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?“Tut, tut,” Jon chimed in.
?Did anyone actually say, “tut, tut” these days?
?“You are our opening speaker, and no expense is to be spared.” He took my envelope and extracted a small map. “Here is where you’ll give your speech tonight,” he said and indicated the Mercury Ballroom on the third floor.
?I glanced at the paper. “I’ll look around the facilities.”
?“Excellent! Now, you are participating in the panel tomorrow at one in the afternoon, which will be in the Beekman Room” –he ran his finger to a small meeting room— “on the second floor.”
?I nodded.
?“Now, after the panel, I set up an hour at the signing booth.”
?“The what?”
?“The signing booth. People will bring copies of your books to be autographed. After your speech, I was sure there would be a huge demand. You have your hotel room until Monday morning.”
?I shrugged. “Anything for the fans.”
?“That’s lovely!” he gushed and turned to Candy. “Didn’t I tell you he was first-rate?”
?As we finished speaking, a white-haired woman, wonderfully coiffed and wearing what I was sure was a Chanel suit and skirt, strode up to us.
?“Jon,” she declared, without a look to me.
?“Ms. Cunningham. Oh this is a treat!” Jon greeted her enthusiastically. “I’d like you to meet Mark Watkins. He’s doing our opening night speech—”
?“Ah, about Holmes!” She turned to me. I noticed on her lapel was an eye-catching cameo in green with a gold frame. The silhouette on the pin wore a deerstalker hat and held a pipe in his mouth. It was Sherlock Holmes!
?“How do you do?” I offered and pointed at her pin. “That’s quite lovely.”
?“Isn’t it?” she intoned, with a glance to it. “It’s Jade and cost
a fortune, I’ll tell you that.”
?“Nice.”
?“I’m Winsley Cunningham, and I believe you are doing my panel on Thursday.”
?I glanced at Jon who nodded vigorously.
?“I guess I am.”
?“Well, that’s lovely. I happen to teach a course on the biography of Sherlock Holmes at the New School.”
?It was my turn to nod. Even though Holmes and Watson were fictional characters, it was a popular pastime for Holmesian scholars to make up biographies for Holmes that matched Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings and approximated what would be his timeline.
?The most famous of these researchers, William Baring-Gould, wrote several books that were now the “accepted” biography from which others based their writings. I found Baring-Gould a great resource and his books a good read, but making Holmes that real always seemed a little creepy to me.
?“That’s great,” I said. “I look forward to being on your panel.”
?“You’d better be good tonight!” Winsley warned. “I’ve been telling them to have a Holmes speaker for years.” She gave Kane a withering look. “I always thought it would be me…”
?Jon gave an embarrassed cough. “Don’t pressure the man, Winsley.”
?I jumped in. “It’s fine. I hope to live up to your expectations.” I extracted my plastic card key from the envelope. “I guess I’d better check my room.”
?“Good,” Jon said. “Please arrive about a half-hour early to the ballroom so the sound man can put your microphone on. Well, you’re all set then. I have to get back to…” He gestured toward the convention room.
