Chapter XV: The Stage Door

This time, knowing the name and address of the theater, and knowing exactly what they were looking for, the girls had little trouble finding the file set of plans for the theater, kept with the Fire Department as a record of the seating plan, capacity, and exits.

Mason’s Starlight Theater, as the place had originally been called, had a good working stage plan, not too wide, but with extraordinarily good depth. It accommodated four hundred seats, which was a small auditorium by Broadway standards, but larger than most of the off-Broadway houses. Wing and fly space was generous, to allow for easy movement of scenery off to the sides (or wings) or up on ropes and pulleys to the flies. The dressing rooms were small, but they were well located. It seemed to Amy and Peggy like the perfect jewelbox of a theater that they had dreamed of since they had started their search.

The entrance to the theater, they found, was not through the street door of the loft building, but down an L-shaped alley that ran alongside the building and, when it turned, opened into a sort of courtyard. Playgoers had been taken up to the top floor on an oversized freight elevator which also had served for bringing in scenery and props, and which was rated to carry fifty passengers at once. Two additional exits were provided by fire-escapes outside the building. There was no way to enter or leave the theater from the rest of the building, and the elevator stopped only at the theater level. The loft floors were served by a regular-sized passenger elevator reached through the front hall.

“Well, it looks just perfect,” Peggy said triumphantly. “Now all we have to do is find out what it’s being used for, expose it, and move in when the crooks move out!”

“I think you’re jumping to conclusions,” Amy said. “It seems to me that the janitor might actually not have known about the theater. After all, it can’t be reached through the building, and if he’s never been told about the back elevator, or never been allowed to use it, he might not know what’s up there.”

“Maybe,” Peggy said doubtfully, “but it seemed to me that he looked awfully guilty about something. I’m sure he’s part of whatever’s going on there.”

Amy protested. “That’s just the point! Maybe there’s nothing going on there! Maybe the janitor doesn’t know about the theater, and it’s not being used by crooks, but just sitting up there empty, gathering dust! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“It sure would,” Peggy agreed, “but I don’t think we’re that lucky. Of course we could look up the name of the owner of the building and ask him about the theater, but if it is a crooked game, and if the owner is in on it.... No. I don’t think that’s the way to do it.”

“How do you think we should handle it, then?” Amy asked.

“I think we ought to go back to the place right now,” Peggy said, “before it gets dark. I want to look around that back alley and theater entrance just to see if we can pick up any clues. Then we’ll talk it over with the boys and listen to their ideas.”

“I can believe that you’ll talk it over with them,” Amy laughed, “but I have my doubts about your listening to anybody’s ideas! Still, I said I’d go theater hunting with you, and I’m not going to back out now!”

By the time they had turned in their plans and charts to the file clerk and returned to the loft-theater building, it was almost six o’clock. Most of the trucks that had filled the streets were gone now, not to return until after midnight, when the produce market would open for one more business “day.” A few of the offices, small manufacturing businesses and printing shops that filled the surrounding lofts, were still open, judging by the lights in their windows, but for the most part the streets and buildings were empty in the pearly twilight.

Making every effort to be inconspicuous, the girls ducked down the alley to the rear courtyard entrance of the Starlight Theater. A miniature marquee bearing the name “Mason’s” overhung a short flight of stairs that led up to a loading platform, at the back of which was a wide, high elevator door with pillars on either side. Above it, a plaster arch was decorated with the twin masks of Comus—comedy and tragedy.

“Do you still think that the janitor didn’t know there was a theater in the building?” Peggy whispered. “He’d have had to be blind as well as dumb.”

Walking very quietly, the girls ascended the steps and approached the huge elevator door. “Look!” Peggy whispered, pointing to the metal doorsill. Amy nodded, clearly understanding the meaning of the bright metal.

“It’s being used regularly,” Peggy said. “You can see where the sill is dark and rusted toward the sides, and bright in the center, where people have been walking over it.”

“And the lock!” Amy said. She and Peggy examined the heavy padlock that secured the door to the frame by stout hasps. It was bright and clean, of modern design and well-oiled. Any further doubts they might have had were dispelled by examination of the door hinges, which were coated with a heavy layer of fresh grease.

“Not only is the theater in use,” Peggy whispered, “but whoever is using it is being awfully careful that he doesn’t make any noise opening and shutting these doors. Are you convinced now?”

Amy nodded, wide-eyed. “I surely am. And I’m convinced that we’d better get out of here before the man with the keys comes along! I’d hate to be caught snooping around!”

Feeling not in the least as calm as she hoped she looked, Peggy motioned Amy to wait while she took a last look around to be sure that there was nothing she had missed. Then, her heart beating wildly, she and Amy left the alley as cautiously as they had entered it. But neither of them felt really safe until they were blocks away, and on their way to Connie’s for the meeting of the players.

“We seem to be practically living in alleys,” Amy said as they let themselves in through the street gate and started down the passage to Connie’s little house.

“Yes, but I feel a lot better in this one than in the last,” Peggy said. “When we get the theater, we’ll have to fix up that alley like this one, with flower borders and lights to make it cheerful. We can fix up the courtyard, too, with a little fountain and some garden seats and—”

“You’re awfully confident about getting that theater,” Amy interrupted. “I hope that you’re not going to be disappointed.”

“I won’t be,” Peggy said. “I know that it was just meant for us, and I mean to make sure that we get it!”

Connie let the girls in, and while they were saying hello to her and the others, the buzzer announced the arrival of Tom Galen and Mona Downs.

“I’m so glad everyone’s here at once!” Peggy said. “We’re so full of news that if we had to wait for anyone, I think we’d burst!”

“Don’t tell us you’ve found a theater!” Randy exclaimed.

“I will tell you,” Peggy answered, “because we did!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Mal asked.

“Where is it?” Connie said at the same time.

“And how much is it?” Randy put in, in the same instant.

“Whoa! One at a time!” Peggy protested. “If everybody will get settled and hold the questions for a few minutes, I’ll tell you all about it. Now,” she said, when the players were seated in expectant attitudes, “now I’ll tell you everything you want to know. It’s called Mason’s Starlight Theater; it’s on the top floor of a loft in the market area southwest of Greenwich Village; we don’t know the rent; it’s a perfect theater, just the right size, and—.”

“I feel a _but_ coming, rather than an _and_,” Randy said.

“Well, only a small _but_,” Peggy said. “The place happens to be in use right now.”

“Great,” Mal said sarcastically. “You can now add your name to the long list of those among us who have located perfect theaters that happen to be in use!”

“Wait!” Peggy said. “This is different. In the first place, nobody will admit to using it; in the second place, we think there’s something crooked going on there; and if we do a little bit of detective work, I think we can find out what it is. If I’m right, and if it’s being used by crooks, we can get the theater for ourselves by getting the crooks out!”

Their interest aroused by this unusual statement, the players began to question Peggy and Amy about their suspicions and about the circumstances that surrounded their discovery of the Starlight Theater. When the girls had told them about their interview with the janitor, and about their later visit to the alley behind the building, everyone seemed convinced that there was something peculiar going on at the place.

“The polished doorsill and the greased hinges and the new lock prove that it’s being used,” Peggy concluded. “And the janitor’s attitude seems to indicate that it’s being used for something illegal.”

“It sounds like an airtight case to me,” Pip said. “Why don’t we just take the facts to the police and let them investigate?”

“Because there are no facts yet,” Peggy said. “All we have are guesses. There must be thousands of places in use in the city, and thousands of janitors who don’t want to be friendly and tell what they’re used for, and I don’t think that the police would be willing to agree that they’re all run by gangsters.”

“Peggy’s right. We can’t go to the police without more evidence,” Randy said. “Before they’ll swear out a search warrant, we have to have something more definite for them.”

“Then let’s get it!” Pip said with enthusiasm. “What do you suggest, Peggy?”

“I think we ought to set up a lookout post in that back alley,” she answered decisively. “There’s a place under the fire stairs on the far side of the building where two people could hide and see without being seen, and it shouldn’t take more than a couple of nights of looking to find out what’s going on.”

“Why nights?” Randy asked. “They might be doing whatever it is they do in the daytime, too. I’m afraid we’d have to set up a twenty-four-hour watch to be sure of finding anything out.”

“I don’t think so, Randy,” Peggy argued. “If they were using the place by day, they probably wouldn’t have taken so much care with the hinges. What’s more, I’m sure the janitor was sleeping when we rang the bell, which is why he took so long in answering it. I would guess that he works at night with the rest of the gang. Besides, that neighborhood would be perfect for night work. The markets are practically deserted between six and midnight. Probably after midnight, when the markets open up, the crooks run a legitimate trucking business as a cover-up.”

“The girl’s a positive Sherlock,” Mal said fondly. “Anyway, we can try a few nights, and if nothing shows up, we can then worry about extending the watch during the daytime as well.”

“When do we start?” Tom Galen asked.

“Tomorrow night,” Peggy said. “It’s too late to start tonight. We’d want to be in the alley and under the stairs before it gets really dark. Tomorrow Amy and I will stand watch, then—”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Randy said. “You two have done your part in this. The lookout work will be done by men!”

“You’re probably right,” Peggy said, outwardly reluctant to give in, but secretly happy that she wouldn’t have to spend nights crouching under those dark stairs and waiting for heaven only knew what.

“I’ll go tomorrow,” Pip said.

“I’ll go with you,” Tom Galen said. “We’d better go two at a time, at least for the purpose of having two witnesses to anything we see.”

“Good. Randy and I will go the next night,” Mal said. “We can alternate from there.”

Everything arranged, Mal tried to turn the group to the original purpose of the meeting, which was to work on further readings of the play. He soon realized that everyone was too keyed up to concentrate, and canceled work for the night.

“I think, in fact, that we’d better forget about rehearsals entirely,” he said, “at least until we have this theater business settled one way or the other. For one thing, we’re going to need all the sleep we can get on the nights that we’re not standing watch.”

Everyone agreed, and in varying states of tension and excitement, said good night and parted, knowing that the next few days might be very, very busy.