AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jessica? It’s Stella. I need to talk to you about the rescheduling of the conference. You and Christie are the big headliners, and we want to get a list of dates that will work for both of you. Would you mind if I came up?”
“Not at all. Let me talk to the front desk.” She could hear the handset being given to someone else. “Good morning. Could you please send Stella up in the elevator? I’ll be waiting for her in the hall.”
“That won’t be necessary Ms. Murdoch. We’ll bring her up and escort her to your door. See you in a few.”
“Thanks.”
Jessica barely had time to pull on some clothes—leggings, a slouchy silk sweater and thick wool socks—and get her hair pulled back. She was just adding some mascara to try and make herself somewhat presentable when there was a knock on the door.
Opening the door she said, “Good morning, Stella. Come on in.” She thanked the front desk person and showed Stella into her suite. “Can I make you a cup of coffee?”
“Uh, sure,” Stella said, looking around. “This is really gorgeous. Must be nice to be able to afford something like this.”
Jessica looked at Stella. Something about her tone of voice struck her as odd. She nodded. “It is. I work really hard for my money, and honestly pretty much the only vacations I take,” she said, putting air quotes around ‘vacations,’ “are book signing conferences. I try to take an extra day or two, but I want to be comfortable, and I want a place I can write.”
She let the pod coffeemaker finish doing its thing and then handed the mug to Stella along with the creamer, sugar, and sugar alternatives.
“Thanks.”
“Sandy’s death, while obviously awful for her and all those who loved her, had to have been a real blow to the event organizers.”
“Yeah. They’re pretty gutted, although mainly about all the money they’re afraid they’re going to lose. Other than her fans, I’m not sure Sandy had anyone who really liked her. She was kind of a snooty bitch.”
“Wow. That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? She and I didn’t see eye-to-eye, but I wouldn’t wish her dead.”
Stella snorted. “Then you didn’t know her well enough. She liked to make out that she was something special and she wasn’t. Just another money-grubbing author willing to screw anyone over, even her author buddies.”
“I guess I didn’t know how much you disliked her.”
“Just goes to show you don’t know much about me either.”
Jessica gave a slight shake of her head. “I guess you’re right. If I’ve done something to offend you or hurt your feelings, I never meant to.”
“No. None of you ever mean to do anything or even notice those of us who have to bow and scrape to get the work done. And then when we try to get ahead ourselves, you’re all about how you can cut in on all the hard work we’ve done.”
“Stella, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, and I’m not comfortable with what I’m hearing. You said you wanted some dates that I would be available for a reschedule of this event. Why don’t you just send me some proposed dates, and I’ll let you know if any of them work for me.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work. The organizers are talking to an attorney right now to see if they are legally obligated to refund people’s money.”
Beginning to feel truly uncomfortable, Jessica backed away so that the island that formed part of the kitchenette was between her and Stella. “I think I’d like you to leave.”
“Well, you know what they say, you can’t always get what you want. I want the thumb drive that that one-hit-wonder picked up.”
“I don’t have it. Christie does. But I have to tell you, so do the police.”
“Damn it. Why did you and your little pesky mystery writer friends do that? Why didn’t you just decide you could solve it on your own?” she said, drawing out something that looked like a small kit of some kind.
“I’m pretty sure Detective Wilder would have figured it out—with or without having the thumb drive. He struck me as good at his job.”
Stella shook her head. “I don’t agree. And why did Sandy have to be such a greedy bitch? It wasn’t like she did all the work creating the site, uploading the books, and maintaining it. And she thought I was going to give her fifty percent? That’s bullshit.”
“So, you were the owner of the pirate site, and she was trying to extort you?”
“Shows how much you know,” Stella scoffed. “It wasn’t extortion, that’s trying to get money through acts of violence. She was trying to blackmail me. Blackmail is when you want money to keep a secret. I would think as a mystery writer you’d know that.” She laid the small black leather kit on the bar and removed a pair of surgical gloves from her coat pocket and pulled them on.
“I generally write murder mysteries, but I’ll keep that distinction in mind for the future.”
Stella laughed as she extracted a syringe along with a vial of colorless liquid and began to fill the syringe. “You don’t honestly believe you’re going to have a future, do you?”
