The Poisonous Pageant: Events To Die For Series, #2

By Sara Robbins

Events To Die For Series Book # 2  Charlotte Wilson has booked a child beauty pageant for Enchanted Events. The beautiful Colorado event center is adjacent to the Aspen Valley Inn. One of the celebrity judges is murdered and Charlotte and her sister Lacey try to solve the crime. On top of this drama, Charlotte also needs to choose between the three suitors she has been dating. Which one should she trust with her wounded heart? The handsome bison rancher, the divine architect that designed her new house or the local deputy who tries to protect her? Suspense, the pursuit of love and a beautiful Colorado mountain setting combine to pull you in for a delicious story. This series is a sequel to the popular Aspen Valley Inn Series. Those beloved characters remain in the background as Charlotte takes center stage. Who killed the former model who was judging the tiny girls competing for Little Princess Grand Supreme Beauty?  Relax and spend some time at Enchanted Events, events to die for. This book is a novella of approximately 27,000 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Plan C Publishing
• Release date: Jul 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497769663

Book preview

THE POISONOUS PAGEANT

SARA ROBBINS

Chapter 1

Charlotte sighed as she looked through the photos that were posted on the Little Princess Beauty Pageant website. She had looked at these a few months ago when she was discussing the booking details with the Little Princess director, Alexandra Hoffman.

Nevertheless, it still surprised her to see the little girls in full make up and evening wear. She believed that these pageants did help the girls become more outgoing and confident. She also liked that there were scholarships as well as tiaras given to the winners. She just wished that they could build their self esteem and gain educational opportunities while still looking like the children they still were.

Tomorrow morning Enchanted Events would be invaded by the contestants, their family members and the pageant officials. The contest would last about four days and would determine which girl would be crowned Little Princess Pageants Grand Supreme Beauty. This week’s event was specifically for the Colorado four-to-six age division.

Charlotte had been able to book the entire venue for the pageant. The contestants needed preparation rooms. Adding the runway setup and talent stage would utilize most of the available event space in the beautifully renovated building.

Charlotte only wished she could ignore the niggling feeling that this child pageant business was not entirely commendable. Something about those little girls in high heels and sequined evening gowns still bothered her.

Her sister, Lacey had been able to fill the Aspen Valley Inn rooms with judges and the pageant director. All in all this was a profitable booking for the two sisters and their adjoining businesses.

Charlotte and Lacey had gone into business together a couple of years ago. First they had opened The Aspen Valley Inn and then had converted a one hundred year old barn on the property into an amazing full service event center.

While they helped each other whenever necessary, generally Lacey ran the Inn and Charlotte managed Enchanted Events. They worked well together in their hospitality ventures but they also loved to get involved in investigating the mysterious circumstances that seemed to cross their paths.

The Aspen Valley Inn and Enchanted Events had managed to breeze through the holiday season without any murders or attempted murders. After the drama and danger that had occurred just before Christmas. Charlotte and her sister Lacey were relieved that they had been able to focus only on making their businesses successful for at least a little while.

Of course, no one was more relieved than Wyatt, Lacey’s fiancé and the local sheriff. Lacey and Wyatt would be married in May. Charlotte was taking care of planning all of the special details for the nuptials that would be held right here at Enchanted Events.

However, this was mid- January and she had many more events to book and oversee before that momentous occasion. The first one being the Little Princess Beauty Pageant, which would begin tomorrow.

She began to plan out the placement of each table and which lighting would work best for all of the photography that would be part of the event. She had already prepared the Molly Kathleen salon to serve as a dressing room and preparation area for the twenty or so contestants. She had lined one entire wall with mirrors. Then she had set up five makeshift vanity stations that were surrounded by superb lighting. She shook her head at the image of twenty little girls sitting in the makeup chairs and being turned into embellished child-women.

There were wardrobe racks but Alexandra Hoffman had informed her that because of the highly competitive nature of the pageant, many of the contestants would get dressed and made up at their hotels or travel trailers. According to the director they would avoid contact with each other to prevent the copying or sabotage of clothing and routines. Charlotte’s conversations with Alexandra had made it clear this pageant was not going to be some little girls wearing party dresses and singing the little teapot song.

The grand prize was a twenty-five thousand dollar scholarship for the winner along with two smaller cash prizes for the runners up. Charlotte had come to the conclusion that the educational grant didn’t matter as much to the contestants as the Grand Supreme title which included a five foot high trophy and real diamond and pearl studded tiara.

The three trophies and tiaras had arrived yesterday. Charlotte had displayed them as requested in a prominent lighted cabinet in the main reception hall. When she saw how truly valuable they were she had called a locksmith to install a lock on the antique oak cabinet.

Wyatt and his deputy Jason Boyd had come by for coffee and laughed about needing to provide police protection for the huge trophies and sparkling tiaras.

Charlotte had laughed along with them but she still felt that little tingle that made her worry. Perhaps it was just the juxtaposition of four to six year old little girls in a desperate battle to win a competition.

Chapter 2

The next day dawned with beautiful pink and gold streaks of light dancing in and out behind the Rocky Mountain peaks. Charlotte had witnessed this early morning game of hide and seek many times but it always dazzled her. She found herself standing still on the path from her little house to the event center, struck by the sheer beauty of another Colorado sunrise.

She had been renting a house in the nearby town of Elkville but a few months ago they had completed the renovation of one of the small farm houses on the twenty acre property. It had been transformed into a cozy home for her. She loved that she had decided every detail of the renovation and the house was the perfect expression of her classic style. The fact that she only had a one hundred yard commute to work didn’t hurt either.

Charlotte smiled when she thought of the many meetings that had brought her and Tanner Reed together. He was the architect that had created the plans for her house. After the house was finished she had begun casually dating him.

Casually was the operative word since she was also dating Deputy Jason Boyd and Cody Westerfield, the bison rancher that lived nearby.  She had been honest with each of them. Her heart and soul had been destroyed by the death of her young daughter and the subsequent failure of her marriage to her high school sweetheart, Ryan Wilson.

She wasn’t sure she could ever let herself care deeply for anyone else. So far the pain of loss wasn’t worth risking for any of the men in her life.

Lacey and Wyatt took great pleasure in teasing her about dating three men at once. They were not aware that she also had long conversations each week with her ex-husband, Ryan. There were years of being unable to speak to each other without the huge presence of their daughter's death between them. Somehow they had been able to move to a place where they could talk, albeit trivial conversations.

She didn’t know where if anywhere these dating dalliances were leading but she felt good that she had even taken a step in this direction.

The sun had made its full appearance behind the majestic outline of Pike’s Peak; she had let herself get distracted. She needed to get to the event center since she expected the first arrivals for the pageant in about an hour.

She and Lacey had decided to try to take on as much of the catering services as possible for the events they booked. They had options to outsource it but Lacey was an excellent cook and if they kept the food service in house each event was more profitable.

The catering requirements for the Little Princess Beauty Pageant were fairly simple. Light breakfast options followed by a mid-morning snack, then a more substantial lunch and mid afternoon snack. The participants were on their own for dinner.

Breakfast this morning would be an assortment of Lacey’s fabulous muffins and some fresh fruit. They had created their own coffee blend which had received many praises and also offered a large assortment of teas. Charlotte had added some low fat milk and yogurt choices because of the children that would