Page 36 of She Doesn't Have a Clue
“Why are you asking me all these questions about Kennedy and Rebecca and the prenup?” Spencer asked. “I thought you wanted to talk to me about the speech.”
“Oh, ahhh…” Kate could hardly admit to him now that someone had tried to poison his bride, or that he was a suspect. “I saw Serena outside, with some other Simon Says authors. Protesting. I was wondering if that might impact your damage clause.”
Spencer groaned. “Oh god, I told Kennedy it was a bad idea to invite her. To invite any of you! No offense.”
“Great offense taken.”
Spencer gave her an exasperated look. “Ken is always going on about how Simon Says is a family, and Simon’s been like a dad to her since her own dad died. I think she gets lonely, despite her family name being on every other building around town. Her aunt is basically a recluse, her cousins are always fighting over the will, and her parents died when she was young. I think to her, Simon Says reallyislike family, and she forgets that everybody else just works there.”
“Last night, Serena said you told her that all new contract negotiations are on pause,” Kate said. “Is that true?”
“Oh,” Spencer said, blinking a few times. His gaze slid to the side. “I’m not really supposed to say.”
“So it’s true,” Kate said, easily connecting the dots. “But why? Is Simon closing the business? Is Simon Says folding?”
“I said I’m not supposed to say,” Spencer said.
“Is that why everybody’s marketing campaigns have been going so poorly? Because there’s no budget to actually promote them?”
“Kate!” Spencer said, exasperated.
“Hey, if I’m out of a job I need to know it!” Kate countered, suddenly worried about her next mortgage payment.
“You know you’re not out of a job, not with the way Loretta sells,” Spencer said.
“But youarehiding something,” Kate said. “I could tell last night. You know something, so spill it. What do you want, a pinky promise that I won’t tell? Should we spit in our hands and shake on it? Blood pact?”
“Even though I know you wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stab me or spit on me, I’ll just take your word.” Spencer glanced around the hallway, like there might be a spy lurking in the corridor waiting to catch him in an act of corporate espionage. “There’s a rumor—just a rumor, mind you, I don’t have real proof yet—that Simon is looking to sell the publishing house.”
“What?” Kate whispered, leaning in closer. This was real gossip, indeed. “Why?”
Spencer shrugged. “He hasn’t said anything official yet, but there have been… signs. He’s already made me cut ties with several of my lower-performing authors, and he’s holding out on extending anybody else’s contracts unless they’re high-earners like you. Serena’s been down my throat for months now, wanting to move forward on her next title, and I can’t. There’s another rumor that layoffs are coming in every department.”
“Who’s on the chopping block?” Kate asked.
“I’d guess the highest earners in every department, like Juliette. She’s obviously way more expensive than the interns, and as far as I can tell, most of her job is just telling them what to do. If she gets cut, the department budget basically gets cut in half.”
“Does Juliette know?” Kate thought about Juliette sneaking into locked rooms last night. Was that Simon’s room she’d been breaking into? Maybe looking for proof that he was going to cut her? Maybe Juliette thought she’d axe Kennedy before Kennedy could drop the axe on her.
“If I’ve noticed the signs, Juliette certainly has,” Spencer said. “There’s not much that gets past her at Simon Says.”
And if anybody was devious enough to use Kate’s book as a blueprint to frame her for Kennedy’s poisoning, it would be Juliette Winters. She’d been the first one to connect the dots in the wine cave last night, which made sense if she’d been the one to draw the dots in the first place. Plus, someone had planted Kennedy’s necklace in Kate’s luggage. A necklace she still needed to find and get rid of before Juliette started a witch hunt to find it.
“I need to go,” Kate said, heading back toward her room. “And you need to get to your tux fitting before Jean-Pierre has an aneurysm.”
“But we still haven’t talked about the speech,” Spencer called, sounding disappointed.
“Tux fitting, now!” Kate said, waving him off. She didn’t have time for speeches or disappointed ex-fiancés. She had a necklace to find, and a murder to thwart.
Chapter Nineteen
Kate spent a horrifying thirty minutes digging through a room that seemed to consist only of spare doll parts, old linens that smelled of what she swore was brimstone (even though she’d never smelled brimstone), and hulking pieces of furniture. But she emerged victorious and covered in cobwebs, the necklace tucked safely away in her pocket and her feelings pricklier than ever toward Jake and Spencer.
What right did Jake have to be mad at her about Spencer? He was the one who’d rejected her. Twice! And what the hell was Spencer thinking, talking about cancelling prenups and stirring up old feelings? Loretta wouldn’t take that kind of guff from Blake or Geoff. She’d have the two of them strung up and put down by chapter three. Besides, Kate had real problems to focus on—like how she was going to get Kennedy’s necklace back among her things before the bride noticed her precious family heirloom was missing.
The ship seemed to have sailed on that last one, at least, because Kennedy’s distressed voice filtered past the double doors of the bridal suite as Kate reached the second floor. “Have you found it, Cass?”
“Not yet, I’m checking the bed,” came Cassidy’s voice, muffled under layers of bedding.