September Fair by Jess Lourey

Author:Jess Lourey [Lourey, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Murder, Fiction, Mystery, twin cities, soft-boiled, Suspense, regional fiction, amateur sleuth novel, amateur sleuth, minnesota, regional mystery, mystery novels, minnesota state fair, murder mystery, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780738718729
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Published: 2009-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Turns out it takes a crazy long time to carve a head out of butter. It was nearly nine o’clock before Lana exited the booth, whole and alive but looking like she had just spent six hours in a rotating refrigerator with no bathroom breaks. The press, who had earlier packed the Dairy building, were no longer around. In fact, not many people remained, at least up close to the booth, and Lana and the sculptor’s descent was anticlimactic. Out of habit, I stayed back and watched as Janice strode up to Lana in front of the blue curtain and patted her hair into place. The motion seemed more possessive than affectionate.

After every one of Lana’s hairs was in its approved location, Janice gave a curt nod to the sculptor and led her charge out with one arm over her shoulders and the other grasping her elbow. They beelined to the dormitories, and I hung back, waiting until they were out of sight to follow up the stairs. Janice’s gravelly voice floated down toward me.

“… very well tonight. But would it have killed you to smile?”

Lana murmured something in return, and Janice spoke again. “Well, it’s done now, so I don’t suppose it matters. Just remember, if you say one word, the whole thing is lost. And who does that help? No one. But it’ll hurt plenty.”

My foot slipped down the face of a stair, and I banged my shin, drawing an abrupt halt to the conversation on the top floor. So much for stealth. I pattered quickly back down the stairs and toward the center of the barn. Blending in with the crowds and the cows, I kept one eye on the entrance to the second floor as people milled in front of me. Sure enough, Janice came down and cast a suspicious glance around the Cattle Barn. I ducked behind a milking machine display. When I looked up again, I caught her red jacket slipping out of the barn, her purse in her hand. I waited for ten full minutes before darting back up the stairs, cringing at the bruise I could feel swelling on the front of my leg.

I knocked on the closed door at the top of the stairs. “Lana?”

“Come in.”

She was the only girl in the dorm, and she was sitting in front of a vanity wearing sweats, still in the heavy makeup from the ceremony. Next to her rested an uneaten peanut butter sandwich on white bread. She was leaning forward and removing her contacts when I entered, and she glanced at me without interest before returning to her task. “Did Janice send you to keep watch on me?”

“No. My name is Mira.”

“Lana.” She reached for a pair of glasses as thick as hockey ice and slid them on her nose. They transformed her from a nubile beauty queen into an earnest primary school teacher. “What can I do for you?”

I’d heard of people who rehearsed conversations beforehand. I wrote myself a mental note to be one of those people when I grew up.

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