I walked into the living room instead, grabbed the throw off the back of the couch, and cuddled up with my phone. I was doing my usual morning routine—checking email and scrolling through my newsfeed, when I saw a late-breaking news article: “Candidate Exposed.” The lead photo was a picture of Whip running naked around Mrs. DeVine’s backyard. I was certain it was one of the photos that goofy guy had taken. Whip’s private parts had been blurred out, but his face was clearly in focus. The article read:
Mayoral candidate Whip McGovern has been charged with indecent exposure after streaking naked through the upscale neighborhood of Sweetwater last night. The candidate’s campaign manager, Ms. Holly Fitz, stated that the candidate had been recently prescribed a muscle relaxer for a recurring lacrosse injury and believed Mr. Whip suffered from an adverse side effect.
Yeah, shrinkage, I thought.
Mr. McGovern would like to take this opportunity to remind people how dangerous prescription medication can be, and to read all possible side effects. If you ever have any concerns, you should discuss them with your doctor.
Well, there was a shocker. Whip chose not to take any accountability. Heaven forbid he apologize for his actions. I sincerely hoped he was done being interested in me. I closed the article and brought up the notepad app on my phone, making a list of everything I needed to do. With Aria’s wedding in her groom’s hands, I could finally focus on getting my business back on track. However, I couldn’t do that until I had some caffeine in my system. I managed to shower up, get dressed, do my hair and makeup, and Captain Jack was still snoozing. This time, I woke the pup so he could go outside and do his business before I left for Sweet Thangs. Captain Jack wasn’t happy, but he came around to the idea after he heard the kibble hit his bowl. With his needs taken care of, I locked up and headed out for my beloved chai latte.
Thursday mornings tended to see an uptake in visitors to our small coastal town. It was still nothing like last weekend’s Seaside Days, but Sweet Thangs did have a bit of a line. I was perfectly content to play on my phone and wait my turn, until I spotted Justine and Todd, holding hands in line a few spots ahead of me.
I gave an inward sigh. This had to be the universe’s way of testing out my mother’s theory. I exhaled and decided I would try and be nice. However, I wasn’t making any promises. The two were still waiting for their order to come up after I had placed mine. I know Justine spotted me when she started hanging on Todd and getting all touchy-feely with him. Once again, I couldn’t have cared less. I knew what he looked like under those clothes. It wasn’t anything to brag about. Not like Finn.
Todd’s posture stiffened when I approached them. Justine practically wrapped her legs around him as if to say, “He’s mine!” I snickered.
“Hey, guys, I didn’t know you two were dating. That’s great.” I tried to give a genuine smile. My eye twitched from the effort. Justine seemed to be waiting for the insult, but I left it at that. Believe me, it was hard. I would’ve loved to throw in something about Todd needing to watch out that her hair didn’t bleach his sheets, or maybe giving him a friendly reminder that the county health department offered free STD screenings, but I didn’t.
“Yeah, well…” Justine started a retort, but it made absolutely no sense, seeing that she hadn’t been insulted.
“What was that?” I asked as if she had been trying to say something nice. They both just stared at me. I heard the barista call Justine’s name. “Oh, sounds like your drinks are up. I’ll let you get to it. Nice seeing you.” I waved them off and stood back, still waiting on my drink.
They continued to stare at me.
“Your drinks. Right there,” I said, pointing. “They’re ready.” The barista then said my name. “And it looks like mine is too.” I walked past them, grabbed my drink, dropped a dollar in the tip cup, and walked out. I didn’t dare look back over my shoulder.
I stepped outside into the bright sunshine and smiled. That had been oddly satisfying. Maybe my mom was onto something after all.
A second later, my cell phone rang. It was Cassandra. I literally squeezed my eyes shut when I answered the phone, hoping for good news. If not, I might have to go back inside Sweet Thangs and do a one-eighty on Justine and Todd.
“Hey, Ziva, it’s Cassandra. Listen, I’ve got some great news. That space is available if you still want it.”
“Yes, absolutely! When can we sign?” I was not risking losing that storefront again.
Cassandra said we could do it now, which was perfect timing for me. I headed over to her office to get the paperwork done. For as much stress securing the place had caused me, it was relatively easy to make it mine. A handful of signatures and a small fortune later, I had the keys in my hand. I couldn’t wait to tell Finn. It was going to be awesome. I had a shop—Sugar & Sass Skincare—and it was all mine.
Now that I had a storefront ready to go, I really needed to focus on my products and marketing. I had to get that new logo finalized and think about signage, business cards, labels, anything and everything that would sport my business name. While I thought about that, I got to work mixing up a new idea I had been kicking around for a honey-sugar facial scrub. The recipe was simple. I simply mixed equal parts honey, brown sugar, and olive oil. I was finally going to get a chance to work with Suzanne’s honey, (which was delicious, by the way), and the best part was, I was going to test the product out on myself. I could’ve really used some pampering right about then.
I mixed the ingredients and, once set, I pulled my hair back from my face and tested it out by splashing some lukewarm water on my face and applying the scrub. It felt wonderful, or it would, I had no doubt, once I washed it off. I had been right to go with the brown sugar versus white in the mix. Brown sugar provided just the right level of coarseness, sloughing off the dead skin without being too harsh. Captain Jack cocked his head and looked at me like I had lost my mind, while I cleaned up the kitchen and let the mask soak in. I offered to put some on him, but he turned tail and ran for the bedroom.
I left the mask on for about five minutes and then washed it off. It was perfect. My skin glowed. It was baby smooth. I had no doubt that my customers would love it.
And then my face started to feel all tingly.
I started feeling all tingly.
And goofy, like I had slammed one too many tequila shots and I either needed to hit the dance floor or take a nap.
I chose to take a nap, or rather, the nap chose me. I lay down right then and there on my living room floor, barely able to grab a throw pillow off the couch before it was lights-out.
I had no idea what time it was when I woke. It was still light out, but the sun appeared to be setting. My head pounded and my mouth was dry; it was like a wicked hangover on steroids. Captain Jack was curled up around my legs and tried to lick my face as soon as he realized I had awoken.
I sat up slowly. “It’s okay, buddy. I’m okay,” I tried to reassure my pup. What the heck was that? I was clueless. Was my sugar too low? No, it shouldn’t have been. I had stopped and picked up a meatball sub after signing the lease papers, so my stomach had been full, and for once it wasn’t just with sugar.
Then I thought back to last night and everyone else who had been acting goofy, as if they were drunk. I giggled, remembering Whip’s naked butt.
“Sweet sugar, that’s it!” Leave it to a naked butt to have it all make sense.
I got up off the floor a little too quickly and my vision swam for a second. “I’m okay,” I told Captain Jack. He looked skeptical. “See?” I did a little jig. “It’s all good. Now, let’s take you out for a second so I can get out of here.”
I’d figured out what had happened, at least last night and this afternoon, but possibly with the whole case. I was also almost convinced it was one big accident. I just needed one other piece of the puzzle before I’d know for sure.
22
Finding Suzanne Butterfield’s farm at night proved to be trickier than I expected. More than once, I t
hought I must’ve have driven past it, but finally I saw the white farmhouse up ahead. The driveway was marked with an address reflector, making it easier to spot the entrance, and ensured that I didn’t tear up her yard. I wasn’t sure if she’d be home, or there was a chance that Jeffery was home and not up for visitors. However, this was too big for me to sit on. I got out of my truck and looked around. The house was dark from where I stood, and the front light was off, but I could see light glowing from the back of the house.
I walked around the side of the house and was surprised to find Suzanne outside, tending to her bees. I remembered her saying something about how they usually moved the hives at night and thought maybe that’s what she was up to, until I realized that she was pacing back and forth. Suzanne walked up and down the rows, muttering to herself. The closer I got, the more I could tell that she was out of it. She didn’t even see me approach when I heard her say, “Can’t tell Jeffery. Can’t tell Humphrey. What to do? What to do?”
I was initially thinking that she had figured it out. I was right. It was an accident. I was about to interrupt her and tell her it would be okay when she said, “Have to kill her. No other choice. I see it now.”
Say what? Kill who? Suzanne was probably less than twenty feet in front of me. I dropped to the ground and crawled behind one of the hive boxes. I could hear the humming of the bees inside and it gave me the creepy crawlies. Worst hiding spot ever, Ziva. I waited a second to see how this would play out. I peered around the hive box and saw Suzanne walking in the darkness across her yard toward a tool shed. She disappeared inside and I started to follow to get a closer look, only to dive bomb behind another bee box when she popped back out with a shovel in her hand.
Oh, sweet sugar! Who is she going to whack with that? But she didn’t whack anyone. She walked over to another smaller outbuilding on the property and jammed the shovel through the building’s handle, forcefully locking it.
“An unfortunate accident. That’s what we have here. Nothing more. Get it done and taken care of. Move on,” she said. Nothing like a little homicide pep talk to get you going.
I had obviously greatly underestimated Suzanne. I thought Whip was a power-hungry sociopath. Suzanne took that title to a whole other level.
The crazy woman walked toward the barn on the far side of the property and I thought this was my chance to free whomever she had locked up inside. I made a run for it across the yard and over to the building. The building, about the size of a small garage, had two square windows on the side. Standing on my tiptoes, I peered in and found Vicki, bound and gagged, tied to a chair. The way her head was slumped forward told me she was unconscious and, hopefully, not yet dead.
I looked around to find something to help me get into the building. I didn’t dare try and move the shovel jammed in the door as I was afraid Suzanne would see me. It was safer staying on the side.
A small woodpile had been stacked up along the back of the building. I ran over and grabbed two pieces, using them to give me a boost. It was just enough to raise the window. It was not easy to pull myself in. Must. Go. To. The. Gym. The whole not-working-out thing really wasn’t working out. My arms shook just from pulling myself up and over. I hit the floor harder than I had expected; especially seeing that I hit a workbench on my way in.
I stayed crouched down for a minute, rubbing my backside and giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness. I was right in that the building was nothing more than a garage used to store lawn equipment. In the middle of it was a rather large riding lawnmower. I already decided I was going to ride that baby out of there if I got the chance. Suzanne had better get ready to run.
I moved in the dark over to Vicki and began to untie the bandana that she had been gagged with. She snapped her head up and darted it side to side, ready to fight. Her glasses had been knocked off her face, and were a couple feet beside her. Even in the dark, I could tell her face was puffy from the blow.
I came around to the front of her. “Vicki, it’s me, Ziva,” I wasn’t sure how well she could see me. I could see her though. Her eyes were full of fear. I put her glasses back on her face. “Hold still and let me get this off you.” I went back behind her and worked on getting the gag loose. I couldn’t get it completely untied, but managed to get it loose enough to fall around her neck.
In a hoarse voice, almost a whisper, Vicki warned, “It’s the honey.” I immediately began working on the rope that bound her to the chair. I wasn’t sure when Suzanne would come back, but I didn’t want to be sitting there when she did.
“I know. I figured that out this afternoon. What’s wrong with it?” I knew it had made me sick, but I didn’t understand how.
“It’s called mad honey. It happens when bees pollinate toxic rhododendron flowers and make honey from their nectar.” Vicki coughed and cleared her throat.
“Do people do that on purpose?”
“Absolutely. All you need to do is move a hive next to the flowers.”
I remembered Suzanne telling me she moved hives, and I told Vicki so.
“That’s all she had to do. The bees took care of the rest. People have been using the honey as a weapon for centuries. Even leading to the fall of the Roman army in 67 B.C.” Leave it to Vicki to give me a horticulture lesson while being held hostage in a storage shed.
“I thought it was an accident though?”
“So did I. Big mistake. Guess she had to climb that social ladder one way or another,” Vicki said, looking down at her bound feet. “I just hope Jeffery’s okay. She said something about this being all his fault.”
“I doubt that.”
I was just getting Vicki’s hands free when the other garage window slid open. We both froze. Suzanne was in the window, chucking in chunks of honeycomb and dumping an entire bee hive through the window. She didn’t see us. She was too bent on carrying out her master plan. The garage immediately filled with angry, buzzing bees. Vicki’s feet were still tied to the chair, but even if she could’ve run, I wasn’t sure where we were going to go. The bees were heaviest by the window, plus I had no idea where Suzanne was. For all I knew, she was standing outside the garage with a shotgun. At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past her. A riding lawnmower wasn’t going to cut it.
I crouched back down on the ground and focused on freeing Vicki. After that, we could plan our escape.
Just then, I felt the sharp bite on the back of my neck and another one on the back of my arm in rapid succession. I brushed at the back of my arm to shoo the bee and pain away, and grabbed my arm. It hurt like crazy and I wanted to scream. It was the most intense itching and burning sensation I had ever felt. My arm and neck immediately started to swell and a burning sensation spread throughout my body.
Vicki managed to take off her shoes and free herself before I had been able to untie the ropes around her feet. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. My hands trembled and my throat felt scratchy, and it hurt to swallow, like something was stick in there. The burning sensation then made its way to my stomach, such a hot pain. I would’ve given anything to jump in a cold bath and let the frigid water take the heat away. I swore if I survived this bee attack, I was never going to eat honey again.
Vicki knew something was wrong right away. Probably because I was practically having a panic attack on the garage floor. I was trying not to let the fear take over, but when you can’t breathe and are in intense pain, it’s kind of hard not to.
“Bees,” I managed to wheeze out.
“You’re allergic?” I nodded. Vicki helped me up and hid me under the work bench while she searched the garage. The way she moved about in the dark told me she had been in here before. I was huddled under the work bench, focusing on breathing in and out, when Vicki came back over in front of me, carrying a large case. Putting the case down, she undid the clips and flipped it open. It was a chainsaw. With a couple of tweaks and few pulls, the beast roared to life. I didn’t even ask her what she was doing. She walked right over to the w
ooden garage doors and cut right into them. If Suzanne was anywhere close, she’d better start running. The chainsaw ate up those doors like they were nothing. Vicki hauled off and gave the doors a solid kick and they fell forward, crashing to the ground. A man yelled in surprise. It was Jeffery. He stood in the opening, a parade of police cars and firetrucks lighting up the sky behind him. Vicki dropped the chainsaw and Jeffrey ran to her, embracing her in the biggest display of lip-locked PDA anyone had ever witnessed. Ah, so that’s why Vicki stuck around the mean girls; she has the hots for Suzanne’s stepson. I would’ve thought it to be an epic scene, had I not been on the verge of passing out.
The back of the ambulance doors had been left open as I sat there with an EMT by my side. I was beyond thankful that the cavalry had also included an ambulance. Within a couple of minutes, I was feeling much better thanks to Benadryl and epinephrine. The medicine was administered in time to stop my allergic reaction. I was a bit twitchy, but at least I could breathe. Forget lipstick, Benadryl and an Epi-Pen were going to be my new must-have accessories. The medic was ready to take me to the hospital, but I was still trying to talk my way out of that one.
Vicki sat next to me with an ice pack on her face, while another medic tended to her bee stings. She had been stung a handful of times, but luckily hadn’t had any adverse reaction besides the typical pain. A couple more ice packs and ibuprofen was all she needed. Jeffery stood outside the ambulance waiting, rather impatiently. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving her side anytime soon.
I thanked Jeffery for all his help. “How did you know?” I asked, meaning where Vicki and I were.
“A bit of luck, really. I had finally decided that the business wasn’t worth it. I was upstairs packing a few things when I heard Vicki scream. I looked out the window and saw Suzanne drag her into the shed.” Yep, I was thinking a whole lot of luck and maybe a little bit of my nan. Thank you, I said to my guardian angel.
Kiss & Makeup: Beauty Secrets Mystery Book 2 Page 15
