I quickly gave her an abbreviated version of our theory about Connor's manager.
"Wow," Ellen said when I was done. Her brown eyes were big and round behind her glasses. "You really think he would have murdered Connor?"
"Well, someone did," Chase said, pointing out the obvious.
"You were here the day Connor died," I noted. "You didn't happen to see Connor's manager, did you?"
Ellen scrunched up her face. "What does he look like?"
Great question. I had no idea.
"He's older than Connor," Chase jumped in. "And he would have been arguing with him."
"Sorry." She shook her head. "The line was pretty long. I was a ways away from the booth."
"Did you see anyone approach the booth while you were here?" Sam asked.
"Just a couple VizaSoft employees. And that blonde." She nodded toward the poster. "Connor's girlfriend. The booth wasn't open yet, so everyone else was waiting in line."
"You think someone farther up the line might have seen them?" Chase asked. "Maybe overheard what Pruit and Connor were saying?"
Ellen shrugged her gigantic foam shoulders. "I dunno. I guess. I mean, it was a really long line."
"Did you get to see Connor at all?" Sam asked.
"Only when he came out to address the crowd." She looked past us to the empty booth. "He thanked everyone for coming and said he was excited to hear what we thought of Athena's Quest. Then he signed a couple of autographs. I wanted to get one, but I didn't want to lose my spot in line. I wish I had now." Her eyes looked watery again.
"Did you see Connor talk to anyone else?" Sam asked.
Ellen looked off to an area behind us, probably to where Connor stood when she last spotted him. "No. He just came out that one time then he ducked back inside where I guess he was setting up the game for us all to try out." She turned to me. "I wonder if they'll even release it now."
"I'm sure they will," Chase said. "With all this publicity, it's gonna sell tons of copies now."
My stomach twisted at the morbid irony, but I let it go as Ellen's face perked up.
"I hope so," she said. "It would be a real legacy to him. They've got a big memorial display going over at the Peak Games booth."
"Is Phoebe Lyons here?" I asked, my eyes scanning the rows of booths, wondering exactly where the Peak Games one sat.
Ellen scrunched up her nose again. "Who?"
"She was Connor's partner when he was at Peak," Chase explained.
"Oh," Ellen said, the name still lost on her.
"Brown hair, wears red glasses, kinda on the short side. Nose ring," Sam said, describing the woman we'd met the day before.
Ellen nodded. "Right. I remember seeing her. I mean, I'm not sure if she's here today, but I know she was at the con before it closed."
I spun on her. "Wait—did you say before it closed?"
Ellen nodded. "Yeah."
"Like, the day Connor died?" I asked, my eyes pinging meaningfully to Sam. "You're sure?"
Ellen nodded. "Yeah. Short, nose ring, red glasses. She was right over there when Connor was signing autographs." Ellen pointed to the far end of the VizaSoft booth. "I remember because I thought she looked antsy to meet Connor. Like she might try to cut the line or something." She paused, her gaze going to mine. "Why?"
Because Phoebe Lyons had told us she wasn't at the convention.
Which meant she'd totally lied to us.
CHAPTER EIGHT
After extracting from Ellen exactly where the Peak Games booth was, the three of us made a beeline for it, finding it manned by Clipboards and the receptionist with pigtails from the day before. They were both wearing Peak Games T-shirts and looked bored and put out at having to work on a long weekend. They had a stack of brochures in front of them with info about their most popular games, and behind them I could see a couple of gaming chairs set up in front of monitors where convention goers were sampling the goddess series games. A small line had formed, but it was a far cry from what we'd seen at the VizaSoft booth before Connor's death.
"Hi," I said as we approached. "Remember us? We applied for the intern positions yesterday?"
Clipboards went from Sam to Chase before coming back to me. "Sure." He nodded and gave a shrug of his slim shoulders. "Thanks for stopping by. You can jump in line and try out any of the goddess games."
"Actually, we were wondering if Ms. Lyons is here?" I glanced behind him, trying to see farther into the booth.
Clipboards frowned. "She hasn't made any decision about interns yet. You'll be notified if you've gotten a position, and we'll post the complete list of interns on our Facebook page."
"Right." I nodded, looking uncertainly at Sam. "I, uh, just…"
"She just thought of something she should have told Ms. Lyons during the interview," Sam jumped in, saving me. "Just today. Something super valid to the position."
He looked skeptical. In his defense, he had seen my application.
"You guys could leave a message for her?" Pigtails offered.
"So, she's not here at the con today?" Sam asked.
The two exchanged a look. Probably wondering how much to tell the overeager interns. On the one hand, even I had to admit, we had a sort of stalker vibe right now. But on the other, the sooner Peak took on interns, the sooner Clipboards and Pigtails could pawn weekend work off on them.
A thought that must have occurred to Clipboards as he finally said, "She's over at the Marriot taking private meetings until after lunch. You could try back then."
"Thanks!" I said, giving him a big smile.
Even though there was no way I was waiting until after lunch.
* * *
The
