Murder at the Wizard-Hero Con Read online

  “Not anymore,” Georgie said. “If I were twenty-five years younger.”

  “That’s stopping you?”

  “For the moment,” Georgie joked. “Actually, I’m seeing something even better than him.”

  “What?”

  “Elephant ears.” Georgie pointed toward a food court at the far end of the pavilion. Along the back wall was a lineup of the best convention foods. Elephant ears. Nachos. Corn dogs. Popcorn. Fried Oreos.

  Aleta linked her arm with Georgie’s, and the ladies hurried over to the food court. Aleta insisted Georgie sit as she got their sugary treats and two cups of coffee. Just as they sat down, the main doors opened, and a flood of people came pouring in. Wizard-Hero-Con had officially begun.

  Chapter 4

  The ladies enjoyed the parade of characters walking by as they tore the sugary pastries apart into bite-sized pieces and washed them down with sips of hot coffee.

  Just as they were about to get up, two young girls with pierced noses, wearing tight black stretch pants and even tighter T-shirts, gasped and pointed as if they’d just seen Elvis. For an instant, Georgie thought they were twins, their only distinguishing feature being one had green hair and the other had purple hair. Georgie and Aleta followed their gaze and saw that the man in the leather jacket was at a food counter getting himself a bottle of water. He strolled right past the girls as if they weren’t even there.

  Georgie saw that one of the girls was quickly snapping a picture on her phone. When the young girl looked up, Georgie waved her over.

  “Who is that guy?” Georgie asked the lovestruck teen, realizing on closer inspection that the girls were not twins and probably just “besties.”

  “That’s Cole Ness,” the green-haired girl said dreamily. Her purple-headed friend nodded as she looked up periodically from the phone she frantically texted on. “He’s one of the most amazing graphic novelists on the planet.”

  “Really?” Aleta asked.

  “Yeah. Nuclear Wolf is his most recent graphic novel. He held off selling the movie rights until he had finished the series because he didn’t want someone else trying to tell his story,” the purple-haired girl said.

  “Nuclear Wolf? They’re making it a movie?” Aleta asked naïvely. The two girls rolled their eyes and giggled.

  “He wrote Gray Warrior, Katie: Vampire Stalker, Boat on a Lake, and . . .”

  “And my fav,” the green-haired girl interrupted, “The Mole.”

  “Sounds like he’s pretty popular,” Georgie said with a smile.

  “He’s the whole package. He can draw and write, and it’s like he can create magic. Plus, he’s so hot.” The purple-haired girl giggled as her friend nodded enthusiastically.

  “Well, thank you, ladies. You’ve been very helpful,” Aleta said as the girls nodded and walked away chatting a thousand miles a minute.

  “Remember when we used to be like that?” Aleta asked.

  “You mean yesterday? Yeah, I remember.” Georgie laughed at her own joke. They got up from their seats and merged with the crowd of people looking at more of the merchandise, chatting with the vendors as they passed along “Artist Alley.” Georgie talked with half a dozen comic book artists and designers who were pleasant and offered encouragement and sound advice if Georgie was considering graphic novels as a career.

  She was happy to see Beau’s booth surrounded by people buying the advance copies of his newest book. She waved to catch his attention and was surprised when Beau nearly knocked several of his fans out of the way to get to her.

  “Georgie.” He hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad to see you. Neesee said you’d stopped by. You’ll be at the mixer tonight?”

  “Yes, my sister and I will be there.” Georgie introduced Aleta who too got a hug from the large man.

  “I’d love to chat, but we’re getting so much positive feedback from your cover that I can’t leave Neesee alone to handle it all.”

  “Of course. We’re going to go and talk to that Nuclear Wolf guy.” Georgie jerked her thumb in the direction of the other artist.

  “Oh, good luck.” Beau rolled his eyes. “If you have twenty bucks, he might pose for a picture with you.”

  “What do you mean?” Aleta asked.

  “He’s a little high-maintenance is all I’m saying.” Beau shook his head. “Sometimes fame makes a person act differently. But hey, maybe it was just me he didn’t like.”

  “How can that be?” The words gushed out from Georgie as she patted Beau’s big meaty arm. He laughed and went back behind his booth, not before pointing out to everyone around him that Georgie was the artist who took his beloved boa constrictor, Hercules, and made him into Serpentius. A quick round of applause rippled over the crowd, making Georgie blush, wave, and quickly walk away with Aleta.

  “You are going to get tons of work from this, Georgie.”

  “I hope so. Come on. Let’s go see this Nuclear Wolf guy. I doubt he is as hard-nosed as Beau says. Beau is a big guy. He probably scared him. Are you ready?” Georgie tugged her short skirt down and boosted her cleavage up.

  “I am if you are.”

  The ladies headed over to the giant display featuring a rather handsome wolf-man hybrid that had several similar features to the artist who had created it. A pouty-lipped woman was draped over his leg, and there looked to be hordes of walking corpses in the background.

  “Well, that’s strange. There isn’t a group of people around his booth like there is for Beau,” said Aleta, surprised.

  “Maybe he’s not as popular as Beau thinks,” Georgie replied looking in amazement at the huge posters of what she could only assume were his previous movies and graphic novels. The shelves behind the counter were stacked with an array of awards. Georgie squinted and read one naming Cole Ness for best new graphic novel artist and Nuclear Wolf as best new series. The others were too hard to read, but the awards were as big and dynamic as the comic book hero himself. Georgie lost track after counting twelve trophies. There were quite a few more than that.

  As the ladies approached, Cole Ness was standing with his back to the pavilion, his shoulders hunched around his ears with a phone pressed to the side of his head.

  “That’s crazy!” he hissed. “You get your stuff and get out of my apartment. I swear to God if you don’t, I’ll have the cops do it.”

  Georgie looked awkwardly at Aleta. It was too late to turn around and sneak away. Instead, she stood at the counter where his books were on display and pretended not to be listening while Aleta hung back a few feet.

  “You were nothing when I picked you up, and you are still nothing.” The words he used bit into Georgie even though they weren’t directed at her. “I can do better.”

  Georgie held her breath hoping he would pull the phone away and press the little red button, but he did no such thing. He started to pace and was completely oblivious to the two older women who were within earshot of his colorful diatribe.

  After a flurry of F-bombs and some other name calling, Cole Ness finally noticed Georgie.

  “What the . . . ! I have to go!” If he had seemed mad before, he was absolutely livid now. He looked angrily at Georgie before scanning for a specific person who happened to be a young man in a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt with a blazer. He was carrying two large cups from the expensive coffee shop that was about two blocks away.

  “What am I paying you for, Dell?” Cole Ness barked before waving his hand in Georgie’s direction as if she had somehow been the thorn in his side for days.

  “Can I help you, ladies?” the fellow called Dell asked. He looked annoyed too. This was not a fun couple of guys, Georgie thought as she looked to Aleta for support. Aleta saw Georgie’s look and quickly dropped her eyes. Apparently, she had a serious issue with one of her nails that needed her utmost attention.

  “I was just hoping to talk to Mr. Ness for a moment. I’m an artist, too, and . . .”

  “That’s just great, dearie, but if you want to talk to Col
e Ness, then you’ll need to buy a pass and stand in line. He’s doing a signing in the main auditorium at three o’clock.”

  “You mean this pass?” Georgie held up her vendor’s pass.

  “No.” Dell choked as if she’d just offered him a wooden nickel. “There is a pass that the fans pay for to get all access to the guests. You have to have one of those. They are about five hundred dollars, and I think they are all sold out.”

  “But I’m standing right here. Why can’t I talk to him since he’s less than five feet away from me?” Georgie knew she was asking an obvious question but was hoping that Cole Ness might see how rude this whole scene was and just talk to her for a second.

  “Because if Cole does it for you, then he has to do it for everyone, and not everyone who comes to these events has his best interests at heart,” Dell said with a smirk, looking Georgie up and down as if she could possibly be hiding a knife or bazooka somewhere inside her skintight space uniform.

  “I wonder why?” Aleta piped up from behind Georgie but quickly went back to studying her nails.

  “Like I said, if you want an autograph, you have to have the pass. No pass, no autograph.” Dell took his coffee and cracked the lid, taking a careful sip as steam curled out and around the lip.

  “I don’t want an autograph. I just wanted to talk about his artwork.” Georgie shrugged.

  “Let me guess. You want to break into the world of graphic novels, and you’re hoping Cole can give you some pointers on how to get movie companies to notice your genius?” Dell was as snarky as his boss.

  “No. I’m already in the business.” Georgie jerked her thumb toward Beau’s booth. “I did the cover work for Serpentius.” Of course, that didn’t mean Georgie was in the business, but it was a huge display, and everyone seemed to like it, so why not take this punk and his intern down a couple notches.

  Dell looked over her shoulder. Georgie could tell by his expression he was not happy with there being new competition on the block. He looked at Cole who was grimacing into his phone before turning back to Georgie.

  “Well, Cole is busy. I’m sorry. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Dell folded his arms, indicating the conversation was over.

  Georgie shook her head and hurried to Aleta’s side. They turned and slowly walked away, Georgie leaning in to Aleta as Aleta looked over her shoulder to see Dell pointing them out to Cole who had magically managed to get off the phone. They were looking at Serpentius, and Cole started to laugh and shake his head.

  Aleta wanted to go back and slap him across the face. But instead, she took a deep breath. “What did you say?”

  “I said what kind of person treats his fans that way?”

  “A snooty, insecure one,” Aleta replied. “Success doesn’t fit everyone, Georgie. I don’t know anyone who could wear it as good as you.”

  “You are the best baby sister a girl could have.” Georgie linked her arm through Aleta’s.

  “I’m going to write a graphic novel. It’s about a set of twins and one thinks she has superpowers because she was born two minutes before the other one.” Georgie started to laugh. “Only to have her dreams dashed when her twin beat her about the head and shoulders with a plastic bag of swag.”

  They moved back into the crowd of folks, taking their time looking at everything and chatting some more. By the time they were to check into the hotel, Georgie had an armful of stuff and Aleta was exhausted.

  “Can you make it to the car, or should we call a cab?” Georgie had noticed her sister’s flagging steps.

  “I can walk to Pablo if we cab it back for the mixer,” Aleta said. “I’m dying to see if that Cole Ness fellow shows up for that.”

  “And mingle with the peasants? I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Georgie said as they left the convention center and headed toward where they had parked the car. “There is a tiny flower garden at the side entrance of our hotel that you have to see. It’s got one simple little abstract statue and three or four beautiful pots filled with blooms. It’s just lovely. And less crowded, I’m sure.”

  At the hotel, they snuck down the curved sidewalk, and Georgie was correct. It was a tiny piece of greenery just plopped in front of an alley.

  “If you box your eyes and cut out everything else, it looks like you might be at an Italian villa,” Georgie said with her hands boxed around her eyes blocking out the alley, the street, and the signage painted on the brick wall of The Blackstone. Aleta followed her sister’s lead.

  “It does.” She smiled before pulling out her phone to snap a quick picture. “That will make a pretty picture to have in a frame.” Georgie looked at the image she had captured and nodded.

  Once inside the hotel, Aleta took a seat on the first lounge chair she could find as Georgie checked them in.

  “We’re on the tenth floor.” Georgie handed her sister a key card.

  “Maybe after we rest, we should go do a little shopping. Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to wear my Maverick Melody T-shirt all weekend, but I might become offensive.” Aleta smelled underneath her arm just as the elevator doors were closing.

  “I’ve already taken care of that,” Georgie said with a smile. “Emily helped me pack a weekend bag for you. It’s in Pablo. We can get it later after we’ve rested.”

  “Did you or Emily pick out my outfits?” Aleta asked nervously.

  “Of course, I let Emily pick most of the outfits for you. Most of them. Like your pajamas and, of course, unmentionables,” Georgie said behind her hand, as if relaying a deep, dark secret.

  “Georgie, if all I have to wear are hoochie skirts and short shorts, I’m going to kill you.”

  “How many years have you known me?”

  “Enough to know when it comes to clothes you can’t be trusted.”

  “That hurts.” Georgie put her hand to her chest as they got off on the tenth floor and walked in the direction of their room.

  “I’m going to get my bag immediately.” Aleta stepped back on the elevator, pushing the down button.

  “At least come check out the room?”

  “I will when I have our bags up here.”

  “I’m truly surprised you don’t trust me. That says something about you, Aleta. It really does.” Georgie walked down the hall as the doors were closing. “I knew I’d get you to bring the bags up for me!”

  “Curse you, Georgie Kaye!”

  Chapter 5

  The mixer that evening was attended by vendors, artists, and some of the special celebrity guests, all meeting in the closed pavilion, free from the demanding fans, to enjoy music, food, and drinks.

  “I hope they have a sweets table,” Georgie said, adjusting her hat. “And might I just say you look wonderful.”

  “Thank you,” Aleta replied, smoothing out her favorite pair of casual tan pants that had nearly invisible pockets down the pant legs.

  “Whoever picked that out for you really did a good job,” Georgie continued as the ladies walked to the doors and flashed their badges.

  “They did all right. The blouse is a little showy.” Aleta looked around as if she were searching for someone she knew.

  “That blouse is just snug enough to show off that figure of yours,” Georgie stated, rolling her eyes.

  “And what is it exactly that you are showing off?” Aleta teased, looking her sister up and down.

  “I am Tentacle Woman.” Georgie adjusted her hat that had elegant yet unmistakable octopus tentacles writhing and dangling down around it. She wore her favorite wide-legged black pants and a black T-shirt to match. “Come on. I think I see Beau and Neesee.”

  Sure enough, Georgie and Aleta were greeted with hugs and high fives as they approached the Serpentius booth. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. Everyone seemed happy to be there. Everyone but one person.

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Cole Ness?” Beau asked as if he already knew the answer.

  “No,” Georgie replied. “He sent his little chihuahua after us, and there was no getti
ng around that yipper.”

  “You mean Dell?” Beau asked.

  “Yeah. Do you know him?”

  “He put the moves on Neesee about a year ago at one of these things,” Beau said a little proudly. “He’d had too much to drink. Of course, if I worked as Cole Ness’s errand boy, I’d drink, too. But he thought he could impress her with all the people he knew and the places he went. He didn’t know my Neesee.”

  “What happened?” Aleta asked while eyeballing the dessert side of the buffet table.

  “She told him in no uncertain terms she wasn’t impressed by him or his connections. Left him standing there with a drink in one hand and his butt in the other.” Beau laughed as he looked and waved to his pretty wife who was talking with some of the other vendors. “But hey, I can’t blame the guy for trying.”

  Georgie told Beau what had happened when she had tried to speak to Cole Ness.

  “That doesn’t surprise me. He doesn’t have a lot of friends at these things. I’m not even sure why he shows up except for those people who are willing to pay for his autograph or talk to him for five minutes. Even his Q&A sessions are regulated, and fans can’t ask him questions. He acts like he’s being interviewed by the Associated Press.” Beau chuckled, “Speak of the devil.”

  Just then, an entourage of people came in through the entrance led by Cole Ness, who again had a phone up to his ear. Dell, his lackey, was also on the phone while carrying on about three conversations with the people around him.

  The group marched right past and seemed to set up camp at the Cole Ness booth with the dozens of Nuclear Wolf posters around.

  “Well, I’m having too good a time to let a guy like that ruin it,” Georgie said. “Beau, we are going to get some food. Can we bring anything back for you?”

  “No. You go ahead and enjoy. Circulate. Oh, and Georgie, I love the hat. Maybe we can collaborate on a new super-villain.” Beau winked.

  “Have your people call my people,” Georgie said with a giggle.

  The buffet was set up on five long tables covered with white tablecloths. The food wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but they had all the traditional sweets like chocolate brownie bites, chocolate chip cookies, and small samples of cheesecake and baklava.