Murder at the Hotel Hopeless by John Lekich

Author:John Lekich [Lekich, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2022-07-07T20:00:00+00:00

During my driving lesson, I really wanted to concentrate. But Dexter was way more interested in my meeting with Lindsay. “So let me get this straight,” he said. “She invited you in for a glass of water, and you didn’t go inside?”

“I wasn’t thirsty,” I explained.

Dexter looked disgusted. “Who cares if you were thirsty? Maybe she likes you, Charlie.”

“Why?” I asked. “I don’t even have my driver’s license.”

Trying to do a lesson that day turned out to be a very big mistake. I felt even more weird behind the wheel than usual. I figured it was all the talk about Lindsay liking me. I thought I’d be okay once I started driving.

I wasn’t.

Before the Countess, my nightmares were all about crashing the pig. In my car-crash nightmares, everything happened in slow motion. A lot like how it happened in real life.

But in real life it was worse. Everything was going okay until I swerved to avoid hitting a cat that had darted into traffic. The cat got away without a scratch. But not the pig.

I guess I turned too hard to the right. The front end of the pig ended up on the sidewalk. It hit a nearby trash bin, and a whole bunch of paper coffee cups and fast-food wrappers spilled all over the place.

We got out to inspect the damage. There was a big dent on the front of the pig. I tried to apologize to Dexter, but he wasn’t talking to me.

I found out later that Dexter took the blame for the accident. And that his dad took away his pig privileges. For a while Dexter was stuck working in the Helpful Haven showroom. Helping future dead people plan ahead.

I went to the funeral home to talk to Dexter. He was in the showroom, talking to a man lying in a coffin. “How does it feel?” Dexter asked him. “Comfortable, right?” I figured some people like to take their final resting places for a test drive.

Dexter looked cranky and tired. I wondered if he was missing his afternoon naps in the pig. When he saw me, he said, “Go away, Charlie. I am busy with a live customer.”

I said I needed to talk to him.

“Are you here to discuss plans for your funeral, Charlie?” asked Dexter. “If so, I will be more than happy to assist you. But if it’s for anything else, don’t bother. From now on, you are dead to me.”

The man lying in the coffin sat up. “Is this a bad time?” he asked. “I can come back later.”

But it was no use. I had lost my only friend. And driving lessons were clearly over. I felt bad about the whole thing. I thought it would help if I went to Dexter’s dad and took the blame for denting the pig. But it only made Dexter more angry. I decided I’d just have to give him some space.

Back at the hotel, Penny was very upset. Her manager had called and told her some bad news.

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