My Wicked Valentine

by Lotta Smith

  “Oh, yes. Very yummy,” I replied. Even though eating the cookie made me thirstier, I was delighted to see my daughter’s sweet gesture.

  In no time, Rick returned with a cup of tea. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks!” As I took a sip of Darjeeling, I felt so refreshed.

  “How did the interview go?” he asked.

  “Oh my God…” I regurgitated my conversation with Shannon and let out a deep sigh. “She was quite a—”

  “Bitch?” he volunteered.

  “Well, some may call her with the B-word, but I think she’s more like a natural-born workaholic with a slight impairment of…well, caring about other people’s feelings.”

  “Aha. I can imagine that.” He nodded.

  “Beech!” Sophie said abruptly.

  “What did you just say, Sophie?” Rick furrowed his eyebrows.

  “Come on, Rick!” Jackie chided him. “We have a pair of innocent ears with us. Mandy, you’ve got to tell him it’s time to put his Benjamin into the swear jar.”

  “Well, Jackie says you’ve got to put a hundred-dollar bill into the swear jar,” I informed him, trying to resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Also, I was meaning to say something on the lines of handful.”

  “Oops, my bad.” He glanced at Sophie. “You can’t say that word, okay?”

  “Beeech!” she exclaimed.

  “All right, we’re gonna visit the Bahamas for the weekend and hit the beach. What do you say about that plan, baby?” Caressing her hair, Rick looked at me.

  “Are we going to the Bahamas?” I asked, not quite following the flow of the conversation.

  “Yes, we are.” He winked. “The flight, the beachside villa, the spa package for you to indulge and relax—everything’s been booked and neatly arranged. It’s gonna be a perfect getaway from the brutal weekend in Manhattan and a nice place to celebrate Valentine’s weekend.”

  “Wow.” My eyes widened. Then I looked at Sophie. “Then again, weekends are brutal when it comes to holidays. Don’t they have hours and hours of delay every time many people move around? Not that I’m complaining, but…”

  “No worries,” he whispered into my ear. “We’re flying privately. So, no need to worry about the flight delays and all the other annoying stuff—ranging from grumpy travelers who must complain about every little noise kids make and the gross flyers who have to sprinkle germs all over by coughing and sneezing.”

  My jaw dropped. “Wow…” I didn’t see that coming. Rick often used USCAB’s corporate jet for international business trips, but for private travel, we usually took commercial flights.

  “Now that Sophie’s turned one, she’s completely fit to fly, so I want her to get used to flying,” Rick said, affectionately squeezing her hand. “Of course, we’ll start using the commercial flights when she’s older.”

  “Sounds good.” I couldn’t help smiling. “We can use some sunshine

  “You know, darling, your mom and dad are taking us to the Bahamas. How exciting is that?” Jackie cooed at Sophie.

  “Beach!” Sophie said.

  “Yes, we’re gonna enjoy the beach,” Jackie agreed.

  Brian cleared his throat. “I’m glad you’re all having fun discussing the next vacation plan.”

  He was standing by our sofa with Detective Rogers keeping an eye on him.

  “Oh, did they let you walk around? Good for you.” Rick raised his hand casually.

  Completely ignoring him, Brian turned to me. “How did the interview go?”

  Now, it was Detective Rogers’s turn to clear her throat. “Mr. Powers, perhaps you might keep it in mind that you’re a person of interest.”

  “Fine.” He raised his palms, exchanging glances with Jackie, who said, “No worries, Brian, you’ll be fine.”

  “Hmm…the victim believes she’s been murdered to silence her?” The detective raised her eyebrows when I told her the details of my conversation with Shannon. “I thought grudge was the most likely motive for this case. She wasn’t the most popular person at this salon, after all.”

  “Right.” Rick touched his jaw. “With her attitude, I do feel the same about the motive. Anyone could be tempted to kill her with that attitude.”

  “I don’t think so,” Brian objected. “At least, no client of hers would dare to kill her. She was professional and, by all means, the true topnotch esthetician.”

  “Are you sure?” Jackie widened her eyes. “I wish I had a chance to experience her expertise. What a shame we’re now both dead.”

  When Brian was making sympathetic noises at Jackie, Detective Rogers crossed her arms. “Be the motive to silence her or not, we’d better identify the secret she’d stumbled upon.”

  “That’s right.” Rick agreed, eyeing Brian. “Hey, what’s your secret?”

  “Excuse me?” Brian’s shoulders twitched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course, you do,” Rick countered. “You’ve been listless since when we started talking about the secret.”

  “Well… I mean…” Brian fumbled with his words.

  “Come on, Brian, you’ll feel better if you spill it sooner.” Jackie shook her head by his side. “I still believe your innocence, but no matter how trivial it may be, withholding info from the police and Rick makes you look bad. Also, with Rick interrogating you, he’ll find your dirty laundry sooner or later.”

  “Fine!” He threw his arms up in the air. “But don’t tell anyone, okay?”

  “Of course not. Whatever you’ll be sharing is strictly protected by the confidentiality clause.” Rick flashed a wide grin.

  “Confi-denn-cha…” Sophie attempted to parrot a part of his words.

  “Great job! Darling, you just said confidentiality clause.” I cooed at her. I wanted to encourage her, and I was glad she’d forgotten about saying “Beech!” over and over again.

  “Brian, tell me about your secret.” Rick looked at Brian.

  “Well, Shannon saw me walking out of a certain jeweler’s in the diamond district,” he mumbled.

  “What? You call that a secret? What’s wrong with visiting a jeweler?” Rick raised an eyebrow, but soon, his expression changed. “Wait a minute, were you—”

  “Were you visiting there for the ring?” I leaned in before Rick finished the sentence. “I mean, for Fiona?”

  “Oh my God, oh my God, ohmigod!” Jackie shrieked. “Did you pop the question to her already? What did she say? Has she agreed to tie the knot with you?”

  “Ohmigaw!” Sophie parroted her.

  “Yeah, right.” Rick patted her hand. “That’s totally ‘Oh my God!’ So, Brian, did she say yes?”

  Brian looked over at the ceiling. “Now you know why I hated to share my secret with you guys, don’t you?”

  “Meaning?” Rick tilted his head.

  “Stop that, Rick.” I gave his hand a light slap. “Becoming a murder suspect is bad enough. Let’s not rub salt in your BFF’s wound, okay?”

  “Okay. That’s a good point.” Rick nodded. “Look, Brian. My apologies for being an insensitive jerk.”

  “You don’t understand.” Brian shook his head. “First of all, I’m a person of interest, not a suspect. Secondly, I hadn’t yet popped the question to Fiona. I was just shopping around for diamonds.”

  “Oh, yeah? Did you find the ideal stone?” Rick asked.

  “Yup, I did. I came across the best quality diamond just last week, and…” Brian’s previously tightened jaw softened a little, but Detective Rogers cleared her throat.

  “What part of the victim’s sighting of you coming out of a jewelry shop makes it your secret, Mr. Powers?” she said, tapping a corner of the coffee table by her side.

  “Well, I happen to be recognized by the media.” Brian shrugged. “If the news came out before I’d actually popped the question to my girlfriend, that’ll spoil the surprise.”

  “Oh, yeah? So, you’re recognized by the media, and you thought she might snap photos of you coming o
ut of a jeweler, posting them on her social media account?” Rick rolled his eyes. “So, considering the media’s not all about your ring shopping, Shannon hadn’t blurted out your secret to the public.”

  “Right.” Brian nodded earnestly. “Which means I had no reason to kill her in the first place.

  “Ya think?” Rick flashed a wicked grin. “At the same time, you could have offed her to keep your secret intact.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Brian snapped. “Actually, Shannon wasn’t alone. She was walking with Robin, who happened to be headed in the same direction. If I’d offed Shannon, I’d have whacked Robin as well. Does that make sense?”

  Rick shrugged.

  “Oh… So, Brian doesn’t hesitate to kill off not just one but two if he wants to keep his secret,” Jackie muttered by my side.

  “Hello? I was speaking metaphorically!” Brian swiped his hand from side to side. “I’ve never even imagined killing Shannon nor Robin. Come to think about it, both Robin and Shannon were the people who used to smoothen up my skin and everything! Why bother killing off any of them while I’m in the middle of a treatment? If I were the killer, I’d have gone on my killing spree when my treatment had been fully finished.”

  “Hmm, that’s a good point.” Rick chuckled, turning to Detective Rogers. “Detective, how about digging for all the other people’s potential secrets?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” The detective stood up. “I’ll call the precinct to send the others in to this spa.”

  When she was out of our earshot, Rick said, “I’d expected the detectives to interview the suspects to find the discrepancies in their stories and close the case.”

  “Ha.” Brian harrumphed.

  “What?” Rick looked at him.

  “Nothing.” Brian shrugged, but his face said otherwise.

  Rick furrowed his eyebrows as if he wanted to say something that could drive our exorcist friend mad. So, I said, “Brian, did you buy the ring?”

  “Yes, I did.” His tone softened a little. “Luckily, I found the right diamond.”

  “How fab is that?” Jackie swooned. “Ooh, I’ve got to ask Fiona if I can be her ghostly bridesmaid. I’ll save the maid of honor position for you, Mandy.”

  “Thanks, Jackie.” I smiled. “Oh, Brian, no need to feel pressured, okay? I’ll be totally fine if Fiona picks up someone else for the role or if she doesn’t have a maid of honor at all. After all, I appointed Jackie for this particular role at my wedding.”

  “Oh yes. You made a great choice, Mandy.” Jackie flipped, changing into a fairy-like costume with what looked like a magic wand.

  “I don’t know…” Brian massaged his temples. “I can only say if she says yes and if I’ll ever have a chance to see her again and pop the question.”

  “Hmm, sounds like we’ll need to find the real killer,” Rick commented. “I’m looking forward to serving as your best man.”

  Brian opened his mouth, as if to say “I haven’t appointed you to that role!” but shut it as Rick went on. “And maybe Sophie can serve as one of the flower girls. What do you say about this plan, darling?”

  “Flower!” she exclaimed proudly, throwing her arms up as if she actually meant to say “Put your hands up!”

  “Mandy, Rowling…” Brian took a deep breath. “I trust you guys to clear my name.”

  “Rest assured. I’ll try my best,” I encouraged him.

  “I have a piece of advice for you,” Rick said in a serious tone. “Make sure you’ll be carrying the ring when you pop the question to Fiona, okay?”

  For the first time, Brian’s lips broke up into a grin. “Oh, yeah. I’ll keep that in mind. You weren’t carrying the ring when you proposed to Mandy.”

  “Yup. Good thing she loved me enough to agree with my proposal—even with the ring securely stored in the bank vault.” Pulling me close to him, Rick kissed me.

  CHAPTER 7

  Five minutes later, other members of Cordelia Spa and the clients were brought to the salon, escorted by the cops in uniform.

  Kevin Richards, the owner of the spa and the one who’d arranged the details of the décor, looked least weird—mostly because he was dressed in attire that didn’t look like the uniform of a cult group.

  I approached Detective Rogers as she came in. “What was Shannon wearing when she was found dead?”

  “She was in a black dress,” she replied. “According to the spa owner, that dress was their uniform.”

  “Oh, really? I wanted to check out if the ghost I met was wearing the clothes she was wearing when she died or not. Her attire differed from the uniform her fellow estheticians are wearing,” I answered in a low voice as I glanced at the estheticians. The chief esthetician, Denise Bennet, Robin Clement who was doing Brian’s facial or body or whatever, and Darrel Murphy—the sloppy newbie—were wearing what looked like black scrubs.

  Detective Rogers glanced at Denise. “According to Kevin, his salon offered two uniform options for the female workers.

  “Okay.” I tilted my head. “I thought Shannon was in her street clothes when she died, but apparently, I was wrong.”

  “Look at the clients,” Jackie said. “They’re both dressed in a spa robe. It looks like the police didn’t give them a chance to change their clothes. I’m assuming all the clients have paid some big bucks, and they can afford that. But when they’re in that bathrobe-like getup, they look like wet cats whose fur have been flattened. Totally lost their dignity.”

  “I guess you’re right, Jackie,” I agreed and looked at Rick, relaying her words.

  “A bunch of wet dogs? That’s funny.” He chuckled.

  Ken Blanchett and Cameron Errol—other clients aside from Brian, who were at the salon when the murder had occurred—looked uncomfortable. I wondered if they were wearing those disposable undies.

  Detective Rogers instructed the estheticians and the clients to have a seat in the reception area, and she moved to the office to interview one person at a time. Rick volunteered to attend the interviews, which the detective accepted. She even allowed Brian to sit with them while they interviewed other persons of interest.

  The office was located right next to the reception area behind a thin wall, and I saw them walking toward that area. Under normal circumstances, I’d have sat with them in the corner, but we couldn’t leave Sophie alone, so I stayed in the reception area.

  “I have a hunch that the office’s décor is something popping out of Fifty Shades of Grey movies. I’ll go and take a look.” Jackie went bouncing after them, throwing a kiss at Sophie and me. “You girls enjoy some alone time. Ciao!”

  “Ciao.” I waved at her, and Sophie waved, too.

  When Rick waved back at us, Brian notified him about Jackie joining them.

  “Good. She can act as a liaison between Mandy and us.” Rick nodded and spoke into midair like he always did whenever we worked on a case. “Jackie, make sure you share everything with Mandy.”

  Fifteen minutes later, the flamboyant ghost came back to us. “Talk about disappointing! The office décor was so boring!”

  According to her, the office was just another boring office with no-frills furniture and fluorescent lights.

  “So, how did the interview go?” I asked, yawning. While I waited in the sitting area in the corner of the lobby, Sophie decided she needed to go to the bathroom. After that, she did a lot of talking—some of her words truly clear and witty while others weren’t all that easy to comprehend, but, she was still learning to talk. Then we played with the bunny. As I sat with her and played like we were at home, I started to feel drowsy. It looked like I had to get myself used to going out and meeting strangers and dead people after more than a year of being a stay-at-home mom.

  “Okay, let me share the interview details with you.” Jackie sat at the side of the sofa. “The interviewee was Kevin Richards, the owner of this spa. He claims to have an alibi when Shannon was murdered. Other spa workers witnessed him groaning and pulling out his hair at h
is most boring office desk all day long, but it’s not like they kept an eye on him all the time. Anyway, he saw Shannon coming out of the office to escort Brian to the detox bath, and that was the last time he saw her alive.”

  “Does he have any secrets?” I interjected.

  “Oh, yes. The secret.” Jackie snapped her fingers. “He’s addicted to sweet and chunky delights sold by a certain chocolatier in Nolita. At first, he visited there just out of the blue, but he developed a huge crush on one of the pâtissiers with biceps to die for. And the next thing he knew, he was a regular customer there who’s also addicted to chocolates. According to him, he bumped into Shannon when he came out of the shop with a bag full of gooey sweets.”

  “Hello? He calls that a secret?” I frowned. “That’s a terrible reason to kill somebody.”

  “I know.” She shrugged. “Detective Rogers and Rick want us to share this piece of info with Shannon to see her reaction. So, let’s go.”

  “Leggo!” Sophie said, rocking in her stroller seat.

  “Sure.” I stood up, pushing the stroller to the locker room.

  “Coming out of a chocolatier? And Kevin regarded it a secret?” Shannon frowned, looking like she was perplexed. “Does he call that a secret?”

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “Believe me, he was truly, madly serious,” Jackie emphasized.

  “Oh, was he? I don’t seem to recall that.” Shannon tilted her head.

  “So, did you notice he’d gained some weight?” I asked.

  “The truth is, I didn’t really care about that.” She shrugged. “After all, Kevin’s the owner of the spa and not my client. Whether he gets fatter or thinner, it’s none of my business.”

  “Okay.” Jackie nodded. “If you’re looking at your client, would you notice subtle changes with the subject?”

  “Of course, I would.” Shannon grinned proudly. “I’d definitely notice half an inch increase with my client’s waistline.”

  “Wow. That’s impressive.” Jackie widened her eyes.

  “Thank you.” Shannon looked at me. “By the way, Ms. Rowling, there’s a special kind of supplement that I’d recommend to a busy lady like you. Ooh, I’d have invited you to my new workplace if only I were alive. This new spa of mine exclusively deals with female clients.”