Dyed and Gone

by Beth Yarnall

  “You know I didn’t even recognize you arriving. I’m so used to you leaving.”

  He tipped his head back in realization. “So that’s why you haven’t returned any of my calls. You’re mad.”

  “Not mad. Just over it.”

  “It wasn’t my—”

  “Fault. I know. It was obviously fate intervening.”

  “Not fate. Just a murder case that wrapped up today. I was gonna call you tomorrow.”

  I’d been deceived too many times by was gonnas from men. I was gonna call…I was gonna pay you back…I was gonna tell you about her…

  “I almost bought another Laura Ashley dress because of you!”

  “What?”

  “Just forget it.”

  Alex pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, jabbed at it with his thumb, and put it up to his ear, turning his back to me. The jerk.

  My phone warbled from the bottom of my purse. I pulled it out and looked at the display with a frown. Against my better judgment, I answered it, moving away from Alex.

  “Hello.”

  “I really am sorry I got called away,” Alex’s voice rumbled in my ear and from somewhere behind me. “I’d much rather have dinner with you than interview a meth addict with info on the lowlife who killed a grandmother for a forty-dollar fix.”

  And just like that I wasn’t mad at him anymore. How could I be with the image of my own sweet gram now at the front of my brain?

  “I’m sorry, too.”

  “Maybe we could try again?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “What would it take to turn that maybe into a yes?”

  I was just about to answer when James, Vivian’s boyfriend, poked his head out the door.

  “There you are,” he said to Alex. “There’s some paperwork you have to sign.” Then James spotted me. “Hey, Azalea.”

  I forgot all about the too-cute-to-resist cop working his way under my resolve. “Did you get in to see Viv?” I hung up on Alex as James stepped outside with us.

  “Thanks to Alex she can have one visitor, supervised, for five minutes.”

  “Okay, where do I go? Do I have to sign something?” I asked.

  “Not you. James,” Alex replied. I could tell he wasn’t happy about having to disappoint me. Again.

  I turned on him. “I really need to talk to her. You don’t understand.” I spun back to James. “Please, let me go in. I really, really need to ask her some questions.”

  James adjusted his glasses. “We came all this way and I really want to see her, too.”

  “James asked me to set this up for him,” Alex said with a what-can-I-do? shrug.

  “I’ll go out with you again if you let me be the one to see Vivian,” I offered Alex. “Please.”

  Alex dipped his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “This isn’t exactly the way I’d planned it.”

  “Pretty please?”

  “Any night I want?”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” James said. “I’m the one who brought Alex here, so I’m the one who gets in to see Vivian.”

  “I’ll give her a message from you,” I told James, then to Alex, “Any night you want. Totally your pick.”

  “But—” James tried to protest, but Alex interrupted him.

  “You’ll change your schedule for me?”

  Jeez, this guy. “Yes.”

  “And if something should happen that’s out of my control, you’ll reschedule with the same stipulations?”

  James made another attempt. “Hey! What about me?”

  “Yes. Yes. Yes,” I answered, ignoring poor James.

  “She’s in,” Alex told James. “Sorry, man.”

  ~*~

  I was ushered into a small room with a large mirror, a metal table, and three chairs. Alex stayed with me. If I hadn’t already known how serious a situation this was, his demeanor would have tipped me off. Gone was the carefree charmer. In his place sat a sharp, stern-eyed cop with the stiff shoulders and puffed-up chest of a man in charge. I’d never seen him like this, and frankly he would have scared me if he weren’t on my side.

  The door opened and in walked a handcuffed Vivian followed by Detective Kennedy.

  “Jesus, you’re like a bad penny,” he said to me.

  But I didn’t even give him a glance. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Vivian’s face. It felt like forever since I’d seen her. We both looked like we’d walked a thousand miles since then, especially her. They’d taken away her flower and the pins in her hair. All that was left of her lipstick was a slight stain. Her eyes were red and puffy, but her chin was high, her gaze even with mine.

  “Five minutes,” Kennedy reminded us, then propped himself against the wall, arms and ankles crossed, standing guard.

  Vivian kicked the chair away from the table and sat down. When she placed her cuffed hands on the table, her stare was strong and steady.

  I nodded toward Kennedy. “He says you confessed.”

  “Yes,” Vivian replied.

  I eyed her closely, looking for that connection we had, the one where we could almost hear what the other was thinking.

  “Did you do it?” I could hardly get the words out. The thought of Vivian committing murder was so wrong, so totally opposite of everything I knew about her, just asking the question felt like the ultimate betrayal.

  Alex interjected, “I suggest you don’t answer.”

  “We could end this now,” Kennedy threatened.

  Alex sent me a warning glance. It was pretty clear that Kennedy was looking for any reason to pull the plug on this whole thing. There was no way I’d give him that satisfaction. I was getting my full five minutes with Vivian.

  I looked at Vivian, and what I saw both comforted me and increased my concern. She didn’t kill Dhane, but she was willing to go to jail for it. Why? Who was she protecting? This was not the conversation I’d been expecting to have with her.

  I licked my lips and tried another tack. “I met Trinity today.”

  Something flashed across her face for a moment. I quickly looked at the men in the room to find out if they’d seen it. Kennedy gave a good impression of being bored, while Alex looked interested but uninvolved. Academy Award winners had nothing on those two.

  “That’s nice. How is she?” Vivian asked.

  “Happy,” I answered.

  “Really?” Vivian’s response sounded normal, but I could tell she was surprised. Very surprised. Something was really off here. Vivian gave me a look like she wanted something from me, but I wasn’t sure what.

  “I’m worried about her,” I said.

  “I’m sure over time she’ll be fine,” she said with so much insistence that it raised a huge red flag for me. Trinity was never going to be fine, especially now that her brother was gone.

  “How’s Juan Carlos?” she asked.

  The abrupt change of subject threw me off for a moment, but since she was the one in handcuffs, I didn’t feel like I should argue with her. For the moment. “I think there might be something going on between him and Richard.”

  “I knew it!” There was a glimpse of my Vivian. She even smiled a little. “I always suspected those two would get together if they ever got over loathing each other.”

  I hated to do it, to change the look on her face, but I had to know. “Vivian, why?” My voice cracked and I felt a little piece of my heart give way. This was not how this weekend should have gone. I should not have been sitting across from my handcuffed best friend in this cement tomb while two cops jockeyed with her future. And she stood accused of murder.

  Alex cleared his throat, and I could almost hear Kennedy straining to listen in.

  Vivian stared hard into my eyes like she was trying to send me her thoughts. “You’ll know why and I hope you’ll understand.” She reached for my hand, but Kennedy glared and shook his head so she pulled back. “Take care of the salon. Take care of yourself.” She stared down at the table, hiding tears. “I’m sorry.”<
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  “Vivian—”

  “Time’s up.” Kennedy peeled himself off the wall and gripped Vivian’s arm, hauling her to her feet.

  “Wait!”

  Vivian turned back to me. “I’m fine,” she said, then disappeared through the door with Kennedy.

  But I knew she wasn’t fine, nothing was fine. Everything was upside down and backward.

  Alex slipped an awkward arm across my shoulders. “She’ll be okay.”

  I tossed his arm off and stood up, knocking my chair back against the wall. “She’s not fine. I wish everyone would stop saying that. None of this is fine. It’s crazy and messy and doesn’t make any kind of sense. Vivian didn’t kill Dhane. Can’t you all see that?”

  “Of course we can.”

  “Then do something!”

  “I’m doing the best I can. I got us a meeting with her, which was not easy, and I’ve arranged for her attorney. They haven’t arraigned her yet, which could be a good sign. All we can do now is wait.”

  “Wait,” I repeated. I wasn’t good at waiting under normal circumstances, and this was anything but normal.

  “I don’t like that look on your face. What are you planning?”

  “I plan on waiting.”

  “Uh-huh.” Alex looked like he wanted to say more, but Kennedy interrupted.

  “My lieutenant wants a word with you,” he said to Alex.

  Alex gave me a measured look. “Stay here until I get back,” he told me, then walked out with Kennedy.

  Like a good girl, I dropped into a chair. A few moments later, Kennedy reappeared, alone.

  He sat across from me, arms folded. “Your boyfriend has good connections,” he said conversationally, but I knew there was something more behind it.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  Kennedy inclined his head. “Okay.”

  “What do you want?”

  He waved a hand. “Well, if I were to make a wish, it would be for you to tell me why you keep showing up in the middle of my case. Every time I turn around, there you are.” He leaned toward me, his eyes bright green lasers. “Why is that?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Right.” He sat back and studied me, tapping the tips of his fingers on the table. I tried not to squirm.

  “I half expect you to be waiting on my doorstep when I get home tonight,” he said.

  “You really should think about a career in comedy. You’re quite hilarious.”

  “So I’ve been told.” He sat up, all seriousness. “You were there when the victim’s head was found.” At my surprised expression he said, “Yeah, instead of getting doughnuts, I read the reports on this case. Your name popped right out at me. Funny that, don’t you think?”

  When I didn’t answer, he continued, “Then you show up outside the suite where the body was found…twice. Now you’re here pulling strings and asking my main suspect questions.” Placing an elbow on the table, he propped his head in his hand and smiled. “If I weren’t so racked by your beauty, I might begin to wonder if you were perhaps an accomplice in this case.”

  He’d wrapped his sarcastic compliment in a threat meant to scare me. It worked. I opened my mouth to speak but was stopped by Alex’s return.

  “Let’s go,” he said with a hard warning glare for Kennedy.

  As I passed by him, Kennedy got in one last shot. “I’m sure our paths will cross again, Ms. Smith.” He bowed slightly. “Until then.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sitting in the back of a cab with Alex while James rode in the front seat, I replayed the bits of my conversation with Viv over and over in my head.

  Cryptic.

  That was the word I’d use to describe my conversation with Vivian. Now that the emotional impact of seeing her and the frustration of not being able to carry on a real conversation with her had worn away, what I was left with was a strong sense of urgency. She’d been trying to tell me something. But what?

  I wished I’d paid better attention. I wished I had the kind of memory that recorded everything like a video camera. Most of all I wished I could hit the rewind button on this whole trip.

  Alex took the hand that had been fidgeting with the cheap pleather piping on the taxicab seat and squeezed. “Easy. We’re almost there.”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, as we slogged our way up the strip through the traffic to my hotel, I propped my elbow on the windowsill and looked out at the lights. Their cheerful brightness mocked me. This was supposed to have been a fun trip, a crazy, stay-up-all-night, drink-till-you-puke weekend. Instead I was sitting in the backseat of a cab worrying about how I was going to prevent my best friend from being prosecuted for a murder she didn’t commit and feeling guilty for enjoying all of the attention Alex gave me because of it.

  Alex.

  I wasn’t being entirely truthful with myself about my feelings for him. I liked him way more than I should, way more than I wanted to. The truth was I would have given him another chance at a date even if he hadn’t let me in to see Vivian instead of James.

  I slid my eyes sideways to sneak a peek at him. Dang it! Why couldn’t I fall for a handsome, available man? Why did I always pick the ones who put me second after their favorite sports team or their buddies or the woman they were banging on the side? It wasn’t like I was ugly or desperate.

  Oh my God, that was it. I was desperate. Pathetic and desperate. I was going to end up hoarding cats or making a world-record-breaking giant foil ball or something.

  Out of habit I started to reach for my cell phone, thinking to call Viv for one of her famous talk me down from the ledge speeches. And it hit me all over again. Vivian had confessed to murder. What had started as a fissure seeing Vivian in handcuffs for the first time was now a yawning, gaping wound. What would I do without her?

  She’d been the only one to stand by me when my life had come crashing down around my ears. When I’d lost my job, my credibility, and a big chunk of my friends. Viv had been the only one who’d stuck when all the others had scurried away like rats. She’d helped me find a new job. She’d been the one to loan me the money to pay back our old boss so I wouldn’t be prosecuted for theft. Money I hadn’t stolen. Not only had Vivian believed in my innocence, she’d even tried to help me prove it by trying to get the real culprit, my ex-boyfriend, to confess to taking the money. She’d done her best, but the selfish jerk just wouldn’t ’fess up, leaving me with the reputation of being a thief.

  Over the next few years, I’d scrimped and saved and paid Vivian back. She’d never mentioned it again. Not even the couple of times when I was late paying her. When I was back on my feet financially, she was the one to suggest we open a salon together.

  And now it was my turn to try and prove her innocence. I didn’t know if I could do it. I was probably stupid to even try, but I had to help Vivian. I had to. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I summoned all the courage I could scrape together and thought about what to do next.

  I’d formulated a fairly competent plan by the time the taxi pulled up in front of our hotel. Okay, maybe competent wasn’t the right word, since I was fairly certain it rode hard the line between this just might work and a crazy-Lucy-and-Ethel-scheme. But it was the best plan I could come up with.

  I left Alex and James at the front desk to book themselves a room and headed up to Juan Carlos’s. I needed him to tap into his vast network of friends for someone who could give me information on Dhane’s company. I also wanted to know more about Dhane’s past, most specifically the murder of his father. That was a task I was saving for myself.

  Outside Juan Carlos’s door I could hear music playing. I knocked, hoping he could hear me over Frank Sinatra. Sinatra?

  There was some shuffling and then Juan Carlos opened the door enough for his head to pop out at me. He looked a little rumpled.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

  “No.” He looked a little guilty. Or was it embarrassed? “I’m up. Whatcha want?” />
  “Aren’t you going to let me in?”

  “Ah, yeah, sure, hang on a sec.” He slipped his head back in and closed the door.

  “Juan Carlos, open this door. It’s not like I care what you look like.” I rolled my eyes at the closed door. Really, what was the matter with him? “Come on, open up.” I knocked again.

  A moment later he opened the door, smoothing his hair back into style. “Sorry. Come in.”

  “What are you—” I stopped short at the sight of an equally rumpled-looking Richard. I swung my head from one to the other, my dropped jaw swaying. “Were you…? Are you…? Oh, gosh, I’m so…” Wait a minute. I swatted Juan Carlos on the arm. “What is the matter with you? Vivian’s in trouble and you two are in here going at it like a couple of teenagers?”

  “I should head out.” Richard scooped his phone off the nightstand and started for the door, head down, avoiding me.

  I blocked his path. “Where’s Jun?”

  “Jun?” Richard stopped and looked to Juan Carlos to field my question.

  “You know, Jun? The comic-strip kid? You guys were supposed to keep an eye on him.”

  “Yeah, about that,” Juan Carlos began.

  “Oh, no. Don’t tell me you lost him. I don’t have any way to get in contact with him.”

  “What was I supposed to do? He’s an adult—”

  “Sort of,” Richard interrupted.

  “—he said there were some things he had to do. I did get his cell number for you,” Juan Carlos offered as consolation.

  “That’s all right, I guess.” I eyed the two of them. I should have been more annoyed than I was, but in reality I was glad to see them together. “So, you guys…?” I made a back-and-forth motion with my hand.

  “No!” At Juan Carlos’s cross-armed glower, Richard corrected himself. “I mean, we were just, you know…” Richard broke out in a bright pink blush.

  “You’re such a prude,” Juan Carlos admonished him. “We were just about to have wild, crazy monkey sex, but then you showed up and ruined it. Thanks a lot.” Juan Carlos held up his finger and thumb. “I was this close to finding out just how well-proportioned the big guy really is.”

  Richard looked like he wanted to melt into the horribly patterned carpet.