Page 42 of SapphicLover69
“You need help,” Valery declared, then glanced pitifully around the room. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know about any of this!”
“Hey, I believe ya,” Tammy replied. Others in the hall muttered back and forth, shaking their heads, and trying to wipe the shock off their faces.
Security arrived along with Detective Campbell and a couple of uniformed officers. “Is there a Ms. Cary Marino present?” he called out in a voice brimming with authority.
“Yeah, over here,” replied Jeri.
He halted as he arrived on the scene and looked us all over. “I see I’m a little late. My officers can take it from here.” Tammy and Jeri released her into the custody of two sturdy police officers and rallied around me and Winter.
“She’s SapphicLover69,” I stated the obvious. “But how’d you know?”
“We studied hotel security footage and noticed some suspiciously timed movements of hers on Friday evening, getting off and back on the elevator on your floor when her room is on the eighteenth. Then again, last night, she was spotted leaving the hall to the service room less than a minute before the fire started. I was going to take her in for questioning, but it appears something happened here.”
“Detective,” Catherine addressed with polished professionalism despite her apparent desire to fillet Cary for disrupting her event. “We are almost finished here. If I could just give Aspen her award first,” she beseeched. “Then you can talk to her for the rest of the night if you want to. Five minutes, please.”
Propping his hands on his belt, he granted her a nod. “Very well. Five minutes.”
Everyone settled back in their seats, Erin presented me with my Laurel Award and a beautiful check, and everyone, who wasn’t too wrapped up in shocked verbal exchanges, clapped.
Selina sought me out before I could leave with Detective Campbell. “Aspen, I just had to tell you,” she declared in dismay, grabbing hold of my hands. “I hadnothingto do with Cary andher outrageous display of insanity. Sure, I wanted to win but not by bumping you off. To be honest, all my bravado has been because I read your book and was insecure about my chances. The judges made the right call, and I hope there are no hard feelings. Please? I publish with them, but I didn’t know Cary was a homicidal lunatic.”
“It’s OK, Selina,” I answered with a gracious smile. “None of it was your fault. And to show my goodwill, I challenge you to write a better romantic thriller than me this year.”
An expression of glee wiped away the trepidation, and she winked at me. “You’re on!”
Chapter 22
Truths
Hours later, Winter walked me to my room. My fellow authors had come by to convey their best wishes, and then I’d followed Detective Campbell, who went over all the details of the case and interviewed me on the events at the awards ceremony. He called for a medic to come to inspect me for injuries despite my insistence I was all right. She gave me some Motrin and an ice pack. Then the detective had me fill out some papers and sign them, and I was released to return home in the morning. I wasn’t relishing the long drive, especially since the forecast called for rain.
For the second night in a row, I was bone tired but didn’t want Winter to leave. I slid my keycard in the slot, opened the door, and invited her in. “Do you mind if I change clothes?”
“No,” she answered. She bit her lower lip and shuffled her feet. “I want you to be comfortable.”
“Please, go relax, kick your shoes off. I’ll be right back.” I pulled a pair of shorts and a T-shirt from a drawer, wondering when I’d pack, and carried them to the bathroom.
When I returned, my teeth and hair brushed, wearing lounging clothes, Winter sat stiff and still on one end of the loveseat with a single lamp casting the room in a romantic hue. She had laid her blazer on the back of another chair with her shoes tucked neatly under it. With her hands folded in her lap, she peered up at my entrance with a hopeful expression.
I slid in beside her, sank back into the cushions, and closed my eyes. What would I say? What would I do? I certainly wasn’t up for anything that appeared in “Chapter Ten.”
“You seem tired,” Winter commented. “I should go and let you rest.”
“Please stay.” Prying my lids open, I draped an arm around her shoulders. “Thank you for sticking with me through all the craziness this weekend. It means so much to me.”
“Well, sure,” she answered as if it was nothing. “I like you, and, well, I mean, you’re cool and all.”
Sighing wearily, I pulled back a few inches. “I like you too.”
“Then why didn’t you ever, you know,” she shrugged sheepishly, dropping her gaze. “Why didn’t we get together?” Her tone dripped with as much disappointment as I felt. “All my life—which I realize isn’t quite as long as yours so far—I’ve played it safe. My regrets don’t stem from things I did wrong but from chances I didn’t take, things I didn’t do. I hoped to remedy that this weekend, which is why I kissed you. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.”
“You kissed me?” I asked doubtfully and watched her expression morph into horror.
“You don’t remember?” Her eyes widened, and her bottom lip quivered.
I laughed and hugged her. “Of course I remember, silly. If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never forget it, never forget the feel of your lips on mine.”
“Then why didn’t we do it again, or make out, or something—anything?” She blinked, a haunted look clouding her glasses and regret permeating her voice. “I know I’m not attractive like—”
