NOTE: This short story was written for an anthology that encouraged profanity. You have been forewarned. : )

Ann Kinnear can't pretend to be a fan of her latest gig: accompanying a rock cover band to their first session without their deceased drummer ... or is it the first session of a new, six-feet-undercover group? A rock classic accompanied by an unseen presence on the throne seems like the break the band has been waiting for ... until the wheels come off and Ann must try to keep things in the middle of the road for this stage of fools.

When we are born, we cry that we are come

To this great stage of fools.

—William Shakespeare, "King Lear"

An Ann Kinnear Suspense Short from Matty Dalrymple, author of the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, including Book 1: THE SENSE OF DEATH.