"This conference is at least one day too long," Jane said again, as the waiter took away their plates and left the bill. "Shelley, let me pay this bill since it was my idea."
Shelley didn't object for once. "I'm so glad we parked so close. I'm not sure I can even waddle that far."
When they returned to the hotel, the lobby was full of frantically talking conference participants. Shelley spotted Felicity trying to edge away from someone who had her cornered, and they went to the rescue. "Oh, there you are," Shelley said to her. "I was afraid we were late for our appointment with you."
"Just on time," Felicity said, glancing at her watch. "I'm sorry," she said to her captor, "I have to leave now."
Walking quickly and followed by Jane and Shelley, she headed for the elevators. They had one all to themselves. "Come up to the suite and take those high heels off," Shelley said.
"Thanks," Felicity said when they were safely alone.
Shelley started pouring them drinks, this time wine. "What's going on down there in the lobby?" she asked as she handed out the glasses.
"All hell has broken loose, a wildfire of gossip is spreading about Vernetta. They're saying she plagiarized at least half her book from an old one of Zac's."
"It's true," Jane said.
"Vernetta's been stomping around accosting anyone she can find, vehemently denying it."
"What's the costume this time?" Jane asked.
"None. Bulging old jeans and a sweatshirt with the name of a singer who does songs for little kids on the front of the shirt. Is it really true about her?"
"Yes," Shelley said. "But I wonder how it circulated."
"Shelley was the one who discovered it," Jane said.
"How?"
"With a copy of that page that was in Zac's hand when he was found," Shelley said. "I found Vernetta's book on the Internet and did a search for a distinctive phrase from the page."
"So you two started this wildfire?"
"We tried not to," Jane said. "We only told one person who'd helped us. And she promised she wouldn't say anything about it to anyone else. I don't believe she did."
"I'd like to know who did. I'll bet it was that woman I think is Miss Mystery. It's exactly the kind of thing she'd love to pass around."
"But where would she have found the information?" Shelley asked.
"Probably eavesdropping on you," Felicity said. "Where were you when you told the one person?"
Shelley and Jane looked at each other in horror. Jane said, "In the food court in the tunnel."
"Was that woman I pointed out to you there?"
"We didn't even notice who else was there," Shelley said. "I'm afraid we may have stupidly started this. We certainly didn't mean to. Oh, we considered shooting off our mouths about it, but decided it wasn't a nice thing to do. We'd have seemed to be the worst gossips in the world if we did."
Felicity took another sip of her drink and said, "You're really not to blame. It would have come out somehow. Who else knew this?"
Jane ticked off the names. "Vernetta and Gaylord, Sophie Smith, Zac, and Corwin. They were all determined to keep it quiet for stupid reasons of their own. All of them were only thinking about the money and their reputations instead of concentrating on the perp of Sophie's sudden, unexplained illness and the attack on Zac."
"Of course they were," Felicity said. "All but Vernetta and Gaylord are pros in the business. That's their priority, however blind that kind of thinking is. What was Vernetta's reaction when she was told she'd been caught out?"
"Complete denial. She claimed it was from a book she knew to be out of print so she was entitled to use it," Shelley replied.
"That's crazy," Felicity said.
"We know. But she didn't. Still, it proves she's not entirely blockheaded. She apparently believed being out of print for a long time made copying it okay," Shelley explained. "It wasn't entirely convincing."
"But when Sophie accused Vernetta of poisoning the chocolates she had given her and attacking Zac, the denial sounded slightly more sincere," Jane explained.
"Sophie hit her with all that? All at once? Good for the old broad. I guess you two heard it all? Were you convinced she really wasn't responsible for anything but the plagiarism?"
"At first I was," Jane said. "But Shelley steered me out of being that dopey."
"How did this confrontation come to take place?" Felicity asked. "Spill the beans."
Shelley and Jane walked her through the whole thing, and Felicity was delighted to hear the details.
"May I share some of this with my close writing pals? Without using your names, of course. The basic premise of the plagiarizing won't be a secret in the business for long. I give it until Monday to be all anyone talks about in publishing circles. But I'd like to share the news that friends of mine ferreted it out all by themselves."
Twenty-three
After Felicity departed, Jane and Shelley halfheartedly started to pack for the trip home the next day. Shelley had two pillowcases. One for the clothes that needed dry cleaning, one for the clothes that could be laundered at home. Jane stuffed all her dirty laundry into one pillowcase. They loaded up their book bags, saving only two books each so they could choose between which one to read at bedtime. This would be the last night at the hotel and they wanted to be ready to make their departure as early and easily as possible.
When they descended to the lobby, it was as frantic with gossip as it had been the day when Sophie collapsed right in front of everyone. And the rumors were just as wild and varied.
"What does the sign say in the conference registration place?" Shelley asked.
"I'll wait to find out until I unload this disgusting pillowcase and the books in my car," Jane said. "I suggest you do so, too. We look as if we're sneaking out on our bill, piece by piece."
"We are. Except that there won't be a bill except for room service and our tip for the maid."
They managed to escape without much notice and returned with only their schedules in their book bags, and their purses.
As they crossed the crowded lobby to see what the sign said, they heard all sorts of weird snips of conversations.
"No, it wasn't Vernetta who plagiarized Zac. It was the other way around," a woman with pieces of her cheap red wig shedding on her shoulders claimed.
"Vernetta is so enthusiastic about being published, I'm certain she wouldn't have taken that risk," a terminally nice older man said.
"It isn't Vernetta, it's someone else and I've forgotten the name," a woman barely out of her teens said, then blushed.
"What does plagiarism mean?" a male voice piped up.
"The same as copyright infringement," an unseen woman replied.
"What's that?" the same male voice asked.
A tall woman wearing a short-skirted black suit said to a small group, "I'm a lawyer and what Vernetta has done is illegal. She'll be in big trouble when this gets around."
Jane whispered to Shelley, as they forged their way through the crowd, "She's nearly the only one who has it right."
Shelley, walking a few paces ahead of Jane,stopped in her tracks, causing Jane to run into her, and said, "We're not talking to anyone about this."
"No, we certainly aren't. We're acting as if we've never heard it," Jane agreed. "We don't want to blow our cover. Someone else can take the blame for this discovery."
By the time they reached the conference check-in area, the big bulletin board that usually had scraps of papers asking where so-and-so was meeting her, and where was the nearest hairdressing salon, was bare except for a large notice saying, "The rumors about plagiarism are rampant. We hope the participants of this conference can put it aside and not discuss it until all the relevant facts are known. It will make the end of this conference more pleasant for everyone."