Bylines & Skylines (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 9) Read online

  “Don’t talk to her like that,” Eliot said.

  “You just did!”

  “I can talk to her like that,” Eliot said. “I’m not you. I wouldn’t push things too far, because at a certain point I’m going to give Jake the all clear and let her at you.”

  “I’m not afraid of her,” Tad huffed.

  “You should be,” Jake said. “She’s bested you … how many times now?”

  “She’s never bested me.” Tad puffed out his chest. “She’s played underhanded and dirty tricks and lied about me. That’s not the same thing.”

  “The sad thing is that you’re such a screw-up she doesn’t have to lie,” Jake said. “You do all of the damage to your own reputation and she merely capitalizes on it. It’s as if you want her to win.”

  “Oh, there’s an interesting thought,” Eliot mused. “Maybe he still has feelings for her.”

  “Oh, you’re right,” Jake intoned, catching on to the game. “I think he loves her. It’s like elementary school. When you see the girl you like you pull her hair to let her know she’s the one.”

  “You’re making me uncomfortable,” I said.

  “They’re making everyone uncomfortable,” Tad said. “I didn’t come here for this. I came here to let everyone know I’m going to bring order and diligence back to county government. And, as a show of my appreciation for the voters of Macomb County, I’m hosting a special ice cream social in the city park tomorrow night.”

  “Oh, that’s so … retro,” I said.

  “I want to bring good old-fashioned family values back to politics,” Tad said.

  The fact that he could say it with a straight face was dumbfounding. “Isn’t your wife divorcing you because you’re such a tool?”

  That pretty much did it. Tad took a step in my direction, mayhem evident on his face. Jake was on his feet swiftly, though, and he cut Tad off before he could cover much ground.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jake warned, keeping his voice low as he held up his hand. “If you move on her I’ll arrest you.”

  “She’s purposely baiting me,” Tad spat.

  “Well, stop making yourself such an easy target,” Jake said. “She wouldn’t do it if she couldn’t get away with it. That’s on you.”

  “And what exactly is on her?” Tad challenged.

  “Nothing,” I replied, digging into my lunch. “I’m the boss.”

  Jake shook his head as Eliot smirked.

  “This is going to be a really long week,” Jake said. “I can feel it.”

  “I think we all can,” Eliot said, grinning. “Eat your lunch, Trouble. I have a surprise for you later tonight.”

  “I told you to knock that off,” Jake snapped.

  “Not that,” Eliot said. “I have access to the comic book convention before it opens. All of the displays are already set up. I figure that will make me her favorite person ever.”

  “Oh, baby, you have no idea,” I said, my heart twisting with delight. “When do we leave?”

  “As soon as you’re done with your work.”

  “This really is the best week ever,” I said. “Comic book conventions, a new chance to take down Tad and I’m the boss. Nothing can stop me now.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on that,” Tad threatened. “I’m still here.”

  “Not for long,” I said. “I’m on a roll. Your time here is coming to a close. I can feel it.”

  “HOLY crap!”

  I raced toward the table with the Star Wars sign and reached to lift the tarp so I could see the merchandise stacked beneath, but Eliot stopped me with a hand on my arm.

  “You can’t touch that stuff,” he ordered, shaking his head. “I’m responsible if anything goes missing.”

  “I don’t want to steal anything,” I said, shooting him a dark look. “I only want to see what it is. I heard that each convention gets a unique item.”

  “You can wait until you visit and see it then.”

  “But … .”

  “No.” Eliot shook his head and gripped my hand tighter. “I didn’t bring you here to tear things apart. I brought you here to … see you geek out.”

  I sighed, resigned. “Fine.”

  “Can’t you be happy just looking around?”

  “I am totally happy,” I said, casting one more rueful glance at the table and then stepping away. The convention was being hosted at the local community college, and the athletic building was decked out in so much geek stuff I didn’t even know where to start. “Look at this place!”

  It was almost eight o’clock so the lights were dim, but I could still see everything. Eliot was making a final systems check, but he kept one eye on me to make sure I didn’t lose my head while he ran through a number of security protocols on his laptop.

  “Go ahead and look around,” Eliot said. “Just … please, don’t look under anything or take anything. This is a big deal for me. Eventually I’d like to do security work as my main focus. This is the biggest job I’ve gotten so far and the pay is phenomenal.”

  “I wouldn’t ruin it for you,” I said, squeezing his hand before releasing it. “I hope you know that.”

  “I do know that,” Eliot confirmed. “Well, at least I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose. Look around, though. There are a lot of big displays.”

  “I know,” I said, grinning at the small area set up as the Star Trek Enterprise bridge. “It’s like stepping back into the sixties.” I sat in the captain’s chair and grinned. “Now I’m really the boss. Set phasers on stun.”

  “If I blast you with a phaser I don’t think I’m going to stun you,” Eliot said, typing on his laptop. “I didn’t realize you were a Star Trek fan, too.”

  “I like the movies mostly,” I replied. “I was a huge Worf fan on The Next Generation, though. I thought he was hot. He kind of reminds me of you.”

  “I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

  “You should feel good,” I said. “Worf was big, strong and sexy.”

  “Well, then I’ll take it as a compliment.”

  I pushed myself up from the chair and shuffled to a display two aisles over, running my hand over the prominently-displayed Chevy Impala and grinning. “This is from Supernatural.”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “It’s a television show with hot monster-hunting brothers.”

  “Ah.” Eliot wasn’t nearly as interested in the geek memorabilia as me.

  I wandered further down the aisle, grinning at the Wonder Woman display. “I think the new movie is going to suck, but I loved Wonder Woman when I was a kid.”

  “I thought you fancied yourself as the Hulk?”

  “I did, but I liked Wonder Woman, too. She had cool bracelets.”

  “And she had the sexiest outfit,” Eliot said, closing his laptop and putting it in a bag before moving closer to me. “I’m done, so we can look around.”

  “I thought we were already looking around?”

  “Yes, but now you can go nuts … within reason,” Eliot said. “There’s actually something I want to show you in the other room.”

  “You said I couldn’t go in the other room.”

  “I only said that because I want to go in there with you,” Eliot explained. “I didn’t want you to see the big thing alone.”

  “That sounded dirty.”

  “I heard it as soon as I said it,” Eliot said, grabbing my hand. “Come on. I can promise you’re going to squeal like a … really horny girl … when you see it.”

  “Is that a good thing?” I asked, letting him lead me as excitement coursed up my spine. Whatever he was about to show me must be big if he wanted to wait to see my reaction.

  “From my perspective, it’s a very good thing,” Eliot said, pausing in the open doorway. The adjacent room was completely dark when he reached toward the nearby light switch panel. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Are you going to show me something magical?”

  “Y
ou have no idea,” Eliot said, pressing a quick kiss to my lips before flicking the switch. “I expect to be rewarded for this.”

  My eyes widened as the room flooded with light and a gasp escaped my mouth as my heart thundered and caused blood to rush past my ears, almost drowning out all other sound as I took in the spectacular sight in front of me. The entire room – which was huge – was decked out as some sort of tree village. There were holes in the trees, signifying huts, and spears leaning against branches. I knew what it was right away.

  “It’s the ewok village!”

  Eliot chuckled, delighted. “It is, although they’re doing a couple different showcases in here throughout the week. I didn’t realize what it was when they were putting it up so I asked a guy. When he told me, I realized you needed to see it. It’s just for photographs. There won’t be a skit or anything to go with it, but I still knew you’d totally geek out.”

  “Oh … my … .” I hurried forward, ducking my head inside of one of the huts and grinning when I saw the hammock hanging inside. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Do you want your photo taken?”

  “Do I?”

  Eliot spent the next five minutes taking every conceivable photograph I could think of before putting his phone away. He seemed content to let me roam, and the display was so big I couldn’t possibly see everything. By the time I returned to his side I was breathless.

  “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen,” I said, grabbing his arm. “Thank you!”

  Eliot seemed surprised by the naked sentiment. “You’re welcome.”

  “Do you know what I want to do?”

  “Get naked in the hut and put the hammock to use?” Eliot looked hopeful.

  “I was going to say steal one of the spears, but now that’s what I want to do,” I said, tilting my head to the side so I could take a good listen. “Are we really alone?”

  Eliot smirked. “Yeah. Security personnel won’t show up until tomorrow morning.”

  “Did you bring me here just to do something dirty in a fake tree village?”

  Eliot shrugged. “I brought you here to see how excited you would get. The tree sex was just a bonus. They’re actually going to use this set on the last day and shift it around for the Predator display.”

  “That’s even more exciting!”

  “I thought nothing was more exciting that Star Wars.?” Eliot’s chocolate eyes twinkled.

  “It’s exciting that it’s both,” I clarified. “Now … hurry up and strip.” I reached for the hem of my shirt so I could pull it over my head. “I think someone loves me this week.”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  “I love you, too,” I said, grabbing his chin. “Now … hurry up. I want to do it in the captain’s chair, too.”

  “Someone is feeling ambitious.”

  “Oh, you have no idea,” I said, giggling as Eliot grabbed me around the waist. “I’m the boss, after all. I have to do it in the captain’s chair.”

  “Okay, Trouble. I’m not setting my phaser on stun, though.”

  “I can totally get behind that!”

  6

  Six

  “You have to get dressed.”

  Eliot’s gravelly voice penetrated my hazy mind, reminding me we weren’t home and falling asleep in the hammock wasn’t an option. “What time is it?”

  “It’s almost ten,” Eliot replied. “We should get dressed and head home before someone stumbles across us. I would hate for it to make the rounds that I was caught naked in a hut with my girlfriend when I’m supposed to be running security.”

  “I would love it if this story got out,” I countered, smiling when I felt his nose rub against my cheek. He was in a particularly lovey-dovey mood. “I would look like the queen of the geeks.”

  “You’re already the queen of the geeks,” Eliot said, tickling my ribs. “You don’t need to pad your street cred. I’ll worship you regardless.”

  “Oh, that was cute,” I said, shifting carefully so I could look at him without tipping us out of the hammock. “Thank you.”

  Eliot arched an eyebrow. “I think that’s the first time I’ve been thanked for sex. I must’ve been masterful.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from snorting. “That’s not what I was thanking you for, but that was nice, too. I was thanking you for all of this … letting me see it early, getting me the special passes. You didn’t have to do any of it.”

  “Avery, we’re going to be living together relatively soon,” Eliot said, his expression serious. “I love you. When you love someone, you do things for them. That’s how the world works.”

  “What have I done for you?” The question slipped out before I gave much thought to the intelligence associated with getting into a serious discussion this late at night.

  “What do you mean?” Eliot asked, confused. “I’m pretty sure you just did something marvelous for me.”

  “Not that,” I said, pinching his side. “What else? It seems as if you do everything for me and I do very little for you.”

  “That’s not true,” Eliot said. “You’re actually sweet when you want to be … and when you think no one is looking. I happen to be happy with who you are.”

  “But I don’t do enough good things for you,” I said, my stomach twisting when I realized the full scope of the truth behind the words. “You always come through for me, yet you never ask anything of me. That’s not fair.”

  “Oh, geez,” Eliot muttered, tugging a restless hand through his hair as he stared at me. “Leave it to you to pick a philosophical argument when we’re technically breaking the law and naked in the middle of a comic book convention.”

  “That’s not what I was trying to do.”

  “Avery, you’re not normal and I’m fine with that,” Eliot said, grabbing my shirt from the floor and handing it to me. “I know how you feel and I don’t want to change you. I fell in love with you because you’re different. We’re fine.”

  I found my bra hooked to the top of the hammock and extricated it before slipping it on. I still wasn’t convinced. “I’m going to do something for you, though. I think you deserve it.”

  “Oh, really? What?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll cook you a romantic dinner.”

  “You don’t cook.”

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t cook,” I said. “I’m going to do it. I’m going to cook for you.”

  “See, the way you say that, it sounds like a threat,” Eliot said, rolling off the hammock and grabbing my hands to make sure I didn’t flip over the other side. He held me steady until I found my footing, going so far as to hold my arm so I didn’t fall while I slipped back into my Capri pants. “If you want to cook me dinner, though, I think that might be fun.”

  “Great. I have a Star Wars cookbook.”

  Eliot made a face. “What does that even entail?”

  “Wookie cookies.”

  “I had to ask,” Eliot muttered, scanning the hut to make sure we’d gathered all of our belongings. “You have your bra and underwear, right? I don’t want some pimply-faced kid sniffing any of your undergarments.”

  I made a face. “That’s gross.”

  “You’re telling me,” Eliot teased, slipping his arm around my waist as he pushed me through the door. “I don’t know about you, but I could use some food. Let’s pick up a pizza on the way home. I worked up an appetite.”

  “I think you just liked doing it here as much as I did,” I said. “I … what’s that?” Something caught my attention from the corner of my eye and I pointed to the far end of the room.

  “What’s what?” Eliot asked, narrowing his eyes as he stared in the direction I pointed. “That’s part of the village. There’s a little fake fire pit over there.”

  “There’s also a person.”

  “No, there’s not.”

  “Yes, there is.” I pointed again. I could clearly make out the outline of someone hanging over a fake fire pit despite the fact that Eliot dimmed the lights as
low as possible before we went into the hut. He didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to us, so the room was full of shadows and it wasn’t easy to make out the specifics belonging to the figure. “I think whoever is here is doing what we did.”

  “You think someone is having sex over there?” Eliot was dubious, but he looked annoyed at the possibility. “I thought I was the only pervert stupid enough to try something like that. You’re right, though. That does look like someone is trying to hide.”

  “Let’s leave them alone and get that pizza you mentioned.”

  Eliot shook his head. “Now that you’ve pointed it out, I have to look.”

  “That pretty much figures,” I muttered, falling into step with him. “If it’s someone doing something gross … like sharing their internal Force with their hand or something … are you going to beat them up?”

  “Ugh. Now I’ll never shake that picture from my head,” Eliot said, pushing me behind him as we approached. He was on alert, especially given the fact that the interloper should’ve easily heard us by now yet hadn’t moved.

  “Maybe that’s just a prop,” I said, my palms unnaturally sweaty. “Maybe they moved it here without telling you.”

  “Maybe,” Eliot conceded. “Or maybe it’s something else.” He released my hand and dug in his pocket until he found his cell phone. He pressed a button to turn it into a flashlight and then aimed it at the display. He sucked in a breath when the light flashed on a woman’s face. She wasn’t a prop … and she clearly wasn’t alive. Her face was battered and caked with crusted blood, and if I had to guess, she’d been there for several hours at least. “Oh, crap.”

  “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

  Eliot nodded as he pressed his hand to the back of my head. “We have to call the police. In fact, since it’s the college, we have to call Jake. He’s putting out the manpower for security on this.”

  “Does that mean he’s technically your boss?” It didn’t occur to me how Eliot got the job until now.

  “We’ll talk about that later,” Eliot said, staring at his phone screen. “Stay close to me while I make this call and then we’ll move to the front of the room so we don’t contaminate the crime scene.”