By the time she finished the call, he couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Tell me.”
She set the phone on the table and looked around to make sure no one was too close. Then she leaned in and spoke low. “We can’t publish this yet, but that vape pen didn’t just explode. One, they think the battery was tampered with.”
“Whoa.” Alden leaned in, too. “So it’s murder?”
“Or at least malice aforethought. And they found marks on the body that indicated he’d probably been struck on the head and arms. Bruises and cuts. Maybe a fight. Maybe defensive wounds.”
“Okaaaay … and that means what? He was attacked by the same person who sabotaged the vape pen?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not. He might’ve gotten in a scuffle before he even showed up at the signing. But I wonder—if the vape pen was somehow damaged in a fight, would that have hastened its demise?”
“And Wayne’s?” Alden said.
“Could be. Fight aside, damaging the vape pen’s battery with the intention to cause harm—I’m not even sure what charge that would be, but it sure looks like murder.”
“Poor Wayne. If only it had been his groin.”
Roz laughed, then covered her mouth. “You’re so bad.”
“That’s why you like me. So we’re looking for a killer and also maybe someone else who hit him and hurried things along.”
“I guess we are. They could be one and the same person. Someone was very, very angry with Wayne Vandershell.”
“Oh!” Alden exclaimed. “I almost forgot to tell you—I was nosing around the crime scene, or whatever it was, and found one of Enolia’s books in the recycling bin. Her new one. I had to borrow some gloves from Lily”—Alden nodded at the counter, where the barista was filling an order—“just to make sure I didn’t contaminate it.”
“Are you saying this is evidence? If it is, we need to give it to Duke.”
“Will you quit sucking up to Duke?”
She laughed. “He gave us some good details.”
“That we can’t publish.”
“We can still say a source at the sheriff’s office says foul play may be involved. So what’s the story with the book?”
“You can give it to Duke,” Alden said grudgingly. He reached under the table and pulled up the book, now in a clean zip-lock bag (also thanks to Lily). “I looked at it earlier. It’s Enolia Honeywood’s brand-new novel.”
“I can see that.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “Yes, except it doesn’t look brand-new. It looks, shall we say, used. Scuffed around the edges. Dirty. And there are sticky notes and highlighted pages in it.”
“Maybe somebody liked to take notes when they were reading but didn’t want to keep it when they were done. Is it signed?”
Alden shook his head. “I think this is Enolia’s copy.”
Roz sat up. “How so?”
“Mae told me Enolia forgot her marked-up copy and had to borrow another one for the reading. I think this is the marked-up copy.”
“So how did it end up in the recycling bin? Did someone steal it? Or did she put it there?”
“That’s something we’re going to have to find out,” Alden said. “So who do we talk to next? Before we talk to Enolia again, of course. And Craig, her assistant. Mae says he lives above her garage. He has to know where all the bodies are buried, so to speak.”
“I agree we should learn more before we talk to her again,” Roz said. “Sebastian gave me another lead. Wayne apparently told him he planned to put Blake Burbage into a movie.”
“Did he now?” Alden smiled. “I love talking to movie stars. And now Blake and I are buddies.”
“After ten minutes of chatting at the book signing?”
