Final Performance

Police Chief Quentin Price is called to the scene of a bloody murder backstage at the Bellson Theater. Steve Gossman, playing Willy Loman, has been executed with a 12-gauge buckshot load at the end of the play, Death of a Salesman.

Who wanted Steve dead? Nobody. Well, nearly nobody. His wife Mildred wanted him questioned about the death of her parents. And she wondered about the perfume on Steve's shirt. Did someone she knew want Steve dead?

It was Ben Tilden's turn to play the part this night, but he was ill and Steve agreed to substitute. The two of them were friends, had a working relationship, and shared interests in shooting. Did somebody get the wrong actor? Who?

Might it have been Arnie, the Building Inspector? He had a beef with a Vegas gangster; that would have given him motive. Might it have been Alice, the counselor who had something going with both Ben and Karla, Ben's wife? Might it have been Larry Dole, the theater landlord? Might he have had a motive?
State Police Major Alton Douglas was convinced that the real target for the night was Ben. And what about the shirt that Ben exchanged with Steve?

Why did it happen then? There was a deadline. Was that before or after the Vegas muscle men demanded a hundred thousand dollars? Was that before or after Arnie and Karla met in the roadhouse? And what about the Mercedes?

Shakespeare said, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." The Bible says that the destination of those who do evil will be Hell, without recourse. This story is about good and evil. The evil is evident-the murders (via commission and omission) and those involved. The good is the good news and redemptive power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.