by Libby Klein
She looked skeptical. “We hung out?”
“I was just as surprised as you were.”
“Well, I don’t remember.”
“Okay. Look, I’m sorry you don’t remember. But can you please help me. I’m desperate.”
She stopped walking away. “Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I saw someone outside when I was walking around.”
“Do you know who it was?”
She mimicked me. “Yes, I know who it was. It was Charlie Wilcott.”
“Where was he?”
“In the back parking lot keeping an eye on . . . some of the cars.”
“Might one of those cars have had his ex-wife Francine in it?”
She gave me a sideways look. “It might have.”
That’s the coach’s alibi.
“Hey, you didn’t happen to see Joel out there, did you?”
“No.”
Oh well, it was worth a try.
“But he was probably behind the greenhouses getting high.”
“What would make you say that?”
Joanne shrugged. “Because he smelled like weed when we were being questioned by the police.”
“Joanne, you’ve been a big help. Thank you.”
“Whatever.” Joanne started back to the bake sale.
She is always a surprise. I guess that crosses Joel off the suspect list. That just leaves Robert, Kelly, and Billy.
I went to the car but I couldn’t find my keys. I checked my purse and both of my pockets. Nothing. I must have left them with the cookies.
I went back to the table to search for them and Joel had disappeared. All that was left was a cash box and the remains of a few Rice Krispies treats. All my gluten-free chocolate chip cookies were gone. They must have been a big hit. And there were my keys sitting next to the box.
When I got closer to the box I saw a note.
“I told you to BACK OFF! You were warned!”
Chapter 43
This time I didn’t touch it, but I scooped it into a plastic bag that was sitting on the brownie table. I asked table fourteen if they had seen anyone leave the note. They hadn’t been paying attention.
Maybe I crossed Joel off too soon. I put all the items with the note in my car. I sat there trying to calm my nerves and figure out what to do next. I dug the sample bag of cookies out of my purse that had been for Gia. Since he wasn’t at the coffee shop, they were mine now.
I ate all four of them in record time, but I was still shaken up. I refused to spend my last few hours of freedom obsessing about prison. Instead, I was going to push my fear straight into denial.
Shoes. I’ll go buy shoes.
I drove to the Washington Street Mall and tried on shoes at the Shoe Shak. I felt a little better after I bought a pair of four-inch hot pink heels with leopard spots. They reminded me of Josie and the Pussycats. They didn’t match my outfit, but I wore them out of there anyway.
It was time for my massage at the Radiance Day Spa. Aunt Ginny had booked the appointment and paid for it— God bless her—and I didn’t want to let her down by missing it.
I walked into reception and signed in. There was another lady waiting ahead of me. Our eyes met. She gasped, then quickly covered her face with a magazine.
“Kelly?”
The woman got up, magazine in place, and ran through the door into the treatment area. When I looked into the room after her, she was gone.
Why is she acting so weird? I walked back over to the sign-in book, but the name above mine was “Felicity Johnson.”
I asked the receptionist, “Excuse me, do you know who that lady sitting on the love seat was?”
She looked at the sign-in book and said, “Felicity Johnson.”
Gee, that was helpful. “What is she having done?”
“I’m sorry, but we’re not allowed to give out information about clients’ Botox treatments.”
“Sure, I understand. It’s good to keep that information top secret.”
She nodded somberly.
“Let me ask you something, for myself. What kinds of services do you offer here that involve injections?”
She cocked her head to the side and rolled her eyes up to her forehead. I think I smelled a brain cell burning out.
“Hmm, let’s see. There’s Botox, Juvéderm, Restylane, vitamin B 12 shots . . . Yep, that’s all of them.”
“What if I wanted to have one of those, say, Botox. Could you do it today?”
“Let me find out.”
She disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned, she held the treatment doorway open. “Evan will take you now.”
I was taken to a small clinical room and instructed to lie down on the table. After a couple of minutes, a young man dressed all in white, with a bushy tuft of blonde hair on his head, came in to greet me. He was carrying a little silver tray draped with a cloth. He put the tray on the counter.
“Vell, let’s see how ve are doing today. You want ze Botox, yes?”
“Yes, is that it there?”
“Yes, ve are all ready. Let me just check your face.”
Evan grabbed my chin and turned my face side to side. “No, dis is no good.”
My voice was muffled from Evan’s holding my jaw. “What’s no good?”
“Zere aren’t enough wrinkles for ze treatment. You are too full of ze natural Botox.”
“What is the natural Botox?”
“Your face is too chubby. You look too young.”
Well, that was the first time in my life being chubby was a good thing.
“Too bad I already mixed it. Oh vell, it von’t go to vaste.” Evan looked in the mirror and examined his face. Then he picked up the Botox and gave himself the injection on the side of his left eye. “Bye-bye crow’s-foot.”
He put the needle back on the tray, turned to me, and said, “You have more to do today?”
I nodded. “A massage.”
“Okay, go vait in ze quiet room. I’m sure Ginger vill be along soon.”
Then he left. HE LEFT. I watched the door close and I looked at the syringe on the silver tray. I looked at the door then I looked at the syringe. I took out my phone and took some pictures of the syringe. Then I went to the quiet room to think.
I didn’t want a massage. I didn’t like the idea of lying there naked under a sheet and being poked. But it only took about two minutes to go from being ashamed of my body to wanting to put Ginger on permanent retainer. The stress melted away and gave my mind a chance to plan.
I had three strong suspects left, and one of them had regular appointments where needles were left out on silver trays for the swiping. It was entirely feasible that Kelly had the means and opportunity, but what about the motive? The insurance money was a bust and getting Barbie out of the way to go after Robert was just vague rumors. I needed something more concrete.
I paid for my massage and left Ginger an exorbitant tip to show my appreciation. All the way home I mulled over my suspect list. The problem was, Barbie had made a lot of enemies and any number of people had a valid motive.
I pulled up to Aunt Ginny’s house. There was a man and a woman standing in front of the house taking pictures. There was nothing especially unusual about this since tourists did it all the time. But then the man took out a tape measure and ran it along the front yard.
“Hi there.”
They were startled to see me. “Oh, hello.”
“It’s a beautiful house.”
The woman gushed, “I know it’s just perfect for a bed and breakfast!”
“Sure, I can see that. Many of the houses in this neighborhood are bed and breakfasts.”
The man chimed in, “Oh, we know. We’ve done all our demographics. This one is especially perfect because it’s a corner lot.”
“What were you measuring for just now?”
The woman showed me a drawing of Aunt Ginny’s house with a wishing well in the front yard. “We were making sure there was enou
gh room for this. We want to call it ‘Wishes Come True.’”
I looked at the couple. Their enthusiasm was apparent by their eager, smiling faces flushed with excitement. “That’s a really good name for a B&B, but why are you looking to do it with this house?”
The wife gushed some more, “We have it on good authority that this house will be on the market soon.”
“Cameron!” The man grabbed her hand. “We have to go now.”
The two argued under their breath across the street to their car. I walked down the block a little before returning home so they wouldn’t see me go into Aunt Ginny’s house.
I had to make a couple phone calls when I got in. I had a very strong suspicion I knew who their hot tip was coming from. I just had to be able to prove it.
Chapter 44
I tossed and turned all night, weighted down with fears of cavity searches and plastic lunchroom trays carved into shivs. The first morning light announced my last few hours of freedom. The girls were having a special luncheon for me today to buck up my spirits and, I suspected, to wait with me until Amber came to haul me off to the slammer. We decided to do it at Aunt Ginny’s house so there wouldn’t be a bunch of videos of my second arrest going up on YouTube from another public confrontation.
I made the Paleo Enchiladas that Dr. Melinda said were her favorite. They were missing something. Probably a few pounds of cheese. But since I was back to breathing freely from the Zinger incident I didn’t want to push it. The least I could do was a few more hours of being healthy.
Sawyer brought some lemonade made with stevia for us, and Connie made a fruit salad. Kim said she googled the Paleo Diet and made the one dish she figured the diet revolved around. She brought three pounds of bacon. Figaro didn’t leave her side all afternoon.
Sawyer pulled a large black book out of her tote bag. “I thought it would be fun to look at our old yearbook.”
Kim placed a folder on the dining room table. “And I brought my pictures from the reunion. I had them printed out so I can scrapbook them later. I thought we could go through them together.”
Neither of them were fooling anyone. They were both trying to keep me distracted from thinking about what was happening. Even Aunt Ginny kept sighing and leaving the room. I tried to force myself to relax, but it was impossible. I picked up the stack of pictures Kim brought and thumbed through them to at least keep busy. I had to relive my awful lemonade ostrich dress. Ugh.
Wait. What was that?
“Hey. Look at this picture.”
The girls and Aunt Ginny crowded around me. Connie was the first to speak. “It’s a picture of me with Janet Riley before you two got into it with Barbie.”
I pointed to a figure slightly out of focus. “But look in the background here. Isn’t that Robert?”
Kim took the picture and held it farther away. “It is. And he has his hand on that blond cheerleader’s butt. Is that Barbie?”
Sawyer took the picture. “It isn’t Barbie. See here, her hand is showing and she has a French manicure. Probably fake nails. Barbie had bright pink nails the night of the reunion. I remember seeing them when I was on top of her.”
I smiled to myself. “I saw them too, when I was pulling you off her.”
Aunt Ginny cocked one eye. “Well then, who is it?”
“It has to be Kelly. Everything points to the two of them being a couple. I think we need to show this to Kelly and see what she says.”
“Before you do that,” Connie said from the other side of the table, “you’d better look at this.”
We all moved down to where Connie was thumbing through the yearbook. “Look what I found.”
It was a picture of the Ecology Club. Barbie was holding up a lily of the valley and the caption read, “Barbara Pomeroy discovers poisonous plant growing at daycare center.”
“The article goes on to praise Barbie for her discovery and her knowledge that the plant was poisonous. It says she may have saved some kids’ lives by removing it.”
An idea came to me. “Show me the different scholastic clubs.”
Connie thumbed through and we looked at the different club group shots.
“What are you looking for?” Sawyer asked.
“Every one of these clubs has Barbie listed as the club president. Look, Pep Club—Barbie Pomeroy, President. French Club—Barbie Pomeroy, President. Key Club—Barbie.”
“Whoa, look at this one.” Kim pointed to another club group shot. “Ecology Club—Barbie Pomeroy, President. Kristen Campbell—Vice President. And they’re all in there. Joanne, Amber, Missy, even Billy is in Ecology Club.”
Alarm bells were ringing in my head. Kristen told me she got those exotic plants from Ecology Club and that she didn’t know how to take care of them. She said she sent them back to the greenhouse to get TLC.
“If she was the vice president of Ecology Club, surely she knows a little about taking care of plants.”
Aunt Ginny shot one fist into the air triumphantly. “You bet your sweet bippy.”
“The killer has to be one of these. Kelly, Billy, or Kristen. Since Billy is still missing, I can’t do anything with him. But I can question the other two.”
Connie looked at the time on her phone. “Kristen might be at the PTA meeting at seven tonight. We could catch her there.”
I thought about my weird encounter with Kelly yesterday and the syringe that was left in the spa room. “I want to question Kelly first. We’ve got a picture of her with Robert. That could prove motive.”
The flashing of blue lights bounced off the dining room mirror and suddenly my mouth went very dry. “They’re here.”
Sawyer teared up and let out a whimper. Connie and Kim were motionless and silent.
Aunt Ginny took charge. “Go out the back. Take Bessie. We’ll stall them here. Kimberly, you go out the window in my bedroom, and when you hear my signal get in your car and peel out down the road in the other direction. Got it?”
I grabbed the photograph and yearbook and did as Aunt Ginny said, slipping out the back just as I heard her say, “Good afternoon, officers.”
I eased Bessie around the garage, through the back yard, and through poor Mr. Murillo’s hedge. Then I tore down the side street and didn’t look back. For a brief second I was tempted to just keep going. Forget about Kelly and Kristen and Amber. But then I would be leaving behind everyone I loved. I was better off going to prison than losing Aunt Ginny and Sawyer.
I raced over to the campaign office. It was an unimpressive storefront operation. Just a big room full of desks, phones, and computers, surrounding an enormous poster of Robert.
I parked Bessie out front and ran in with the pictures. “Is Kelly here?” I held my breath.
April was sitting at the front desk playing Candy Crush. “She’s in the back. You want me to—”
“No, I’ll find her.” I raced to the back to an office door marked KELLY SCARLITO and flung it open. The room was empty.
Come on karma, cut me a break already. Then I heard Kelly’s voice coming down the hall. She was standing in her doorway with a colleague holding a file and staring at me.
She turned to the guy. “Could you excuse us, please?” Then she shut the door behind her and came toward me. “I was afraid of this.”
“I don’t want any trouble, I just want to talk.” I backed away from her.
“I can’t hide it any longer. Now you know.”
I stood behind the desk. “I shouldn’t go to prison for something I didn’t do.”
Kelly stopped moving. “What?”
“What?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about being embarrassed because you caught me at the spa getting Botox treatments.”
I blinked. “Me too.”
“In my line of work, image is everything. If Robert has an old lady representing him, he loses the appeal of the younger generation. I have to keep myself young-look
ing.”
“I’m much more interested in your personal relationship with Robert.”
“My personal relationship? What do you mean?”
“I know Robert and Barbie weren’t the happy couple no matter how you keep trying to sell it.”
I pulled out the photo of Robert and her, and slapped it on the desk.
She looked closely, then sat on one of the chairs behind her. “What are you going to do with this?”
“Do you recognize who’s in that picture?”
She looked at it again and shook her head. “No.”
“It’s you.”
“Ah, it’s not me.”
“What do you mean it’s not you? Blond hair in a ponytail, cheerleading uniform, who else could it be?”
“Any number of people. Missy had all the cheerleaders put on their old uniforms to reenact some stupid homecoming routine. Why would you think it’s me?”
“I know you’re having an affair with Robert. Three different people saw you very cozy together at the reunion.”
Kelly breathed out a laugh. “That’s rich. I might be the only woman in Robert’s life who he isn’t sleeping with. I spend half of my time trying to keep him out of trouble, and the other half covering it up when he finds it anyway.”
I still wasn’t sure she was telling the truth. I looked at Kelly’s hands. Her nails were painted deep red and they were badly overdue for a refill.
“When was the last time you got a manicure?”
She held up her hands to show me her fake nails. “The week before the reunion.”
Another dead end. “This really isn’t you in this picture, is it?”
“I have no doubt that people saw Robert behaving inappropriately at the reunion with someone who wasn’t Barbie, but it wasn’t me. It probably wasn’t even the same woman each time. Robert is a sex addict. Whoever is in that picture, it’s one of the other girls who could still wear the outfit.” Kelly looked at the book I was holding. “What is that?”
“Our old yearbook.” I turned to the Ecology Club page. “What do you know about this?”
“Oh, I remember that day. It caused a huge fight and almost destroyed Barbie and Kristen’s friendship.”
“The story says Barbie found the lily, but everyone looks miserable in the picture except for Joanne.”
