A Sneeze to Die For

by Teresa Trent

  “Not a lot,” Nora admitted. This wasn’t just history to her, but ancient history. It was even before her mother’s time.

  Izzy nodded and began in her most scholarly reference desk voice, “They were an antiwar protest group. Not all the members were caught. They were responsible for an explosion that killed a janitor sleeping in the basement of a government building. I guess they thought the building was empty.”

  Nora looked back at the screen again. “He was trying to tell the world he found a member of the Sunshine Brigade and it was our visiting mystery writer?” Nora had a tough time grasping this truth. Evangeline Cartwright was one of the nicest people she had ever met. If she had been a part of a violent protest group in the 60s, it was a surprise.

  “I guess he was. We can’t tell anybody. It would ruin Evangeline.” Once again Izzy was willing to stand up for Evangeline, no matter what the cost.

  Nora debated what she should do next. With all her vows about becoming a more trustworthy person, she knew she had to tell Tuck. She wanted some time to figure all of this out.

  “At least not right now.” Nora said. With this latest information, Nora’s head was spinning. There had been two murders since the Meow Meetup had started, both the victim’s investigative reporters. If this was what they were on to she also had to deduce that the person with the biggest motive was Izzy’s new hero. Evangeline Cartwright. The same hero that Tuck was about to question. She had to tell him before he met with her. He could be facing down a murderer.

  Chapter 29

  W

  Izzy grabbed the thumb drive out of Nora’s hand and slipped it into the pocket of her tweed skirt.

  “Believe me, in my job I know. Information is power. Until you are absolutely sure Evangeline is involved, this thumb drive will be locked up in the library. I will not have my hero railroaded by the local gendarme,” Izzy told her.

  “Izzy. Give me that. It doesn’t belong to you,” Nora extended her hand palm up.

  “And technically it doesn’t belong to you either.”

  How far would the little librarian go to protect her idol, Nora thought? Was she loyal enough to commit a murder? Was she now in league with the killer? Nora continued. “Be reasonable. This is evidence. I need to share this with the police.

  A guest passed them, and Izzy waited for her to be well clear of their conversation. Finally, there was an edge in her voice when she whispered, “You can’t do that. They’ll arrest her for what was an impetuous time in her youth. For God sakes, it was the free love sixties. Everyone gets a pardon for that time. Even without the valuable rehabilitation the prison would have given her, she turned out fine. Better than fine, she became the world’s greatest mystery writer. Let the past be the past. Don’t bring her down, sister. I promise I’ll give it up, but for now. I’m keeping it,” Izzy informed her. Nora knew how much Evangeline meant to Izzy.

  Nora didn’t see Evangeline as any kind of threat to society. She also didn’t see herself as Izzy’s sister.

  Izzy made a quick exit just as Max and Marty joined Dominic at the front desk, stopping the conversation.

  Sasha Calais came out of the elevator and placed her bill on the front desk beginning her check-out process as she opened her soft black leather clutch. She had replaced her usual black attire with a beautifully tailored white suit, white and black hat and black patent leather heels with white accents.

  “I hope you enjoyed your stay,” Nora said through gritted teeth.

  Sasha looked up and a Cheshire cat grin came across her face. “Oh, my yes. I enjoyed my stay. Nothing like reconnecting with old friends … with benefits.” Her eyes shone a deep feline glow as they challenged Nora.

  “That’s not what he said,” Nora countered. She was not going to be put in her place by this alley cat. Being different from Izzy Franklin, she didn’t need to hit her to strike a blow.

  “Oh, I’m sure he told you some fanciful tale. Frankly dear, you should look in the mirror. He is so out of your league,” she purred.

  Marty and Max exchanged glances not saying a word. They waited for the next exchange between the two women.

  Nora shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe what you want, my dear. I will have fond memories of Piney Woods, and it will have nothing to do with the smell of cows or dried up oil wells.” Sasha pulled a pair of black sunglasses out of her bag, put them on, and gracefully turned for the door. “Ciao, baby.”

  Max covered his hand with his mouth, holding in a laugh. “Wow, Nora. What happened?”

  “It was nothing. She and Tuck knew each other in college. Tuck told me she came onto him, not the other way around.”

  Marty came around and put a protective arm around Nora. “That’s my Tuck. Always the gentleman.”

  “Maybe she drugged him and used his body without a thought,” Max said his eyes getting a little dreamy.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. How is everything going?”

  “It’s going good. Well except for the second dead guy they just found,” Dominic said as he reached under the counter. “Now that my relief is here I think I’ll go see what’s cooking in the kitchen. If they only knew how to make my mother’s veal parmesan.”

  Dominic took off toward the kitchen whistling. Marty leaned forward and lowered her voice, “Even with this latest death many of the guests are talking about coming back and visiting Piney Woods on vacation. I guess we are now an official vacation destination.”

  “And don’t forget the smell of cows and dried up oil wells.”

  “Well, she did sample one local attraction,” Max said under his breath.

  “Stop, Max,” Marty said hitting him on the arm playfully. Max reddened at her attention. She turned to Nora.

  “Do they know anything about this second death?”

  “Tuck thinks someone might have run him over with a car.”

  “Ouch,” Max winced.

  “He was looking for someone to interview. He really wanted to talk to Evangeline, but I don’t think he talked to her.”

  “You know, Mrs. Martin-Ortega told me that she was going to book a cat breeder to be the keynote speaker, but then Evangeline Cartwright called her and volunteered. She came all the way from New York City to our little town in Texas. It couldn’t have worked out any better for us.” Marty went on.

  “Maybe we should comp her room?” Max asked.

  “We aren’t that grateful,” Marty said as she took a piece of paper off the printer. “Right now, at the Tunie, every paid bill helps. Besides that, I’m sure it will be paid by the Meow Meetup Convention funds. No freebies and no discounts.”

  Nora liked the sound of that. She would have to get Tatty to embroider it for the lobby. She nodded. “You’re right. Absolutely. Would you like for me to slip that under her door?” Nora wanted to have an excuse to talk to Evangeline anyway, especially after taking so much time away from the convention with her investigation of Mr. Shaw.

  “Would you?” With everything that had happened to the elevator Nora hadn’t seen neither Max nor Marty get into the thing. The guests however, blindly boarded the potential death trap.

  She started toward the elevator thinking about Izzy. She couldn’t even rule Izzy out as a suspect. She was fiercely protective of her mentor writer, but was it enough to take out a balding obnoxious reporter? If Nora could just keep her focus, then maybe she could figure out what was going on and what really happened to Alan Shaw. Considering the information he was collecting on that thumb drive, she now felt sure he was murdered.

  “Excuse me.” Nora bumped into Mrs. Martin-Ortega who had planted herself right in her path. She looked vastly different than she had upon checking in. There were now faint purple bags under her eyes and she seemed to have a cold.

  Nora startled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

>   “Maybe you should look up when you walk. I was checking our billing for the convention. There seems to be some substantial errors on your part, not at all surprising with your one-star status.” She flipped the paper directly in Nora’s face. “I’ll need you to fix it to reflect the accurate discount promised to us.”

  Nora felt the anger bubbling up in her. This woman had been demanding and condescending. “The bill is accurate.” Her statement was short and to the point, but lost on Camille Martin-Ortega.

  “You know what I’m talking about. We came here thinking that you were a five-star hotel. We experienced inaccurate menus, a death because of faulty equipment and a local causing a disruption in the dining room over our keynote speaker. I know Texas is considered the wild west, but we were promised the mild west. This is a one-star establishment and we are compensating you based on what your hotel is worth.”

  “The one-star ratings were a malicious attack on the Tunie by a man who described places he had never been. And if that man were alive we would be suing him for slander.”

  “I guess pushing him down the elevator shaft was so much more efficient for you. At the risk of my own personal safety, we will either pay the discounted price or not pay at all. Do you understand me, or do I need to speak more slowly?” Once again, she took a condescending tone with Nora.

  “I discussed it with my partner.” Nora looked over at Marty who was still standing at the front desk with Max. She hadn’t realized it, but they had been listening intently to the conversation. Nora gave Marty a look to come over and help, but Marty simply returned a thumbs-up. Camille Martin-Ortega was formidable even to Marty. Nora was on her own. She took a breath, determined not to be undermined by the convention organizer. “If you wish to break the contractual agreement that we have, we will be glad to take you to court for trying to skip out on your hotel bill. Oh, and good luck trying to book another hotel for next year. Hotel managers are famous for sharing information about their most troublesome groups with other hotel managers. It’s sort of a free therapy thing, seeing as we don’t get paid enough. Pay in full or we’ll see you in court.”

  Mrs. Martin-Ortega started to open her mouth, but then found she had nothing to say. Nora stormed past the elevator and off to the stairway slamming the door behind her. She felt so much rage that climbing four sets of stairs would be the best thing for her. Once she was on the other side of the door and out of the vision of Mrs. Martin-Ortega, she took a deep breath. Had she really told off the organizer of the Meow Meetup? She wasn’t sure, but she thought she had. She might have just committed professional suicide, but something inside of her had burst. Once it started coming out, she found it was difficult to stop. Camille Martin-Ortega had been angling for a discount she didn’t deserve. Nora clutched Evangeline’s bill and started climbing the steps. When she got to the top floor, she had to place her hands on her knees to take a quick breath. She would not need membership in a gym if she kept using the stairs instead of the elevator. As her hands rested on her knees, she noticed that the cleaning staff was still not vacuuming under the end tables that rested next to the elevator. There was a small piece of white fluff lodged in the corner and she bent over to grab it. She examined the white fluff. It resembled something that she had seen earlier this week. She stuffed it into her pocket and knocked on Evangeline’s door.

  Nora’s cellphone rang in her pocket as she awaited Evangeline’s answer.

  Marty was shouting through the phone, “Nora, get down here. The Meow Meet-up organizer just passed out. She sprawled out on the floor in the dining room.”

  Chapter 30

  W

  Nora rushed down the stairwell toward the kitchen.

  “What happened?” Nora said as she found Camille Martin Ortega, gasping for breath in the middle of the dining room.

  “It looks like she is having a serious asthma attack. We’ve called an ambulance.”

  Nora got down on the floor and took Camille’s hand. “Camille, do you have asthma? Do you have an inhaler somewhere?”

  Camille’s body heaved, struggling so for breath that she couldn’t answer. Nora looked around. “Her purse. Does anyone know where her purse is?”

  One of the convention goers brought a brown leather bag over from a side table. Upon seeing it, Nora remembered Camille standing next to it speaking into her phone not too long ago. She rummaged through the bag but did not find anything that could help Camille. When she touched the screen of the phone, it lit up before her.

  Bubby Tidwell led the ambulance crew as they thundered into the room. Instead of the normal reflective fire gear, today Buddy had on the uniform of an emergency medical technician. “How are you Miss Nora? Hopin’ I get my next rescue on the books today.” But he was famous for rescuing the townspeople of Piney Woods. He had personally rescued Nora once and would never let her forget it. He focused in on Camille, gasping on the floor. “Hi there, Ma’am. I’m Bubby Tidwell, and you can calm down now. I’ve rescued half this town, including ol’ Nora here.” He pulled a small box from his bag, attached a mask and then fastened it to Camille’s face. He then turned to the crowd who was watching him and spoke like a first aid tour guide.

  “Don’t worry. Your friend will be fine in just a few minutes. No need to panic. We have it all under control.”

  Nora watched the entire scene but couldn’t stay. She had a hunch and right now would be the perfect time to check it out. She pulled Camille’s room key out of her bag.

  “I’m going to head upstairs to … see if she has an inhaler up there.”

  “Okay boss,” Max saluted. Marty’s smile reassured Nora that she was grateful for her leadership in a crisis.

  Nora headed up the stairs to the next floor. Panting for breath, she quickly opened the door of 213. A guest from 211 poked her head out bedecked in blue plastic curlers.

  “What is going on?”

  “Mrs. Martin-Ortega had an asthma attack. I’m looking for an inhaler.”

  The guest from 211 gasped and went inside her room. A second later she re-entered the hall, a handbag over her arm and a scarf over her head. “I’ll just go check on her.” Like many people, she couldn’t resist slowing down for an accident.

  When Nora entered, she found the room to be empty and freshly cleaned by the staff. Catpurnicus, in all his glory was nonchalantly licking his paw resting on the neatly made bed. What was he doing in Camille Martin-Ortega’s room? The implications of his presence here would have to be resolved later. Even though he had been away from his owner for days now, he seemed extremely content. Was he on some sort of kitty Xanax for his nerves? Why was this cat still here?

  “Here Kitty Kitty.”

  Catpurnicus gave Nora a disinterested stare and then purred. He appeared to be a nice cat now that he was out of his cat carrier as Nora had seen him earlier. Leaning over the bed and reaching for the cat, her hand grew closer to the gentle rumbling, but then the purring turned to a low-pitched growl. She reached out to grab the cat, but Catpurnicus swiped at her with a claw. Did the cat think she was playing?

  “It’s okay, boy. It’s okay.” She reached out once again, and this time Catpurnicas scrambled under the bed. This was one of the few rooms that they had not installed blocker boards under the bed to keep guests from losing electronics and stray items of clothing. the cat settled into the middle of the space underneath the box spring.

  “Here Kitty, Kitty.” Catpurnicus ignored Nora. It was obvious he was going to be under the bed and she was free to go on her way. If she couldn’t get the cat to come willingly, maybe she could lure him out. Looking around the room Nora found a cat toy that consisted of a ribboned stick with a pink feathery bird on the end and a bag of cat food. Grabbing both she crawled to the bed to look at the cat. First, she held out the toy wiggling it a bit.

  “Hey Catpurnicus, don’t you want to play?” Her voice was artificially sweet as she tried
to coax the reluctant feline.

  Catpurnicus was not in the least interested, no matter how goofy she sounded.

  “Fine.” Nora held out her hand with food in it and Catpurnicus finally flinched. “Doesn’t this look delicious? Come on baby, I got a whole bag of the stuff.” Nora waved it around a little more. The small brown kibble looked about as appetizing as a handful of erasers, but there was no doubt the finicky cat was interested. Catpurnicus started scooting towards the edge of the bed and when he was close enough for Nora to grab, she reached out and pulled him into the daylight. Even though she was sure she hadn’t hurt him, Catpurnicus growled at her as her arms closed around him. Nora started feeding him the cat food that he had given up his freedom for. Grabbing another handful of food from the stiff paper bag she exited the room with her unhappy charge. As she went down the steps with the cat, her nose began to tickle. By the time she opened the door the urge to sneeze had become overwhelming.

  When Nora entered the dining room, Max turned around.

  “You found the cat! That’s wonderful.” Before Nora could give them any kind of greeting an enormous sneeze exploded out of her. Catpurnicus took the sneeze as his opportunity to jump ship. He immediately ran in the direction of the kitchen. Nora ran into the empty restaurant where Max stood guard.

  “Oh no. It took me forever to catch him upstairs. ,” Nora said sniffing after her double sneeze.

  “And I suppose you want me to catch him?

  As far as she was concerned she had done enough for that stupid cat, but letting him run could cause a negative review.

  “Why don’t we both go after him? Remember, we’re trying to keep the one-star reviews to a minimum.”

  “Yes, because a death in the elevator shaft isn’t enough for anyone to write a rotten review. Where is did you find him?”

  “Camille Martin-Ortega’s room.”

  “Dang. This is getting interesting.”

  The cat had run under a table in the dining room and was running from white tablecloth to white tablecloth as Max and Nora chased him.