Beauty Secrets

Three chairs. That was the distance between me and the woman to my right, who was alternately sipping wine and gossiping to her stylist, Leanna. Well-manicured hands stabbed the air with punctuated accounts of her latest news, while her high-pitched voice assaulted everyone’s ears. I glanced at Erin Knolls, the owner of In-Style Salon. She rolled her dark eyes. Bright red lips outlined a wide smile as she plucked a comb from the bluish barbicide.

Moving to my left, she whispered, “That’s Trudy Benson, queen of the rumor mill.” I nodded, then prepared to be mesmerized while Erin worked her magic on my pencil-straight hair. She slid her comb through a section of it, ready to cut, when a sudden scream and the sound of breaking glass, stopped Erin’s scissors mid-air. Our heads swiveled in unison toward the commotion.

Leanna’s scissors fell from her hand and landed with a splash in a puddle of chardonnay and broken glass on the tiled floor. Trudy’s limp body started to slide out of the chair. “Help!” Leanna pleaded, trying to support her.

Erin and I ran to her side and helped ease Trudy onto the floor. “Call 911,” I ordered, as I began to check for signs of breathing. Nothing. I tilted her head back to clear her airway and began CPR. After what seemed like forever, the ambulance arrived and I was relieved of my task. My arms wouldn’t quit shaking, so I attempted to fold them tightly across my chest.

“Relax in my office,” Erin offered warmly. “I’ll get someone to clean this up, then I’ll get us all some coffee.

I wasn’t about to argue, and numbly followed Leanna to the back office. We settled into a pair of teal chairs that leaned more toward design than comfort. Leanna slumped forward and propped her head in her shaking hands. I had so many questions, but decided it was best to wait for Erin and the coffee.

After a few minutes, Erin joined us and I felt bolstered by the caffeine. Seeing Leanna’s color had returned to her face, I asked, “What happened?”

It was all Leanna could do to hold it together. “I don’t know. One minute Trudy was going on about running into two people from work, and then she started getting quieter. I guess I was enjoying the quiet . . . until she dropped her glass of wine and slumped over.” Sobs burst from Leanna and I quickly snatched her a box of tissues from Erin’s desk.

“I’m so sorry about all this, Selena,” Erin said. Before I could respond, there was a knock at the door. Natalie, who managed the front desk, informed Erin that a detective was here to see her. Erin told her to send him in, then turned to me. “Selena, would you mind staying? I know it’s a lot to ask, but . . .”

I interrupted her. “Of course I’ll stay. Realizing I was still wearing a black cape, I quickly removed it. Trudy had been wearing the same dark covering when I’d administered CPR. Her hair had matted to the spilled wine on it. I looked down at my hands and grabbed a tissue. “How about we reschedule this hair cut?”

“Of course. How’s ten tomorrow morning? You’ll be my first client.”

I agreed just as the detective entered. He introduced himself as Detective Seth Harley. Erin introduced herself as the owner and shook his hand. “And this is Leanna Sands. She is the stylist who was cutting Trudy Benson’s hair. And this is Selena Parker, one of my clients. I was about to cut her hair when Trudy collapsed.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “Do you know if Trudy’s going to be okay?”

“I’m afraid she was DOA at the hospital.”

Leanna’s face crumpled as she swiped at fresh tears.

Erin offered him a chair. “Do they know what happened? Did she have a heart attack or something?”

Seth sat down gingerly, then spoke in a grave tone. “The ER doctor believes she had tell-tale signs of poisoning. We’ll need an autopsy to confirm it.” He paused. “I need to know what happened here, starting with who poured Trudy’s glass of wine.”

“I d-did,” Leanna stammered. “I poured her a glass of chardonnay. It’s her favorite . . . was her favorite,” she sniffed. “Is that how she was poisoned? Was there something in her wine? But I don’t see how. Wait. You don’t think I did it, do you? I would never!” Leanna looked at him with a mixture of defiance and fear.

“Stop,” I said. “Maybe Leanna should have a lawyer present. Are you accusing her of murder?”

“I am simply trying to gather all the facts,” Seth said. “What did Ms. Benson tell you before she collapsed?”

Leanna repeated the shortened version that she’d told us earlier, but Detective Harley pressed for details of her ramblings, including the people she said she’d met prior to coming here.

Leanna took a deep breath trying to compose herself. I jumped in to give her some extra time. “I think I heard her say something about running into another lady from work at the bistro down the street. Her voice sort of carried,” I explained.

“Where does she work?” Seth asked.

“At Medical Aids Industry,” Erin said. “I think she works in sales.”

Of course he already knew that, I thought. I wished I hadn’t tried to tune out Trudy’s shrill voice. “Didn’t she say the lady she ran into was with a man?”

Leanna nodded, some of the shock starting to wear off. “She was wondering if her co-worker was having an affair.”

“Can we go back to the wine?” I asked. Not waiting for a response, I plunged ahead. “When did you start offering chardonnay, Erin? I thought you only offered a Pinot Noir or a Pinot Grigio to your customers.”

Erin looked surprised. “You’re right. I don’t offer chardonnay, so where did it come from?” She turned to Leanna, who merely shrugged.

“It was sitting in front of the other bottles, so I offered it to Trudy. She’s always going on about how she loves a good chardonnay.”

And somebody knew that, I surmised. I excused myself and made my way to the front desk. After a chat with Natalie, I returned to Erin’s office.

“It seems that someone slipped past the front desk while Natalie was on the phone,” I said. “She vaguely remembers an individual whisking past her because the guy on the other end of the phone was unusually curious about the salon’s sanitary procedures. It could’ve been a decoy.”

Seth scribbled in his notepad. “Did anyone hear the name of the woman Trudy ran into?”

Leanna shook her head. “It was some kind of gem, I think. Opal? No. I don’t remember.”

“What about the other co-worker Trudy ran into?”

“I think it was the head custodian at Medical Aids Industry,” Leanna started to recall. “She thought it was funny that she should run into two co-workers on her day off. She saw Ted, I think that’s his name, at the grocery store. He told her that he overheard the president and vice-president of the company talking, all excited. I think it was something about being able to produce several of their main products cheaper without sacrificing quality. Trudy was really happy to hear it.”

“Why?” I asked. “Weren’t sales going well?”

Leanna shook her head again. “Lately, she’s been complaining of their competitor, Strategic Health Products, always being one step ahead of them.”

“Thank you ladies. I think I have enough for now, but I may need to talk to you again tomorrow. I’ll bag the bottle of wine for forensics.” The detective gave us each his card, nodded, then left.

“Go home, Leanna, and get some rest,” Erin said. “Hug those kids of yours.”

With thanks and hugs, Leanna left the room as well. A thought occurred to me. “Erin, it’s been a rough night. How about I buy you dinner? I know a little bistro down the street.”

Erin grinned. “If you’re buying, I’m all in.”

***

Walking into the salon the following morning, there were no indications that a client had been murdered there the night before. Allegedly murdered. Poison had not yet been verified.

I greeted Erin with a hug. She apologized again profusely for pulling me into the whole ordeal, but confessed she was happy I’d been there. I was still worried that Leanna could be considered a suspect, but the detective had not pressed charges. For now.

Erin shampooed my hair, and we walked back to her station. She seemed anxious. “What’s up?” I asked.

“Since you asked, on top of everything else that happened yesterday, we had an alarm go off this morning around six. I had to come in and make sure nothing was missing. Nothing was taken, so I guess it was a false alarm.” Erin sighed.

“You’re sure?”

She nodded. “It’s just got me on edge this morning. Not as bad as Leanna, though. I told her if she wanted to take the afternoon off, it was fine with me.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth, when we heard an all-too-familiar scream from Leanna. “Frankie!” Once again Erin and I ran to her side, then stared in disbelief. Leanna was standing over another body.

“What happened to Frankie?” Erin was already dialing 911 as she spoke.

“I don’t know.” Leanna was pacing.

I felt for a pulse, but there was no need for CPR this time. What was going on?

“Is she . . .” Leanna couldn’t finish the question. I nodded.

“She couldn’t find her comb, so she asked to borrow mine. She was alive a couple minutes ago. We were talking about our kids. Her kids!”

  I helped Leanna into a chair before she ended up on the floor as well. I pulled Seth’s card and called it in.

“Why would anyone want to kill Frankie? She didn’t even know Trudy, except to say hello.” Leanna was wringing her hands. A chill went up my spine.

“Leanna, did you say Frankie borrowed a comb from you?”

Her eyes appeared too large for her head. “This was meant for me? Why?”

“Good question.” The detective had arrived along with the ambulance, and forensics team. After making Leanna repeat everything she’d already told us, he asked, “Is there a security camera on the premises, Ms. Knolls?”

“Yes, but only outside,” Erin said. She gave me a knowing look.

“I’d like to see your footage from the last couple days. But first, why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re both not telling me. Ms. Parker?”

  His eyes penetrated my soul. Dang, he’s good, I thought. I bet he could get anyone to confess their darkest secrets.

“Erin and I went to dinner at the bistro.” The detective’s left eyebrow raised. I swallowed hard. “Anyway, we spoke to the waitress who had waited on Trudy’s co-worker and male friend. She didn’t notice any romantic overtures between the two, but she did hear them whispering about some business deal. He made some promise about paying her well, but they stopped talking when she approached their table.”

“Did she see the woman speak with Ms. Benson?”

“Trudy? Yes, she did,” I said. “She said the co-worker seemed rattled when she saw Trudy. They didn’t talk long because Trudy said she had a seven o’clock hair appointment at In-Style Salon, and she still had to buy groceries first.”

“I don’t suppose she caught the woman’s name?” Seth asked.

“Well, not exactly. She had trouble remembering, but thought it was the name of a precious stone, which is what Leanna said. So, I thought I’d call the sales department of Medical Aids Industry.”

“You did what? This is not your investigation, Selena Parker!”

“Honestly, I only wanted to help. If we don’t solve these murders quickly, Erin’s going to lose business, and you’re going to continue to suspect Leanna.” Leanna’s mouth gaped. “We think Leanna was the real target. My guess is if you analyze the herbicide that the comb was soaking in, you’ll find the poison.”

“Anyway, I called pretending to be a friend of Trudy’s. I may have fibbed a bit when I told them that the family requested a list of employees so they could look for familiar names to notify of upcoming funeral arrangements.”

“I can’t believe they fell for that. And there has to be close to two hundred names on that list. What good did that do you?” His smug face seemed to be hiding something else.

“Well, we know two things: one, her co-worker at the bistro was female; and two, her name sounded like some kind of precious gem. Care to peruse these three pages?”

I gave one page to Seth, one to Leanna and Erin, and I took the third. We were scanning the names when Seth yelled, “Ruby!” He reminded me of a kid finding buried treasure.

“No, that’s not it,” Leanna said, squelching his excitement.

Our heads bowed once again to the task. Seconds later, I asked, “Is Jade a gemstone?”

Leanna’s eyes lit up. “I’m not sure, but that’s the name! Jade was the name of the woman Trudy saw at the bistro!”

I checked out her employee title. “Jade Vaughn, executive assistant to the vice-president of operations.” That still didn’t explain why either Trudy or Leanna would be such a threat to her. It had to be something big for her to murder two people. Had Trudy’s gossip gotten her killed?

“Didn’t Natalie say it was a man on the phone that kept her preoccupied with questions while someone slipped by her with the bottle of wine? Do you think it could be the same guy she was with at the bistro? Tryst or not, I think Jade had help with the murders, but who is he? And what are they so desperately trying to hide?”

When I finished, the three of them were staring at me. I had zoned into my own world of deductive questioning. Heat rose from my neck to my face, where it became a full-fledged fire.

Of all people, Seth saved the day by notifying us he planned on bringing Jade in for questioning, then left. I knew he couldn’t charge her for murder without more evidence, though. Maybe I could help with that.

The salon was officially a crime scene, so the shop was now closed. That left Erin and Leanna free to help me with a plan. An hour later, we pulled into the parking lot of Strategic Health Products. The color was back in Leanna’s cheeks, and Erin gave me a thumbs up. We were an unlikely group of sleuths – a hair stylist, a business owner, and a reporter. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.

Erin and Leanna strolled through the set of double doors. I had to laugh at the sight of Leanna, suddenly nine months pregnant, doing the maternity waddle, while pressing one hand on her back and the other over her enormous belly. Three pregnancies made her a pro at this performance.

The receptionist appeared young and naïve, at least that’s what we were counting on. The employee roster identified her as Kaylee Trent, which sounded young. Hopefully, she had not yet experienced the panic of a mom in labor.

  From my new position near the doors, I peeked around the corner. Erin was leaning into the conversation with the receptionist. I could hear Leanna’s moans from outside. Suddenly, the receptionist rushed down the hall to my right.

I rushed through the doors and in the opposite direction of the receptionist, until offices on both sides of the hall became larger. I peered inside the first two. Both occupants wore suits. The first had white hair, and I wasn’t impressed by the second guy’s attire. Maybe this was a waste of time.

“May I help you?”

Spinning around, I tried to slow my pounding heart. The guy had to be at least six-two, impeccably dressed, and there wasn’t a bit of grey in his brown hair. I forced a smile.

“I guess I got turned around.” I glanced past him, into the open office. On his desk sat potential evidence, a baseball cap with the words Strategic Health Products above the bill.

“That’s a nice cap you have. My son would love one like that. Any chance I could get one for him?”

I followed him into his office. According to the name plate on his desk, he was Kai Porter, vice-president of operations. He picked up the cap. “Unfortunately, no,” he said. “I’m hoping to have one made for each employee to give them, along with this year’s bonus. I wanted a sample first before making such a large purchase.”

“Good thinking. So sales must be up. You must be doing something right. Unlike your competitor.”

Too much. Kai’s jaw clenched. With deliberate strides, he went for the door and closed it.

“Who are you? Did Medical Aids Industry send you?” He sneered. “Big mistake.” His size was all too apparent as I backed away. I bumped into something, trapped. I glanced back. Kai was coming toward me. His phone rang, and I took advantage of the distraction. Grabbing a cane among the medical aid demos behind me, I swung it with all my might. He staggered and I swung again. This time he went down hard.

Seth, Erin and Leanna rushed in. “Nice swing,” Seth said.

“Evidence,” I said, pointing to the cap, still out of breath.

He cuffed Kai, then waved bank statements in front of me. “Plus the money trail for payoffs. That should be enough to put them both away.” Seth suddenly noticed Leanna’s protruding profile. “Did I miss something?”

“You definitely did!” I laughed.