The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 Paula Lester (year 7 reading list .txt) 📖

reap a golfer? Why was Lydia even doing a reap here? Didn’t Miami have its own office?

At least one thing was for sure—following Timothy had given Tessa more to chew on. Much more.

Chapter 14

TESSA STAYED IN THE cattails until Lydia was done with the reap and heading back to the hotel. By then, the course had been swarmed by emergency and golf course personnel, and it was easy to blend in anyway.

Lydia went around to the front doors of the hotel. Tessa followed her inside. As soon as she set foot in the lobby, the scent of lunch wafted past Tessa’s nose, making her stomach growl. Apparently, skipping breakfast meant something to her body and she needed more sustenance.

The hall outside the main conference room was loaded with food. Reapers teemed around it, piling their plates with sandwiches, veggies, and chips. Tessa thought it was weird how only the day prior it had been deserted when they’d called off the sessions after Cynthia’s death. Today, it was like that had never happened. Business as usual—which only made sense because their business was death.

She didn’t see Timothy anywhere, so Tessa kept one eye on Lydia as they both filled their plates. When she went into the conference room to eat, Tessa was glad to see Lydia sat alone at a round table at the edge of the room. She made a beeline to her. She smiled politely. “Hi! Care for some company?”

“Sure!” Lydia motioned to an empty chair. “Knock yourself out.”

No sooner had Tessa settled in than Gloria appeared in the third chair at the table. She smiled brightly and then dug in.

“How are you doing, Lydia? You and Cynthia were friends, right?” Tessa took a bite of ham and cheese sandwich. At Lydia’s nod, she said around it, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“It was a shock. This whole conference has been full of rotten surprises.” Lydia picked up a carrot stick but put it down again without taking a bite. “First Art, then Cynthia. I don’t understand it.”

“But April has all figured out.” Tessa caught the sarcasm in Gloria’s tone.

“You think?” Lydia tilted her head.

“Well, let’s just say if she doesn’t, I hope she figures it out soon.” Gloria didn’t say them out loud, but the words before it happens again hung in the air.

Tessa had been trying to figure out how to bring the conversation around to what she really wanted to know. She waited for a moment after Gloria spoke so the change in topic would be less abrupt and then said, “Lydia, what presentations did you attend this morning? It’s so hard for me to choose which ones to go to and which ones to miss.”

Lydia shrugged. “Actually, I worked this morning. Didn’t go to any sessions.”

Gloria’s eyes snapped up at that. “Worked? You mean like you reaped someone?”

“Yeah. Timothy caught me before breakfast and told me to watch my reaper app. Said that life goes on and so does death. Or something sinister like that.” She blew a breath up at a curl bouncing into her eye. “It was a golfer having a stroke, which is kinda funny in a very morbid way. Timothy said that, because it was happening on the hotel’s golf course property, it made the most sense to assign a reaper from the conference to it.” She picked up a cherry tomato, examined it, and set it down again. “It was nice to get some fresh air, I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Gloria attacked her food with renewed zeal, satisfied with Lydia’s answer.

Lydia stood. “I guess I don’t have much of an appetite. I’m going to head to my room for a nap before afternoon sessions. See you gals later.”

Tessa watched the other reaper leave the room and then leaned over to Gloria. “That’s not the full scoop. Timothy followed Lydia to her assignment this morning. Stood there and watched her. It was like he could see the whole thing.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m pretty sure people in his position are given the gift of Sight. In case they need to do an audit or something. Sounds like that’s what he was doing with Lydia.” Gloria seemed nonplussed. She frowned at her empty plate. “I’m still hungry.”

Tessa still wasn’t satisfied. “But why would Timothy follow her today? During the conference. He left in the middle of a session to follow Lydia.”

Gloria glanced at Tessa. “And how, exactly, do you know that?”

She looked at her plate and mumbled, “Because I followed him.”

“Ah.” Gloria chuckled. “Well, maybe he wanted to make sure Lydia is doing things by the book. He’s April’s lackey, after all. Maybe they’re worried that, after Cynthia’s death, she’d failed to perform her duties.”

Tessa wasn’t so sure that was the reason. “I’m going to ask Timothy about it,” she decided.

“Okay. Have fun with that. I’m going to get some more food.”

Gloria hadn’t been gone for a minute when Lee Stuart lowered himself into her chair. He smiled and gestured at her almost empty plate. “Nice lunch today, eh?”

“I guess. It hit the spot.”

He rubbed his abdomen. “Sure did. Hey, listen, I was sitting over there,” he gestured to a nearby table, “eating by myself and preparing for my talk. I saw you over here, and I thought you should come. It’s right up your alley. It’s called Advancements in Your Reaper Career: How to Make it to Upper Management.”

She was only in her first year as a reaper. Tessa didn’t want to think about advancing yet. She must have given him a look that said as much because Lee waved a hand. “Anyway, I also couldn’t help but overhear you say you plan to talk to Timothy about following that reaper on an assignment. I wanted to warn you—he’s a pretty squirrelly guy. Whatever you do, don’t go talk to him alone.”

She tipped her head a bit, considering him. Timothy was taller than Tessa but seemed like he had no substance at all. She felt like she