The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3

by Paula Lester

  Lydia shrugged. “Actually, I worked this morning. Didn’t go to any sessions.”

  Gloria’s eyes snapped up at that. “Worked? You mean like you reaped someone?”

  “Yeah. Timothy caught me before breakfast and told me to watch my reaper app. Said that life goes on and so does death. Or something sinister like that.” She blew a breath up at a curl bouncing into her eye. “It was a golfer having a stroke, which is kinda funny in a very morbid way. Timothy said that, because it was happening on the hotel’s golf course property, it made the most sense to assign a reaper from the conference to it.” She picked up a cherry tomato, examined it, and set it down again. “It was nice to get some fresh air, I guess.”

  “Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Gloria attacked her food with renewed zeal, satisfied with Lydia’s answer.

  Lydia stood. “I guess I don’t have much of an appetite. I’m going to head to my room for a nap before afternoon sessions. See you gals later.”

  Tessa watched the other reaper leave the room and then leaned over to Gloria. “That’s not the full scoop. Timothy followed Lydia to her assignment this morning. Stood there and watched her. It was like he could see the whole thing.”

  “Oh, yeah. I’m pretty sure people in his position are given the gift of Sight. In case they need to do an audit or something. Sounds like that’s what he was doing with Lydia.” Gloria seemed nonplussed. She frowned at her empty plate. “I’m still hungry.”

  Tessa still wasn’t satisfied. “But why would Timothy follow her today? During the conference. He left in the middle of a session to follow Lydia.”

  Gloria glanced at Tessa. “And how, exactly, do you know that?”

  She looked at her plate and mumbled, “Because I followed him.”

  “Ah.” Gloria chuckled. “Well, maybe he wanted to make sure Lydia is doing things by the book. He’s April’s lackey, after all. Maybe they’re worried that, after Cynthia’s death, she’d failed to perform her duties.”

  Tessa wasn’t so sure that was the reason. “I’m going to ask Timothy about it,” she decided.

  “Okay. Have fun with that. I’m going to get some more food.”

  Gloria hadn’t been gone for a minute when Lee Stuart lowered himself into her chair. He smiled and gestured at her almost empty plate. “Nice lunch today, eh?”

  “I guess. It hit the spot.”

  He rubbed his abdomen. “Sure did. Hey, listen, I was sitting over there,” he gestured to a nearby table, “eating by myself and preparing for my talk. I saw you over here, and I thought you should come. It’s right up your alley. It’s called Advancements in Your Reaper Career: How to Make it to Upper Management.”

  She was only in her first year as a reaper. Tessa didn’t want to think about advancing yet. She must have given him a look that said as much because Lee waved a hand. “Anyway, I also couldn’t help but overhear you say you plan to talk to Timothy about following that reaper on an assignment. I wanted to warn you—he’s a pretty squirrelly guy. Whatever you do, don’t go talk to him alone.”

  She tipped her head a bit, considering him. Timothy was taller than Tessa but seemed like he had no substance at all. She felt like she could push him over easily if he tried anything.

  “I’m here to be your wingman if you need one,” Lee offered.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.” She got up and grabbed her plate. “See you later.” As she left the room, Tessa scanned it for Timothy. There was no sign of him.

  She bussed her plate and went into the outer room. There were still a few reapers hanging around the buffet table, but it was slim pickings now. It was as though a flock of hungry vultures has descended on it. Only some sad-looking salami and a few wilted pieces of celery remained.

  Tessa didn’t see Timothy there either. Talking to him about Lydia would have to wait.

  She pulled out the presentation schedule from her purse and scanned it. There was slim pickings there too. Three of the sessions were repeats of talks she’d already been to. One was about how to sell actual life insurance if you had to. The only remaining one was Lee’s talk on advancement.

  With a sigh, Tessa stuffed the paper back in her purse and headed toward the room Lee’s talk was supposed to be in.

  As she went, she thought about Lydia’s reap and why Timothy had been there. Was Gloria right that he was simply acting as April’s stooge—micromanaging the help for his irritable boss?

  It didn’t quite ring true to Tessa. Neither did Timothy’s explanation about the reap itself. There must be an agency in Miami, and not everyone there would be attending the conference. Why weren’t they given the allotment instead of Lydia?

  She stumbled to a halt when someone stepped in front of her, blocking the way into the conference room. All she saw was a burgundy suit. Tessa’s head jerked up.

  It was Timothy.

  “Have you been following me?”

  Chapter 15

  TIMOTHY’S EXPRESSION was deadpan. Tessa swallowed hard. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to say.

  Suddenly, he laughed and clapped her on the arm. “Just joshing you. Seems like I keep seeing you everywhere. But it’s a conference. I guess we’re all basically in the same area most of the time.”

  Her laugh came out more nervous than she wanted it to, so Tessa cut it short. She straightened her shoulders. “You know, speaking of following, why did you follow Lydia this morning?”

  Timothy’s eyebrows rose in a question.

  Okay, she’d blurted that right out. Now she had to stick to her guns. “Sorry. I needed some air. That presentation was kind of boring. I happened to see you crossing the courtyard and wandered that direction myself. I didn’t realize there was a golf course over there. Then I saw Lydia doing a reap and you watching her.”

  He blew out a breath and looked at his feet. “Here’s the thing.” His eyes darted to both sides as though checking for eavesdroppers. “I have aspirations of becoming a reaper. At least, I did—until seeing what happened to Cynthia.” He paused, and a shudder wracked his thin frame. “It made me think I must not be cut out for it after all.”

  Tessa could understand that. She was already a reaper, and most every reap made her re-evaluate her career choice. Cynthia’s death had doubled down on that feeling for a hot second.

  Timothy averted his gaze. “So, I arranged for one of our reapers to get an allocation this morning and followed her to watch. I wanted to prove to myself I could still be a reaper if I wanted to.” He finally met Tessa’s gaze again. She couldn’t tell what the emotion was that played there.

  “And did you? Prove it to yourself, I mean?”

  His thin shoulders rose and fell. “I’m not sure.” He cleared his throat. “But the Miami office appreciated our help this morning. A lot of their folks are here at the conference, too, and their remaining reapers have been stretched pretty thin. I told them to just let me know if they need us to take any allocations off their hands.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  “Would you still think so if I send the next assignment to you?”

  She pursed her lips and studied him.

  Timothy waved a hand. “I promise I won’t follow you. I got the information I needed from Lydia’s reap. I just have to do some soul-searching on my own now.”

  “Fine,” Tessa agreed.

  “Thank you.” He stepped aside and swept a hand toward the conference room. “Enjoy your session.” As he walked away, he said over his shoulder, “Don’t forget to watch your app.”

  Tessa found a seat at the back of the conference room, pulled out her phone, and made sure it would vibrate if the reaper app went off during the presentation. Lee gave her a smile and a wave as he entered the room and headed for the lectern.

  Her mind wandered during the talk. She thought about Timothy wanting to be a reaper. Was that strictly an up-and-up aspiration? Or could the guy have more evil intentions? Like, was it possible he was a serial killer wanting to use reaping to d
o it? Maybe he’d been unable to secure a reaper job, so he’d had to use his accounting chops to do some killing.

  Tessa remembered the lack of blood perfusion in Timothy’s face after seeing Cynthia and dismissed that potential theory. The guy was almost certainly not a serial killer.

  But perhaps his desire to be a reaper meant Timothy wasn’t appropriately allocating deaths for another selfish reason. Could he have put in the order for Art’s death hoping to talk April into giving Timothy the empty position? And then, when that didn’t happen, arranged for Cynthia’s death for another shot at a job?

  It made sense. More than the serial killer thing. It qualified as a motive.

  Tessa’s phone lit up, and she grabbed it, half-expecting to see an assignment on the reaper app. But was it safe to go on a reap ordered by Timothy? Was it truly official or was his explanation a lie? He seemed to be onto the fact that Tessa was following him. Would he order her death next, in an attempt to get her job?

  But it wasn’t the reaper app that had caused the notification. It was a missed call from Cheryl. Tessa put the phone down and made a mental note to check for a voicemail from her mother later.

  At the end of the day’s presentations, Tessa checked her phone again. There was no message from Cheryl, but as she looked at the screen, a text from Silas appeared. It was as though he’d been watching for the clock to strike five and Tessa to be done for the day.

  Dinner date? I’ve got a hankerin’ for Thai.

  Tessa blinked at the word date but then shook her head. It was just a figure of speech. If she wanted to hone in on a word in the text to obsess over, it should be hankerin’. Who said that? And actually spelled it with an apostrophe in a text? Maybe Silas was the sociopath.

  Chuckling to herself, Tessa tapped the reaper app to check it once more.

  Nothing.

  She went to text him back but stopped midway. She chewed her bottom lip for a second.

  Silas texted again: Does this mean you don’t want Thai? I could go for Indian instead. BBQ? Empanadas again? I’m easy.

  Laughing, she decided Timothy must have decided to give the next assignment to someone else. Or maybe the local agency hadn’t shifted one over to him after all. She texted back: Mediterranean? Polynesian? A dinner date sounds great.

  She held her breath, wishing after hitting send that there was some way to get the text back and change the word date. Sure, Silas had used it first, but it could have been a figure of speech. She didn’t have to use it too, shining a huge figurative spotlight on it.

  His return text was perfectly normal, belying her obsession over the little word: Pick you up in 15.

  Tessa went to her room, changed into a light blue sundress, and sent a text to Gloria: Going out with Silas.

  The return text came back lightning fast: See you later. Remember: be spontaneous Tessa.

  Tessa rolled her eyes as she left the hotel room, slipping the phone into her purse after unmuting the notifications.

  Silas had just entered the lobby when Tessa got out of the elevator. He beamed at her. “How was your day?”

  “Fine. How about you? How’s that jellyfish sting?”

  His already bronze cheeks darkened even more. “Fine. Much better now. That isn’t something I want to experience again, though. Ready to head out?” He grabbed her elbow.

  With a nod, Tessa let him lead her out into the clear evening.

  In the end, they decided on Thai after all. Silas had already scoped out a place near the boardwalk.

  “I sat on the beach near here for a while at lunchtime, and the place was crazy busy,” he explained. “I figured they must have decent food.” He grinned as they settled into their chairs. “How about some appetizers?”

  “Yes. I’m starved.”

  Her phone buzzed.

  Tessa winced as she had a premonition about what that buzz meant. With reluctance, she pulled the phone out of her purse to confirmed it. Yep. It was the reaper app.

  She had an assignment. And it was nearby—at the pier.

  Tessa glanced at Silas. “Um. Can you order for us while I run out for a few minutes?”

  “Where do you need to go?” He rose halfway from the chair. “I’ll just go with you. We can come back afterward.”

  She shook her head and reached over to push him back into the chair. “No, no. I just have to meet Gloria and give her my pass key to the room. She lost hers.”

  He sank down. “Oh, well, that’s easy. She can just get a new one at the hotel’s front desk. I had to do it a couple days ago.”

  “She doesn’t have any ID on her to prove who she is. It’s all inside the room. It’ll just take me a few minutes. Why don’t you order a few appetizers for us? I’ll be right back.” With a reassuring smile, Tessa hurried off, hoping he’d bought her excuse.

  She paused outside the restaurant to check her reaper app. When she saw who the deceased was, Tessa frowned, and her stomach flopped. Grudgingly, she tapped the assignment to accept it, and a map popped up with Tessa’s position marked by a glowing green dot and the assignment’s in yellow. The reap was surrounded by blue water, all the way at the end of the pier.

  Tessa hurried in that direction, hoping she could get done quickly and back to Silas before the appetizers got cold.

  When she arrived, Tessa scanned the area, looking for the person that matched the picture in her app. She found her right away.

  A mother stood by the railing, looking out at the ocean. She held the hand of a little girl who looked to be about two or three and moved a stroller slowly back and forth with the other.

  Tessa’s heart squeezed. She started forward but then a thought skittered across her mind.

  Is this right?

  It didn’t feel right. Of course, Tessa knew bad things happened sometimes, but right here, right now, things just felt . . . off.

  Why was Timothy allocating deaths to conference-going reapers? Was his explanation about helping the Miami agency true? Or was something else going on?

  Could he be manipulating the allocations to get the numbers right after Cynthia’s unauthorized death?

  Tessa made a snap decision. She moved forward quickly, toward the young family. When the mother let go of the little girl’s hand and turned to lift the baby out of the stroller, Tessa broke into a run.

  She made it there just in a time. There was a spot of railing, under construction, where the only thing holding anyone back was some caution tape and a cone. As the girl began to wobble on the edge, about to fall into the choppy waters where she was scheduled to die, Tessa grabbed her under the arms, pulling her gently back.

  The mother snatched up the girl’s hand. “Oh my goodness! I can’t believe that almost happened. I was getting Davey out of his stroller. Dani, you can’t go near the edge! Look! There’s no rail!” Her voice was gentle but held the barely restrained panic of someone who understood what had almost happened. She looked at Tessa. “Thank you so much. How did you . . .”

  “I was in the right place at the right time, that’s all. I happened to see your little girl get close to the edge.” Tessa smiled at the woman.

  “Thank you. I’ve been . . . having a hard time lately. Since my husband left. I just wanted us to come out and see the ocean. You know, relax for a minute.” She shook her head. “I should have known better. My kiddos are still so young.” She blinked back tears.

  Tessa shook her head. “It was just one of those things. Kids are so fast.” Tessa walked with them, grabbing the stroller and pushing while the woman carried Davey and held tightly to Dani’s hand. “I’m sorry to hear about your husband.”

  The woman nodded. “It’s probably for the best.” She glanced at Dani. It was clear she didn’t want to say too much in front of the girl about her father.

  “I’ve had my share of rotten relationships.” Tessa thought about Frank, her most recent ex-boyfriend. He had been a real jerk. “But I still think there are good guys out there.” An image of Silas danced in h
er mind’s eye, making her smile.

  The young mother smiled too. “I know. I just have to focus on my kiddos for right now.” She didn’t let go of Dani’s hand but leaned forward. “Thanks again. I . . . I think you saved her life.”

  Tessa nodded, gave Dani one last smile, and headed down the boardwalk toward the Thai restaurant. But after only a couple of steps, Silas stepped out of the shadows in front of her.

  His face was covered with confusion. “Where’s Gloria?” He glanced at Dani and her mother. “And what just happened? How did you know that girl was going to fall in the water? Did your phone tell you that?”

  Tessa arranged her face into an innocent expression. “What?” She glanced over her shoulder at the trio she’d just left. “Oh. Um. No. It didn’t. I just happened to be walking by and saw her wobbling on the edge.”

  He shook his head. “That was . . . awesome how you saved her. But I swear it wasn’t random. You came directly here. Walked right out there and grabbed that girl. As though you knew it was about to happen.” His brow furrowed. “How is that possible?”

  “It’s not. Gloria told me to meet her here. But she found her key. Why did you follow me?”

  He shrugged. “It’s just this feeling I have. Since back home in Mist River. Remember the casino thing?” He stepped closer. “Tessa, I really like you. Like, enough that I want to be in a relationship with you.”

  Her heart beat faster.

  “But something isn’t quite right. There’s something going on with you.” He crossed his arms. “Can’t you just tell me what it is so we can move on? So I can feel like you aren’t lying to me?”

  She pressed her lips together, considering. Gloria had suggested that it may be okay for Silas to know the truth at some point. But now certainly wasn’t the time. He’d only just mentioned the word relationship. It had to be much further down the road.