A Bead in the Hand (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 2) (17 page)

“Oh, yes. We were just heading out to my RV,” Sal lied, wriggling an eyebrow.

“Jax? You’re going to his RV?” Ryan asked.

“No.”

“Fine, you want to ask me something, then do it. Otherwise I’m going back to my trailer to watch the Playboy Channel.”

Ryan bounded up the stairs to the bar. He wanted to be a part of this discussion.

“Aren’t you supposed—” I gestured toward the ballroom door below.

“I left Paul down there to take care of things. He’s our new guy. I think he can handle it for a while. And besides, what else could go wrong?” That was a motto I did not want to explore. What else could go wrong? Another dead body, perhaps?

Ryan pulled up a chair between me and Sal.

“Hey, what’s happening here? I was talking with the lady.” Sal pushed Ryan away. “Hey, Jax, let’s get out of here. I liked it when you came to my RV with that babe. She was a cop, right? I’d sure be happy if she—”

Ryan looked over at me, eyes wide. “You’ve been to his RV?”

I ignored Ryan’s question. “Sal, I’m not going anywhere with you. I need to know a couple things. You want the crime scene tape removed and things back to normal at the bazaar? The best way to do that is to help the police—to help us—with the murder investigation.”

“Yeah, all right, all right.”

“Can I ask you about Saundra’s class—the one that was canceled? When she didn’t show up for class, was everyone angry?”

“Yeah, those bead ladies, they can get nasty,” Sal said, tossing back his drink. “Look, I was pissed off. The broads were angry, too. And like I told you before, Luke was the worst of them—threatened to sue me. I told him to get out of my face. He lost a lot of money, but I couldn’t help him, ya know? You want to check out someone as a murderer, you should look at Luke.”

“And you, you lost money too?” I asked.

“Six grand, and believe me, I needed that money. I’d already paid for the hotel and the conference room, so I didn’t get that money back. It was a dead loss.” Sal stopped, clearly realizing he needed to say something that wouldn’t incriminate him. “But, the money I lost, Saundra said she’d make it up to me, that she’d teach a free workshop. Even gave me a contract for the next class—she was droppin’ her fee.”

I had witnessed that transaction when I first arrived to set up my table. Sal and Saundra had a heated discussion, and then Sal left with an envelope. It must have been the contract for the make-up class. It looked like Sal may not have been Saundra’s killer, but what about the other dead body found just hours ago? I decided to ask, although I didn’t know how much longer Sal would be willing to talk with us.

“What do you know about Carl Shulman?” I asked.

“Never heard of the guy.”

“Carl had your keychain with him when Ryan saw him last.” I wanted to see if Sal already knew if Carl was dead. Maybe he’d reveal something that would tell us that he was the guard’s killer.

“So? Everybody’s got my stupid key chain. Free promotions.”

“Carl is dead, Sal,” Ryan said.

“Ah, crap—” said Sal.

“Did you know him?” I asked.

“Nah. But it sucks that the guy’s dead.” Sal reached toward his forehead with one hand. I swear he was going to make the sign of the cross. Instead, he scratched his nose, likely realizing that he wouldn’t look like a tough guy if he did something so overtly religious. “Sorry you got another dead guy to deal with. But, you know, I’m hoping you can take care of this quietly. Another dead body ain’t good for sales. You gotta know I make a percentage from every vendor. More sales, more money in my pocket.”

“I know, because I’m one of your vendors,” I said. I would never work with him again and I wished I hadn’t made so much money this weekend. Less for me would mean less for Sal.

“Yeah, I know that. The dead guy—he was a vendor?”

“A security guard,” Ryan said. “He worked with me.”

“Look, Sal, if you know anything, it’s important you tell us. You don’t want any more cops around here spoiling the buyers’ moods,” I said.

“I got nothing else for you, I’m outta here.” Sal stood, pushing his chair back so forcefully that it nearly toppled over backward.

Ryan and I were left alone in the bar. “That was quite an impressive bit of questioning you did back there. Maybe you should consider a career in law enforcement,” Ryan said.

“No, not me. I can barely keep myself and my cat in line. Trying to enforce order on any more than that would be too much of a responsibility.”

“I could see why Sal wanted you to come into his RV. I’d let you into my RV anytime.”

“You own an RV?” I was hoping his answer would be
no
.

“No.” What a relief. “Can I show you something spectacular?” Ryan asked me.

“Sure, what is it?” I was hoping that what I was about to see did not involve him removing any clothing because he was becoming impossible to resist.

“It’s more like
where is it
?”

Ryan took my hand and guided me to a service elevator behind the bar’s drink preparation area. He pressed the glowing button next to the doors. Once we were inside, Ryan pressed RT.

“RT?”

“It stands for Really Terrific. It’s the most terrific floor in the whole building.”

When the elevator stopped, the doors slid open abruptly, revealing a tiny roof-top garden. Of course, RT meant roof-top. On all sides, we could see the city of Portland: lights of office buildings, houses, the river and its bridges, and tiny boats with their lights bobbing. The sky was clear, and overhead, we could see a dome of stars and a round golden moon illuminating the garden with a soft glow. We said nothing as we sat on a wooden bench in the center of the garden, potted rose bushes on either side of us.

“It’s beautiful here,” I said.

“You’re beautiful, too.”

“Ryan, you really know how to charm a lady,” I said, looking out at the city sparkling in front of me.

“You mean, it’s working?”

“Yes, you’re definitely becoming one of my favorite things about Portland,” I said. “After the coffee. And the hipsters. And—”

“Jax, will you just be quiet for minute so I can kiss you?”

I said nothing. And he kissed me. A tingle ran down my spine.

“Wow. That was nice, I mean, wow,” I stammered.

“Shhh,” Ryan said, kissing me again.

“I could get used to this.”

“Me, too,” said Ryan. “But…”

“What?”

“I need to get back to Paul. I don’t want to leave him alone for too long on his first day—or night—on the job. Let me escort you to your door. It’s only down a flight of stairs from where we are,” said Ryan, standing and playfully offering me his hand, like a proper suitor.

Time to go back to my beautiful penthouse room and sleep with Gumdrop while I listened to the buzzing of Val’s lady-like snores.

TWENTY-FIVE

I WOKE UP ON
Sunday morning to the sound of someone knocking on the door of our suite. I shrugged on the hotel’s fluffy white robe, hustled to the door, and looked through the peephole. When I saw Ryan’s handsome face, I let him in.

“Okay, ladies, here’s what I have for you. Jax, I’ve got a latte,” he said. “And I’ve got donuts.” Ryan set a pink box down on the small round table by the floor-to-ceiling windows. He pulled the curtains open. Glorious sunlight spilled into the room.

“Oh, Ryan,” I said, giving him a hug. “You’re the best.”

“That’s what all the women say,” Ryan said with a grin.

“And for Tessa, I have an espresso. I got you a double because I thought you could use it. With lots of sugar because that’s how you like it.”

“Oh man, Ryan, if I weren’t married, I’d—” said Tessa, straightening up the sofa where she had slept last night.

“Tessa, let’s just skip that sentiment, shall we?” I interrupted.

“But how’d you know how I like my coffee?” Tessa asked.

“Ryan’s just really perceptive.” I wanted to avoid telling Tessa that Ryan sampled her espresso yesterday morning and thought it was so sweet he couldn’t drink it. I, for one, could drink any kind of coffee, except, maybe, if it was made with swamp water. Then again, it might depend on the circumstances.

Val traipsed out of the bedroom, pulling a pink satin robe closed over her matching nightie.

“And I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “I didn’t realize you had another guest staying in the room.”

As if on cue, Gummie came strolling out of the bedroom.

“Right, I forgot about your cat. You’ve got
two
additional guests staying in the room.”

“Ryan, this is Val. She had a crisis at home, so she came down, and she brought my cat,” I said, trying to reiterate that I had nothing to do with why we had a cat in our room.

“I don’t know how you feel about a plain old cup of coffee, but I’ll happily give you mine,” Ryan said.

“Oh my goodness,” Val said, her hand fluttering at her chest. “Aren’t you the sweetest, most precious…” Val headed toward him. Tessa grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the sofa next to her, in an effort to keep her from doing anything inappropriate to Ryan. I was thankful for Tessa’s interception.

“You’re a darling,” Val said. “But I’m going to head downstairs in a little while and get something delicious to drink.”

“Any chance you brought our clothes?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Ryan told us, reaching back into the hallway and grabbing our suitcases.

“You’re a superstar,” I said, giving him a kiss. We lingered just a little longer than was appropriate. Anyone who brings me donuts and coffee could get anything he wanted from me. Well, almost anything.

Tessa and Val looked at each other, eyes bulging and mouths open in surprise. Val saw the pink bakery box, opened it, and grabbed for a donut.

“Oh my. What is this?” Val squealed, pulling out a long bar-shaped donut with a scary face drawn on it with frosting and stick pretzels poking out of the dough in a couple places.

“It’s a voodoo doll from this terrific place called Voodoo Donuts,” Ryan said.

Val took a big bite. Red goo seeped out from inside the donut.

“Filled with raspberry jelly, so it looks like blood. That’s a nice touch,” said Val. “I’ll have to think about what I could fill with jelly like this.”

The jam looked a little too much like real blood. I knew that wasn’t the donut for me.

Tessa looked into the box warily. “I hope there are no more scary donuts in there.”

“No, that’s the only one, but there’s one with bacon,” Ryan said. I reached in and grabbed it.

“And this one is covered in Cap’n Crunch,” Tessa said, choosing that one and taking a big bite.

“I’ll let you ladies get ready for your day. I’ve got to meet with Detective Houston,” said Ryan. “With any luck, she and I will be able to put our heads together and get both of these murders wrapped up shortly.”

So, I wasn’t the only one on Team Tiffany. So was Ryan. But it wasn’t surprising that Ryan’s job required that he work with the local police department when crimes occurred at the hotel.

“Here’s my number in case you need me,” Ryan said. He pulled a page off the note pad on the desk, jotted down his number, and handed it to me. Then he pulled me close, ready to kiss me good-bye. Tessa and Val were trying to eat their donuts and pretending to be paying no attention to us, but doing a bad job of it as they kept stealing glances our way.

“See you later,” Ryan said, smoothing out the collar of my robe, then closing the door behind him.

“Ooooh, Jax. I think that boy likes you,” said Val. “And such a hottie, too.”

I looked at Tessa, waiting for her to chime in.

“I’m not saying a word,” said Tessa, shaking her head and popping a stray piece of Cap’n Crunch into her mouth.

“I’m going to get ready and head on down to the bazaar. But first I’m going to eat another donut,” I said, peeking in the pink box. “Let’s see, which one?”

TWENTY-SIX

“VAL, ARE YOU COMING
down to the ballroom with us?” I asked.

“Sure, I’ll come for a little while. I thought I might help out Luke in his booth,” Val said. “And Luke, it’s such a hot name. You know, in
Star Wars
, Luke Skywalker? His original name was Luke—”

“How about helping me out in
my
booth?” I asked.

“—Starkiller. But the film studio changed it. The original name was too dark for such a heroic character.”

“Can you focus for a second? I’m trying to help solve a murder here,” I told Val. “I need help at my table.”

“You’re fine. You’ve got Tessa,” Val said. “Doesn’t she, Tessa?”

Tessa had her eyes on the phone, reading an endless string of text messages from Izzy and Ashley. When she heard her name, she looked up. “What? What did I miss?”

I finally dragged Val and Tessa out of the room. As we stood in the elevator, we once again felt a chill, stronger this time than we’d ever felt before. Val rummaged around in her giant metallic purse, then pulled out a bottle of perfume and started spraying.

I waved my hands and tried to get the scent to dissipate. “Ugh, Val, that will get rid of more than just ghosts.”

“Don’t come crying to me if you see a poltergeist.” Val dropped the bottle back into her purse.

Tessa and I stood silently, trying not to breathe too deeply. As the elevator doors opened to the lobby, the waiting crowd backed away from the wafts of perfume that followed us and decided to take the next elevator. I didn’t blame them. I was going to smell like Val for the rest of the week, and I wasn’t sure I liked that.

The lobby was full of customers, armed and ready for another day of treasure hunting at the bazaar. Many had rolling bags they planned to fill, their sneakers on, and a cup of coffee in a travel mug. From the bright eyes and chatter, I could tell they were already well-caffeinated. These were serious beaders, ready to fight for the good stuff if necessary.

The hotel had stationed a grouchy security guard with a Middle Eastern accent at the door to the ballroom. He was checking each vendor’s badge carefully.

We moved in a line to the door.

“Where iz your bahdge?” the guard asked Val, with his thick accent.