Love Stinks
Page 15
He jumped out of the car. “Have you seen Ellen? I need to talk to her immediately.” He looked around the empty parking garage and then again at Marissa. “This doesn’t seem very safe for you. I mean, after all, you were attacked out here a few days ago.”
Marissa looked up into his face and narrowed her eyes at him. “You should know.”
Adam stiffened. Marissa knew it wasn’t from the cold wind that whistled past them. “What do you mean by that? You have no idea how hard it’s been to try to keep things normal while all of this mess has been going on here. It’s a zoo.”
“Really? That’s like asking me to feel sorry for the Menendez boys because they’re orphans now. It’s a mess of your own making.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have time for this.”
Marissa hiked her thumb towards the wall. “She’s over there by the parked cars,” she said using the over-exaggerated accent again. She made her point by holding up Ellen’s phone.
Adam took in the words and the sight of the phone for only a second before he lunged, but Marissa hit the phone’s alarm app button, which shrilled and echoed against the cement walls of the parking garage. The two officers made it to her before Adam was able to get his hands firmly around her throat.
Marissa looked at Gavin and Bandarra and nodded. “Now I have to get back to work, and I want those clothes dry-cleaned before you return them.”
Work getting back to normal so quickly had been merely wishful thinking. Within 20 minutes, Marissa had been corralled by Zack Martin and brought back to her office. They’d been joined by Nicole, Gavin, Anne, Tom and a few others. It felt like an impromptu celebration without festivity. Bandarra had left with Adam. He planned to book him and head down to Christ Hospital, having already been assured that Ellen would live.
“What is going on around here?” Zack had asked upon seeing everyone.
“The murder has been solved. The police have the killer, and I’m trying to sell perfume and cosmetics.” She had hoped that her deductions would have made management more sanguine about her work, but apparently that had been more wishful thinking. Maybe the feeling came from the instant hot chocolate someone had shoved into her hands during the confusion. The hint of peppermint schnapps in it made her overcome her fears of poisoning.
Gavin sat next to her, watching her face as she spoke. Marissa had to admit that he looked good. The color in his face had returned to normal and the dark coat she’d pulled off the mannequin went well with his hair color. She had excellent taste even in times of crisis. “So what exactly led you to believe Adam was behind this?”
“Two things made me sure. The first was the whole incident with Nicole and the cold cream. I figured out that the best way to apply the nicotine was to put it in something that touched the skin. People are most likely to put cosmetics on their skin, especially for a photo shoot. I doubted that anyone could have known Steve’s colors to match foundations. He was a ginger, but one that could pass for light brown and with freckles. I doubt that I could have guessed the right colors, but the cologne was available and one size fits all. It also could have been prepared in advance which was in keeping with what we knew about the killer.” Marissa stopped talking long enough to take another sip of chocolate.
“So then I had to look at the people at the photo shoot. Security, radio people and some fans who’d won a chance to meet Steve. So most of the store was immediately excluded. I had been getting things ready, and most of the staff was trying to fit in some work between photo ops.
The second clue was the note in Adam’s handwriting and the threatening note. The anonymous note told me that the killer knew he would have a chance to see Steve in Cincinnati. I’d already excluded most of the store and that certainty removed the fans who’d been invited. Those invitations went out after the note. So I was left with only the radio people and security. I ruled out Ellen, because I knew her too well, and then she was attacked. Finding the note by Adam only proved to me that he was the only one who had access and could plan in advance, knowing that he would have the chance to see Steve.”
Gavin looked in her direction. “But why attack you and Ellen and in the same way?”
“I was becoming a nuisance, hard as that is to believe. I’d started looking into this, and I’d learned a few things. Since the delivery system was cologne, the person most likely to stumble across that would be the head of cosmetics. He hadn’t counted on my own use of cologne as a self-defense technique.”
“And Ellen?”
“People are creatures of habit. Once he stumbled upon the idea of the parking garage, he used it again. Those things are twice as lonely as a downtown alley and twice as dangerous. Ellen had the two documents side by side in her purse. The note from Adam and the unsigned threat. How long until she noticed and notified her fiancé?” Marissa stumbled over the word, but continued. “He had to stop her before she noticed.
“By the time I called him, he was so stressed out that he didn’t even think to question why Ellen would have called him and not the police. He just knew he had to stop the threat before it became public.”
Zach Martin cleared his throat. “And you did this on company time?”
Marissa took a long sip of the hot chocolate. “To save the store unwanted publicity and to get our sales back on target. The police took Adam away without any press here. That’s about as low-key as you’ll get for this.”
Zack sighed and looked aggrieved, but at least he held his tongue. He gave another look at Gavin’s outfit, but decided to leave the room without a word. Anne gave her friend a huge hug that lasted about ten seconds too long in Marissa’s estimation, but it too ended, and she left. Soon it was down to just Gavin and Marissa.
She stood up and felt the warm of the schnapps in her as she smiled at the detective. “Well, I guess this is good-bye. Remember about the clothes.”
Gavin smiled back at her. “We’d talked about a date? Maybe sometime soon we could get dinner?”
Marissa cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. “Well. Yes and no. After Christmas, call me or stop by, but for the next four weeks, I need to focus on my new job. Like I said, starting to date at the holidays is a mess. Let’s skip that and start the New Year with a date.”
Gavin paused for a second and then bowed formally, which looked silly in his over-sized jacket and said, “Until then.”
More books by…
The Ambush of My Name – The first in the US Grant mystery series. When Grant returns to his boyhood home of Georgetown, Ohio, he gets more than he bargained for when he finds a very dead body in his hotel room. Now he and his wife, Julia, must solve the murder before he becomes the next victim. http://tinyurl.com/8f3l4oa
A Good Soldier – The second book in the US Grant mystery series takes place immediately following The Ambush of My Name. Grant comes to Bethel, Ohio in time for the funeral of a friend from his youth. While there, he discovers clues that his friend might have discovered the lost Confederate gold before his suspicious death. Who else knows about the gold and who could have wanted him dead? http://tinyurl.com/93d39zu
Some Hidden Thunder – The third book in the US Grant series takes place in Cincinnati. While Grant is being feted by the elite of this river city, he sees the ghost of a soaking wet freedman. Grant fears that others might think he’s drinking, and quietly begins to investigate his apparition, a task that takes him to the upper echelons and the lowest ghettos in search of answers. http://tinyurl.com/9aszn9k
The Scent of Murder – Marissa Scott, recent divorcee and mother of one, values her new job. However, the personal and professional mix when the body of her ex-husband’s fiancée is discovered at Marissa’s office desk. Even with an alibi, Marissa feels a need to clear her name and get her ex-husband out of her life. http://tinyurl.com/8taba89
A question for the author
You can reach me at queries@jeffreymarks.com
Want to learn more about book promotions?
&nbs
p; You can join MurderMustAdvertise at www.murdermustadvertise.com
One Last Thing
When you turn the page, Kindle will give you the opportunity to rate the book and share your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter. If you believe the book is worth sharing, would you take a few seconds to let your friends know about it?
All the best,
Jeff Marks
Table of Contents
Love Stinks
Jeffrey Marks