Highlights to Heaven

by Nancy J. Cohen

  Jimbo grinned, showing his crooked yellow teeth. “I’d quit before Mole and Molly went missing, boss.”

  “Did Laredo tell you he’d stolen thirty thousand dollars from Mole?” Vail said. “He returned it, less five thousand, when Mole chased him down. I think Mole’s mistake was to accept him back on the ranch, especially since I heard smugglers were involved in the owners’ disappearance.”

  Evan swung his gun toward his employee. “You lying sonov-abitch. Are you working for Chang behind my back? I’ll bet Yani found out, and you killed him.”

  Jimbo’s face reddened. “I didn’t kill no one. I was helping with some of those skin tests that night. Yani needed readings. He was mad you’d picked him to make the exchange with Goat.”

  “You still lied to me. You’re fired. Go tell Tiger our deal is off. Was Wake in on this?”

  Jimbo, eyes fixed on the gun, backed toward the doorway. “He didn’t know nothin’.” Whirling on his heel, he dashed out into the night.

  Marla shrieked as Vail took advantage of the distraction to hurl himself at Evan. When his gun toppled to the floor during their fight, she shoved Cutter out of the way and dove for the weapon. It weighed heavily in her hand as she jumped to her feet and swung it toward her former teacher.

  Vail subdued the hairdresser’s cousin, then herded the two miscreants into a corner.

  “Marla, use your cell phone to call for backup,” he ordered, telling her what number to dial. While she complied, he confronted their adversaries and began reciting their rights.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I don’t understand,” Marla said to Vail on her front doorstep. Although her watch read midnight, she was too wired from the evening’s events to be fatigued. “If none of them admitted to killing Yani, who did? I can’t believe it was Goat.”

  “A few other possibilities come to mind,” Vail said in a weary tone.

  “Such as?”

  “Let’s discuss it tomorrow. This has been a long night, and it’s not over for me yet. I have to file a report. Are you sure you’ll be all right here by yourself?”

  “Now that Cutter and his cousin are put away, I’ll be fine.”

  Spooks greeted them when she opened the door and deactivated the alarm.

  “I’ll just make sure there aren’t any surprises waiting for you,” Vail said in a gruff tone. He did a thorough search, then gave her a perfunctory kiss and left abruptly.

  She wondered at his hasty departure. It was almost as though he wanted to follow up on something that he clearly didn’t mean to share with her. No matter. She figured that by the time she got ready for bed, her brain would have settled into relax mode.

  She’d just finished brushing her teeth when the phone rang. Who would be calling this late? Almost afraid to pick up the receiver, she answered hesitantly. “Hello?”

  “Marla, I’m so sorry to disturb you.” It was Giorgio’s voice. “You must have just gotten home. I tried to call you a few minutes ago. I’m on my way to the salon. I got a call that a fire alarm went off.”

  Her skin prickled. “It’s probably a false alarm, but I’ll go check it out. You can save yourself a trip.”

  “I’ll feel better if I meet you there. I didn’t want to tell you this, but you know when the electricity went off? I was talking to some people in Carolyn’s salon. They said she’d called the electric company and pretended to be you to cancel our account. This alarm might be another one of her pranks. Unless she’s turned arsonist.”

  Like the fellow who had tried to set fire to the lab at Evan’s Wild Bird Ranch? Good thing his lighter hadn’t hit the fuel spilled on the ground. What if the same person had torched her salon?

  She cursed under her breath as she grabbed her purse and keys. Remembering what happened the last time she went into her garage, she opened the garage door from inside her kitchen, but then exited her house through the front door. After inspecting the lit garage for intruders and making sure her car was untouched, she proceeded on her way.

  What had Giorgio been doing in Carolyn’s salon, anyway? Her brow furrowed as she contemplated his motives. Had he been snooping on her behalf? If so, she’d have to speak to him about his behavior. Carolyn might resort to underhanded stunts, but Marla followed certain standards and expected her staff to do the same.

  When she arrived at the shopping center where her salon was located, she scoured the dimly lit area for Giorgio’s car. Several unfamiliar vehicles and a motorcycle were the lonely occupants on the asphalt. She pulled into an empty space, listening for the jarring bleat of a fire alarm but hearing nothing. Her storefront appeared as she’d left it, interior lights on and stations empty.

  Locking her purse in the car, she clipped her cell phone to her pants pocket before striding toward the salon. Giorgio must’ve run into a delay in getting here. Looks like he was right about a false alarm.

  Marla wouldn’t feel satisfied until she’d checked the place herself. A chill crept down her spine while she acknowledged an uneasy silence. It seemed as though the night air sweated expectantly.

  She unlocked the salon door and pressed inside to punch out the alarm code. It didn’t appear as though anyone else had been there. Only the hum of the air-conditioning system broke the stillness.

  Marla wheeled around to study the equipment. No disturbances. That left the laundry room, lavatory, storeroom, and the private area reserved for facials and waxing.

  “Looking for someone?” Giorgio asked, emerging from the darkened rear of the salon.

  “Where did you come from? I didn’t see your car in the parking lot.” Her gaze dropped from his smug expression to the black gun in his hand.

  He flashed her a grin, his even white teeth gleaming against his swarthy complexion. “Yes, that’s right,” he said in response to the look of dawning comprehension on her face. “This is the weapon I used to kill Verkovich. The cops never found it, even though Detective Vail questioned me a couple of times.”

  Marla, rendered speechless with surprise, recovered her voice. “You…you killed Yani? Why?”

  “He came between me and my lover. Using Goat as a scapegoat, pardon the pun, seemed logical.”

  Giorgio approached, making Marla back up against the counter by her station. Her heart hammered so fast she felt light-headed. A quick glance at her implements told her the power was still shut off for the work areas. It was one of her safety measures to turn the power off when they closed for the day, just in case someone left a hot curling iron on. While Giorgio spoke, she calculated what she might use as a defensive weapon.

  “I don’t get it,” she said, hoping to keep him talking. “What lover? I thought Yani had a relationship with Cutter Corrigan.” Her lips parted. “You mean, you and Cutter were together? How is it I knew nothing about this? You’ve been working for me for eight years, since I opened the salon.”

  “You knew I was gay. I never let you find out much else about me on purpose.” He raised his gun arm. “I’ve been planning this for years, ever since you made me go bald.”

  “No.” Her mind refused to acknowledge the implications.

  “You get it now, don’t you? I’m Wyeth Holmes.”

  Watch out for the white home. She hadn’t heard Goat’s warning correctly. He’d said Wyeth Holmes, and she’d thought he meant Evan’s white ranch house. Her gaze drifted to Giorgio-no, Wyeth’s-head of curly black hair. “Didn’t your hair grow back?”

  “For a short while. Then it fell out again and never grew in.” He yanked a toupee off his head, revealing a bald pate. His expression darkened. “You ruined my life. I’d planned to be an actor, so I worked part-time as a model in order to meet influential people. I lost those jobs after my hair fell out. Bald wasn’t beautiful in the old days.”

  “Why attend beauty school? Was being a hairdresser just a means to earn money while you pursued an acting career?”

  “I’d hoped to connect with rich benefactors by working in upscale salons. Women were attracted to me,
especially wealthy ones. But not anymore, after you poisoned me.”

  She saw his gaze harden with resolve. Her fingers were inches from a can of holding spray. If she could just slide a bit more to the left…“We believed the tonic would work. We never intended any real harm.”

  “What if I’d been allergic to the stuff? You didn’t even do a patch test. The original formula had promise, but you knew it wasn’t right. I wondered if you would try to develop it.”

  “That was never my aim.”

  “I’ve sacrificed for it. The patent should be mine. I altered my appearance and name to get a job in your salon. You never recognized me since I gained weight, changed my eye color with contact lenses, and showed up with a full head of curly hair. I’ve been watching, waiting to see if you would figure out a way to improve the formula. I kept tabs on your gang, in case someone else developed it.”

  “You could have stolen my notes and worked on it yourself. That’s what Cutter did.”

  “Cutter had the idea to refine it when he met Yani.” His lip curled in a snarl. “Ever since beauty school, Cutter and I had an intimate relationship. I respected his knowledge, and he liked having a younger man look up to him. It was a perfect arrangement, until Yani came along. I don’t know what Cutter saw in him.”

  Using her body as a shield so he wouldn’t notice, she snagged a pair of shears on the counter behind her. “What made you think they were working on the formula? It had been years since we’d been together in school.”

  He sneered. “Cutter became secretive. We’d shared everything before. Besides, your pal Goat confirmed they’d set up a lab on the ranch.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yani figured out the variable that had been missing. I tested the new sample on myself. Look.” He turned around to show her the back of his head, where hair sprouted in an irregular patch.

  Now. Sticking the shears into her pants pocket, Marla grabbed the can of spray. She squirted it at Wyeth’s eyes when he turned in her direction. Howling with rage, he fired, but his aim flew wild. Marla sprinted for the entrance, expecting a bullet in her back at any moment. Wyeth cursed, and something crashed to the floor. Footsteps pounded behind her. She cried out when Wyeth tripped her with his foot. She tumbled forward, breaking the fall with her hands before her face hit the floor. A shooting pain paralyzed her injured shoulder.

  “Bitch.” Wyeth hauled her to her feet and dragged her toward the shampoo area. “Damn gun jammed. We’ll try something else.” She kicked and scratched, but his strength overpowered her. Facing the row of sinks, he squashed her onto a seat opposite from the way her clients normally sat. Whipping her wrists behind her back, he secured them with an extension cord left on the counter. The awkward position wrenched her painful shoulder.

  A moment’s respite came when Wyeth disappeared. Her ears picked up a creaking noise followed by the sounds of switches being flipped. He must be turning on the circuits. Bringing one leg up and over the other, she rotated in her seat. Now if only she could boost herself from the chair, but the chair’s slope made it difficult to achieve leverage.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Rushing back, Wyeth pushed her down and turned on the faucet. While water spilled into the shampoo bowl, he used additional cords from curling irons to bind her to the chair facing the sink. Humming, he plugged a blow-dryer into a receptacle on a nearby wall.

  Panic flared in her breast as she realized what he intended. She said the first thing that came to mind to delay him. “How did you obtain a sample of the formula for your head if you didn’t have access to Evan’s lab?”

  “I paid Goat to be my spy. He was eager to earn extra money. You didn’t realize I knew him, did you? He’d groomed my dog once, and we got to talking. I’d visited Evan’s ranch before with Cutter. When Goat said he worked there, I hired him to keep me informed about what Yani and Cutter were doing.”

  “How did you know they were making progress? No one else could make the formula work.”

  His expression lit. “Goat told me Yani got real excited one day. I assumed the experiments had been successful. That tonic belonged to me. Once it was developed, I wouldn’t let anyone else interfere. That left me with some unfinished business: to get rid of you and your classmates who knew about it.”

  Oh God, he’d murdered how many people? And she was next! “What about Yani?”

  “He took Cutter away from me. I knew I could get Cutter back if Yani was out of the picture.”

  “Didn’t Cutter suspect you?” she croaked, her throat dry.

  “He thinks Goat murdered Yani. Cutter promised to come back to me and share the formula. I told him I’d known about it all along.”

  “So you killed my friends. What happened to Kenya?” Hope blossomed as she wriggled her hands. The more she moved, the looser her bindings became. She realized the surface of the cords was slick because they were coated wires.

  “Beats me. Kenya disappeared before I could get to her. I thought I’d dispose of you on the highway, but your car didn’t get too smashed.”

  “No, just my head. So you’re the one who cut into my lane. I suppose you put the news clipping on my salon chair. Were you responsible for stealing Goat’s envelope, and for attacking me in my garage?”

  He smirked, nodding his agreement. Noting the water level, he shut off the faucet. “Know what else I did? I sold Carolyn Sutton your customer list.”

  “You vermin!” She squirmed in her seat, realizing she could slip her wrists out from the loose knots. “What about the skinned dog in Goat’s backyard?”

  “I put it there as a warning. Goat realized the prototype was valuable, and that’s when he decided to sell it. I sent him the warning as a message that he’d better give the sample to me, or else. I’d ordered him to steal it in the first place.”

  “Did you…?” She couldn’t say the words.

  “Evan’s Chinese friend did the dirty work. You don’t need to know any more.” Grabbing a chunk of her hair, he bent her head toward the sink until her nose touched the water.

  “Vail arrested Cutter and Evan,” she cried, working herself free of the knots. If Wyeth plunged her face underwater, she might not regain control. Sweat slid off her icy fingers, making the wires even more slippery. “He knows everything. You’re wasting time when you could be getting away.” Her voice burst out in labored breaths.

  “Sorry, this comes first.”

  She twisted her head as he dunked her face underwater. The whir of a blow-dryer hit her ears. Another few seconds, and he’d…“No!” she yelled, breaking free. Even as she scrambled from the chair, her fingers ripped the shears from her pocket.

  “Marla!” shouted a familiar voice as the front door crashed open. Running footsteps. More cries, men hollering.

  Wyeth tore around the counter, hands reaching toward her with murder in his eyes. She leapt upward at the same time as he launched himself at her. Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Frozen, his eyes widened. Marla glanced down to where her hand gripped the open shears, now imbedded in Wyeth’s chest. Blood seeped down his shirt. His mouth opened. He worked his jaw, as though trying to speak while Marla stared at him in horror.

  “Let him go,” Vail said, appearing miraculously at her side. Gently, he pried her hand away while signaling for his team.

  Over. It was over.

  Vail brought in his crime-scene technicians but left someone else in charge. “I would’ve been here sooner, but I encountered an old friend of yours on the way,” he told her when they had finally broken free to exit to the parking lot. “I’d figured Wyeth would make his move tonight, and I was watching your place to see what happened.”

  “You knew about him?”

  “I checked into your story about your classmates. The only one unaccounted for was Wyeth Holmes. I tracked him down, and it all made sense. He’d been working for you under a different name. Someone else was watching you, too. That’s why I got held up in the parking lot. Goat was ready to
rush in to defend you.”

  “Goat!” It came to mind that Vail had been using her as bait. She didn’t mind, now that the threat was gone. Wyeth hadn’t survived his stab wound. She wouldn’t think about that now. “Where is that rascal? And why did he wait until tonight to make his reappearance?”

  “He was afraid of Wyeth and of being framed for Yani’s murder. I guess he decided his future was less important than protecting you.”

  “What a sweetheart. I can’t wait to see him.” She felt a tug on her heartstrings. “Is he all right? You didn’t arrest him, did you?”

  “Nah. He cooperated willingly, told us everything we needed to know. The shmuck just wanted to protect animals but got carried away by the scent of money. He was responsible for the anonymous tip I received about the dead man in his house. Your neighbor wanted someone to find the body.”

  “What about Kenya? Did you locate her, too?”

  “She ran off to stay with her sister. Your phone message scared her enough to make her wary.”

  “Good for her.” She paused, reflecting on his revelations. “When can I reopen my salon?”

  “The techs will be finished by Tuesday,” Vail reassured her. His craggy face relaxed into a smile as he placed a hand on her good shoulder. “I’ll follow you home.”

  “I’m going to visit Goat,” Marla announced the next morning when Vail stopped by to check on her. She felt refreshed after eight hours of sleep. “Wait here, I’ll get Spooks.” Marla left the detective standing on her front stoop while she attached the dog’s leash.

  Goat strolled out of his house as they neared. Her assessing glance took in his straw-colored hair, moussed into spikes, with no remaining traces of his temporary black dye; his beard that had grown thicker, making her wonder if he’d applied some of the formula to his jaw; and his knobby knees that showed below baggy shorts worn with a Hawaiian shirt.