I fixed a level gaze on him. "I'm not in shock, Doctor. And I'm not delusional, either, despite what Chief Ciders thinks."

You tell him, baby.

I swallowed my reply to Jack. I couldn't risk a non sequitur now.

Good idea, doll. The doc's already sized you up for crazy pills. Better not give him cause to send you to a cackle factory.

"A what?" I asked the ghost.

A cackle factory. Don't you have those nowadays?

"Have what exactly?"

A funny farm? Nut house? Mental hospital? Insane asy-

"Okay! I get it!"

The doctor frowned. "Mrs. McClure?"

I blinked. "Yes?"

"Events like this can be very stressful for a person. Perhaps you should take a rest. The chief mentioned that you and your aunt live upstairs. Maybe if you lie down, take a nap for a few hours-"

I shook my head. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. And I have a business to run."

"I understand… well, you do have a very nice store, I must say." He smiled and made a show of glancing around. "I'll just browse a little then. You don't mind?"

I folded my arms. "Be our guest."

While the doctor began browsing the store, Eddie approached me. "You okay, Pen?"

I took a shaky breath, still upset over my clash with Chief Ciders. "Life goes on," I told Eddie. I glanced in Rubino's direction. He was leafing through a frontlist Tess Gerritsen in the New Release section. "Looks like I've already got one customer… and we've got to open the store for the others waiting out there, even if we don't have a guest speaker for our morning event."

"You don't have a place to put a guest speaker, either."

I squeezed my eyes shut, considering the physical state of the Community Events room. It would have to be cleaned before the public could come into the store. But the thought of cleaning up all that blood made me shudder.

"I guess I'd better get started," I said softly. When I tried to walk away, however, Eddie gripped my arm.

"No, Pen, let me do it. It's the least I can do for writing you that littering ticket this morning."

"Oh, Eddie, that's very sweet. But I couldn't ask you-"

"It's Saturday night to me," he said with a shrug. "You have no idea what I see on that highway after the bars close. It's nothing I haven't seen before."

"But-"

"Thank you, Eddie," Sadie cut in, stepping up to us. "It's above and beyond the call of duty, and Pen and I appreciate it. Just come with me, and I'll show you where we keep the cleaning supplies so you can get started."

Eddie smiled, squeezed my shoulder, and then followed Sadie into the Community Events room, which led to the restrooms, store room, and supply closet.

When they were gone, I noticed that Dr. Rubino had discovered our Film Noir Festival display near the front window. He appeared to be quite interested in one book in par-ticular, Portraits in Shadow, a coffee-table book written by Hedda Geist- Middleton.

The oversized book of photos featured dramatic black-and-white stills from Hedda's Gotham Features years. The small amount of accompanying text amounted to short anecdotes from Hedda about shooting her movies and working with leading men and directors.

Dr. Rubino looked up suddenly and caught me staring. "This is an older book, isn't it?" he asked.

I nodded. A small New England publisher had released the book about two years before, without any publicity. It sold few copies, according to the publisher's sales rep, who'd confided in Sadie and me that Hedda was lucky they'd kept the book in print. This weekend's film festival was a chance for her to move out their inventory and, with the help of Barry Yello's Web site, maybe even get some national buzz going.

"Hedda Geist herself will be signing these books in the Community Events room, at five o'clock today," I told Rubino.

He smiled. "Hedda mentioned coming to Quindicott for a film festival, but I lost track of the date. I hadn't realized it was this weekend."

"You know Hedda? Personally?" I asked, more than a little surprised.

"Yes, she and her…" Dr. Rubino paused. "Well, the long and short of it is that Hedda is a patient of my Newport practice."

I was about to question him further when the delivery bell rang. "Excuse me, I have to get this."

I unlocked the front door to find Vinny Nardini, our DDS delivery man, standing there in his brown uniform beside several boxes on a dolly.

"Hi-Yo!" Vinny said with a grin. "Opening the store late today, Pen? You and your aunt party too hearty at that Finch Inn last night?"

I frowned down at the boxes. They were marked SAN FERNANDO UNIVERSITY PRESS, and I realized with a shiver that these were the very books Dr. Lilly was supposed to be signing for us at noon. The shipment had finally arrived, safe and sound, and I felt tremendously guilty that I'd failed to keep the book's author that way inside my own store.

Vinny scratched his brown beard. "Penelope?"

"Come in, Vinny, come in!" called Aunt Sadie, walking up behind me. "You know where to take those, don't you?"

"Sure thing," said Vinny, whistling as he wheeled the dead author's books toward the back of the store.

CHAPTER 8. Dead Speakers Don't Talk

STANDING BESIDE ME, Sadie put her arm around my shoulders. "What shall we do with Dr. Lilly's books, do you think? Put them on the selling floor with some sort of note?"

I shook my head. "To tell you the truth, I'd feel terrible hawking them today."

Sadie nodded. "You're right. Let's hold them in the storeroom for now. I'm sure Dr. Lilly would want her book available to the public, but I think it's best if we let Brainert handle the announcement of what happened. We'll just focus on other books today and let the poor woman rest in peace."

"Aunt Sadie," I said in a quiet voice, "what do you think about Dr. Lilly's death? You heard what I said to Chief Ciders. Do you think her death is suspicious, too? Or do you believe Ciders is right, and that she simply fell by accident?"

My aunt's arm fell away from my shoulders and she actually looked a little miffed. "I can't believe you just asked me that, Penelope!"

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot-"

"Chief Ciders is the biggest blowhard in this town! His opinion isn't worth a hill of beans, and you've proved it more than once in the last few years. That's what's eating him, Pen.

He's obviously determined never to let you get the best of him again. Well, I believe you, dear, and I believe in you."

Sadie smiled at me then; and, boy, did I need that vote of confidence.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Sweetie, you're a wonderful niece, and a very sharp young woman." She put her arm back around my shoulders and squeezed. "Don't you think I feel terrible about leaving that poor woman in our store alone? Whatever I can do to help, you let me know. And for goodness' sake don't you go letting Ciders's idiotic bluster discourage you from following your instincts. They've been good in the past, and I have no doubt that whatever track you're on, it's the right one."

Bang, Bang, Bang!

Sadie and I jumped at the noise, then looked up to find a twentysomething with tattoos, a nose ring, and a SIN CITY T-shirt knocking on the glass window of our front door. "Open up already!" his muffled voice demanded. Then he turned back to his group of young friends and they all laughed.

I sighed. The ambulance, cops, and mysterious body bag wheeled out of our store had made us a local spectacle. The crowd out front was even bigger now, snaking down the sidewalk, spilling into the street. Waiting customers were gossiping with curious tourists. Some were laughing and pointing.