CHAPTER FOUR: THE WRONG LAUGHTER
Imani led Nora into a narrow equipment room behind the stage.
Metal shelves held boxes of cables, empty microphone stands, and labels written in faded ink.
Imani explained that the theater had produced live radio dramas for schools and hospitals.
Its performers had recorded voices, footsteps, weather effects, and entire fictional worlds.
Evelyn Shaw had been the company’s best-known performer.
She had also fought with Walter during the theater’s final season.
The argument became public after Evelyn accused the management of silencing younger artists.
Walter never answered her accusations directly.
Years later, the disputed recording had revived that old scandal.
Nora asked why the laughter sounded familiar enough to frighten him.
Imani said that it came from a children’s comedy that had never been broadcast.
Walter had forbidden the company from using it after the production collapsed.
Nora asked whether the laughter had been playing by accident.
Imani said that nothing had been connected to the speakers when she arrived that morning.
Someone had prepared the equipment before the volunteers entered.
A teenage volunteer named Kian appeared at the doorway.
He reported seeing Malcolm’s assistant carrying a black case through the rear corridor.
Imani asked Kian to identify the assistant.
Kian said that the man wore a green raincoat and had a small scar above his eyebrow.
Nora remembered seeing him near the stage door.
She asked whether anyone had checked the rear exit.
Imani handed Kian a flashlight and instructed him to remain with another volunteer.
Then she and Nora followed the corridor toward the loading stairs.
The door at the bottom stood open.
A fresh shoe print marked the dust beside a stack of folded scenery.
Nora noticed that one scenery panel had been moved away from the wall.
Behind it sat a small portable speaker attached to a battery pack.
Imani switched it off and examined the cable.
She said that the device had been positioned to make the laughter sound as though it came from the theater’s original system.
Nora asked why anyone would bother.
Imani answered that frightened volunteers were easier to scatter than determined ones.
When they returned, Malcolm had already told the gathering that the building’s electrical system was unstable.
He pointed to the unexpected sound as proof.
Imani raised the portable speaker above her head.
She told everyone exactly where they had found it.
Malcolm called the device a prank and said that its existence proved nothing about structural safety.
Nora watched several volunteers exchange uncertain glances.
She realized that both sides were trying to turn the same incident into a simple story.
Neither story explained who had planted the speaker.
