Done to Death by Charles Atkins Read Free Book Online

show,’ said the other woman, Carrie, who seemed closest to Barry in age. ‘But certainly spin-offs.’
    â€˜Horse before cart,’ Barry replied.
    Shana returned with beverages.
    Ada took a first sip of tea and sorted through the cryptic shorthand shooting around the table.
    â€˜So,’ Barry said to Ada, ‘Tell us about Grenville.’
    â€˜Lil’s more the expert. She was born and raised there.’
    â€˜Never left,’ Lil said. ‘What do you want to know?’
    â€˜That’s right,’ Barry said, as though just seeing Lil. ‘You do that column. What’s it called?’
    â€˜â€œCash or Trash”.’
    â€˜Wasn’t that a show?’ asked the man with thinning red hair, David.
    â€˜No,’ Melanie said. ‘There was Trash or Treasure , Cash in the Attic , Treasure Hunt , Treasure Wars …’ She paused, took a deep breath and, like some reality show savant, prattled off the names of a couple dozen more. ‘ Flea Market Wars , Bargain Wars , Bargain Hunters , Auction Kings , Storage Wars . And then there’s that whole sub-genre set in actual antique stores, like Oddities and Oddities: San Francisco .’
    â€˜And why are we doing this?’ sandy-haired Ethan asked.
    Barry said, ‘Lenore thinks this vein has more gold in it, and I agree. Problem is, if we can’t get something fresh, it’s pointless. So here’s the idea, but it has to be fleshed out.’ He threw out his earlier Hail Mary pitch to Lenore. ‘ Antiques Roadshow meets The Hunger Games on the set of Gilmore Girls .’
    â€˜So that’s the connection,’ Ada said.
    â€˜What is?’ Melanie asked from across the table.
    â€˜Grenville − where Lil and I live − is the antique capital of New England. Basically, it is the set of Gilmore Girls , and as the result of recent and very horrible events, Grenville is no stranger to murder. So I think why … Barry’ – inwardly shuddering at all of this unearned first name familiarity – ‘has asked us here is he’s wondering if maybe there’s a show to be had in our sleepy − albeit murderous − little town.’
    â€˜Is there?’ ginger David asked.
    Ada sipped her tea and looked at Lil. ‘Probably several.’
    â€˜Some kind of contest or game show?’ Lil asked.
    â€˜Possibly,’ Barry said. ‘Those work well, as opposed to people just bringing in items for appraisal. But there’s something to be said for developing a regular cast of characters.’
    â€˜That wouldn’t be hard,’ Ada said. ‘You’d have a couple hundred antique dealers to choose from. Then you have the auctioneers, the flea market, but how do you tie in the—’ she stopped herself.
    â€˜The blood?’ Barry asked.
    The door to the conference room banged open. A young man, his face flushed, looked around and then focused on Barry. ‘She’s dead,’ he said. ‘Lenore is dead.’
    â€˜Oh dear God!’ Melanie gasped.
    The ginger-haired man shook his head. ‘Shit! Not good.’
    The others were silent as they looked to Barry. He sighed as the man left to continue spreading the news.
    â€˜I think a moment of reflection is in order,’ Barry said.
    Heads nodded in agreement.
    Ada thought of the stretcher and the barely glimpsed celebrity with her wet hair and bloody sheets. While she was not a fan of Lenore, the woman was ubiquitous, a style icon whose local appearances in and around Grenville were topics of frequent conversation. Lenore’s children − especially her train wreck daughter – were frequently on the cover of checkout-line tabloids. She glanced at Lil, and wondered how she was taking this. Her chestnut eyes gave away little as she sipped her coffee. A moment’s reflection … were there lessons to be learned from Lenore? A woman who gave a surface message of