Cadaver at the Con

by Winnie Reed

  “Okay, I really have to go now. I’m probably late for the next session as it is.” I hurried through the thinning crowd as I talked, one eye on the conference room in question. A few people were still trickling in, telling me I wasn’t hopelessly late.

  “One day, you’ll have to tell me the sort of things a person does at a conference like this.”

  “I think it’ll bore you,” I confessed. “Although this one, in particular, might be up your alley with all the gossip about the murder.”

  “Gossip which I hope you aren’t participating in.”

  I stuck my tongue out at the phone. “What do you take me for?” I asked in a tight whisper.

  “Go on,” he chuckled. “You’re late for your session.” That got him another stuck-out tongue that he didn’t even see.

  But the women sitting close to the door did see, and the way they smirked to each other told me exactly what they thought of my childish gesture.

  I shrugged in a helpless sort of way. “Men,” I mouthed with a roll of my eyes. That seemed to hit home, with most of them nodding in understanding.

  Yes, some things were universal.

  Chapter Nine

  The problem with taking my last break to talk to Joe, I understood as I dashed from the conference room the second the speakers thanked us for our time, was the fact that I hadn’t taken the time to use the restroom before sitting through a forty-five-minute session dedicated to using social media to build one’s platform.

  At least the presentation had been helpful. I went into it thinking I was too cool for school, having used social media for years to build up my blog. But times had changed, and platforms were always changing and growing and even falling out of favor.

  If only I hadn’t been on the verge of wetting myself all through the last ten minutes, it would’ve been perfect.

  I burst into the nearest restroom, making a beeline for the last stall. It was the only one not currently in use, excited chatter and gossip bouncing off the walls as a half-dozen women caught up on what they’d learned so far. And who they’d met.

  While I was never against listening to a little gossip, especially if it was juicy, I found myself wishing the room was a little emptier. I never did like an audience while going about my business, though at least their voices drowned out the sound of me relieving myself.

  Still, my kingdom for a private bathroom.

  Somebody by the sinks spoke up. “I heard he wasn’t even a guest at the conference.”

  I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. Honestly, couldn’t they find something else to talk about? After an entire morning of gossip, I’d think people would’ve gotten tired of it by then. No such luck.

  “Well, that’s not so surprising. Anybody can walk into the hotel and play at the casino. The management isn’t about to bar access to anybody who doesn’t wear a name badge. Can you imagine how much money they would lose?”

  The third woman spoke up, standing at the sink just in front of my stall. “Maybe next time, they won’t hold something like this in such a public place.” That got another eye roll from me. Where could a conference be held that wasn’t in public? It made no sense.

  A door banged open. “Just think, though. There could be a murderer someplace around here. What if they’re just randomly killing people?”

  A few of the women left, but I didn’t. While I doubted the whole serial killer theory, it was only because I happened to have met the victim. He wasn’t just some distant person, and that was something I’d wanted to get through to Joe but hadn’t gotten the chance. This wasn’t somebody who was just minding his own business, going on with his life when somebody decided his time was up.

  He was a troublemaker. Did that mean he deserved to die? No.

  But the memory of his hand grabbing my arm, and how threatening he’d sounded, left me to wonder if he’d brought some of this on himself.

  I was so deep in thought that I barely noticed the room emptying out. Another session would be starting soon, but I’d deliberately scheduled myself a little free time. I wanted to walk around, maybe meet a few authors and pick up some books for Darcy.

  Besides, after spending all morning around so many people, I needed a little time to decompress. My work was fairly solitary, and I had fallen into the habit of keeping my own company a lot of the time. Being around so many others was draining for somebody who wasn’t used to it.

  The restroom door opened, and a woman who sounded like she was in roughly the same hurry I’d been in darted into a stall. I finished up, then went to the sink to wash my hands and run a comb through my hair.

  I was just dropping the comb back into my purse when the door to the other occupied stall opened and the woman in question stepped out.

  I did a double take, then studied her in the reflection from the mirror which ran along the length of the row of sinks in front of us. She wasn’t wearing the same red lipstick, and she wasn’t in the middle of laughing over how wonderful her life was, but there was no doubt in my mind.

  It was the one and only Deidre Price.

  In an instant, I admired her tasteful dress, her strappy sandals. She wore a string of pearls at her neck, a charm bracelet on her wrist. She was humming softly to herself while washing her hands, and I couldn’t help but admire what looked like a fresh manicure.

  I was never any good at keeping my nails looking nice. More often than not, they were either ground down from typing so much, or there was flour caked underneath them after working at the café.

  I couldn’t help myself. I stayed where I was, giving her personal space, but there was no way I was letting this opportunity pass me by. “Ms. Price, I don’t need to bother you, but I just want to let you know how much I admire your work.”

  She looked up in the mirror, our eyes meeting. “Thank you, that’s so nice.” She sounded sincere, too. Warm and genuine. Just the way I would have expected her to sound.

  “My sister owns a bookstore in Cape Hope, New Jersey, and she told me your latest release has been flying off the shelves. I’m sure she would’ve loved to be here to meet you herself.” That might have been a tiny lie, or at least a bending of the truth. Darcy might have liked meeting her just for the sake of saying she’d met her. After all, I wasn’t a huge fan but I couldn’t help being bowled over by a celebrity.

  Still, her negative attitude about the quality of Deidre’s latest books rang out in my head even as I smiled and told a polite untruth.

  Deidre’s smile widened. “Gotta love an independent bookstore,” she grinned. “It does my heart good to know they’re still in existence.”

  “Oh, hers definitely is. And since it sits next door to our mom’s café and people can go back and forth with their purchases, it works perfectly.” I laughed then. “Here I go, babbling. I’m sure you have places to be. I’ll leave you alone now.”

  “No, it’s okay,” she assured me, turning away from the mirror with her smile still in place. “I scheduled a little downtime for myself, since it can be so draining to participate in these conferences.”

  I put a hand on my chest. As corny as it seemed, it was nice to know she was human, just like me. “I did the same thing! I’m not used to being around so many people for such a long time without at least taking a break.”

  “It’s so easy to burn ourselves out, isn’t it?” she asked, clicking her tongue in sympathy. “If my agent had his way, I would never know a moment of peace. I finally came to the point about five years ago where I had to say enough is enough. I need to take care of myself, too, or else how will I ever be able to write? Besides, life isn’t just work.”

  “Balance, right?”

  She didn’t agree with me right away. “I would call it counterbalance. I don’t believe there such a thing as complete balance all the time. It’s like being on a surfboard. Have you been on a surfboard?”

  “You know, considering that I grew up in a shore town, you would think the answer was yes. But I’m way too clumsy for anything
like that.”

  She laughed softly. “Well, I can tell you from experience that what looks like balance is really counterbalance, all the time. It’s the same thing with life.”

  Then, she laughed at herself. “Here I am, giving a speech I was supposed to give as the keynote speaker.”

  “Oh, no!” I laughed. “I promise, I won’t give anybody a preview.”

  “Thanks. I’ll trust you with my secret.” She dropped wink before reaching behind her for her purse.

  I couldn’t let it go there. I probably should have. But my mouth had a bad habit of running away from me. “Besides, everybody’s too busy thinking about what happened last night to care very much about anything else right now.”

  She frowned. “Yes, that was terrible. There’s been so much gossip today. I only hope it doesn’t get in the way of what everyone came to this conference for.”

  “Oh, I completely agree. You should’ve heard them in here before you came in. Talking about some crazed serial killer running amok. Can you imagine?” I laughed.

  My laughter stopped at the sound of her palms slapping the counter. “What is this really all about?” she asked, staring at me in the mirror.

  I took a backward step, stunned. “I’m sorry. I—”

  “What? You what? You thought you could come in here and try to ruin a conference where I’m supposed to be the main attraction? Something I’ve been preparing for the last several months?”

  Where in the world was this coming from? It was like a Jekyll and Hyde situation. She’d gone from being sweet, gentle, friendly to openly hostile. “Ms. Price, I’m so sorry. I had no idea we were so upset about that man.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Did you know him? Were you here with him, is that it?”

  She lost me there. It seemed like we were having two different conversations at the same time, only neither of us was clued in to what the other one was saying.

  Which I guess would’ve been just fine if she hadn’t looked like she was ready to tear me a new one.

  “I’m sorry, but you have me all wrong. I—”

  I didn’t have the chance to finish my statement, as a group of chattering women entered the room just then. Deidre’s eyes darted back and forth before she grabbed her purse and practically ran away, putting them between us before flying from the room.

  One of them gasped, her hand over her mouth. She turned to me. “Was that Deidre Price?” she whispered, gaping.

  All I could do was nod silently, wondering what the heck I said to set Deidre off like that.

  Chapter Ten

  It seemed like no matter where I went, there was something to knock me sideways. I either had gossiping writers to wade through, or an angry mother to fend off, or an incredibly famous author whose wrath I needed to avoid.

  I could barely think straight as I wandered from the ladies’ room, wondering what would happen next. Maybe a tornado would blow through, or a sudden hurricane would charge up the coast and only hit this particular hotel since it happened to be the hotel I was in.

  Wasn’t this weekend supposed to be a nice time? If I was the one paying for it, I’d want my money back by now.

  “Emma! Over here!” I heard Nell calling my name. I would’ve known her voice anywhere, even with so many other voices fighting to be heard.

  I stood outside the casino floor, slightly elevated over the action. This gave me a prime view of the entire area with its many tables—blackjack, poker, craps—and banks of slot machines. Somewhere, somebody won a game and a huge cheer went up.

  It didn’t take long to find my aunties seated at adjoining slots. I waved before stepping down onto the casino floor and weaving my way through the ever-moving crowd. By the time I reached the machines, I was slightly winded.

  “Come on! Join us! Try your luck!” Trixie fed quarters into her machine before pulling the lever with an abandon I’d never seen from her. She was flying high, no doubt. I hoped she ended up on the winning side of things by the time she came down.

  “My luck?” I scoffed. “No, thanks. My luck isn’t so great right now. I’m the last person who should be gambling.”

  “Oh, don’t be so down,” Nell implored. “Things will turn around. You can’t make the troubles of other people your troubles, Emma Jane.”

  “You sound too much like Mom,” I warned with a wink. She didn’t need to hear about her favorite writer snapping at me just a few minutes ago.

  I was never good at dealing with people who didn’t like me. Some people could handle it and move on. Some could brush the opinions of others—especially strangers—off like it didn’t matter one bit whether they were liked or not. They didn’t lose sleep at night over the thoughts of others.

  I couldn’t understand those people. They were enigmas to me, like some unidentified species.

  Deidre’s sharp words stung, even well after we’d parted ways. I hadn’t done anything that I knew of to offend her, yet she’d been offended. Big time. It would be one thing if I did it on purpose, but nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

  Something was up with her. Either she wasn’t the nicey-nice person she pretended to be, or something had happened to set her off.

  And there were my two aunties, whiling away their free time, playing slots.

  It was time to turn on the Emma Harmon charm—which wasn’t really a thing, but there were certain illusions I needed to hold on to. I put on my biggest smile. “I need you to do me a favor. A big one.”

  Trixie peered at me from behind her glasses. “How big?” she asked, suspicious.

  “Pretty big. I’m going to need you to be as cool as you can. I mean it,” I added when Nell rolled her eyes. “You can’t be obvious, and you can’t, like, let her know you’re doing it. You know what I mean,” I added when Trixie rolled her eyes, too.

  “My dear, I have been writing for the Cape Hope Times longer than you’ve been alive. I know what it means to chase after a story while maintaining my composure and not blowing my cover.” The way she sniffed the air, looking down at me over her nose, I would’ve thought she was talking about writing for the New York Times, not our little paper.

  But it wouldn’t get me anywhere if I brought that up. Instead, I nodded with enthusiasm. “Of course, that makes total sense. And that’s why you’re perfect for what I need.”

  “What would that be?” Nell asked. She had a much gentler, more maternal energy than Trixie did. She coaxed—at least, for the most part—when she wasn’t bulldozing her way through a situation. When she wasn’t determined to embarrass the life out of me.

  “I need you to keep an eye on Deidre Price for me.”

  Even Nell looked shocked. “Why?”

  “And how?” Trixie added.

  “Don’t worry about why. As for how, she’s going to be all over the place. Sessions, meet and greets, the whole thing. Just, you know, see what she’s all about. I’m not asking you to follow her every move or devote the rest of the conference to her, but you could just be aware of her…”

  “Everyone here is aware of her,” Nell pointed out. “She is one of my favorite authors, after all. If I thought it would be as simple as following her about the place, I’m not ashamed to tell you I would already have done that.”

  “There are so many people here,” Trixie pointed out, like I needed to be reminded. I could hear just about every single one of them shouting to be heard over the sounds of slot machines and bells and whistles and God knew what else.

  “I know. But come on.” I elbowed her a little. “This is what you do, right? You have a nose for news.”

  “No, Missy. Don’t think you can sweet talk me into doing a favor for you. This all sounds very fishy.”

  “I can’t imagine your mother would be a tremendous fan of our doing your dirty work,” Nell added with a frown.

  That, I took offense to. “My dirty work? Jeez, you make it sound so terrible. Like I’m asking you to spy. Like I’m asking you to do something illegal.”

/>   “You still haven’t told us why,” Trixie pointed out. “What does Deidre Price have to do with you? Why can’t you do it yourself?” They both glared at me with their most disapproving looks.

  It was like being a kid again. That was how they treated me. It brought to mind the time I asked them to convince Mom to let me go out with the first of my friends to get their license. She didn’t want me being in a car with a new driver, and I begged and pleaded my aunties to convince her to ease up on me.

  I may as well have been sixteen again, facing the two of them.

  “Okay, okay.” I put an arm around both of them, bringing them closer. “I met her in the ladies’ room just now, and she was very nice until I mentioned all the talk about a serial killer running around the conference. I figured she would laugh,” I added when Trixie frowned. “Or maybe she could use it for a subject in her next book. Who knows? I didn’t have any bad intentions, and that’s the truth.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Nell assured me.

  “As soon as I mentioned it, though, she started acting weird. Like I was the enemy. I don’t know if this whole thing has her shaken up, or if she takes it as a personal insult that somebody dared get killed when she’s supposed be the star of the conference. She actually said something like that, too. You could call it an ego trip, but I got a bad feeling. I’m wondering if she could’ve known that guy, if he was more than just an obsessive fan the way Joe thinks he was.”

  “Joe,” Trixie winked. “There’s that first name basis again.”

  I couldn’t help but sigh. “Can we not do this right now?” I asked. “Focus. It seemed like she might have known more about this than she lets on. I could be completely wrong,” I added when Nell shook her head disapprovingly.

  “I think you are. Can you blame her for being upset? As you said, she was the main draw of the conference. The keynote speaker. The only author afforded her own private signing. I’m sure a lot of work went into preparing for this event, and now all anyone can talk about is a dead man.”