Crimped To Death

by Tonya Kappes

  “Looking forward to it.” His grey eyes looked down at me. With one hand still in my mouth, he used his other hand to wipe my mouth with the bib.

  “Gettin’ a ‘ew offish.” I tried to talk with his fingers in my mouth.

  Dr. Russell flipped the spotlight off and swung it over to the opposite side of my head to get it out of the way. He sat my chair up and rolled backward on the stool to the small counter where the tiny sink was. He stood up and took out a small white cup and put fluoride in it setting it next to the sink. I took the bib and wiped my mouth off. My lips felt like they had been stretched over the entire state.

  “Go ahead and rinse.” Dr. Russell was writing all over my chart. “See you in six months.”

  “Maybe before that.” I slid out of the chair and walked over to the sink. I held the tiny cup in my fingers. “I’m going to see Bobbi Hart to see if I can get on one of the Barn Dance Committees.” I took the fluoride like a shot glass and swished it around before I spit it out.

  “I think we have room on the decorating committee.” He plucked the gloves off his hands and tossed them in the garbage. He held his hand out. “Good seeing you, Holly.”

  I extended my hand. His cold clammy hand made me gag to think they were just in my mouth and maybe what had been gripped around the knife that killed Henry Frisk.

  Chapter Ten

  Dr. Russell slipped out of the cleaning room and into his office before I could clean myself up and see who the woman was that was there to see him before she shut the door. I grabbed my bag and headed back down to the waiting room to check out with Carol.

  “How was it?” Carol wiped the corners of her mouth with the napkin. Her Big Mac in front of her looked really good. Unfortunately there was no way I could partake. That would add the pound I had lost at Food Watchers.

  “It was fine.” I reached in my bag and took out my wallet. “Here is my check card for the co-pay.”

  “Oh, new policy.” She took a gulp of the sweet tea. “We are going to bill it all to your insurance so no co-pay.”

  Ginger said the same thing about Henry. Did Dr. Russell get the same idea from Henry? I could only wonder.

  “Say,” I gripped my check card and leaned over, “is the place getting a makeover?”

  “Yes,” Carol gasped. “Can you believe it? I’ve been telling Dr. Russell for years, but he never listened to me. Then all of the sudden he wants all this fancy stuff. He even hired an interior decorator.”

  “Yeah, I heard the salesperson come in.”

  “She did?” Carol’s mouth dropped. “She’s early. Oh God, was Kevin mad?”

  “No, Kevin wasn’t mad.” I drew back and stared at her. For as long as I had been coming here, I had never heard Carol refer to Dr. Russell as Kevin. “I’ve been meaning to get some quotes on The Beaded Dragonfly. Do you happen to have the interior decorator’s name and number?”

  “I do.” Carol used her finger to flip through the desk calendar. “I told Dr. Russell that we needed to get a computer so I didn’t have to keep all of these files.”

  She licked her finger and grabbed a piece of paper. She wrote down the name and number I had asked for and handed it to me.

  “You don’t have a computer?” I thought it was strange the doctor wouldn’t invest in the latest technology, but then we were talking about Dr. Russell who didn’t have anything new.

  “No,” she sighed. “I still hand write every single appointment and type all of his notes.” She rolled her eyes before she took another bite of her sandwich.

  “Well.” I tapped the piece of paper on my hand before I stuck it in my bag. “I guess I’ll see you at the dance.”

  “I don’t think I’m going this year,” Carol said. “I’ve got too much work to do.” She pointed over to the stack of papers on the credenza behind her desk.

  “Okay. I will see you in six months.” I waved over my shoulder.

  I didn’t recognize the name of the interior decorator Carol had written down. But I knew Bernadine would. Before I went to see Bobbi, I decided to call Bernadine.

  “How are you?” I asked her when she answered the phone.

  “They let me reopen the shop and Sadie insisted I go home.” Her voice was low and sad. “I have something to tell you.”

  “I’m listening.” I started the Beetle and looked around the parking lot. The cute yellow Fiat I had seen in the Food Watchers parking lot was here.

  “The knife they found that killed Henry.” Bernadine started to cry.

  “Yes.” Thinking about the bloody bag that Noah Druck had laid on the table, sent goose bumps up and down my body.

  “Holly,” Bernadine sucked in a deep breath. “The knife came from my home.”

  “What are you saying, Bernadine?” I questioned my friend. “Did you. . .”

  “Of course I didn’t kill him, but someone did and that someone broke into my house and took my knife to kill him.” Bernadine broke out in sobs. “Someone is after me. Someone is trying to frame me.”

  “Don’t worry.” I gulped. “Does Noah know that it came from your house?”

  “No.” She was quick to respond. “But I don’t want to say anything over the phone. I called Rush Security and Joni put me on the list to get surveillance cameras installed in the cabin. Only I’m on the waiting list. I’ll be behind bars before they get to me and not need them.”

  “You aren’t going to jail. Noah will figure this out.” I slid down in my seat when I noticed Charlie from Food Watchers walk out the door of Dr. Russell’s office. She had on a short black dress that hugged her body in all the right places. “If Noah can’t figure it out, the Divas will.”

  Charlie jumped in the yellow Fiat and zoomed off, not putting on her seatbelt.

  “Hey, I’ve got to go, but I’ll be by and we can take a quick walk around the lake before our emergency Diva meeting at six.” I pulled out a little bit after Charlie left and kept some distance between our cars.

  “Sounds good.” There was a silent pause. “Do you think I need to tell Bennie about this?”

  “I would. He doesn’t need to say anything to help the cops and maybe he can give the information to Ernie and Ernie can do whatever it is that Ernie does.” I continued to keep my distance.

  I thought Charlie just worked at Food Watchers, but I guess she also worked as an interior decorator too. At least that was what Dr. Russell thought.

  “Say, do you remember the interior decorator Henry used in the new office?” I asked.

  “Why? Is it a clue to who did this?” She returned my question.

  “No. Charlie from Food Watchers was paying Dr. Russell a visit and Carol said she was the interior decorator redoing his office,” I said. “And for some reason I’m following her because I still can’t believe how awful she was to me in the bathroom last night.”

  It dawned on me that Carol didn’t say a word about me threatening Charlie in the bathroom. Granted Charlie didn’t hear me, but it made me feel better.

  “Let me look in my purse for that bill. I almost threw it away.”

  I could hear the contents of her purse being dumped out onto her glass-top kitchen table. I was used to her doing that. After all, her purses were as big as her.

  “Here it is.” I could image her using her hands with her fancy rings all along her fingers trying to unwrinkle the thing. “Buskin Designs. All the way in Lexington.”

  “Lexington?” I looked up and then veered to the left when I realized Charlie had just driven down the highway that leads to Lexington. “Hold on.”

  I put the phone down, drove with the other and took out the piece of paper Carol had given me. I turned down the next right and pulled over. I wasn’t good at multi-tasking. When I put the car in park, my phone tumbled off my leg in between the console and seat. . .into The Under.

  “Shit, shit, shit!” I yelled and fisted the paper.

  I pulled the little lever to fling my seat back, but the phone wasn’t visible. There was only one th
ing to do. Get out and bend over. There was no way I was going to just stick my hand under there and pat around. Not that there was a snake under there, but stranger things had happened.

  The phone screen was lit up and I could hear Bernadine chirping from it. I kept my eye on the phone and went straight in.

  Beep, beep.

  “Nice ass!”

  “Ouch!” I grabbed something and jumped up. The old junker car kept moving. I waved hi to them the universal way. . .with my middle finger. I looked down at my hand and my phone was not what I had grabbed. It was the dental floss Dr. Russell always hands out at the end of the appointment, only he didn’t give me my little bag of goodies today. Nothing elaborate like Ginger had gotten from Henry, but still it was a new toothbrush that I was looking forward to.

  The little metal thing where you cut the floss caught the pad of my finger.

  “Ugh,” I sighed and put the floss in my pocket. God knew how long that had been under there. Probably since the last time I had gone to see Dr. Russell.

  “Holly!” Bernadine screamed from under the seat.

  I went back in the Under, and this time grabbed the phone.

  “Sorry, I dropped the damn phone under the seat.” I got back in the car and put my seatbelt on.

  “Oh, the under.” Bernadine knew my deep-set fear. “On the upswing, you got it.”

  “I did.” I turned the Beetle around and headed back to Swanee. “I was going to go pay Bobbi a visit and get on the Barn Dance Committee.”

  “Why are you doing that?” Bernadine asked.

  “I’m not sure and I don’t have any evidence, but I think Kevin Russell killed Henry.” There, it was out. I was going to wait to tell her at the Diva meeting but I just blurted it out.

  “Why?” Bernadine cried out.

  I reminded her about their fight and I told her how Carol said he hadn’t been busy since Henry was in town. Plus Carol had said business had picked up. And now Dr. Russell was remodeling.

  “Just think about it,” I told Bernadine. “Henry moves to town and takes clients from Dr. Russell. Dr. Russell is used to living the good life in that big house. Oh!” I had almost forgotten the most important piece of information Dr. Russell disclosed. “Was Henry suing someone other than you for a large amount of money?”

  “Not that I know of. But he would gain about eight thousand dollars a month if he didn’t have to pay me alimony.” Bernadine paused. “I guess I won’t be getting that alimony anymore.”

  “He was seriously paying you eight thousand a month in alimony?” Man, did I marry the wrong guy, I thought. Sean couldn’t even keep up with the three hundred he had to give me.

  “Please don’t say anything to any of the Divas. It wasn’t like I wanted the money, but the law stated that he had to give me alimony for half the years we were married. And he did invent or create some sort of new cosmetic dental procedure where he got paid a lot of money. He still holds the patent for it. Plus he had a lot of clients that were famous and would travel from all over the world to see him.” She sniffed. “That was why he couldn’t stay in Swanee. He thought life in a small town would be the relaxation we would need to work on our marriage, but it was unbearable for him with the slow pace plus the non-stroking of his ego. Which we all know much he loved his ego stroked.”

  Bernadine had alluded to Henry stepping out on her during their marriage, but she never fully disclosed what had happened. She joined the Divas when we were in the “help me get over the depression” stage in the bottom of the church. When our bonds started to form, that was when we laughed and had a great time bashing them.

  “Why would he move back?” I questioned.

  “He said he was going to retire from the stars.” Bernadine gasped, “Oh my God. Holly, he said that Swanee needed a dentist with new technology and he was going to run Dr. Russell out of business. How could I forget that?”

  “See. If Henry even implied that to Dr. Russell, it gives Dr. Russell plenty of motive.”

  “Why would he try to pin it on me?” Bernadine asked. “Surely the fact that Henry was suing me to stop alimony isn’t enough motive to kill him.”

  “It would be if it would be changing your life drastically. That is how Noah would see it and the district attorney would spin it.” I had another thought. “Agnes Pearl’s nephew is Bradford Pearl. I wonder if she can get some information from him?”

  “Great idea.” Bernadine had a little bit of hope in her voice.

  “Be at The Beaded Dragonfly by six. I’m at the city building and I want to pop in to see Bobbi.”

  Bernadine and I got off the phone. Many questions swirled in my head. I knew why Dr. Russell would have a motive, but was the alimony a good motive for him to play and use to pin the murder on Bernadine when Bernadine was making her own money with Second Cup? Something wasn’t adding up. They only way to keep a close eye on Dr. Russell besides getting a tooth filling was to stay on every single committee he was on for the Barn Dance. Since the Barn Dance was a week away, that meant I was going to be seeing him a lot, if and only if Bobbi Hart let me join after I had totally dismissed her.

  Chapter Eleven

  By my curvy figure, anyone would guess how much I loved pie. All sorts of pie. But not the pie I was about to eat with Bobbi Hart. Humble Pie.

  Bobbi had always been a little sweet on Sean when we were married. I wasn’t sure about now since I wasn’t around him much. But when we were married, I couldn’t say I was the nicest to her. After all, he was my man and she wanted to sink her claws into him. Granted she didn’t look like Charlie, but she didn’t look like me either. Less curves, no elastic.

  Once I remember Sean saying that I’d be perfect if I had a figure like Bobbi’s. I’ve hated her every since. She knew it. I’d put money on it that when she was voted on the City Council—I didn’t vote for her, I wrote in a candidate, Agnes Pearl— she knew she wanted to be in charge of the Barn Dance committee. It was right up her alley. She owned the only party planning business in Swanee, The Pink Pecan.

  I had to work with her on Margaret McGee’s wedding and that was when she asked me if I wanted to be involved with this year’s Barn Dance. Of course I said no. There wasn’t any chance in hell I was going to go to those meetings and watch her fawn all over Sean.

  Since Sean’s Little Shack was the only handyman’s business in town, he was the one who helped erect the structures and stages for all the events of the weekend. That gave Bobbi Hart all the access she wanted to him and I wasn’t going to watch. We were divorced, but it still didn’t mean I wanted to watch every other woman in Swanee fall all over him.

  I grabbed the multi-colored glass bead stretch bracelet out of the glove box. I kept several in there for promotional tools in case I wanted to hand a few out so people could understand that The Beaded Dragonfly wasn’t just a lapidary, but I also sold already made jewelry.

  Stretchy was the perfect promotional item since it wasn’t made to a specific wrist size and anyone could just slip it right on and fall in love.

  I was sure Bobbi Hart was no different. Though she had never bought anything from me, I did see her eyeing the premade items when she came in to ask me if I wanted to fill out the application for the Barn Dance Committee. I wasn’t beyond buttering someone up, but going in and eating my words was an all-different event. Hopefully the bracelet would make it taste much sweeter for me.

  Bobbi’s office was right inside the door of the City Building. Other than being on city council, she also takes care of the bills for the local water company and electric company. There was never a need for Swanee to have all sorts of buildings for different utilities.

  There was nothing like living in a small town. Where else in the world could you pay all of your utility bills in one building and catch up on the local gossip all within minutes? Swanee.

  “Hi, Bobbi.” I walked into the old office.

  The old white tile was probably as old as the building and the fluorescent light did nothing fo
r Bobbi’s tan.

  “If you need to pay a bill, just slip it in the box.” She barely looked up from the old wooden desk in the corner of the room as she pointed to the shoe box that had payments printed with a sharpie sitting on the counter.

  “Actually, I’m here to see you.” I twirled the bracelet around my finger hoping the acid reflux would stay down. “I wanted to know if I could join one of the Barn Dance Committees.” I put the bracelet on the counter. “And give you this.”

  The wooden chair squeaked across the floor as Bobbi stood up. She had on a two-piece pantsuit with sterling silver chains dangling down the front. Her long black hair was neatly pulled back into a bun on the top of her head like one of those fashion runway models you see in one of those reality shows. Her defined cheekbones had enough pink on them to give her tanned skin a little more color than brown.

  She started toward me. Her coal black eyes narrowed.

  “Is this a bribe, Holly Harper?” Her red lips stayed in a line across her face. “Or is this your way of keeping an eye on me and Sean?”

  “You and Sean?” I laughed. “We are old news. I’m dating Donovan Scott.”

  “Who’s that?” Bobbi stood a little taller with curiosity written all over her face.

  “A college professor and my self-defense instructor.” It sure did feel good touting Donovan’s credentials of not only being a hunk, but also a smart and strong hunk.

  “Good for you.” Bobbi pulled the bracelet toward her. “This is pretty.”

  “Thank you. I thought it would go great with your olive skin.” I lied right through my freshly polished teeth. “Try it on.” I encouraged her.

  The bracelet fit perfectly around Bobbi’s wrist. She held it up to the fluorescent lights, which didn’t do much for it, but it did make Bobbi smile.

  “What about you? Are you dating anyone?” I asked, just trying to bring up idle chitchat before I asked her again about the committee.

  “Nah. I had another date with that new dentist in town but he cancelled.” She used her pointer finger to roll the bracelet around.