Murder at the Book Fair by Steve Demaree Page B

to get
there early, even though there's no one to buy that early. They don't open the
doors to the public until 9:00 ."
    "These pastries, did people
leave them for you on your table?"
    "No, they're in the
hospitality area set aside for the authors. They're real nice to us
there."
    "How hard would it be for
someone to sneak into that area?"
    "Not very. But I don't think
anyone would know which drink or pastry Cereal would drink or eat."
    "You didn't happen to notice
if someone put something on his table, did you?"
    "Well, all of us were given a
goody bag, with little treats and trinkets. Jeannie Oldham and St. Catherine's
College are good enough to do that for us each year."
    "Is she the murdering
type?"
    "I'd say more the tormenting
type. Naw, she's real nice. Does a lot for the book fair."
    "Okay, let's go back to the
beginning, but forget about anything that happened prior to the author's
reception. Tell me about that."
    "Well, each year the KBF
invites each of the authors to a reception on Friday night. It's not always at
the same place. Many of the authors attend. We really enjoy getting together
with each other and on Saturday there's not a lot of time to socialize outside
of the authors at our table. Particularly during the morning and early
afternoon. That's when most people come. So, many of us look forward to the
reception each year. They serve several finger foods, and many of them are
quite tasty. Most of us make a supper out of it. Also, they have wine, mixed
drinks, soft drinks, and bottles of water to drink. We go through a line and
get whatever we want and take it to a table and sit or stand around and eat and
talk."
    "So, if you go to a table do
you pretty much stay at your table the way you do on Saturday, or do you mill
around?"
    "Some of both. Some people
move around and talk to a little bit of everyone. Others stay at the table where
they choose to sit."
    "Did you see Cyril Portwood
there?"
    "Oh, yeah. If you pay
attention you can tell who's there and who didn't make it. Well, unless someone
was just there a few minutes. It's possible we could miss someone"
    "And did Portwood mill around
or stay seated?"
    "I think some of both. There
were times when he and I were seated at the same table. Other times one or both
of us wandered around, talked to friends we might not have seen since the
previous book fair, or welcomed new authors who are there for the first time.
First time authors are always excited and happy to be there, but some of them
are shy and don't talk to people easily."
    "Does anyone attend other
than authors?"
    "Well, several members of the
KBF board are there, and two or three Kentucky publishers turn out to support their authors. Oh, and some of the
authors bring their husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend, but not
both."
    He laughed when he said that, to
show me he was kidding about any of the married authors having someone on the
side.
    "Did you pay any attention to
Portwood that night? Did he spend a lot of time with anyone in particular, or
have a disagreement with someone?"
    "I doubt if anyone there had
a disagreement with anyone. We all get along quite well. And I doubt if one
person occupied all of his time."
    "Do they ever have the
reception at the hotel?"
    "Not so far, and they move it
around. This year it was at the Paul Sawyier Public Library. Those people are
nice, too. The library also puts on an event called A Gathering of Authors each
August. Diane Dehoney and Mark Kinnaird go a great job with it, and are so good
to the authors."
    "Let's get back to the book
fair. How do the authors get to the event?"
    "Some drive their cars. Some
who are staying at the Capital Plaza ride a shuttle over from the hotel. Cereal and I rode on
the shuttle. And there is more than one shuttle trip. The shuttle goes back and
forth a few times during the night. Not everyone comes over or leaves at the
same time."
    "What about Portwood? Did he leave
early or stay late?"
    "He was one of the last