Bell, Book, and Scandal

Shelley had often come to Jane’s house and seen a book squashed open, face down, on a counter or over the arm of a chair. “Buy bookmarks, Jane!“ she always said.
    “Waste of money. I usually try to use something like a grocery receipt,“ Jane would counter. “If it’s my book, I can do anything I want with it. I could tear pages out to wash windows. Take it into the bathtub and know it might come back out wet. Or put it in the trash if I’m not liking it.“
    She’d never let Shelley find out that the reference books she’d purchased for working on her book were highlighted in yellow throughout. That would have put Shelley completely over the brink.
    The phone rang and Jane was closest. “Yes, thank you. I’ll be right down to pick it up,“ she said to the caller.
    “What was that about?“ Shelley asked.
    “I have a fax at the front desk. Mel must have found the page Zac was hanging on to,“ Jane explained. “I’ll be right back.“
    When she returned to the suite and opened the envelope, she was disappointed. She knew Mel said it was an old page with yellow edges. Unfortunately, the yellow turned into gray when faxed. The words on the outside edge were virtually unreadable. She sat down with a pencil at the dining table and tried to puzzle out what the missing words were.
    Shelley was pointedly ignoring her. She was buzzing around picking things up and putting them away. She finally broke down after twenty minutes when there was no longer anything to move or clean up. “Is it interesting?“
    “Not especially. It’s grammatically correct is the best I can say for it. It’s a guy named Malachi thinking over why it seems to be so important to him to find a woman he’s only seen in a dream that he’s had several times. I’d wonder the same thing if I were he, but wouldn’t fret myself about it.“
    “So it’s not worthwhile,“ Shelley said in a voice of triumph.
    “Who knows?“ Jane said. “Maybe the rest of it was really good.“ The phone rang again. This time Shelley picked it up. “Let me write that down. Jane, where’s a notepad and pencil?“
    “You put everything that wasn’t nailed down away somewhere,“ Jane said. She handed Shelley a paperback book and a pen from her purse and said, “Write it down on the first page.“
    “No. I’d ruin the book.“
    “Suit yourself,“ Jane said, not wishing for another round of how-a-book-must-be-treated.
    With great reluctance, Shelley wrote something on the reverse side of the back cover.
    “That was Felicity,“ she said. “The title of Vernetta’s e-pubbed book is Martin’s Quest or The Quest of a Martian, she said. Two different people called it by different names.“
    “I doubt the Martian one,“ Jane said with smile. “I can’t imagine Sophie Smith paying a for tune for a science fiction book.“
     

Seventeen
     
    “It’s odd about this page Zac was holding,“ Jane said.
    “What’s odd?“
    “Many books these days have a heading on each page. You know, the author’s name at the top of one page and the title of the book on the opposite page.“
    Shelley checked some of the books she’d purchased. “You’re right. I never noticed that. Bu this page doesn’t,“ she said, looking over Jane’ shoulder.
    “If we can’t hunt down Zac or if he doesn’t re member what the book was, we’ll never know.“
    “Will we care?“ Shelley asked. ·
    “I think so. I don’t think that Sophie Smith’s illness was natural, nor was the attack on Zac. Either one could have died.“
    “You amaze me. You don’t think they were jus pranks? And Sophie could have just eaten a bad egg with her breakfast.“
    Jane said, “If you were eating a bad egg, you’d know it right away.“
    “I just meant it as an example,“ Shelley said grumpily.
    “I think these two ‘unfortunate’ events are connected. Remember that Zac handed Sophie a book at the reservation desk. It must be the connection.“
    “Did she then give it back to him and he was looking it over when he was attacked?“
    “Maybe,“ Jane claimed. “Or it was another copy.“
    Jane suddenly slapped her head. “I know who might be able to identify it!“
    “Identify what?“
    “The page from the book Zac was reading. Or at least holding.“ She went on to explain about the contest Chester Griffith had conducted, and the woman who won the prize. “She’s a teacher at a local college and teaches about the mystery and science fiction genres. Her name