Here Be Dragons by Bill Fawcett

Author:Bill Fawcett [Fawcett, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Event Horizon EBooks
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The next morning, Jean Marie met me outside my room.

“Did you hear? They found Peter Gerard. He apparently spent yesterday and most of the night at the Old Mill Inn getting soused at the bar. The news is all over the convention.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Peter doesn’t drink.”

“Are you sure?”

I was positive. “Remember that con in Chicago I told you about where they took all the guests and VIP fans on a gambling boat cruise the night before the convention opened?”

“Yeah. It was called something like Big Cosmos or something.”

“That’s the one. Well, Mr. Gerard and I were both guests at that one. The cruise consisted of several hours on a casino boat filled with gambling machines and free drinks. And do you know where Mr. Gerard spent the cruise? While most of the guests were playing the slots and sucking down free cocktails, he was on the top deck with a bunch of fans, drinking Diet Coke while teaching them how to play a dexterity game with empty soda cups. Does that sound like a man who would go out and get drunk the night before a convention appearance?”

She agreed that it did not. Something was not adding up.

I made my way downstairs and spotted Bill at breakfast in the restaurant tucked into one side of the vast Hyatt atrium. He immediately waved me over.

“Please join me. I was supposed to have breakfast with Peter, but he said he didn’t feel well. At least if I am having breakfast with a pretty girl I won’t ruin my reputation.”

I had already eaten a breakfast bar in my room, but I slid into the chair across from him. “Ah, the flatterer is back. You must be feeling better—either that or you want something.”

“Can’t I just be appreciative of your beauty?”

“You are never just appreciative of anything. But it doesn’t hurt my ego.” I ordered a cup of tea from the attentive waitress. I noticed she was wearing some alien-looking makeup, probably in honor of the convention. “Seriously, though, is Peter OK? I heard they found him in a downtown bar.”

“That part is true. But Peter says he has no idea how he got there. One minute he was in the Hyatt, the next minute he was on the floor at the Old Mill. He says he has no memory of the time in between. Everyone seems to think he was upset about the end of his TV show and went out to drown his sorrows. But you know that Peter doesn’t drink. And he has no sorrows to drown. He was here to announce a deal for a new show. He is very excited about it.” Bill took a drink of his orange juice. I stirred cream into my tea and waited for him to continue.

“I saw him shortly after they brought him back to the hotel. He was certainly disoriented, but not from booze.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. But I’ve been around far too many alcoholic actors to misread the signs.

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