Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)

by Dianne Harman

  “Thanks, Bertha. When I had my treatment from Gina yesterday she didn’t mention anything to me about not being able to come to work today. I don’t know what it could be.”

  “I don’t either. Maybe I’m just spooked from Barbara’s death and the mystery of the security lights not being on, but I thought we should find out what we can. I’ll go get the aloe vera.”

  She returned a few minutes later and handed it to Liz.

  “Thanks,” she said, slathering the aloe vera on her face. “Oh, that feels so much better. Mind if I keep it until I can get some of my own?”

  “Of course not. I don’t need it.”

  *****

  The two massage therapists, Nikki and Stephanie, walked into the kitchen looking concerned. Before either Liz or Bertha could say a word Nikki asked, “Mrs. Lucas, what in the world has happened to your face?”

  “Nikki, I have no idea. Gina said it would be a little pink and itchy, but this seems way beyond to me.”

  “I’ve never seen anyone’s face look like that after a treatment.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine, but that’s not why we asked you here,” Liz said. “Bertha and I are worried about Gina. You mentioned to Bertha that she didn’t come home last night. Is there anything you can tell me about her? Is that unusual?”

  Nikki and Stephanie exchanged glances, and Liz could see they appeared to be reluctant to say anything about Gina. “Please, if Gina’s in trouble, I’d like to know. Bertha mentioned to me that she’s only been here for a week. Did either one of you know her before? What made you decide to ask her to share your cabin?”

  Stephanie took a deep breath and began to speak. “No. We didn’t know her. When she was hired, she said she was going to have to find a place to live, and she asked me if I knew of anyone who needed a roommate. Nikki and I had talked about getting someone else to share the rent, and it seemed very natural to ask her to join us, so we did, and she moved in with us. Privately, after the first day or so, we wondered if we’d made the right decision. She seemed a little odd. It was nothing we could put our fingers on, but something didn’t seem to be quite right with her.”

  “Did anything happen this week to reinforce that feeling?”

  Once again they looked at each other and then Nikki began to speak. “Yes. She’d mentioned she was estranged from her mother. She actually said she hated her. A couple of days ago she mentioned that one of her clients looked exactly like her mother. I remember her laughing and saying her mother would get what was coming to her someday soon. I didn’t know what she meant by that, but I thought it was kind of strange.”

  “I agree. I think that’s very weird. I wonder what she did mean,” Liz said. “Gina told me her mother had called night before last and told her that she and Gina’s old boyfriend had gotten married. Gina seemed quite shaken by it. Were either one of you there when she got the call?”

  “We both were,” Stephanie said. “She was pretty hysterical after the call. I remember she threw her phone down on the floor and started crying and screaming. She kept saying how much she hated her mother. I think I said something about how her mother couldn’t hurt her because she lived so far away. I also told her she was the best facialist at the spa and how happy her clients were with their treatments. We tried to calm her down without much success. Finally she went into her bedroom and collapsed on her bed.”

  Nikki interrupted her. “What really scared us, Mrs. Lucas, is that it was kind of like something inside of her just snapped. It’s as if whatever we’d sensed before had come undone. We heard her crying all night and saying over and over she wished her mother was dead. Steph and I even talked about suggesting she get some help, you know, like from a shrink.”

  “Good grief. On one hand I feel very sorry for her, but on the other hand I really do find this frightening. How was she yesterday morning? I know she came to work yesterday, because she gave me a facial.”

  “She seemed much better. I woke her up and took some toast and jam to her. She said she’d be ready to go to work in fifteen minutes, and she was. Actually, she seemed like a totally different person from the night before. I thought maybe she’d decided to accept the situation and move on. Now I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean?” Bertha asked.

  “We always met by the front door when the spa closed. The two of us waited for her for about twenty minutes yesterday after the spa closed. We thought it was kind of odd that she was late because she liked to get back to our cabin before it got dark. She’s really into herbs and plants and she liked to go out in the forest as soon as we got home and look for things. She usually returned when it got dark with a big sack full of stuff. I don’t know anything about them, but she seemed to be pretty knowledgeable. She said she sometimes used them in homemade formulas she made for her clients. There was no sign of her, so we left and went back to our cabin. She never came home last night.”

  “Weren’t you concerned about that?” Liz asked.

  “Not really. It’s not unusual for the employees to go into town to Eddie’s Place and have a few beers. Once in a while there’s an attraction between one of them and one of the guys in there, and they get together for the night.”

  I’m not going to say anything about that kind of social activity. I’ll just come off looking like some old woman completely out of touch with current times and how the younger generation acts these days.

  Liz looked at the kitchen clock. “You two need to get back to work pretty soon. Is there anything else you want to tell me? Do you know where Gina’s mother lives?”

  “Yes,” Nikki answered. “One time Gina mentioned that she’d grown up in Bellingham, Washington. I think she said her mother still lived there and now so did Scott.”

  “Thank you both. If you think of anything else, please let Bertha or me know.”

  When they were gone, Liz turned to Bertha and said, “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to post a job opening on our web site, because I have a feeling she isn’t coming back. I don’t know where she went or why, but even if she returned, I wouldn’t want her back. That kind of behavior is totally unprofessional, and if I ignored it, it would set a bad precedent for the rest of the staff.”

  “I agree. As always, thanks.”

  Bertha reached down and patted Winston. “Love this dog, Liz. He’s a keeper.” Winston responded to the attention he was getting by sitting up and lifting up his paw, as if to say, “Thank you for saying such nice things about me.”

  “Couldn’t agree more. I’m off to see how Judy’s doing this morning and then into town to get some aloe vera. Winston, come.”

  When Judy answered Liz’s knock on her door and opened it, the two of them spent a moment simply staring at each other in shock. The extreme redness and the swelling on their faces were identical.

  “Quick. Come inside,” Judy said. “I don’t think either one of us should go out in public looking like this. I know Gina said I might be pink, but this isn’t pink. I’m verging on a dark red plum color, and as swollen as my face is, I probably look like one.”

  “I brought you some aloe vera. It really helps the itching. I’ve had to keep my hands by my sides trying to control the urge to claw at my face. I wonder if something was wrong with whatever Gina put on us.”

  “Don’t know. I was just getting ready to go over to the spa and ask her.”

  “Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to do that. Actually, there’s a little excitement going on at the spa at the moment.” She filled Judy in on her conversation with Nikki and Stephanie.

  “Swell. Now we don’t even know what we can use to get rid of this. I’m going to call my daughter. She has a good friend who’s a facialist. Maybe she can find something out. I’ll come over to the lodge and tell you what she says after I talk to her and take a shower. Thanks for the aloe. We definitely need to get some more of this. I wonder if the spa sells it. If they do, we could avoid going into town and frig
htening people.”

  “Good thought. I’ll call Delores and if they do, I’ll have someone from the spa bring it to us. See you later.”

  *****

  Liz returned to the lodge and dialed Roger’s number. She knew he’d want to know what was happening concerning her investigation into Barbara’s death. She fully expected to leave a message, certain court was already in session.

  “Good morning Liz. How are you today?”

  “Actually, I was ready to leave a voice mail. I thought you’d be in the courtroom doing your thing. I’ll just be a minute as I’m sure your time is limited. I think it’s a good thing you can’t come up for a week or so. I’m having a terrible reaction to the facial I had yesterday, and believe me, it’s made me look absolutely horrible, not to mention the extreme pain and burning sensation I’m having. Judy’s having the exact same reaction. I don’t think you’d even recognize me. My face is terribly swollen and red. As if that wasn’t enough, we’re having a bit of a crisis at the spa.”

  She told Roger about the conversation she’d had with Nikki and Stephanie.

  He was quiet for a minute. “I have a dermatologist I use occasionally as an expert witness in court. Let me give him a call and see what he says. I’m in the hallway outside the courtroom, and I don’t know if I can get through to him before court starts, but if not, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. And about this Gina woman. She sounds deranged. I’m glad she’s not there. You don’t need someone like her working in the spa. Bertha is absolutely right about getting someone else to replace her. Uh-oh, gotta go. Looks like we’re going to start and don’t want to irritate the judge this early in the trial. Talk to you later.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Darlene had just left the lodge after delivering two bottles of aloe vera from the spa when Liz’s cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw it was Roger.

  “Liz, I only have a moment, so I’ll be brief. I got in touch with the dermatologist I told you about earlier this morning. He said, based on what I told him, it sounds like you definitely are having a reaction to something contained in the gel that Gina applied to you when you had your facial. He told me you or the spa manager need to look at everything that’s in Gina’s treatment room cabinets. Call me back with a list of all the products, and if I don’t answer, leave a voice mail with the list of what you find in them. The doctor said it’s critical to do it immediately because you may need an antidote.”

  “I’ll take care of it right now. Thanks.”

  “Gotta go.”

  She called Darlene and asked, “Is Gina’s treatment room being used by anyone?” She listened for a moment. “Good. I’m glad you thought to put Bertha’s friend in one of the other rooms. I’ll be coming in the back door in a couple of minutes and making a list of the different products she has stored in her cabinets. When I’m finished, I’ll leave by the back door, so don’t be concerned if you see lights on in her room or you hear some sounds. It will just be me. I won’t be long. Thanks.”

  She walked over to the spa with Winston and entered through the back door. She took all of the jars and bottles out of the cabinets in Gina’s treatment room and began to make a list of them. When she was finished she returned them to the cabinets and left with the list of the products Gina used when she gave a facial to a client.

  As soon as she got back to the lodge, she called Roger and left a voicemail message for him. “Roger, I’m sure you’re in trial. Here’s the list your doctor friend wanted. I don’t know a thing about any of them. I’ll have my cell phone with me if you want to get in touch with me. Please tell your friend thanks.” She then read the names off of the list she’d made when she inventoried the products Gina had stored in her treatment room cabinets.

  When she was finished, she turned to Winston and said, “Winston, let’s go see Judy and see if she’s found out anything.”

  “Come in,” Judy said when Liz knocked on her cottage door. “I just got off the phone with Tiffany, and I’m really getting concerned. I told her everything that had happened and how worried we were about what was happening to our faces. She told me she’d call her friend and get her opinion. I was just about to go to the lodge and get you because her friend said I need to get a list of everything that Gina used when giving a client a facial.”

  “I’m ahead of you. Roger called a dermatologist he uses as an expert witness, and he said the same thing. I’ve already called Roger back and left a message on his phone with a list of the products Gina used. Here they are,” she said, handing the list to Judy.

  “I have more to tell you,” Judy said, “but let me call her friend directly with this list and see what she says. She put on her reading glasses and punched numbers into her phone. “Hi, Lisa. Here’s the list of the products that were in the facialist’s storage cabinets.” She began reading them off. Liz could hear a scream at the other end of the line and Judy resumed talking. “Yes, I said phenol. It’s spelled p-h-e-n-o-l. Why? Is that not a good thing?” She was quiet for a moment, her eyes widening. “Lisa, are you sure?” She listened again. “Well, what can we do?”

  A few minutes later she thanked Lisa, ended the call, and turned to Liz. “She said that phenol is also known as carbolic acid. Evidently it’s an extremely caustic substance, and it can cause severe blistering when applied to human skin. She said no aesthetician would ever use it on someone’s skin without the client’s knowledge and consent because it’s so dangerous and would very likely cause the exact reactions we’re having. She said to keep applying water on it, and that should help. She also said since we didn’t take it into our systems we should be okay and to use the aloe vera. It will probably take a couple of weeks for the redness and the swelling to completely disappear. Good grief, Liz, I’m having a hard time believing it was a mistake, since it happened to both of us.”

  “I’m not quite there. I wonder if she inadvertently grabbed the phenol instead of something else. We may never know. What else did you want to tell me?”

  “You know my daughter Tiffany is a psychologist, and she has a theory about all of this. I think it may be a very good theory, but I don’t know what to do about it.”

  “You’re talking in riddles. What did she say?”

  “Tiffany wonders if Gina deliberately prepared a gel that would cause the adverse reactions we’re having. Her thinking is that Gina hates her mother, and because we’re in the same age group as her mother, we became stand-ins for her mother.”

  “That makes her sound even more unbalanced and dangerous.”

  “Well, that might be true, but let’s get back to Tiffany’s theory. If it’s true, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time! It reminds me of the time when I was in college walking back to my dorm after I’d been studying in the library one night. Some guy had taken his date home from a fraternity party after drinking too much beer and drove his car onto the sidewalk where I was walking. Fortunately, the car just tapped me, but it was enough to cause some huge bruises on my leg. That’s what I mean about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe that’s what happened to us at the spa.”

  “Judy, if she really is unbalanced and has mentally snapped, and since she mentioned several times she’d like to see her mother dead, I wonder if she’s going to Washington to try and kill her mother. I know it sounds pretty far-fetched, but the situation that seems to be developing may be a lot more dangerous than putting some acid solution on our faces. What do you think?”

  Judy was quiet for a few moments. “I think you’re absolutely right. We probably should call the police department in the town where her mother lives and alert them of our suspicions. Maybe they can keep her mother’s house under surveillance and see if Gina shows up.”

  “You’ve been watching too many crime shows on television,” Liz said. “Do you really think if we call the police department because of a suspicion we have, based on no firm facts, I might add, that they will assign one or two policemen to see if she shows up? So
rry, but I don’t see that happening. They’ll probably take the information down, and as soon as the phone call is completed, dismiss the whole thing as just another nut case call like they probably get every day. I know that’s what I’d think if I were them.”

  Liz began to feel a slight niggle in the back of her mind, that inner sense that only seemed to make itself known when it needed to really get her attention.

  “What is it, Liz? You’ve got a really funny look on your face.”

  “Judy, I have no idea where this is coming from, but I have the strongest feeling that Gina is planning to kill her mother, and I have to stop her.”

  “Are you kidding? What can you do from here? You didn’t like my idea of calling the police.”

  “I have to do this. It’s my spa, and it’s already getting a black eye from Barbara’s death. All I need is for a spa employee to commit murder. I’m going to Washington, to Bellingham where her mother lives. Even if the police believed me, they’d still need my help to identify Gina. I can do that a lot easier than they can.”

  “Are you crazy? How do you think you’d even find her? Washington’s a big state. Where would you start?”

  “Well, first of all I need to get there. Roger has all kinds of sources he uses in his criminal law practice. I’m sure he could find out if she used a credit card for a plane trip or a rental car or maybe even a motel where she might be staying. I just can’t sit by and wait for something horrible to happen.”

  “What about the murder you’re trying to solve here?”

  “I’m at a dead end. I’ve talked to all the possible suspects, and I’m no closer to solving it than I was in the beginning. I’m going to go back to the lodge and get on the computer and see if I can buy an airline ticket to Seattle. Hopefully I can fly up from San Francisco this afternoon.”

  “Well, when you make your reservation, make it for two. I’m going with you. I can’t let you go off half-cocked by yourself. Anyway, maybe I can at least protect your back side.”