A Bead in the Hand (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 2)

by Janice Peacock

  “Okay, ladies, here’s what I have for you. Jax, I’ve got a latte,” he said. “And I’ve got donuts.” Ryan set a pink box down on the small round table by the floor-to-ceiling windows. He pulled the curtains open. Glorious sunlight spilled into the room.

  “Oh, Ryan,” I said, giving him a hug. “You’re the best.”

  “That’s what all the women say,” Ryan said with a grin.

  “And for Tessa, I have an espresso. I got you a double because I thought you could use it. With lots of sugar because that’s how you like it.”

  “Oh man, Ryan, if I weren’t married, I’d—” said Tessa, straightening up the sofa where she had slept last night.

  “Tessa, let’s just skip that sentiment, shall we?” I interrupted.

  “But how’d you know how I like my coffee?” Tessa asked.

  “Ryan’s just really perceptive.” I wanted to avoid telling Tessa that Ryan sampled her espresso yesterday morning and thought it was so sweet he couldn’t drink it. I, for one, could drink any kind of coffee, except, maybe, if it was made with swamp water. Then again, it might depend on the circumstances.

  Val traipsed out of the bedroom, pulling a pink satin robe closed over her matching nightie.

  “And I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “I didn’t realize you had another guest staying in the room.”

  As if on cue, Gummie came strolling out of the bedroom.

  “Right, I forgot about your cat. You’ve got two additional guests staying in the room.”

  “Ryan, this is Val. She had a crisis at home, so she came down, and she brought my cat,” I said, trying to reiterate that I had nothing to do with why we had a cat in our room.

  “I don’t know how you feel about a plain old cup of coffee, but I’ll happily give you mine,” Ryan said.

  “Oh my goodness,” Val said, her hand fluttering at her chest. “Aren’t you the sweetest, most precious…” Val headed toward him. Tessa grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the sofa next to her, in an effort to keep her from doing anything inappropriate to Ryan. I was thankful for Tessa’s interception.

  “You’re a darling,” Val said. “But I’m going to head downstairs in a little while and get something delicious to drink.”

  “Any chance you brought our clothes?” I asked.

  “As a matter of fact, I did,” Ryan told us, reaching back into the hallway and grabbing our suitcases.

  “You’re a superstar,” I said, giving him a kiss. We lingered just a little longer than was appropriate. Anyone who brings me donuts and coffee could get anything he wanted from me. Well, almost anything.

  Tessa and Val looked at each other, eyes bulging and mouths open in surprise. Val saw the pink bakery box, opened it, and grabbed for a donut.

  “Oh my. What is this?” Val squealed, pulling out a long bar-shaped donut with a scary face drawn on it with frosting and stick pretzels poking out of the dough in a couple places.

  “It’s a voodoo doll from this terrific place called Voodoo Donuts,” Ryan said.

  Val took a big bite. Red goo seeped out from inside the donut.

  “Filled with raspberry jelly, so it looks like blood. That’s a nice touch,” said Val. “I’ll have to think about what I could fill with jelly like this.”

  The jam looked a little too much like real blood. I knew that wasn’t the donut for me.

  Tessa looked into the box warily. “I hope there are no more scary donuts in there.”

  “No, that’s the only one, but there’s one with bacon,” Ryan said. I reached in and grabbed it.

  “And this one is covered in Cap’n Crunch,” Tessa said, choosing that one and taking a big bite.

  “I’ll let you ladies get ready for your day. I’ve got to meet with Detective Houston,” said Ryan. “With any luck, she and I will be able to put our heads together and get both of these murders wrapped up shortly.”

  So, I wasn’t the only one on Team Tiffany. So was Ryan. But it wasn’t surprising that Ryan’s job required that he work with the local police department when crimes occurred at the hotel.

  “Here’s my number in case you need me,” Ryan said. He pulled a page off the note pad on the desk, jotted down his number, and handed it to me. Then he pulled me close, ready to kiss me good-bye. Tessa and Val were trying to eat their donuts and pretending to be paying no attention to us, but doing a bad job of it as they kept stealing glances our way.

  “See you later,” Ryan said, smoothing out the collar of my robe, then closing the door behind him.

  “Ooooh, Jax. I think that boy likes you,” said Val. “And such a hottie, too.”

  I looked at Tessa, waiting for her to chime in.

  “I’m not saying a word,” said Tessa, shaking her head and popping a stray piece of Cap’n Crunch into her mouth.

  “I’m going to get ready and head on down to the bazaar. But first I’m going to eat another donut,” I said, peeking in the pink box. “Let’s see, which one?”

  TWENTY-SIX

  “VAL, ARE YOU COMING down to the ballroom with us?” I asked.

  “Sure, I’ll come for a little while. I thought I might help out Luke in his booth,” Val said. “And Luke, it’s such a hot name. You know, in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker? His original name was Luke—”

  “How about helping me out in my booth?” I asked.

  “—Starkiller. But the film studio changed it. The original name was too dark for such a heroic character.”

  “Can you focus for a second? I’m trying to help solve a murder here,” I told Val. “I need help at my table.”

  “You’re fine. You’ve got Tessa,” Val said. “Doesn’t she, Tessa?”

  Tessa had her eyes on the phone, reading an endless string of text messages from Izzy and Ashley. When she heard her name, she looked up. “What? What did I miss?”

  I finally dragged Val and Tessa out of the room. As we stood in the elevator, we once again felt a chill, stronger this time than we’d ever felt before. Val rummaged around in her giant metallic purse, then pulled out a bottle of perfume and started spraying.

  I waved my hands and tried to get the scent to dissipate. “Ugh, Val, that will get rid of more than just ghosts.”

  “Don’t come crying to me if you see a poltergeist.” Val dropped the bottle back into her purse.

  Tessa and I stood silently, trying not to breathe too deeply. As the elevator doors opened to the lobby, the waiting crowd backed away from the wafts of perfume that followed us and decided to take the next elevator. I didn’t blame them. I was going to smell like Val for the rest of the week, and I wasn’t sure I liked that.

  The lobby was full of customers, armed and ready for another day of treasure hunting at the bazaar. Many had rolling bags they planned to fill, their sneakers on, and a cup of coffee in a travel mug. From the bright eyes and chatter, I could tell they were already well-caffeinated. These were serious beaders, ready to fight for the good stuff if necessary.

  The hotel had stationed a grouchy security guard with a Middle Eastern accent at the door to the ballroom. He was checking each vendor’s badge carefully.

  We moved in a line to the door.

  “Where iz your bahdge?” the guard asked Val, with his thick accent.

  “Oh, I don’t need a badge, do I, honey?”

  “You’re not a bendor, you got no bendor bahdge.”

  “What do you mean, I’m ‘not a bender’? I’ll have you know that I am very bendable.”

  I pulled Val aside. “Val, you can’t come in until the doors open and the public comes in. You’re not a vendor.”

  “Well, that makes sense. It made absolutely no sense when he accused me of not being a bender. I’m very bendy, many of my boyfriends have said—“

  “Why don’t you go get us some coffee?” Usually, I needed a second cup right around now. Actually, I constantly need cups of coffee, and especially after staying up so late last night.

  “Good idea. Three coffees coming right up,” said Val, flouncing away
. She had a lot of flounce for so early in the day.

  Tessa and I pulled the sheet off the display, such as it was, decorated with things from the hotel room. It had served me well, judging from the terrific sales I’d racked up this weekend.

  Looking down at the table, I said, “I hope we don’t get charged for all the items we stole—”

  “Borrowed,” Tessa said. “We certainly would have put them back if we’d stayed in it.”

  “It wasn’t our fault our room was vandalized.”

  “Vandalized? Vandalized!” Tessa repeated. “Vance? You think Vance could have trashed our room?”

  “He was at karaoke with us. How could he?”

  “After you left for the Saturday Market, Adriana and I went to Arigato and ate before everyone else got there. He had plenty of time to get into our room.”

  “I guess we better keep Vance on the list of suspects,” I said.

  “Just because he trashed our room doesn’t mean he would kill a person—or two—”

  “Oh, hi, Vance,” I said, cutting off Tessa before she revealed we were not only talking about him, we were accusing him of rifling through our belongings and being a killer.

  “Here are those lamps you wanted to borrow,” Vance said, placing them on the table’s edge. “Hope you sell a lot of beads today.”

  “Thanks. This is really going to help,” I said. He really was a nice guy. I had trouble reconciling his sweetness with the scary sex toys in his room.

  I moved the lights into position at each end of my table, uncoiled their cords, and plugged them into the toaster-sized power box on the floor. I flicked the switch on one of the lights. Nothing happened. I tried the other one. Nothing.

  Ernie the electrician was a few tables down, walking toward me.

  “Excuse me. I’m not getting any power to these lights,” I told him.

  Ernie crawled under the table, grabbed a roll of duct tape from his back pocket and wrapped a long piece of tape around the power box, securing a fist-sized connector to it.

  “Sorry, some of these cords, they’re getting kind of old. These protective covers keep breaking off.” Ernie gave one last push on the power cord. There was a pop, and Vance’s lights were now glowing. Everything on my table looked great—shiny and transparent, like glass is supposed to be. “If you have any more trouble, track me down. You don’t want to mess with these power cables by yourself. They’ve got a lot of juice in them.”

  “Thanks,” I said to Ernie as he scurried off to help the next vendor whose lights were on the blink.

  • • •

  Tiffany showed up at my table a few minutes after the show opened.

  “Jax, I think we need to have another chat,” she said.

  “Can this wait? I am trying to run a business here. I sell beads when I sit at this table. When I’m not at this table, I don’t sell as much.”

  “Hey!” said Tessa, offended that I would make it sound like she was slacking off.

  Tiffany leaned across my table, pressing her hands down on a tray of beads covered with spiky dots. It couldn’t have been comfortable.

  “Did you know Carl Shulman?”

  “Who?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. The security guard who was found dead in the stairwell.”

  “No.”

  “Did you kill him?” she asked.

  “No.” Seriously, this woman needed lessons on how to ask good questions. Maybe she could learn something from watching Jeopardy. “I mean really, Tiffany. I have no idea who this guy was. I’ve never met him, and I don’t even know what he looks like. I don’t know why anyone would kill him.” I was getting pretty tired of these chats. I just wanted to get out of here—all the way out of here, like back to Seattle.

  “You know, Jax, I think you’re hiding something from me. And you know what that means?”

  “No idea.”

  “It means I’ve got a new pair of bracelets for you. Ones with a nice silver chain,” the detective said, pressing her wrists together, miming what I’d look like with handcuffs on.

  There was a woman with a baby stroller standing behind Tiffany, trying to get her hands on the earrings I was selling. The detective was blocking her way.

  “If you can please step aside, I have a customer who would like to buy something.” Tiffany was not going to take me to the police station on suspicion of murder. Not if I could help it.

  “I’ll chat with you again soon,” said the detective as she squeezed her way past the stroller.

  “These earrings are sooo fun. I want this pair. Ohhh, and this pair too. And maybe these,” said the woman with the baby.

  “Wonderful, I’ll wrap those up.”

  • • •

  “Jax, I don’t like it when you’re so quiet,” said Tessa. “It usually means you’ve got plans to do something you shouldn’t be doing.”

  I wanted to solve the mysteries of the dead bead diva and the dead security guard, if for no other reason than to stop the constant requests for chats with Tiffany.

  “Sal said Saundra lived nearby. I’m thinking about going out to her house.”

  “You’re just going to drive out to Saundra’s house?”

  “Yes. Maybe I can find a clue.”

  “No, Jax, don’t do it. There’s nothing you can learn there,” Tessa said.

  “If I can find something, anything, that would keep Tiffany from booking me on suspicion of murder, I’d like to find it.”

  “Che casino,” Tessa muttered, knowing it was too late to stop me.

  “I need to see Saundra’s house and her studio, maybe talk with her brother. It might be that someone broke into Saundra’s studio and stole her beads. Maybe that’s why that young woman had them. I don’t know what I’ll find, but I’m hoping there’s something out there that can help us bring this whole mess to a close.”

  “Then I’m coming with you. Maybe you’ll stay out of trouble if I come along,” Tessa said. Usually Tessa tagging along meant I still got in trouble, just less of it.

  “Tessa, you need to stay here,” I told her. “Who will work at my booth? Val can come with me instead.”

  “You’re going to take Val?”

  “I can’t have her work in the booth. Val doesn’t know the first thing about beads,” I reminded Tessa. “And her math skills are pretty questionable. How would she be able to calculate sales tax?”

  “There’s no sales tax in Oregon,” said Tessa, being annoyingly accurate and practical. “Val can work your table. I’m sure of it.”

  “Tessa, please. Be my best friend and work at my table. I trust you, and I promise I’ll be careful. According to Sal, Saundra’s brother lives at her house, and maybe Val will be able to sweet talk him in some way so we can find out what we need to know.” I’d made up my mind. It was either take Val, or go alone.

  Customers continued to stream into the bazaar and among them was Val, several inches taller than everyone else, thanks to her sky-high footwear. She bustled toward us with a cardboard tray holding three white and green Starbucks cups.

  “One for each of us. A large latte for Jax and a small espresso for Tessa,” Val said. “And one for me.”

  “What is that thing?” I asked, eyeing Val’s fancy whipped-cream-topped slushie with sprinkles on top.

  “It’s a Venti caramel macchiato, with extra caramel, extra whipped cream, and extra sprinkles,” said Val, pulling her drink out of the tray, taking a sip, and leaving a smudge of red lipstick on the straw.

  Val took a step toward us with the drink tray and stumbled as her high heel caught on the bedspread I’d used as a makeshift table covering.

  The drinks toppled over sideways, their lids popping off as they did. I was hit with a dark brown tidal wave.

  The coffee soaked my shirt, which had gone from white to brown, and almost as bad, there was none left for me to drink.

  “I’m so sorry,” Val said. “We need to get you upstairs and changed.”

  “Tessa, can y
ou run the booth?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Tessa looked at me with squinty eyes and arms crossed, and not from a lack of coffee. “Che casino,” she muttered again.

  “You know Val and I are going to do more than just change my clothes, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” There was a sigh behind that word. “Don’t take The Ladybug if you’re trying to be discreet.”

  I agreed with Tessa. A bright red VW bug isn’t the best option when you’re flying under the radar.

  “Come on, Val,” I said. “We have an adventure awaiting us.”

  “Oh goodie!” Val said.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? Some reconnaissance? Some honey trapping? Some kind of super-sleuthy thing?” asked Val. “Do we need a gun? Because I didn’t bring mine.”

  Val has a gun?

  “Don’t get so excited. We’re only going to Saundra’s house. We’ll check her studio to see if we can find anything out that will help us learn what happened to her, maybe talk with her brother, and find out who’s stealing either her beads or her designs.”

  “Got it. We’re looking for clues.”

  “Yes, we’re looking for clues.” I was already beginning to regret bringing Val with me.

  “We’ll take Firefly,” Val said.

  “I’ve always wondered, why is your car called Firefly?”

  “It’s a space ship. Oh, and also the name of a TV show. Actually, the name of the ship is Serenity, but I like Firefly better. It’s such a shame they cancelled the series…” She trailed off, seeing my confusion. I shouldn’t have asked.

  Val’s car, unlike her, was subtle. She owned a 2005 gray Honda Civic, which reminded me of the old car I’d traded in a few years back when I left Miami behind, along with Jerry and my dead-end job. Val folded herself into the car. It was far too small for a woman of her stature, especially when she fluffed up her hair to full height. She pulled off her high heels and flung them into the back seat. There were a dozen other pairs that had met with the same fate back there.

  We turned up Skyline Boulevard, while I used the GPS on my now fully-charged cell phone to give us directions. As we headed off into the hills, the road narrowed and went from two lanes to one lane, and then to gravel.