Dread on Arrival by Claudia Bishop Read Free Book Online Page A

right.”
    “I didn’t mean you’re kidding me about that. I mean you have to be kidding me about wanting to do that. Steal Clare’s staff? Clare’s a good friend of ours! What the heck is all this?”
    “Hey. We’re in business aren’t we? And it’s the business of a business to make a profit. I’m telling you, it’s time we took a few chances here.”
    “I knew it.”
    “Knew what?”
    “That Hemlock Falls is infected. All these changes in the village. All this …” Quill waved her arms in the air. “Development. Competition. Greed.”
    “You’re calling me greedy?” Meg said, a dangerous glitter in her eye. “And a traitor?”
    “I didn’t say a word about being a traitor.”
    “Oh! Oh! But I’m a pig, is that right?”
    She jumped to her feet. “Listen, Meg. Now’s not the time to go into this, but I’m here to tell you right now that we are not expanding, we are not stealing Clare’s staff, and we are not, not, not going to turn into crazy people.”
    “Jeez,” Dina said as she came through the dining room doors into the kitchen. “I can hear you two all the way out in reception.”
    Quill realized that everyone else in the kitchen was quiet. Meg was pink with rage. Elizabeth Chou looked scared. Bjarne didn’t have much of an expression at all, although he stirred the chocolate he was melting in a pan over the stove a little faster than was good for it.
    “I think you need to leave this kitchen right now,” Meg said. “You are obviously coming down with something.”
    “I’m feeling just fine.”
    “I hope so,” Dina said. “Because if you’re in a snit now, you’re going to be in an even bigger snit in a few minutes. And all I have to say is, it wasn’t me, and if you’ve got a stack of Bibles around, I’ll swear on as many as you like.”
    Quill took a couple of deep breaths. It helped. Sort of. She’d known it; she’d known it all along. Despite their friendship with Clarissa Sparrow, Meg was in full competitive mode. She shoved the thought aside, counted backward from ten, and turned her attention to Dina. “It wasn’t you that did what?”
    “Didn’t book this guy’s reservations. I’ve been telling everyone who calls up for the past week that we’re full up starting in three days, and he claims that he reserved the Provencal suite last Monday for a whole week beginning today and he didn’t. Rose Ellen Whitman has, for the wedding, which I’ve known perfectly well for weeks, since I did make that reservation myself.”
    Quill took a moment to sort through the participles. Dina could be aggravating in a number of different ways, but she was good at her job. “All right. He says he made a reservation. He didn’t. Let’s go talk to him.”
    She followed Dina back through the dining room. As she approached the foyer, she caught sight of a portly guy in wrinkled shorts, a faded red T-shirt, and flip-flops stamping back and forth. His toenails were dirty. He had his hand cupped to his ear and was chuckling into his cell phone. Dina stopped short, caught her arm, and whispered, “That’s the guy. He looks familiar somehow. He says his name is …”
    Quill’s visual memory was excellent. “Barcini. It’s the man who stars in Pawn-o-Rama ,”
    Dina snapped her fingers. “Sure it is. Belter Barcini. That’s the show that rips off Pawn Stars . Just like Your Ancestor’s Attic rips off Antiques Roadshow . Why is it when something kind of cool comes along everybody jumps on the bandwagon and wrecks it?”
    “Greed,” Quill said darkly. “It’s an infection. Competitiveness. That’s an infection, too. Progress for the People. Phooey.”
    Barcini caught sight of Dina. His rubber flip-flops squeaked to a halt. He snapped his fingers. “There you are. That your boss with you? Good. I got a complaint.” He hunched his shoulders in a confidential way as Quill walked up to him and said loudly, “Your girlie here screwed up. I made a reservation. Your best