Death at the Trade Show: Target Practice Mysteries 3 (5 page)

Liam pushed his chair away from the table and relaxed back into the seat. “Speaking of distributors. We need to talk to you about tonight.”

Orion looked over at Liam. “Is tonight the game?”

Liam nodded. “Connie reminded me.” He turned to us. “We usually get a box at a local game and invite our biggest distributors as a thank you for buying our products and as a casual way for them to discuss what they want to see from us. And Moo can’t come.”

Moo jerked his head up to stare at Liam. Moo whined softly then lowered his head and batted his eyes up at Liam, but Liam was unmoved by Moo’s guilt attempts.

Liam reached over to Moo and scratched his ears. “Sorry, buddy. You’ve a couple of options. You’re both invited to the game, and Jack offered to keep Moo in the car with him. Another is that Jack can drop us off at the game then pick you up food from wherever you want then bring it to the hotel. Or—”

Mary jumped in. “We’ll stay at the hotel and get Indian food from that place that Jack told us about this morning.” Then she looked at me and cleared her throat. “I mean, that’s my vote, but only if Di agrees.”

I smiled back at her. “That sounds great. What does the rest of the day look like for you guys?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Meetings. A million meetings.”

Orion laughed. “It’s not so bad. After today, things lighten up a bit. The first day is always a crunch, as everyone wants to get all the important stuff out of the way.”

I gathered up our trash. “Yeah, it sure seemed that everyone that raced past our table was off to somewhere important.”

Liam got up from his seat and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we give it until the end of the day, and if the table still doesn’t have much activity, then we can consider mixing it up?”

***

I flopped onto the couch in our suite while Moo chomped on his dinner in the kitchenette. It had been a long day. “What do you want to order from the Indian place?”

Mary peeked at me over a lowered newspaper that Jack had given her as she exited the car this evening. “Huh? Oh, food. Can you get a little of everything?” She disappeared behind the newspaper.

I searched through the menu to find something that would work and copied our order onto a sheet of paper. Liam, Orion, and Elizabeth were in their rooms, getting ready for the game tonight.

I checked my phone. Several emails and messages had come through. Minx and Tiger sent a few texts, as they were in the process of moving to the Westmound Center as on-site athletes. Minx wanted to know what the laundry facilities were like, so I typed up a reply explaining what was there and that she would definitely want to bring her own laundry basket.

Tiger, on the other hand, wanted to know what the local singles scene was in town. I chuckled and suggested that he contact some of the single firearms instructors at the center. I never left the center in the evenings. I had everything I needed at the center already.

Liam came into the room. He had changed clothing for the evening, adding a few layers. He came over and sat next to me. “Are you sure that you want to stay here?” Moo came over to Liam.

“Yes, I’m really excited to stay in after a long day. Here’s our order.” I handed him the paper, our fingers brushing. A warmth flowed over me as I looked at him, and we smiled.

“We’re good,” Mary said as she folded up the newspaper and pulled out a laptop from her bag and fired it up. “I have some work to do.”

Mary had told me on the plane ride over that she didn’t have any homework this trip since the university semester had just started. What was she up to? She started typing and clicking away at her computer, dismissing me completely.

I turned back to Liam, who was already watching me. Moo shoved his snout into my eye as I stared at Liam, startling me and making Liam laugh.

“Was the afternoon at the center table better?” Liam pulled on Moo’s collar to get him out of my face and scratched behind his ears.

I ran a finger under my eye, hoping to remove any smeared makeup. “Not really. The only people that talked to us were people that were looking for someone in the Westmound booth.”

Liam’s mouth formed a grim line. “That’s not good. Connie and Mom are always saying that there is never enough time at the OIT Show to see everything. Want me to see if there is anything else that you and Mary can do?”

“That would be great. We can sit at the table all week, but I’m not sure that we are doing much to contribute.”

A knock on the door brought Liam to his feet to open it. John stepped into the room. A few seconds later, Elizabeth exited her bedroom. John’s face lit up when he saw her. His delight in seeing her was far beyond a professional interest only.

Orion exited the bedroom, and they gathered their stuff to head out.

Liam checked over the dinner order I had given him. “I’ll give this to Jack, and he’ll bring the food back here. I imagine it will take him at least an hour. Do you want him to bring the food to the room?”

“Nah. He doesn’t need to come all the way up here. We’ll go hang out in the lobby with Moo.”

“If you need anything, give me a call.”

After the door shut behind them, I tried to get Mary’s attention. “Why do you think we’re sharing a car with John?”

She dragged her eyes off the computer screen to stare at me. “Huh?”

“Why are Beckmans and Westmound sharing a car this week? Beckmans has like a million stores, and we flew here in a private jet. I’m sure both companies could afford their own car. So why are we sharing one car?”

Mary waved a hand at me. “If you want to be Veronica Mars, then you need to focus on the
real
mystery.”

I patted the couch next to me, and Moo hopped up and set to cleaning a paw. “Which is?”

Mary rolled her eyes. “You know that I want to investigate the guy we found last night.”

I laughed. She was right. I knew we were going to investigate eventually, but I could tease Mary a bit more. “Oh, him. I totally forgot about him. I’m not sure if I even want to investigate.”

Mary’s face fell. “Oh…”

“No, I’m kidding, Mary. Nothing would make me happier than to investigate with you.”

She squinted at me. “You sure?”

I kicked my feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch and slid down with my hands behind my head. “Totally, but have you given any thought to how we’ll solve the murder? If it even is a murder.”

Mary grabbed the newspaper off the table and shook it at me. “It was a murder. The newspaper said that there is an ongoing investigation. And I have a plan. Logic.”

“Logic?”

“Yes, logic. If we learn everything there is to know about him, then we can figure out who would want to kill him. Once we eliminate everyone with an alibi, then we have the killer. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.”

“So once you eliminate the impossible, then whatever is left, no matter how improbable, gives us the killer?” I quipped.

“Yeah, that’s great. Did you make that up just now?”

“No.” I laughed. “I paraphrased Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes.”

“That’s perfect. We’ll be Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Watson.” She gestured at me when she said Watson.

“If I’m the sidekick, then you better pull together the plan, Sherlock.”

Mary leaned back in her chair and tapped a pen to her lip with one hand while flipping through her notebook with the other. “Here’s what I got from the newspaper. His name was Kenny something or other, but he went by Cash. He made his money from a check-cashing business his dad left him. He sold it a few years ago and started a hunting show and business called
Hunting with Cash
.”

“Catchy name.” Moo pawed at me, and I reached over to give him a scratch on his back.

“Yeah, he had all kinds of catchy mottos that he put on shirts and decals. The last season of his show just finished a few weeks ago, and they said it was really taking off. And the police are treating his death as a homicide. He is survived by his wife Hannah something or other. That’s all I got.” She scratched a few notes onto her notepad.

“Somethingorother—what a beautiful last name. Is it Dutch?” Mary rolled her eyes, and I continued. “You’re the archery expert; tell me about hunting shows. How do they work? How do you get a show?” Moo whined, pawed my leg, and stared at me again.

Mary shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know much. My parents never watched any of those shows, said they were thirty minutes of commercials. I know only the absolute basics. There are hunting channels, and hunting shows are sponsored. Hey, does Moo need to go outside?”

Moo leaped from the couch and pranced around the room. I gasped. “You’re right. I totally forgot.” I grabbed my jacket, my wallet, and his leash. “Wanna hang in the lobby afterward while we wait for the food to arrive?” I snapped the leash onto Moo’s collar as he waited at the door, dancing back and forth on his feet then staring at me, waiting for me to open the door.

Mary gathered up her jacket and stuffed everything into her messenger bag and threw it over her head. “Just in case we find any clues, Watson.”

Stepping into the hallway, I told Moo to heel and held him close to my side. Liam and I were working hard to train Moo. He was a huge dog but still young. He needed to learn manners.

This morning, we had been in a rush, but stepping into the glass elevator, I looked around. “Look at all the police tape.”

Not only was the restaurant we had found Cash in taped off, but the corner on each floor above it had police tape. Mary pushed her face against the glass. “They must not know what floor he fell from yet. They have every floor closed off right above where we found him.”

“Did you take pictures last night?”

The elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened. “Yes, I did.” She gasped and turned to me. “What if the murderer returned to the scene of the crime?”

We stepped onto the ground floor and headed toward the dog area past the bar. “I thought that was just arsonists.”

Mary shrugged. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a record of some of the people that were at the hotel when it happened. Plus maybe there’s something we missed in all the excitement. I removed the blurry ones. I didn’t get any of Cash.”

“Is that a good thing or bad thing?”

“Honestly? A good thing. Maybe there was something for us to learn, but I don’t feel comfortable having pictures of a dead person.”

I nodded my agreement. “Investigating a murder is one thing, but keeping pictures of the body is… ghoulish. We’ll leave forensics to the cops. We have inside archery knowledge on our side.”

As we approached the bar, the voices inside drew our attention. The bar was hopping; people were clustered around tall tables, grabbing drinks and laughing loudly. Right outside were stuffed chairs with little tables next to them.

Mary flopped into a chair and dropped her bag at her side. “Do you mind if I wait here? I’ll watch the lobby and maybe flag down someone that can answer some questions about hunting shows.”

Moo and I walked to the door and pushed it out in the cold winter air. The dog area had a gate, and once inside, I let Moo off his leash since he was used to doing his business “free range.” I checked my phone and had a message from Liam saying the food should be here soon and wishing us a nice evening.

Once Moo was finished and I had responsibly cleaned up, I snapped the leash back onto his collar. Fumbling with the key card entrance, I stepped back into the warmth, blowing warm air onto my hands. I really needed to get mittens.

Mary was talking with a brunette gal, and as I approached, her Southern accent became clear. The back of her shirt said OIT STAFF. Mary caught my eye and waved me to hurry up. “Di, get over here. I want you to meet Sarah.”

We exchanged handshakes, and I motioned to the chairs. “Wanna sit with us?”

She hesitated and checked her watch. “I really should be getting up to the room…” She didn’t make any motion to leave.

“It’ll be just a minute. In fact, let me get you a drink.” I pulled out my wallet, and she shook her head.

“No drink, but I can sit for a minute. Just a minute, though. If I stay longer, kick me out. I’ve so much work to do.”

We sat, and I scooted my chair around a bit to get a better view of Sarah opposite me.

Mary pulled her bag into her lap and rummaged around. “Work to do? Aren’t you done for the day?”

Sarah sighed. “No, I am so behind. We brought in some writers to do up the article on the show, like what you did. They are super-talented people that write for the website, but they are not used to the fast turnaround that we need for this event. Say, are you guys busy?”

“We are here to help with Westmound, but what’s up?”

“We really need some content. I’ll pay you to write a couple of articles on new Westmound products. Ask your boss. It’s a win-win.”

“We’ll mention it.” Mary exchanged a look with me, and I nodded back. “We had a question about hunting shows.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Ugh, them. Are they bothering you?”

Mary’s eyebrows rose. “No, why?”