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

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t touch anything,” Eliot warned, picking Jake’s name from his contact list and then pressing the phone to his ear. “Come here. I want you close in case someone is still hanging around.” Eliot tugged me to him, his eyes alert.

  “You know Jake is going to be really ticked off about this, right?”

  Eliot nodded. “I’m really ticked off, too. Just … hang on. Here we go. Jake? It’s Eliot. I’ve got some bad news.”

  JAKE arrived ten minutes later. He was in a fancy suit, his face shaved, and he wasn’t alone. His girlfriend Cara trailed behind him, as did a familiar face from earlier in the day and another woman.

  “It’s the guy with the aching … .”

  “Don’t finish that sentence,” Eliot warned, shaking his head. “This is serious and I can’t be thinking about that when I have to show Jake a dead body.”

  “I’ll think about it for you.”

  “Oh, and you were worried you never did anything for me,” Eliot deadpanned, tapping the spot between my eyebrows before focusing on Jake. “I’m sorry to ruin your night.”

  “We were almost done anyway,” Jake replied, his gaze busy as it bounced between us. “I’m sorry I had to bring company, but we all drove together. I called a crime tech team. They should be here in ten minutes.”

  “Why are you so dressed up?” I asked, earning an annoyed look from Eliot as I studied Jake. “You shaved and smell good, too.”

  “Don’t sniff him,” Eliot chided. “That’s weird.”

  “That’s definitely weird.” Cara forced a smile for my benefit. We didn’t have the easiest of relationships. She wanted me out of Jake’s life. He refused. They were at something of an impasse and I didn’t want to get involved. Okay, I wanted to get involved a little. If I could make her cry once or twice, that might even be fun.

  “We were at a benefit at the art center,” Jake answered. “Avery, you remember Richard Aiken, right?”

  I nodded.

  “This is his wife Cathy,” Jake said. “They were at the benefit with us. This is Eliot Kane. He’s running our computer security at the comic book convention … and he’s Avery’s boyfriend.”

  “I prefer boytoy.” Do you know how most people think before they talk? I’m incapable of that. I also babble when uncomfortable.

  Eliot rolled his eyes as he tugged me closer to his side. “Ignore her. She’s overwhelmed with geekiness.”

  “What is she even doing here?” Jake asked.

  “I love it when people talk about me as if I’m not standing right in front of them,” I grumbled.

  Jake ignored me and remained fixed on Eliot. “Seriously. I thought you were working.”

  “I had one systems check to run and I brought her so she could look around,” Eliot replied. It was only then that I realized he might be in real trouble. “She didn’t touch anything. She just got a kick out of seeing it all. I actually mentioned this at lunch at the diner.”

  “I guess I forgot … or was only half listening because I have other things on my mind,” Jake muttered, rubbing his chin. “I guess I do kind of remember you bringing that up. I didn’t realize what it would entail, though.”

  “But was she supposed to be here?” Cara pressed.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jake answered. “This is Avery’s version of Disney World. There’s no way he could keep it from her. I knew that going in when I asked him to provide the cameras.”

  Cara refused to back down. “But if she’s not supposed to be here … .”

  “Oh, let it go,” Jake snapped. Things clearly weren’t going well between the two of them on the romantic front. Jake was more tense than a food critic at a fast food restaurant. “You’re just saying it because it’s Avery, and I’m tired of listening to it. She’s not hurting you, so … back off.”

  “Whatever,” Cara said, crossing her arms over her chest and flashing me a dark glare.

  Eliot and I exchange a quick “that’s not good” look and then focused on Jake.

  “We were leaving when Avery thought someone else was here,” Eliot supplied. “It was dark in the other room and I didn’t see what she was talking about right away. Then she pointed and I really looked and … it’s a dead woman.”

  “You’re sure she’s dead?”

  Eliot nodded. “She’s battered and her eyes are open. She’s dead. That’s why I didn’t risk touching her. It was obvious.”

  Jake grimaced. “I was afraid you were going to say that,” he said. “Show me.”

  Jake and Eliot flanked me as we walked back toward the room housing the ewok village. Cara tried to keep up but couldn’t quite manage it with her heels, and Jake showed no interest in slowing.

  Jake’s eyes were busy scanning the set. “You brought her here to see this? She probably freaked out and wanted to blow up the Death Star.”

  Eliot smirked. “She was so excited she offered to cook me dinner.”

  Jake snorted. “Wow. It’s like a Star Wars miracle.”

  “I’m not letting you ruin my happy week,” I sniffed, slipping my hand into Eliot’s as we closed in on the body. He gave me an odd look but didn’t pull away. “I’m an excellent cook.”

  “I didn’t say you weren’t,” Jake said, shaking his head as his eyes fell on the wooden spit. “Everyone else stay back.”

  “Oh, my … is she tied to that fire pit thing?” Cathy Aiken looked horrified by the scene. Dick and Cara were more stoic.

  “She’s definitely dead,” Jake said as he glanced around. “Were you guys just checking out the village when you found her? That means she had to be delivered before you got here, right? There’s no chance someone slipped by you, is there?”

  “Um … .” Eliot pressed his lips together and shifted from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable.

  “What time did you get here?” Jake prodded.

  “Around eight,” Eliot answered.

  “And you were out in the open the entire time, right?”

  “Um … .”

  “Oh, geez,” I muttered, rolling my neck until it cracked. “The body was probably here when we got here, but there’s a slight chance someone could’ve carried it in without us noticing.”

  “Avery.” Eliot scorched me with a warning look.

  “He’s going to find out,” I shot back. “You’re not going to lie to him and I won’t either. So … .”

  “Oh, man.” Jake pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I just know I’m going to hate this.”

  “You’re totally going to hate it,” I agreed.

  “Tell me.”

  I opened my mouth to do just that but Eliot cut me off. “Let me handle this,” he said. “She wanted to see inside of the hut.” He inclined his head in the direction of the corner tree hut. “We were in there for a good hour and a half.”

  “Doing what?” Aiken asked, genuinely curious.

  Eliot glanced at me for help. “Um … .”

  “We were saving the galaxy from the Sith,” I answered, earning an exaggerated eye roll from Jake and a snarky huff from Cara. “A couple of times.”

  “I’m going to throw up,” Jake muttered. “I … did you have to tell me that? We just had this discussion over lunch.”

  “Did you really have lunch together? I thought Eliot was making that up.” Cara was beyond annoyed.

  “Hey, I didn’t want to tell you at all,” Eliot said. “If you bring a crime scene team in here, though, you’re going to find our DNA all over that hammock.”

  “And the Star Trek captain’s chair in the other room,” I said, pointing for emphasis. “Oh, and the miniature Hagrid’s hut over there.”

  “You’re so sick,” Jake muttered, shaking his head. For a moment I almost thought he looked sad but his face took on an all-business mask before I had the chance to dwell on it. “Well, here comes the tech team. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what they have to tell me.”

  “Where’s the body, sir?” one o
f the men asked.

  Jake pointed to the spot behind them.

  “Oh, sir? There’s a photographer from The Monitor taking photographs in the parking lot,” the man said. “I have no idea how he found out there was a body here at this time of night, especially since this didn’t go out over the scanner.”

  I felt five sets of eyes move in my direction. I was sure Eliot already put two-and-two together and realized who I texted when he was on the phone with Jake. I had two choices: I could either beg and throw myself on Jake’s mercy or dig my heels in. I opted for the latter. Big surprise there, I know.

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “You had to know it was coming. I can’t let a woman being roasted in the ewok village go.”

  “She wasn’t roasted,” Jake snapped, annoyed.

  “No, but she was trussed up as if she was going to be Thanksgiving dinner,” I said. “I can’t ignore that.”

  Jake made a disgusted face. “You’d better start running now.”

  I shifted my eyes to Eliot and found his expression unreadable. “It’s a good thing I found my bra, huh? I might need it if there’s going to be jogging involved tonight.”

  He didn’t want to smile, but he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from tipping up. “And you worried you never gave me anything,” Eliot said, chuckling hollowly. “I’ve got heartburn right now.”

  “At least it’s something to build on.”

  7

  Seven

  “Where are you going to be today?”

  Eliot was relatively quiet the next morning, although he did work overtime to muster a smile for me when I proudly poured him coffee. It was part of my new “do more for Eliot” campaign. I’d even pushed the button on the Keurig myself.

  “I’ll be at the convention all day,” Eliot said, sipping his coffee. “Unless Jake fires me, that is.”

  I frowned, annoyed by his melancholy. “Jake won’t fire you.”

  “Avery, did you see his face last night?” Eliot asked. “What we did wasn’t exactly professional.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” I agreed. “He wouldn’t have cared if he was alone, though. He only cared because Cara and Dick Aiken were there. Dick Aiken.” I enunciated the name in long, drawn-out syllables. “That sounds like a pornographic country music song, doesn’t it?”

  This time Eliot’s smile was legitimate. “Jake still might fire me,” he said finally. “If he does … well … I deserve it. I’ll suck it up and take it on the chin if that happens.”

  “You wish you hadn’t taken me, don’t you?”

  “No,” Eliot replied, shaking his head. “I wish you’d gotten a perfect night. I don’t regret taking you. I regret having to admit to Jake in front of an audience what we were doing, but I’ll never forget the look on your face when you saw the set. I can’t regret that.”

  “You have an incredibly sweet nature sometimes,” I said. “It doesn’t fit your tough exterior.”

  Eliot shot me a challenging look. “The same could be said of you.”

  I was pretty sure that was an insult. “Well, if Jake fires you, text me and I’ll figure out a way to cheer you up.”

  “You already have,” Eliot said, tapping the end of my nose. “What are you doing today?”

  “I get to organize coverage of the convention,” I answered. “Since it’s now a convention with a murder, I’ll need help.”

  “So you’re bringing Duncan with you?” Eliot didn’t look thrilled with the prospect. “Keep him away from me. I’ll have to punch him if he runs his mouth.”

  “Oh, you’re the sweetest guy ever,” I cooed, adopting a faux sugary voice. “I’ll be the one who punches him if it comes to that, though. Besides, I’m not bringing Duncan.”

  “I thought Fish said you had to run the coverage and Duncan was your only other option?”

  “See, he didn’t say it completely like that,” I clarified. “He said that I was in charge of coverage and if I wanted Duncan to cover something I could assign him to do it.”

  Eliot drew his eyebrows together. “It sounds as if you’re playing a very dangerous semantics game, Trouble. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Eliot dropped a kiss on the corner of my mouth before getting to his feet. “I need to head to the convention now. My understanding is that they’re just now replacing the thing over the fire pit where the woman’s body was found. The scene has already been photographed and cleared.”

  “Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

  “Why would it?”

  “Because generally the sheriff’s department won’t clear a scene for at least twenty-four hours,” I replied. “This one has been cleared in less than ten. That’s unheard of.”

  “Yes, well, this is a big event,” Eliot said fastening his cell phone to a clip on his belt and glancing around the kitchen. “It will bring a lot of money into the area and I’m sure Jake wanted to make sure nothing got in the way of that.”

  “I get that,” I said. “It just seems strange.”

  “You’re strange,” Eliot said, smacking another kiss on my lips. “If I haven’t been fired, find me when you get to the convention center. We might be able to have lunch together.”

  “Jake won’t fire you.”

  “I’m not sure I wouldn’t fire me under the same circumstances,” Eliot said, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “I don’t regret it, though. Up until finding the body, I think it was one of my favorite nights ever with you.”

  “Does that count the time I agreed to go skinny-dipping in the neighbors’ pool when they were out of town?”

  Eliot’s grin was impish. “Nothing matches that night. I’ll call you if I get fired.”

  “Call me if you find out any information I can use for a story, too,” I ordered, earning a dark look from Eliot as he moved toward the door. “We still don’t have an identity, and I’m going to have to hit the ground running.”

  “You know I can’t actually help you if Jake orders me not to, right?”

  I did not know that. “Why?”

  “Because he’s technically my boss.”

  I made a loud derisive sound in the back of my throat. “Does Jake have sex with you?”

  “No.”

  “Then we’ll figure something out.”

  “I just know you’re going to get me fired before this is all said and done,” Eliot muttered. “I can feel it.”

  “If that happens I’ll cook you two dinners.”

  “Oh, that won’t be even remotely enough,” Eliot said. “We’ll talk about punishments later. I have to get moving.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing you in a few hours.”

  “We’ll see if you feel the same when Jake lays down the law,” Eliot said. “Either way, I’ll talk to you in a bit.”

  “I’ll be there with an offensive Star Wars shirt on.”

  This time Eliot’s smile was genuine – and infectious. “That right there … you gave me that.”

  “What?”

  “A good laugh,” Eliot replied. “I love you. Try to behave when you do whatever mean thing you’re about to do to Duncan. If he touches you, though, I’ll kill him.”

  “My day just keeps getting better and better.”

  “DID MY story make it in?”

  I leaned over the side of Fish’s cubicle and stared at the front page of today’s edition of The Monitor, not bothering to greet him properly or ask if he wanted his personal space invaded. That’s not really my style.

  “We did,” Fish replied, pointing to the top spot above the fold. “You wrote it to the perfect length and we didn’t jump it. We were the only ones who had it.”

  “So I’m queen of the world.”

  “Only in your own head, but you did a good job,” Fish said. “We didn’t have time to talk last night. How did you find out about it?”

  “I was with Eliot when he discovered the body,” I admitted. There was no sense lying. He
would figure it out eventually.

  “You were there?” Duncan asked, moving up behind Fish’s chair and glaring at me. “You got to visit the convention center early? How is that fair?”

  “If you want things to be fair you’re going to have to sleep with the guy running security,” I said with faux sweetness. “I think you’re a little butch for him, though. I’ll ask if he’s interested if you like.”

  “You’re sick.” Duncan made a disgusted face. “I don’t understand what he sees in you.”

  “I’m talented in bed,” I sneered, earning a stern look from Fish. “Too far? I figured as much the second I said it.”

  “Now if you could just get to the point where you see you’re going too far before the words actually come out of your mouth,” Fish said. “That would be miraculous.”

  “Yes, well, I’m not sure I want to go that far,” I said. “I’ll consider it, though. What’s the deal with the sheriff’s department? Are they having a news conference to release the name of the victim?”

  Fish nodded as he dug through the stack of papers on his desk, ultimately coming back with a release from the sheriff’s department. I took it and studied it, frowning when I realized what it said.

  “He did this on purpose.”

  Fish chuckled. “You saw that, too, huh?”

  “Saw what?” Duncan asked, leaning over my shoulder. I elbowed him to maintain a safe distance and shot him a nasty glare. “I was just looking!”

  “Don’t touch me or I’ll report you to Human Resources for sexually harassing me,” I warned, earning a snicker from Fish. Duncan reported me to Human Resources every chance he got. “Or I’ll tell Eliot you tried to get fresh and we can see what he wants to do about the situation.”

  Duncan swallowed hard. He was understandably terrified of Eliot. My boyfriend was a big guy with broad shoulders who liked to fight when the chance arose. Duncan was a tiny man (and I was pretty sure he was overcompensating for something tiny elsewhere) but he fancied himself strong. The only thing strong about him was his aftershave … and his absolute refusal to be a decent human being. “I’m not afraid of him,” he said, although he didn’t look convinced.