal banquet, I was reluctant to dance in front of the nobles, but here there are only the few servants and the animals in the forest to see me.”

She recited the long line in one breath, with a lonely but at the same time easy air of being freed from a spell. Then she began dancing gracefully in the middle of the stage.

Victorique pointed at her. “The zero hour has passed. From here on, it’s a long wait until the next murder.”

“The next murder?”

Victorique chuckled. “I’ll explain it later. For now, the real Queen Coco was killed in the royal palace. The Coco Rose that moved to the country house to recuperate was an impostor. No one from the palace accompanied her, and her servants were probably all changed. The maid from France was also not in the country house either.”

Victorique took a puff of her pipe as she stared at Coco Rose—no, Nicole Leroux, who was dancing quietly onstage.

“Just like this play, Coco Rose was played by two different people. The real Coco Rose died at the same time as the first actress left the stage, and the appearance of the second actress coincided with the hiring of the double, Nicole Leroux.”

“I can’t believe it…”

“That is the reason behind Queen Coco Rose’s mysterious, multifaceted nature. The one who drank absinthe to relieve her stress was the real Coco. The one who loved wine and drank merrily was the double. Coco was the quiet and shy one. Nicole was the wild one, who went out at night. They happened to look exactly alike, but on the inside, they were complete opposites. The mischievous hands of fate forced two people to play the role of one woman, which gave Queen Coco a multifaceted character. And so one mystery led to another, and that explains why she’s still so popular even ten years after her official death, ironically.”

“But…”

“Nicole Leroux was declared dead and buried in a small church. The real Coco Rose was the one who was put in the coffin. That explains why the Downtown Blue Rose, who was supposed to be dead, was spotted by her old friends all over town. She was seen partying at night, having a picnic, and so on. Those who didn’t know her thought she was Queen Coco because of her face and luxurious clothes, but those who did know her would have the opposite reaction: ‘Why is Nicole dressed like a noblewoman?’”

Victorique brought the pipe to her lips and took a drag. Marquis de Blois, staring at her with a grim face, took a breath.

Victorique blew out smoke. “And so fourteen years passed in the blink of an eye. I don’t know if Nicole willingly accepted the job of being a double, or if she was threatened, but there are accounts of her going on picnics and dancing. I can only hope it wasn’t all tough times for her. There’s no way of knowing what she felt now, of course.”

“Hmm.”

“Destiny has arrived. It’s the year 1914.”

“The year that the body of Queen Coco, or as you said her double, Nicole, was found in the palace, and her head in the country house.”

“Yes.”

Victorique pointed to the stage.

The props had been rearranged, with the royal palace on the left side of the stage and the country house on the right side. Actors played out the events that happened simultaneously.

The royal palace was bustling with people, while the country house had a visitor, and servants were busy doing work.

His Majesty Rupert appeared in the royal palace. Wearing a large crown, he stood with the dignity of a ruler. He was talking with his retainers about something.

Soon a carriage carrying Queen Coco left the country house and headed toward the royal palace. They took their time to make it seem that the two buildings were far apart. The carriage even rolled onto the hall and made its way slowly up the stairs to the first floor. Some of the guests called out to Queen Coco.

“Don’t go!”

“You’ll get killed!”

One even got angry. “Everyone’s concerned about you, so why are you still going?!”

The carriage rattled onward, slowly.

Two men dressed in French attire showed up at the royal palace.

Victorique pointed to the actors. “1914, just before the start of the Great War. An envoy from France came to the royal palace. He wanted to meet with Queen Coco.”

“Yes.”

“But they couldn’t let Queen Coco see an old acquaintance, or the charade would be exposed, together with the unprecedented murder that occurred fourteen years ago. So, should they kill the French envoy? No, that would be absurd. It would cause a diplomatic issue. So what should they do, then? Queen Coco, that is to say, her double Nicole has arrived.”

The carriage returned to the stage and arrived in front of the royal palace.

Queen Coco, wearing a veiled hat, jumped out of the carriage, unable to hide the spring in her steps.

She was shown to a small room in the royal palace.

At that moment, visitors gathered at the country house and sat in the reception room.

At the palace, His Majesty Rupert entered the small room and exchanged words with Queen Coco.

He left immediately.

It was the French envoy’s turn to enter the room.

The audience, even the actors offstage, swallowed as they waited for the horrifying moment.

Thunder crashed. The spotlights suddenly turned red. One fell on the royal palace, and the other on the country house.

Screams and cries rose from the audience. It felt like the whole theater was shaking.

In the royal palace, a headless Coco Rose was standing in the red light. On a closer look, the actress had simply covered her head with a red cloth. Shining a red light on her thus made it look like she was headless.

Screams ripped through the air. From the actor playing the French envoy. From the audience.

Thunder clapped.

Then, something appeared on the wall of the country house. Queen Coco’s head! Her eyes were closed, and there was nothing from the neck down.

Victorique looked closer.

The head belonged to the first actress, the one who played the real Queen Coco, who died in 1900. She was standing on the stage with her eyes closed, her body from the neck down covered in a red cloth as well.

A torso in the royal palace, and a head in the country house.

The most tragic murder in the history of the Kingdom of Sauville, remembered by the citizens, still unresolved to this day.