I walked back out to the display area, but then quickly turned around as I realized that with the drama between Jenni and Josie, I hadn't checked the cooler. I went back into the backroom and luckily, no one was fighting this time. I made my way over to the coolers, finding the one designated for us. Thoughtfully, Scott—or probably Jenni—had put labels with names on each cooler, so it was very clear whose space was whose. Thankfully, I noted that Jenni and Josie were not near each other. They should probably keep their distance for the rest of the festival. I looked at the cooler and, to be honest, I still didn't think everything we had was going to fit in it. But I was just going to have to try arranging things and see what worked. I didn't think we would be able to get more cooler space. I wasn't sure if anyone would be willing to share, and I was sure Josie had already commandeered whatever extra cooler space might be available.
I headed back out to the event room with a heavy sigh. When I reached our table, Katy and Wendy were already waiting for me, holding flowers in their hands.
"Sorry I made you guys wait. We had a little bit of an altercation," I said, telling them about Jenni and Josie.
"Really? Jenni and Scott are out in the parking lot, fighting," Katy said.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said.
Katy and Wendy solemnly looked at me and shook their heads.
"She's not kidding. It's true," Wendy confirmed.
"I don't know what they were arguing about, but whatever it was, they both seem pretty angry,” Katy said.
"Do you mind if you get started without me?" Both of them shook their heads. "I want to go out there for a second and see what's going on."
"Sure. We have Susan’s plans," Wendy said. "We can easily get started."
"As long as Wendy can tell me what I need to do, it's not a problem at all," Katy added.
I shot them a grateful look. "I'll be right back," I said and headed out to the parking lot. I hoped that by the time I got out there they wouldn’t be arguing anymore, but no such luck. I could hear them as soon as I opened the door, and I could see them in pretty much the same stance I had just seen Josie and Jenni in. It didn't look good.
This time, I wasn't as subtle as I was with Jenni and Josie. And while I realized I really had no right to butt into whatever was going on between Jenni and Scott, I felt very invested in this festival now. Much more than I had before Susan died. The festival was really important to the community, and everyone needed to be on their best behavior.
"What's going on?" I asked as I reached them.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Presley," Jenni snapped.
At the same time as Scott said, “None of your business.”
I looked at her and thought, Oh no you didn't.
"This is my business. First, I had to break up a fight between you and Josie, and now between you and Scott. This festival is meaningful to so many people in the community. We shouldn't be arguing with each other like this," I said, addressing both Jenni and Scott and giving them my best HR professional no-nonsense look. "Now, what the heck is going on?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have overreacted,” Jenni said.
"Me neither," he said. "Please, we're the ones organizing this event. Let's be a better example for the community." Scott might be saying the words, but it didn't exactly seem like the sincerity reached his eyes. Though if everyone would stop arguing, I guess it didn’t matter how sincere he was.
"It's time for me to go get the updated participant list. I want to double-check who has checked in," Jenni said.
Scott nodded.
Jenni walked away, and Scott turned to walk away as well, heading into the event center. That's when I grabbed his arm.
"What exactly is going on around here?" I asked.
"What do you mean, Presley?" he said tiredly.
"As you've seen the other day when I was in here, Jenni seemed fine. Now you guys are at each other's throats. Has Susan's murder got you rattled?"
"It's a lot of things," he said, with an open-ended sigh.
"Can you talk about it?"
"Not about this," he muttered. "I need to get in there and make sure everything is okay, or maybe I should shut the contest down this year. People are trying to steal each other's tables and I’m over it," he muttered angrily and walked off.
While I wished he was joking I really knew this competition could get fairly cutthroat. It was crazy how people got so riled up about flowers. But it made me think the killer might very well be here this weekend. It was just a matter of figuring out who that might be.