The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (good short books .TXT) 📕

Cheryl held up a hand. “I would like to interject here that, as deserving as Bubba is of this award, we all know he’d give it up in a heartbeat to the reaper who truly dressed like no one else and won this award six times in past years—Art. We will all miss him.”

Applause rang through the room. Cheryl let it die down naturally before she continued. “The next award is for longest serving reaper.” She opened the envelope and then scanned the crowd as she announced, “Shirley!”

Shirley made her way to the front to accept a small plaque amid whistles and cheers. She said a quiet thank you into the microphone before heading back to her seat.

“Another of Lee’s additions. Next up is our award for most likely to be late for a reap.” Cheryl opened the envelope and Tessa held her breath. How embarrassing would it be if her name was on there?

But when Cheryl looked up, she announced, “The winner is Colton.”

A reaper Tessa had only met in passing went up to get his plaque, red-faced as everyone jeered at him from the crowd. Tessa blew out a relieved breath and vowed to make it to all of her future reaps on time. She never wanted to be given that award at the yearly conference.

“And next we have the rookie of the year award. This one truly is a honor to hand out. I know I still have mine sitting proudly on a bookshelf beside my desk. Gloria has hers. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I’m hoping to see three of these around the office.” Now Tessa squirmed with fervor. Her mother would probably embarrass her on stage. She opened the envelope and sighed. “Lydia.”

Lydia, not quite as red-faced as Colton, took her prize.

“And finally,” Cheryl said, “the most talked-about and competed-for award for the district supervisor whose district had the greatest number of allotments this year.” Cheryl opened the envelope, expression pleasantly tense as she read. Then she smiled. “The winner this year is Lee Stuart, by only three allocations.”

Shouts and boos went up from western and eastern reapers, respectively. As Lee made his way forward to accept the silver trophy from Cheryl, Tessa’s gaze swept the crowd and landed on April in the front row. The gray-haired woman was clearly seething. If her eyes had been able to make lightning, it was clear she would have burned Lee down right that second.

Lee shook Cheryl’s hand, and she stepped aside for him to speak into the microphone. “Thank you so much, Cheryl. And thanks to my team, the western division, for bringing me this honor once again.” He pinned Cheryl with a smile. “I know the eastern district worked hard, and they only fell short by such a tiny bit. I think this is the closest it’s been in years. Last year, we beat you by five. Way to narrow the margin.” He clucked his tongue. “But better luck next year.”

April’s hands fisted on the desk in front of her. Her expression darkened even more.

Tessa worried April might leap up and try to strangle Lee. Cheryl kept an eye on April too, as though worried her boss may blow a figurative gasket and literally explode into an angry tirade.

Tessa thought the whole thing was silly. Three allocations. That was nothing in the grand scheme of reaps done over the past year. Why make such a fuss about it? And who decided how the things were split? She guessed it was on merit, on who was doing the best job. Otherwise, it made no sense.

Lee finished his speech, and Cheryl said some final uplifting things that no one listened to as they all buzzed about the allotment award. Cheryl concluded by wishing everyone a safe trip home.

Gloria turned toward Tessa. “One last bar night?”

But Tessa shook her head. Something had stuck in her mind while Lee was speaking. She watched April exit the conference room, ignoring anyone who tried to speak to her. Tessa got to her feet. “You know what? I have something to do real fast. I’ll meet you after I’m done, okay?”

Gloria shrugged. “Sure.”

Tessa headed into the lobby and waited for the elevator. Inside, she punched the button for the sixth floor.

Three allocations. Lee had won by three. And there had been three since they got on the plane in Chicago—Art, Cynthia, and the man on the golf course. Dani would have been another if Tessa hadn’t saved her.

No one knew who had reaped Art and Cynthia. They were eastern district reapers, but could they somehow have been counted in the western district’s numbers?

Of course, there were always people being reaped. Every minute of the day. But Art and Cynthia were unaccounted for, and that was unusual.

The third reap on her mind—the man who had the stroke—seemed to have been allocated to the eastern district, but was it?

The reap hadn’t felt right to Tessa, just like Dani’s death hadn’t. Still, Lydia had done the reap, so it had to have been allocated to the east, right?

Tessa needed to talk to Timothy.

When she got out of the elevator on the sixth floor, Tessa stood for a minute, looking both ways and wondering where they were keeping Timothy. Cheryl had said there wasn’t much going on up there, and she was right. The hallway was empty.

Tessa stood uncertainly and chewed her bottom lip. Which way? She shrugged. If she had to check every room, so be it.

But as she took a step to the left, a sound stopped her. She whirled around. It had been a laugh. And she recognized it.

Tessa hurried in the direction of the sound, glad when it rang out again to help her pinpoint where to go. She arrived at a closed doorway at the end of the hall. She pressed her ear to the door, and it wasn’t long before she heard Bubba laugh again. She knocked softly.

Bubba pulled the door open and looked surprised. “Oh, hey,