Dead and Dusted, Lily Webb [epub read online books .txt] 📗

drifted up to mine. “Why have you been trying to get Brady fired?”

“I told you, he’s the worst security guard I’ve ever met. He often wanders off when he’s supposed to be protecting Mr. Marth and me. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve come out of a meeting only to find he’s missing in action.”

“For Mr. Marth’s head of security, that’s pretty bad.”

“You’re telling me! I mean, he always covers for himself by having another guard take his place, but he shouldn’t be leaving at all! Like you said, Brady is the head of Mr. Marth’s security detail, he should be with Mr. Marth at all times.”

“What’s he doing when he wanders off like that?”

Evie scoffed. “I don’t have a clue. I guess you’ll have to ask him that yourself, but good luck getting the truth out of him. He might be terrible at his job, but he’s got one spell of a poker face.”

Well, I’d just have to see about that.

Chapter 5

When Brady re-entered the reception room, he did so with a pleased expression. Kade hadn’t joined him, which I assumed meant that Brady had properly scared him about running his mouth or flashing his camera unnecessarily.

Despite my eyes trailing his every move, Brady crossed the room toward Blair — probably because he knew what Evie thought of him and the things she’d told me. As he passed us, Evie stared at the bald-headed bodyguard as if he were about to draw his wand and blow us both to smithereens. Thankfully, though, she kept her pointed accusations quiet.

“We have to go home. None of us are safe here with him,” she whispered to me. I thought that was more than a little dramatic, but I chose not to share. We still had zero evidence that Brady had anything to do with Leland’s death, but that didn’t mean Brady wasn’t hiding something.

I watched him talking in hushed tones with Blair for a few moments before I worked up the courage to interrupt them. “Excuse me for a second, Evie,” I said and stood before she could object. Still, as I made my way toward Brady and Blair, I struggled with what to say. What was I supposed to do, tap Brady on the shoulder and ask him point-blank if he’d killed his boss? There wasn’t any universe in which that would work.

Luckily for me, Brady beat me to the punch. As if he had eyes in the back of his head that saw me coming, he turned and fixed me with an unsettling smile. “Suffice it to say I don’t think the reporter will be a problem for us.”

“Oh. What did you say to him?”

“That’s not important. What matters is that he knows where he stands and what he should and shouldn’t be doing for the rest of the weekend,” Brady said, giving me chills. If he was this eager to bully a journalist, what else was he capable of doing?

“Well, that’s good, I guess?”

“Yes, it is. Very good.”

“What are we going to do about the bathroom?” I asked Blair, and she shrugged.

“I suppose we’ll just have to block it off until the police—”

“We aren’t calling the police, remember?” Brady interrupted, a bit too quickly for my tastes. I understood his reticence to get the cops involved, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was something more to his reluctance. Was he just trying to cover up his own mistake or was it something worse?

“I didn’t mean right away,” Blair said a bit testily, not that I blamed her. I couldn’t imagine how she must feel during all this. Any death on the inn’s property would be catastrophic for business, but the death of Starfall Valley’s biggest name just might be a blemish we’d never recover from — especially if, Lilith forbid, the public thought we had anything to do with it. “Anyway, I’d better check on the other guests and get them to their rooms. Selena, would you help me, please?”

“I’ll be there in a second, but I want to talk to Mr. Payne for first,” I said, and both of them looked at me suspiciously, though Blair seemed to know exactly what I was doing. “Thorn and Jadis can help. I think they’re in the office with Kiki.”

“Good idea,” Blair said and left me alone with Brady to hunt down them down. Brady eyed me, then turned his gaze to Evie, who sat watching us intently like he might attack me at any moment. I wasn’t as afraid of him — or at least not for that reason — but I didn’t blame Evie for being suspicious.

“I can only imagine what nonsense she fed you,” Brady said while staring so defiantly back at Evie that she got flustered and bolted from her seat to flee the room. He chuckled and shook his head at her as she disappeared through the door. “What a little drama queen.”

“That’s rude of you. Her boss just died. So did yours,” I chided, and Brady cleared his throat.

“Believe me, I’m aware, though I’m in as much disbelief as everyone else. I was right outside…”

I looked at him and raised a brow. “Were you?”

Brady scowled at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means nothing; it’s a question I’d like you to answer. Were you really outside the restroom?”

Brady’s expression twisted, and he opened his mouth to say something but changed course as a realization struck him. “Wait a second, what did she tell you?”

I shrugged. “That you have a habit of wandering off.”

Brady’s face flushed red and slowly shifted to purple as rage pressurized inside him. “I swear to Lilith…” he hissed, and for the first time I felt legitimately afraid of him — a feeling that wasn’t helped by the fact I was in a dimly lit room alone with him. “I don’t wander off.”

“Then what exactly have you been doing when you abandoned your post all those times?” I asked, my confidence surprising no one more