Bylines & Skylines (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 9) (13 page)

B
y the time
I got to the convention I was in a markedly better mood. The idea of bossing Duncan around was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits. I defiantly left my sock on my shirt until parking and then removed it. There was no way I was going to let some of my idols see me in anything less than the best
Star Wars
finery. I mean … come on. That’s not how it works in Avery World.

Eliot stood by the door when I entered, a pretty young brunette talking his ear off as he tried to get a word in edgewise. I had no idea what they were chatting about, but I took a moment to watch him and noticed that his body language was closed off. He wasn’t inviting her to talk. She just wouldn’t shut up. He really is a good guy. Of course, I already knew that.

“And then I told her that my body was just better than hers because of genetics,” the girl said. “I mean … sure … I got breast implants and a nose job, but that’s not really genetics. Look how hot I am now. Do you see?” She gestured toward her ample breasts, which Eliot steadfastly refused to stare at. “Why aren’t you looking?”

I wasn’t annoyed with Eliot, but I was certainly annoyed with the chick. “Because he’s waiting for me.”

Eliot almost looked relieved when I made my presence known while the girl – who couldn’t be older than twenty-two – with an IQ about room temperature – wrinkled her nose.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Avery Shaw.” I announced it in the same manner I would’ve adopted if I was Harrison Ford introducing himself as Han Solo. “Who are you?”

“This is Champagne,” Eliot said, tugging on his lower lip to keep from smiling when he saw my dubious look. “She’s one of the convention workers.”

“I’m new,” Champagne said. “Who are you? I don’t remember an Avery Shaw on any of the lists.

“Oh, and I didn’t know you could even read,” I said. “Wow. I’m impressed.”

“Avery.” Eliot gave a small shake of his head. “Don’t.”

“I’m not doing anything,” I protested.

“You’re about to do something,” Eliot argued. “Champagne, this is my girlfriend.”

Champagne looked me up and down, as if Eliot was telling her a joke she didn’t quite get. “This is the girlfriend you were telling me about? You’re moving in with her?”

Well, at least he was talking me up. Of course, she was looking down on me, which made me instantly dislike her. That was on top of the fact that her name was “Champagne.” No one names their kid that. She had to be making it up.

“That’s her,” Eliot said, smiling fondly as I made an exaggerated face behind the girl’s back. “Now that she’s here I need to talk to her a few moments.”

“Okay.” Champagne didn’t catch on to Eliot’s obvious hint and instead remained at his side.

“We need a little privacy,” Eliot prodded.

“Okay.” She remained rooted to her spot.

“He means we want to be alone, Betty Boop,” I snapped, earning a stern glare from Champagne and a headshake from Eliot.

“There’s no need to be rude,” Champagne huffed, giving me another angry look before flouncing in the other direction. “I’ll finish my story later, Eliot.”

“I can’t wait,” Eliot muttered, dragging a restless hand through his hair. “Thank you for saving me, Trouble.”

“It’s your own fault for not being meaner,” I said, snagging the sheet of paper from his hand. “Is this today’s schedule?”

“Yes, and you need to ask before taking things,” Eliot said, yanking the paper away from me. “This is private.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please may I see it, Mr. Security Man? Please? Please?” I made small barking sounds, earning a few curious stares from passersby as Eliot snorted. “I’ll be your love slave forever.”

“And just for that you can see it,” Eliot said, passing the schedule back to me. “I’m not going to forget you offered that either.”

“I knew the second I said it that I was going to regret it,” I said, scanning the list. My eyes lit up when I saw something utterly dreadful. “It says here that the makers of
Paranormal Delights
are here and they’re doing a special outdoor activity in the quad.”

Eliot’s face was blank. “What is
Paranormal Delights
?”

“That’s that horrible horror movie we saw about three months ago,” I replied. “Don’t you remember? We left halfway through so we could feel each other up in the car.”

Eliot smirked. “We left because the movie was horrible. Feeling each other up in the car was just an added bonus. I remember the movie now, though. It was one of those shaky camera ones where there are absolutely no scares and terrible acting.”

“Precisely.” I couldn’t help but feel a little smug.

“Why does that excite you?” Eliot asked. “You hated that movie.”

“Yes, but I’m not technically on convention duty today,” I replied. “Marvin is otherwise engaged, so Fish sent Duncan here to assist me. I have to question the workers about Kristen Reardon, and that means I get to assign Duncan to specific events.”

“And you’re sending him to that one because it sucks,” Eliot surmised, grinning. “You’re evil sometimes.”

“Yes, well, he sucks balls, so we’re even,” I said. “I don’t even know where he is. He should be here already.”

“He’s coming,” Eliot said, inclining his chin toward the parking lot. Duncan’s shoulders were squared as he headed in our direction. “He’s still a douche, huh?”

“I think it’s genetic,” I said, smirking at the memory of Champagne’s words. “By the way, I noticed you didn’t want to look at Champagne’s genetic gifts. I’m proud of you.”

“I wouldn’t be,” Eliot said. “She’s insipid. I like my women snarky and smart.”

“And with a real name,” I added. “Who names their kid Champagne?”

“Hey, if someone named their kid Apple, anything is possible,” Eliot said. “As for the rest of it, well, I have no interest in anyone’s genetic gifts but yours.”

“Oh, so sweet.” I pinched his chin. “I might believe that more if you didn’t let me walk out of the house this morning with a sock stuck to my shirt.”

“You finally saw that, huh? I didn’t want to risk getting on your bad side first thing in the morning. You can be deadly before you’ve had your morning dose of caffeine.”

“You’re so full of crap.”

“I wanted to see how long it took you to notice,” Eliot conceded. “Was it before you made it to the office?”

“I only noticed after Fish pointed it out.”

“You’re just not good early in the morning,” Eliot teased, a fake smile replacing the real one when Duncan made his appearance known. “Duncan.”

“Eliot.” Duncan made an annoyed face when he caught sight of my boyfriend. “What are you doing here? Are you afraid Avery can’t be trusted not to stalk someone in a situation like this?”

“I’m running security,” Eliot replied. “I trust Avery to act in a respectful way wherever she goes.”

“You took it too far,” I said dryly.

“Yeah. I guess you’re not the only one who does that,” Eliot said, rubbing his nose against my cheek. “I find it cute when you do it.”

“Ugh. You guys are gross,” Duncan complained. “What do you want me to cover? I can’t stand around here watching this one second longer.”

“I want you to cover the
Paranormal Delights
event,” I replied, keeping my tone even despite the fact that I wanted to crow. “It’s a very popular horror movie, and they’re doing a big demonstration in an hour out on the quad.”

“Sounds fun.” Duncan had obviously never seen the movie. “I’ll just interview people for color before that.”

“That sounds great,” I said. “Have fun.”

“I get it,” Duncan said. He wasn’t nearly as stupid as Champagne. “You want some time alone to fondle your friend.”

“Oh, we don’t fondle in public,” Eliot said. “I might kiss her, though.”

“Gross.”

“And then, when you irritate her, I might pop you one just to get another kiss,” Eliot added.

Duncan scowled. “You guys really are jerkwads. You know that, right?”

“We live for it,” Eliot said, smiling as he watched Duncan stalk away. “He’s just a … .”

“Asshat,” I finished. “He knows it. Everyone knows it.”

“Why did you get stuck with him?” Eliot asked. “Where’s Marvin? He’s a pain, too, but at least he’s entertaining.”

“Jake is hosting a news conference at the sheriff’s department, so he’s covering that,” I answered. “It was just another way for Jake to try mess with my plans for world media domination.”

“I don’t know if that’s true,” Eliot said. “Jake is here. Are you sure there’s a conference?”

I stilled. Jake is here? “Where?”

“I’m not sure, but he’s in the building,” Eliot said. “If he’s hosting a news conference, someone else is in charge.”

Well, that was certainly interesting. “I have to go.”

“Somehow I figured that,” Eliot said. “Find me for lunch … and stay out of trouble.”

“I’ll find you for lunch,” I offered.

“And stay out of trouble,” Eliot repeated.

“Of course. What trouble could I possibly find?”

“I’m not going to answer that.”

That was probably for the best.

I
T TOOK
me about fifteen minutes to find Jake. The convention was packed with guests and since the real stars – the big-name ones from geekdoms past and present – were on hand, the lines were long.

Because of my special pass I didn’t have to wait in any lines. Of course, since I was working, I couldn’t ogle the
Star Trek
peeps appropriately and could only give them a passing glance (or ten) as I searched for the sheriff.

When I finally caught sight of him, Jake stood next to three scantily-clad convention workers. I didn’t recognize one of the costumes, but one of the women was dressed as an alien from
Avatar
. Even though she kept moving her breasts to give Jake a better view, she wasn’t overtly irksome. Quite frankly, Jake needed a little fun in his life because Cara was dragging him down. No, the irritation factor was all wrapped up in the third woman. She was dressed in Princess Leia’s slave costume from
Return of the Jedi
and I honestly worried my head would implode given the way Jake stared at her.

What is wrong with me? I couldn’t refrain from chiding myself. It was none of my business who Jake wanted to … did he just look down her top?

I pushed my way between the women, using my hip to edge out the Leia wannabe, and fixed Jake with a tight smile. “Sheriff Farrell.”

“Ms. Shaw,” Jake drawled, looking me up and down. “You look tired.”

“I had a late night.”

“So did I,” Jake said. “I had to field angry phone calls from the television stations because you had a head start on everyone.”

Was he really blaming me for that? I told him I was going to do it. He was there when Marvin gave me the heads-up. “So?”

“So they’re angry,” Jake said, his three fans understandably curious as they glanced between us. They clearly understood something was happening, though they had no idea what. “They think I’m giving you special treatment.”

“Why would you give her special treatment?” The
Avatar
woman asked. “Do you know her?”

“That’s why he greeted me by name,” I said.

“I didn’t give her special treatment,” Jake said, keeping his tone even as he smiled. “She just somehow manages to make it look like that.”

“Oh,” the
Star Wars
slut said, knowingly bobbing her head. “She’s a cheater.”

“I am not a cheater,” I snapped. “You saw how I got that information. I didn’t do anything underhanded.”

“You always do something underhanded,” Jake shot back, his world-famous patience wearing thin. “Always!”

The three women had the good sense to take a step back. They sensed things slipping into uncomfortable territory and wisely opted to take themselves out of the equation.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said. “You’re treating me as if I did, though, and I don’t like it. It’s not my fault you’re feeling … whatever it is that you’re feeling.”

“And how am I feeling?”

How did I even get into this conversation? How did I let it happen? I came over here to ask him why he wasn’t at the conference and to suss out whether he was playing a game. Instead, the Princess Leia character completely unhinged me, and I had no idea why. Okay, I know why. I still don’t like it … or accept it.

“Forget I said that,” I said finally, hoping to find a graceful way out of the conversation. “I didn’t mean to push you. It’s not fair, and it’s not right.”

“It’s definitely not fair,” Jake agreed. “As for what’s right … what are you even doing here? Why aren’t you at the news conference?”

“It’s funny. I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

“Derrick is handling the conference,” Jake explained. “Since this convention is such a big deal for the county, I figured it was more important that I be here. We have to make people feel safe, and like it or not, I’m the face of security in this county.”

“I generally like it,” I said, opting for honesty. “I always feel safe around you … except when you’re threatening to kill me.”

Jake finally cracked a smile, albeit a small one. “Thank you for that. Why are you here, though?”

“I figured you wouldn’t hand out new information at the conference and that it was just a way to ensure that the other media folks knew I wasn’t getting special treatment,” I replied. “I came here instead because I figure the answers are here. Her body was here. She worked here. I’m guessing she was killed here, although you’re keeping that information to yourself. What I need is here. That’s why Marvin is at the conference and I’m here.”

“And I have to be here because of the importance of the event,” Jake said. “I’m sure Marvin will handle the story with aplomb.”

Now he was just messing with me. “What is with your attitude?”

“What is with your attitude?” Jake challenged. “I was just standing here and you picked a fight. Eliot told me you were cranky today. I guess he wasn’t kidding.”

Now he and Eliot were talking about me behind my back? I hate that. “I’m not cranky,” I countered. “I’m just … Fish made me bring Duncan and it’s throwing me off.”

“Okay,” Jake said, rubbing the back of his neck. His expression softened, but I couldn’t be sure he believed me. “Duncan is a jerk, so I get that. You had a look on your face when I saw you, though, and I don’t think it had anything to do with Duncan.”