by Laina Turner
“You said this person or persons left notes?” I asked.
“Not direct threats in the sense of someone threatening bodily harm or targeting one specific contestant, but the notes conveyed to the girls they were being watched and it really spooked them. That’s why we called Cooper. The girls were freaked, and when we started registration for this pageant, several of our normal pageant goers were hesitant to attend, and if attendance goes down it affects our sponsors and we’ve already lost one. If we aren’t careful it will cause a downward spiral of revenue. I can’t blame them or the parents. I would feel the same way if it were my daughter. I thought it would reassure them if I hired someone to look after things. You know, figure out who is behind this and stop it before it completely spirals out of control. Though, after today I guess it’s too late for that,” he said dejectedly.
I leaned over to where my purse was sitting on the chair beside me and pulled out my notebook and pen. Setting it on the table, I opened it and asked, “Who were the girls who received the threatening notes?”
“There were three of them,” Harvey responded. “Allie Riley, Marissa Combs, and Janine Altell.”
“Are one of these girls the one you found in the atrium?”
He shook his head no.
“Are these girls friends?”
“All the girls are friendly. I mean, they see each other and compete against each other all the time. I’m not sure they are friends outside the pageant circuit. We don’t keep track of such things.”
“Were they the same girls whose photos were leaked?”
“One of them, Allie. There were four other girls whose photos were leaked, and they did not register for this pageant unfortunately,” Harvey said, shaking his head.
“Presley and I are going to need to talk to the girls,” Cooper said.
“That’s fine. You have access to whomever and whatever you need. My assistant, Linda, can tell you if they have checked in or not and where they might be. She’s the gatekeeper of the schedule and everything else. In fact, let me introduce you to her now. I’ve got to run to another meeting. These sponsors keep me hopping,” Harvey said, looking at his watch and standing up, motioning for us to follow him. We walked out of the conference room and around the corner to a small office. There sat a blonde woman, mid-thirties, attractive, working on a computer. She was an older version of the girls I had seen at Starbucks earlier and had been standing next to Harvey when the girl was found.
“Linda, I want you to meet Cooper Sands and Presley Thurman. They are both from Sands Security. You remember the firm I told you I hired to find out who was behind these shenanigans?”
Linda smiled. “Of course, I saw you down in the lobby,” she said warmly. “Nice to meet you.”
“Linda, I need to run to a meeting with the photographer and the dress sponsor for tomorrow night, so would you please give these folks whatever information they might need? They have some questions about the girls and such.”
“Sure, Harvey.”
“I’ll catch up with you folks later, then,” Harvey said, giving us a wave.
Chapter 3
Sorry, we have to go to the other side of the hotel. We kind of take space where they have it, and it’s not always conveniently located,” Linda said apologetically as I followed her down the hall. Harvey had left for his meeting, and Cooper had a conference call with another client he needed to prepare for. He told me to talk to Linda about her version of what had happened and to get a handle on the contestants’ schedules.
“No problem. After being on the plane for a few hours it’s nice to walk around. How long have you worked for Harvey?” I asked, making small talk.
“Ten years. I used to do pageants when I was younger, and after college I took a job here until I could find one in my field, and somehow I’m still here and don’t see myself leaving anytime soon,” she said and I kind of got the feeling she was a bit sad about it.
“What did you originally plan on doing after college?”
“I have a degree in biology and thought I would go on to do something in research. Maybe go on to get my master’s.” She shrugged. “Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you think they are going to.”
That surprised me. As beautiful as Linda was, I wouldn’t have assumed biology would be her thing. “I get that. I went to school for business with a focus in human resources and worked my way up to VP before I realized I hated what I was doing. Since then I’ve been dabbling in random things trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up. I’m still not sure.”
Linda paused in front of a door and got out a set of keys, riffling through to find the right one. She unlocked the door and we walked in.
“How did you get into the security business?” she asked.
“I’ve known Cooper for years. We went to high school together and reconnected a short while ago when I was trying my hand at being a journalist of sorts. I was writing about a senator who Cooper had as a client. The senator turned up dead and I helped find the killer. I’ve been crossing paths with Cooper in some form ever since. Seems very convoluted when you say it.
“At least you’re trying new and different things. It will help you figure out what you really want to do. I sometimes think I will just die working here. Be a seventy-year-old beauty queen has-been. I need to try something different. This is all I’ve ever known and it’s scary to think about doing something else. You know what I mean?” She paused and pulled out some files.
“Here is the information on each of the girls. If you can tell me what you are specifically hoping to find, I can help,”
“I guess I would first like to see the files on the girls who were harassed at the last couple pageants.” I flipped through my notebook. Harvey said that was, “Allie Riley, Marissa Combs, and Janine Altell.”
“You are correct,” Linda said and looked at the files in her hand. “These have all the contestant information we ask for, you know, the basic information, along with their room assignments and dressing room stations.” Linda finally found the ones she was looking for and handed them to me. “You might also want…”
A loud scream interrupted whatever it was Linda was going to say. We both turned our heads toward the door just as another loud scream ripped through the hall.
“That sounds like it’s coming from the practice room! C’mon on,” Linda said, setting the files down, rushing out of the room and back down the hall.
I followed her down the hall at a fast jog, a pretty good pace for two women in high heels. Linda pushed a set of double doors open and we burst into a large room that had a makeshift runway and about half a dozen girls in evening wear. The girls were standing around a beautiful blonde, though they all were gorgeous—not surprising since this was a beauty pageant. It made me feel a bit on the frumpy side to be surrounded by all these beauties. This environment could be tough on the self-esteem.
“That’s Allie,” Linda said to me, pointing to the girl being surrounded. “Allie, were you the one screaming? What happened?” Linda asked as she rushed over to her.
“Oh, Linda, I’m so glad you’re here. I was so scared!” Allie said, grabbing Linda and hugging her. I could tell Linda was a mother figure of sorts to these girls. They seemed to look up to her.
After a second, Linda asked her again. “What happened? Why were you screaming? Are you OK?”
“I’m fine, just freaked out. I went to unpack my practice dress and there was a dead mouse in the box. Someone had to have put it there. I had it cleaned after the last pageant and I packed it myself a few days ago when I was getting ready. And there sure wasn’t a dead mouse in there then.”
I shuddered. I could understand the screaming. I would scream, too, if I found a dead mouse in my clothes. Especially in what appeared to be a dress worth several hundred dollars. I once had a mouse die in my dresser drawer and it was a disgusting experience.
“April, why don’t you take Allie and get her a bottle of water or
a Diet Coke while she calms down.”
I was thinking I would have wanted something a little stronger, but then I remembered these girls were young, no matter what age they looked.
“Okay, Linda. Let’s go, Allie,” April said, putting her arm around the girl and leading her out of the room.
Linda turned to me and said quietly, “Do you think this could have anything to do with our issues of late?”
“I don’t know. Is it possible the mouse could have crawled into her things and died?”
Linda shook her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, it could happen I guess, but surely this hotel would not have a mouse problem, and neither would Allie’s house.”
“I don’t see any chew marks, and the lid seems pretty tight, so I doubt the mouse could get the lid off, crawl in there and die,” I said, handing Linda the box to see for herself. The mouse was lying on the floor where it must have fallen out. It was gross.
“Is this indicative of the type of issues you’ve been experiencing?”
“Very much so. Not super scary, just nuisances. Just a second, while I call maintenance to clean this up.” Linda stepped over to the house phone to call someone to take care of the rodent, and I examined the box Allie’s dress had been in. How would a mouse get in there? I knew they could squeeze into tight places, but surely not this tight. I definitely needed to talk to Allie when she got back. She was one of the girls Linda had mentioned who had issues before, so maybe these incidents were related. The question was why were these girls being harassed? What would someone possibly have to gain by engaging in these petty actions?
“Maintenance will be here in a few minutes. This is not the start we need. These girls are already nervous,” Linda said fretfully, “and not all of them even know about Hollie.”
“Are you going to tell them?”
“I was thinking maybe we should have a meeting and let them know. To dispel the rumors that are surely flying around. I can see this building up to even worse drama than it already is.”
“I would completely agree with that.”
“What’s your take on this, Linda? What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know. At first I thought it was harmless pranks the girls were playing on each other, you know catty, juvenile behavior, but I’m not so sure now. It seems to be going on quite a long time for just silly pranks and with what happened to Hollie…” She shuddered.
“Do any of the girls have a grudge against the others, or anything like that? To the point they would kill someone?”
“I couldn’t even imagine it getting to that point. None of these girls are malicious. There is rivalry of course, but they really are a good group of girls.”
“Linda, I hate to interrupt, but Harvey needs you to pull the Blue Cat sponsor file and bring it to him in the Linden room.” We were interrupted by a short woman holding a clipboard. She wore an ill-fitting blue polyester suit and had her frizzy brown hair in a loose bun, with several pens stuck in it. I assumed she stuck them there and forgot where she’d put them. Something I had done myself from time to time. She didn’t seem to fit with the other, more polished, folks of the pageant.
“That’s okay, Elaine,” Linda said and turned to me. “I’m sorry, I need to get that for him. Elaine, this is Presley. Elaine will help you with anything you need, and I’ll be back to find you as soon as I can.”
“That’s fine,” I said, waving her away. “Go do what you need to do.”
“Hi,” the brunette said, sticking out her hand to shake mine. “I’m a handler.”
“Nice to meet you. What’s a handler?”
“I am the one responsible for keeping the girls on track with the schedule of events. It’s a bit like herding cats.” Elaine laughed. “So you’re with the security people, right? Harvey told me you were here. I’m basically just an assistant, but someday I hope to have a glamorous job like yours. How does one get into security work? I’m sorry, I know I’m babbling, but this is so exciting. Not exciting that someone died, of course, I just mean having people like you here.”
Elaine was talking so fast my head was spinning. I didn’t even know how to respond to all that.
“I’d be glad to tell you more about what I do Elaine, though it’s not glamorous, but first I need your take on things.”
Chapter 4
So I hear you had a run-in with a mouse?” Cooper said as we sat down for dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. After the long day we’d had, I was looking forward to a glass of wine and a nice meal so I would feel refreshed and able to put my brain to figuring out what exactly was going on here. I was happy now I had come with Cooper.
“Yeah, it was great,” I said sarcastically. “You know how I love dead rodents. I keep thinking this couldn’t be the work of the same person who killed Nicole, could it? I’m assuming she was murdered?”
Cooper nodded. “Yes, the preliminary findings were that she was poisoned. The detective said he would let me know when he got more information.”
“What did Harvey say?” I asked.
“He said he couldn’t even imagine who would do such a thing.”
“Linda said the same thing.”
“What kind of read did you get on her, or any of the girls for that matter?”
“Linda has worked for Harvey for years and used to be a beauty queen herself. There’s a young girl named Elaine, who is an assistant or rather a “handler,” I said using finger quotes. “And she’s annoying as hell, but I think she means well and certainly seems harmless enough. I met a few others who seemed equally as harmless. I definitely didn’t meet anyone who seemed capable of murder.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to the ones who were targeted that you were supposed to talk to Linda about?”
“Yes, well, sort of,” I said. “One of the girls, Allie Riley, was the one who found the mouse. I was planning on talking to her, but she went to get a drink to calm down after the mouse excitement and never came back. I have the files on her and the other two girls who were victims, Janine and Marissa, but I haven’t been able to talk to them yet. After the mouse incident, everyone sort of took off and didn’t come back. That threw Elaine into a tizzy. I gather she’s the one who is supposed to keep those girls corralled and to make sure they are where they are supposed to be I think the organization of the day just fell apart. I will cycle back tomorrow. Linda mentioned having a meeting to tell all the girls what’s going on. Do you know if they’re going to do that?”
“Harvey mentioned it and I suggested we wait until we have more information.”
“Excuse me, sir, ma’am. Can I take your drink order?” a waiter asked.
“Riesling for me, please,” I said.
“Jack on the rocks,” said Cooper.
The waiter nodded, told us the specials, and said he would be back with our drinks.
“More information on what? Exactly what happened to Nicole?” I said, prompting him to pick up where he left off.
“Yeah. I don’t want to create a panic when we don’t even know what happened.”
Just then a harried Elaine rushed up to our table at the same time the waiter arrived to drop off our drinks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, as I could tell by the look on her face she was upset.
“Harvey sent me to find you. There’s been another … incident.”
Cooper jumped up, grabbed his wallet, and threw some bills on the table to cover our drinks. I looked longingly at my Riesling and grabbed a quick sip before we followed Elaine out of the restaurant.
“Do you know what’s happened?” Cooper asked Elaine.
“All I know is one of the girls didn’t show up for practice tonight and when we went to look for her, we found her unconscious in the hallway,” she said, a little out of breath since we were walking super fast.
“What?” I exclaimed.
“She was just starting to come to when Harvey and Linda told me to come find you.”
“How did you know
we were at dinner?” I asked.
“I didn’t,” said Elaine. “I rang your room and got no answer, so I assumed you might be eating and I’ve just been checking each place around here until I found you.”
“You could have called my cell,” Cooper said.
“Oh, I didn’t even think of that. She’s just down this hall.”
We turned the corner to see everyone gathered around a brunette who was sitting on the floor, holding the back of her head.
As soon as we got close and Harvey saw us, he started yelling at Cooper. “How could you let this happen? I hired you to prevent this from happening and now someone else has been hurt!”
“Harvey, I understand …”
“No, you don’t understand! Another one of my girls was hurt on your watch and you’d better make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
“I will, Harvey, I will. Now what happened?” Cooper said in a very calming voice that seemed to soothe Harvey just a little.
“Why don’t you talk to Camille?” he said, nodding in the direction of the girl who was sitting down. “She said someone hit her from behind.”
“OK. Harvey, I will talk to her and we will find out who is behind all this. You just need to be patient.”
“We don’t have time to be patient, Cooper,” Harvey said, but much more calmly.
Cooper nodded in agreement and then went over to Camille. I followed him so I could hear what she had to say.
“Hi, Camille. I’m Cooper Sands. Can you tell me what happened?”
She hesitated and looked up at Harvey, who nodded, signaling it was OK for her to talk, I assumed.
“Well, I was running late to rehearsal and was running down the hall to the ballroom when a man stopped me to ask if I knew which direction to the lobby. He said he was turned around. Next thing I knew I woke up lying on the floor with Linda shaking me,” she said softly.
