Scott admitted he loved her. “Why did he wait so long to say that?” Betty thought as she
stood there with her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable. “Oh God, don’t let it be Scott,
don’t let it be Scott,” she prayed.
Victor had no idea who to shoot, so he shot into the air, or rather the ceiling-
sending a tile or two crashing down on them. Betty opened her eyes. “Victor-”
Before she could finish, Pruitt fired, shooting Victor in the chest. “Stupid man.
Common sense should have told you to shoot me. But, you made the mistake, and now
your friends have to pay. Goodbye, Ms. Roberts.”
Pruitt aimed, but Scott rushed him, sending him sprawling. “No one threatens the
woman I love.” Scott picked up Pruitt’s gun and aimed. "You damn Nazi. I should shoot
you here on the spot.” He cocked the trigger, but a shot was fired from another gun-
Victor’s.
“Betty, I never should have placed you in this situation,” Victor said, gasping for
air. “I wasn’t thinking. I only did it because I trust you... and love you.” Betty cradled
his head in her arms. “I don’t want you to be the widow of W-E-N-N again,” Victor went
on. “I want you to be as happy as you could ever be. I want you, if you want to, to take
Scott’s words to heart. I know he means them with all of his. Betty Roberts,” Victor’s
voice was fading. “I love you.” He was gone.
“Oh, Victor,” Betty whispered . “I love you too.” She kissed his forehead, and
got up off the floor. She looked at Scott, with his sad brown eyes, and began to cry.
Scott put his arms around Betty and held. “I’m so sorry Betty,” he murmured
quietly. “So very, very sorry. I know how much you loved him.”
Mackie walked through the Green Room doors. “Hey Scott, what happened?”
He looked down and saw Pruitt and Victor. “Oh my God. What’s this?”
“Victor was Jonathan Arnold, but he came back on direction from someone,”
Betty replied through her tears. “He was supposed to shoot whoever said ‘Buy barley
futures,’ but we all said it. Victor was confused, so he shot into the ceiling. Then Pruitt
shot Victor, then Scott charged Pruitt.”
“Who was Pruitt shot by?”
“Victor.”
“Hey Mackie,” Scott said. “Could you call the police for us? I think we kinda
need them.”
“Sure thing, Scott.” Mackie patted Betty’s shoulder and left for the switchboard.
Scott kissed Betty’s forehead. “It’s going to be all right.”
* * *
After Mackie called the police, he sat at the switchboard in shock, disbelieving
that all of this had happened. He got up to return to the Green Room, but Jeff burst
through the door and stopped him.
“Mackie, I need to talk to you. I need your advice. Hold it- where is everyone?”
“Most of them are over at The Buttery, but Betty and Scott are in the Green
Room. Jeff, why’d you come back? Do you have a death wish?”
“I suppose I do. Hilary just won’t listen to me. I wish she would,because my
reason is a perfectly good one.”
“Well, she’s given Betty an ultimatum: her or you.”
“What do you mean?”
“She refuses to work in the same studio with you. Either you leave WENN, or
she does. She’s serious.”
“I knew this would happen.”
Mackie gave a start. “We’ve gotta get back to the Green Room and tell Betty and
Scott that the police are on their way.”
“Why did you call them?”
“You’ll see in a second.”
They opened the Green Room door. Jeff looked around in amazement. “My
God- Victor! Pruitt? Betty, what happened?”
This time Scott told him the story. After he got done, they all sat around the
table, waiting for the police. What they got instead were Maple, C.J., Mr. Elderidge, Mr.
Foley, and Gertie, coming back from The Buttery. “So I said to him, ‘Just ask Errol
Flynn about shortcomings.’” Maple said as they came through the doors. She almost fell
over Pruitt. “Woah. Really knocked him dead, huh Scott? What’s all of this... and Jeff!
Why are you back? Thinking of suicide?”
The explanations followed, and so did Hilary Booth, who had forgotten her coat.
“Betty, do you know where I left my coat?”
“It’s right here, Hilary,” Betty said softly.
“Betty dear, what’s wrong? I- oh dear God! Victor! He came back? But why?”
“To find his contact, and to kill me. Thank heavens he didn’t succeed,” said a
voice from behind Hilary. She turned to face Pruitt.
“I thought... I thought...” stammered Betty.
“You thought wrong. No one can play dead like I can.”
“How?” Scott asked.
“I have my ways. Now no one moves, or Ms. Booth gets it.”
“Why do I always have to be the one held at gunpoint? After a while, you kind of
get used to it,” she said, only half joking.
“Put the gun down, Pruitt. Just put it down,” Jeff said, getting up.
“Jeffery, sit down! I don’t want you getting shot by Pruitt- that’s my job. Now
Pruitt, I don’t know what you want, but I-”
“Can’t give it to him,” Betty finished. “He’s a Nazi, and he want’s everyone dead
who knows about Victor. Pruitt, that’s everyone here but Hilary. Let her go. You don’t
want her, you want Victor’s contact. If you can’t find him, then you want me. I know
more than everyone else.”
“You’re right, Ms. Roberts. But, I might as well take more than one person down
with you and me. But my goodness, you certainly have tried to save many a life tonight,
haven’t you?”
“I did it once, I could again.”
“Betty,” Hilary said, “I don’t know if you can save this one. He seems pretty
intent on carrying this out. Thank you though. Jeff.” She looked toward her ex-husband.
“Pumpkin, I love you.”
The police heard a gunshot as they came through the station’s doors.
* * *
Pruitt looked down at his chest, taking careful note of the large red splotch that
was growing larger on his dress shirt. He let Hilary go and sank down on the couch. “I
suppose there’s a lesson to be learned from all this: never associate with Nazis. Oh well.
At least I found out who the contact is. Thank you, Jeff.”
The police officers walked into the Green Room and grabbed the only living
person with a gun- Jeff. “No, officers,” Betty explained, “that’s the Nazi spy.” She
pointed at Pruitt. “Jeff saved our lives.”
“I can’t believe this station. Every Nazi in Pittsburgh must listen to it,” Sgt.
O’Hara said, glancing around in disbelief.
“He’s the reason why,” Scott explained, looking Pruitt’s way. “He was sending
out coded messages in the Sentry Savings commercials. But now since he’s gone, it’ll
stop.”
“That’s a relief,” sighed the officer. “We’re getting kinda tired of coming over
here so often. Let’s get these two out of here.”
After Pruitt and Victor were removed and the police left, though not before
asking them to come to the station to give a statement, the small group sat back down at
the table to make sense of all this.
“Jeff,” Hilary began, “don’t think for a second that what you just did will get you
off the hook. You still owe us an explanation.”
“Well, when I recognized Victor’s voice on the radio, I knew I had to go back to
London. When I got there, British Intelligence informed me f the danger to all of you
here because of Pruitt. So, they told me to keep all contact between us to a minimum- for
my safety, not yours. I hated to do that, but I had to. Anyway, they found out the details
of my marriage to Hilary, and they found Pavla to pose as my wife. They gave her a fake
marriage license from Westminster and sent her here with the story she told Hilary. I had
to come back when Victor did to protect you all... I’m sorry for all the problems I’ve
caused.”
“Oh, Pumpkin- you’re sorry? I’m the one who-”
“Acted like you should have,” Jeff finished for her. “I have to report back to
London, Hilary Love. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll be safe, don’t worry.”
They embraced, then Jeff snuck out the back door to leave for the airport. Hilary
stood there in a daze, crying.
“I suppose we should go to the police station,” Gertie sighed. “What are we
going to say about Jeff?”
“How about he held us all at gunpoint as he escaped?” Mackie suggested.
“No, no- too believable,” Mr. Eldrigde commented.
“You mean ‘unbelievable,’ Mr. Eldridge,” corrected Maple.
“Let’s just go,” said Hilary. “I need to go home soon; I’m getting tired.”
“Sure, Hilary,” Betty said as she led Hilary and the others to the door. “We need
to get this over with, even if we don’t want to.”
“Hey Betty, I guess we still need a spare actor around, huh? Do you think I have a
shot at station manager, too?”
“Yes, Scott- It’s the least I could do. Thank you for, well, everything.”
“Don’t mention it. Hey Betty-” He stopped; he couldn’t ask her to dinner right
now. It would just be too soon. “I really do love you, you know.”
“I know, Scott. I think Victor was right- I can’t be the widow of WENN again.
How about dinner next Tuesday at 8:00? It’ll help me try to get over all this.”
Scott was shocked, but he didn’t question her. “Sure thing, Betty. This could
prove to be... very exciting. I can’t wait until Monday morning- everything may be a
little more like it used to be.”
“At least I won’t have to decide between Hilary and Jeff now. I’m so glad
everything’s worked out between them.”
“Must be nice to be in a loving relationship like that. Want to give it a try
sometime, Betty?”
She smiled. “You mean do I want to hear your proposal? Maybe later. I’ve got
to learn to live without Victor again. Once I can live without him, sure. I’ll hear all the
proposals you want.”
“I only have one...” Scott took Betty’s hand as they walked out of the
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