“No,” I said, “Charlie, absolutely donotdo that.Go home right now.”
But Charlie beamed at me and proceeded to show me their autographed book.
“Well?”AJ said.“Did you figure it out?”
“I’m working on it,” I said—pausing tooohat whatever Maggie McLaughlin had scribbled on the title page ofDwarven Deception.(The handwriting was illegible, not that I had any room to talk.) My attention was split, which was the only reason why I continued, “I need to talk to Margaux, but I can’t find her.”
“We saw her,” AJ said.
“Uh, no,” Thatcher said.He tugged at his beanie.“I don’t think that was her.”
“Are you blind?It was totally her.She took over one of those multipurpose rooms like it was her office.Do you want me to show you?”
Charlie closed the book to stare at me expectantly.Thatcher slouched, arms folded across his chest.AJ’s expression suggested I needed to, um, poop or get off the pot.
“Show me.”
Chapter 19
True to AJ’s description, Margaux had taken over one of the multipurpose rooms.Papers were spread everywhere on one of the tables, and she had a laptop set up, complete with a power cord running to a nearby outlet.She held a red pen in one hand, and she was marking up a page as she read.There wasn’t anything nefarious about it; she wore a patterned shirt with dark jeans, and she could have as easily been a corporate executive on casual Friday.But then she looked up, and those yellow eyes that didn’t blink met me.
“Yes?”
“I was wondering if you had a moment to talk.”
“No.Please shut the door on your way out.”
“Uh, no?”(I hated that it came out as a question.)
“This is a public space,” AJ said.
Margaux’s gaze swiveled toward AJ, and she stepped back—bumping into Charlie in the process.
“Where were you the night Vivienne was murdered?”I said.
Margaux turned her attention back to the paper.Her perfect nails gripped the page a little too forcefully, though, making tiny indentations that I could see from where I was standing.
“You weren’t doing one-on-ones,” I said.“That was a lie.”
Margaux pretended to continue reading.
“And it was a bad lie,” I said.“But I think that’s because you were desperate.You hadn’t planned on anyone asking you where you’d been, and you hadn’t prepared an alibi.I guess that’s because it was a crime of opportunity rather than something you’d planned in advance.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Margaux said.“But you’re on the edge of slander.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Charlie piped up.
Margaux shot them a flat look, and AJ put a warding hand between them.
“It’s a lie that was easy to disprove,” I said.“I checked the schedule.”
“I was having unofficial meetings with clients,” Margaux said.“Not everything is on the conference schedule.”
“Great.I’m sure you’ll be happy to provide a name or two.”
Margaux stared at me with those hard, yellow eyes for a moment.Then she stood and began packing up her belongings.Charlie looked like they might be sick, and AJ was hugging herself, both of them shrinking back until they were practically plastered to the wall.Thatcher, on the other hand, had put himself halfway between me and Margaux.Maybe he thought she was going to attack me.Maybe he was finally going to get that life-or-death struggle he was so excited about—he and Margaux could have a nice, old-fashioned knife fight.
“Is it true that Robert was trying to convince Vivienne to fire you?”
