Color Me Dead (The Teasen and Pleasen Hair Salon Mystery Series Book 4)

by Constance Barker

  “He is,” Nellie said. “And I’m sure Pete is in love with the way the haircut looks right now, but I have a hunch that guy couldn’t get through one verse of ‘Keep on Truckin’ Mama’ on a bet.”

  He laughed. “I suppose you’re right. And I have no intention of doing anything to ruin his moment. He is so beautiful when he smiles.”

  He was.

  “And you know what?” Nellie said, grinning broadly. “Pete just managed to sabotage the competition more effectively than all of Sabrina’s little tricks. If she’d put her energy into an entry, she might’ve been able to taste a sweeter revenge.”

  “And not go to jail,” I added.

  Most of the audience was filtering out, and we walked down to the stage. Dave and the woman who won were getting their pictures taken. When the shot was over, I walked up to him. “Congratulations, Dave.”

  He gave me a surprised look. “Thanks.”

  “Is there a problem?” I wondered if he was upset about the judge's’ decision.

  “No. It’s just that I thought you were a friend of Victoria’s.”

  “I was what passed for one with her, I suppose. Why would that keep me from congratulating you on a brilliant job?”

  “I apologize. I was tarring you with a brush I should have reserved for her.”

  “Well, that brush can be put to rest now.”

  He sighed. “I suppose it can and even Victoria deserved better. Say, this Pete Dawson works for you, doesn’t he?”

  “He does.”

  “Would you hate me if I tried to poach him from you?”

  I laughed. “No. How could I be. I’d be unhappy if he left, but I’d never do anything to prevent him from doing what was best for him. Half the fun of my salon comes from knowing that everyone who is there wants to be there.”

  “Really?” He looked up at me. “You can honestly say that?”

  “I can. Talk to Pete all you like. If he decides to work for you, and he could if the offer was right, then you are a lucky man.”

  He smiled. “Thanks.”

  I hated the knot that had formed in my stomach. When I’d encouraged Pete to enter, this part hadn’t occurred to me. My entire staff was even more valuable than I’d thought, and the world knew it now. “Damn,” I said.

  “Why Savannah Jeffries,” Nellie laughed.

  “Sometimes when you have a light that burns bright, self interest suggests you keep it under a bushel basket.”

  “But that isn’t your style, especially not hiding someone else’s light.” She hugged me. “That’s why we love you.”

  As we watched I saw people handing business cards to Betina and the male model. “You really need to talk to my agent,” she was saying. “It’s the Stearnes Agency. Give Bob Stearnes a call.” The smug smile on her face was actually rather cute.

  “Crazy,” I said.

  “Totally insane,” Nellie agreed. “Betina is a star, and Pete won the contest.”

  “They changed the rules for him.”

  Nellie grinned. “They do that for the really great ones.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  We needed to get our things packed so we could check out of the hotel, so the crew scattered, intending to regroup in a couple of hours for a late lunch. “I’ll meet you in the room,” Nellie said.

  “Why? Don’t you want me to go with you? You hiding a man in our room?”

  “I wish.” She nodded toward the door and I saw James heading toward me. “You are about to be busy.”

  “Any news?” I asked.

  “Sabrina officially confessed to causing the sabotage. She even confessed to some things we didn’t know had happened. That’s what I call a valuable confession.”

  He’d been waiting for us in the lobby. He’d started by congratulating Pete and Betina enthusiastically, then turned back to his main interest. “She wanted to make the competition look like it was jinxed.”

  “Then it’s over.”

  He shook his head. “Not even close. I’ve booked her for a number of petty crimes, including theft and destruction of property… the problem is that she has an alibi for the murder. Turns out you were right about her.”

  “For once I hoped I was wrong. I wanted you to be wrapping things up now.”

  “Sorry. That’s what I wanted too. But she was on the other side of town that morning. Manus fired her after the episode with Victoria and she left. He realized that she was the only one who could’ve swapped out or damaged his scissors. She came back when she realized that no one would know—security would just look at her badge and let her in. She was hoping to be able to see the fruits of her labor.”

  “So she could’ve been here when Victoria was killed.”

  “Except that she was applying for a job at a salon when Victoria died. She used a fake name but the owner recognized her from a photo and said it was right when he was opening up. We were able to pin the time of Victoria’s death down pretty narrowly. She’d eaten at one of the breakfasts—the one Manus put on, as a matter of fact. He said she came to see if anyone would show up at his product introduction.”

  “His new scissors. He was hoping for a chance to line up investors and distributors.”

  “I guess the presentation didn’t go too well. A few people came but according to this woman… Gloria… it was ho hum time. The only one who stayed after the breakfast was Victoria. Gloria didn’t get the whole story—she said she tried not to pay attention—but even in the hall she could hear some interesting shouting that went on. She thought Victoria was taunting. Then she saw Victoria leave and go to room 23.”

  “23A.”

  “Yes. And Gloria checked the time. She was responsible for keeping things on schedule and that happened half an hour before you found the body.”

  “So Manus had opportunity and a motive?”

  “Yes, for all the good it does. We are pretty sure that the breakfast was probably where the murder weapon came from. He had the staff put a pair at each place setting. Victoria could’ve carried them off herself. Whoever came along could have killed her with them.”

  “So the murder might not have been premeditated. If the fight escalated and the scissors were conveniently lying there...”

  “Possibly. If Manus Jenkins had been killed, based on that, I would’ve arrested Victoria Russel by now, but all the evidence against him is circumstantial. I can’t place him in the room and there were too many other people around to convince a jury that he is necessarily the culprit. Worse, there is some merit to his denial.”

  “What’s his alibi?”

  “Jenkins says that after Victoria left he sat at the table considering what he could do next. He was losing his distribution business and didn’t have the money for a production run of his scissors. According to him, he went downstairs and met with one of the marketing people for a scissors company to try and explain, to see if they’d change their mind. He had no luck.”

  “And that person confirmed that, right?”

  James nodded. “More to the point, the medical examiner says that the wound should’ve splattered blood on the killer. Even if Manus Jenkins is lying, he wound up downstairs right after the killing with no trace of blood on him. And before you ask, I got a warrant and searched his room—no blood, no bloody clothes.”

  “Then we don’t have any real murder suspects.”

  He laughed. “It’s ironic, isn’t it. I’ve got a convention center filled with people with motives, most of whom are drifting away as we speak, but no serious suspects. If hating Victoria was a crime I could fill the jail, but I can’t find anyone I really think would do this.”

  “What about Gloria?”

  “Gloria?”

  “She has a financial interest in things going well, and she’s everywhere and nearly invisible.”

  “What’s her motive?”

  “If she thought Victoria was sabotaging her event I’ll bet she could work up a bit of righteous anger.”

  “Anger yes, but unless
there was a more personal component to her problems with Victoria I don’t see it. It isn’t like her future was at stake. If she thought Victoria was doing things that might cost her professionally it’s a big leap to being willing to kill her.” He smiled. “And I ran her background. She has no history of killing people or even being accused of it.”

  That seemed true enough. Suddenly I remembered something. “A personal component….”

  “What?”

  I smiled. “You said you are looking for a personal component—a real world, human, get into a blind rage motive.”

  “That would be handy, I’ll admit, but….”

  “There is something, but I can’t quite get it to pop into my consciousness.”

  “If it doesn’t do it soon, we might have a heck of a time solving this case.

  “This police work stuff is frustrating, James.”

  “I’ve noticed that,” he told me. “All by myself I’ve figured that out.”

  “It’ll come to me.”

  “See that it does.”

  “We are all meeting for lunch.”

  “I have to pretend to do police work, I’m afraid. Call me if you solve the case.”

  “Same to you.”

  # # #

  “This is Poul,” Betina said as she came into the coffee shop. Poul was the hunk she’d disappeared with. He looked relaxed and she seemed pleased with herself.

  “Welcome, Poul,” I said. “Join us for lunch?”

  “We were thinking of breakfast,” Betina said, winking.

  “I’m very delighted to meet Betina’s friends,” he said. The man had a heavy Scandinavian accent and his words came out slowly.

  “So you are a model?” Nellie asked.

  He smiled and posed. “Yes. I am a model. I am the bare chest on many books.”

  “Wonderful,” Nellie said. “I’ve never met a professional chest before.”

  He looked puzzled and then looked at Betina. “She’s teasing you Poul.”

  “Is that a good thing?” he asked.

  Betina didn’t look certain. “Sure it is.” Then she took his arm. “I think we’ll get our own table,” she said. “Okay?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “You kids have fun,” Nellie said. “Just make sure you do your homework.”

  “Homework?” Poul said.

  “More teasing,” Betina said as she dragged him away.

  “She didn’t pick him for his IQ,” Nellie said. “That isn’t his attraction for the girl.”

  “I don’t think anyone was paying attention to his IQ last night including your wonderful self.”

  “True enough. Good thing that morning light, or noon light in this case, clarifies things. It’s easier to decide that being good was actually good. At least in this case.”

  I glanced at Betina. “Although for some of us…”

  “I never had a boy toy,” Nellie said. “I think I’ll sulk.”

  “You are allowed to sulk,” I assured her. “You can even be jealous if you like.”

  “Oh goodie.”

  “But you don’t get a boy toy.”

  My comment got me another of Nellie’s sharp elbows in the ribs. “You’re no fun at all any more. When did you become a grownup?”

  When indeed?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Ah, the Knockemstiff irregulars are still around,” Woodley said, coming up to us as we left the coffee shop. “Excellent.”

  “You know we can’t leave yet,” I told him. “The cop catches the killer in the final act.”

  “It’s a rule,” Nellie said. “And we already bought the popcorn.”

  He grinned. “I didn’t think that would be possible for you to leave before the finale, but I’m not sure I can deliver. I’ve been busy getting more detailed statements from a lot of folk who are about to disappear from the city, if not the state. I can’t say we’ve learned anything new.”

  “And you want to wrap this up with a neat little ribbon,” Nellie said.

  “I’d be willing to skip the ribbon,” he said. James looked tired to me.

  “These big city crimes are tough,” I said. “Not like small town murders.”

  “Snarky,” Nellie said, elbowing me in the ribs.

  “I’ll agree that it’s kind of a mess,” James said. “We simply have too many people who had motives of some sort as well as access to the murder scene and opportunity to commit the crime.”

  “That does narrow it.”

  “Not enough. My people are verifying alibis of those who are on the suspect list, but I don’t think we will learn anything from that.”

  I had to agree. “Even if we narrow your list down to those with clear motives and no real alibi at all, it isn’t exactly a short list.”

  “Too long for my taste. So I made a list of the people I know were in the hallway around the time of the murder—the ones I could see doing it. I didn’t eliminate anyone at all.”

  “Let’s compare notes,” I suggested. “Read me your list of names and motives.”

  “Fine.” He got out his notebook. “Manus Jenkins. He might have thought Victoria was trying to sabotage his product launch, especially when she showed up at his press conference and taunted him. Or the taunting might have provoked him, driven him into a rage. Sylvia is next. Victoria accused her of stealing her style for the contest. If she made a big deal about it, made an official complaint, whether it was true or not, that could squash her attempt to get financing for her franchise. Besides, they have a history of disputes. Dave the Dwarf thought Victoria was responsible for the spectacular failure of his ICS thing and subsequent lack of interest from investors.” He looked up from his notes. “It seems he borrowed a large amount of money to develop the prototype. I can’t exclude Gloria from the list either. If she thought Victoria was wreaking havoc with her show, she might’ve had the urge to put her down. The publicity wasn’t exactly positive and she needs the expo owners to feel comfortable that she can keep things under control.”

  “Although that’s a weak motive for murder,” I admitted.

  James smiled. “I had my people look into her finances, and her business is doing okay, but she couldn’t afford a major fail with a national account. Her competition would be all over her.”

  “So Sabrina is one of the few with an alibi?”

  “There’s a certain irony in that, isn’t there. Being the source of all the trouble keeps her from being a suspect in the murder of the woman she certainly hated.”

  “So she’s the vengeful type, but draws the line.”

  “Seems that way. She’d happily destroy a lot of lives and careers, but not actually take one. I suppose that counts as a good quality.”

  “I hope it doesn’t get her time off for the things she did do.”

  “I don’t think it will get her any points at all when she comes to trial any more than she’ll be able to justify herself by saying they deserved it.”

  “Did you find out who sabotaged her and started all this?”

  He held out his empty hands. “Afraid not. I doubt we’ll ever know that one.”

  “Too bad.”

  I considered everything I’d been told and heard. Even discarding most of it as idle gossip, I was sure that we were overlooking an important piece of information.

  “So to strike them off the list… we eliminated Dave, right?”

  James took my arm. It felt much nicer than it should. “I did, but my partner Barker is sure it was Dave,” he said.

  “Really? How does he explain the angle of the blow?”

  “He has this theory that the man talked Victoria into letting him do her hair. I think he was taken with your story of him standing on the bed and doing the cleaning lady’s hair. Anyway, he figures that he had her face him and then he drove the scissors into her.”

  “That sounds very calculated, not anger for sabotage.”

  “Well, here comes another theory. He thinks that Victoria cornered some potential investor
s and suggested that there could be a huge liability issue if they marketed the things, sort of like with those hover boards that caught fire a while back.”

  “And the investors told him this?”

  James smiled. “He’s still trying to get them to talk to him. Most say they never heard of Dave. One said he was considering investing but that no one but Dave talked to him. He had no idea who Victoria was.”

  “So you don’t think…”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think Dave did it.”

  “Nor Manus Jenkins.”

  “Nope. Despite having reasons.”

  “We are running out of suspects,” Nellie said. “Hey, maybe Barker did it, and these theories are just to draw attention away from him.”

  “I like that,” James said. “Come up with a motive and I’ll take him in for questioning.”

  Nellie thought. “Motive… maybe he doesn’t like hair stylists.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “It’s too subtle for your cop brain. That would explain it.”

  “Right,” he said.

  “And we still think it is someone in the industry.” I wanted to get the thinking back on track.

  “Because everyone in the surveillance footage of the hallway was wearing a show badge except for the television crews and hotel staff.” He caught my look. “Our background checks couldn’t find any connection between any of the staff in the hallway and Victoria. Or anyone else involved.”

  “And we eliminated Sabrina.”

  “Unfortunately for us. Good for her, though.”

  “So from our original list of Victoria haters, that leaves Manus, Sylvia… anyone else?”

  James looked at his notes. “That’s it. Manus was right down the hall, which gave him opportunity, not to mention the best access to the weapon of anyone. If he thought Victoria was undermining his efforts to get a backer…”

  “So his motive depends on how he saw things?”

  James gave us a tired smile. “Exactly. But in his case there is the blood issue. We found no blood on his clothes or in his room. None. In terms of motive, we have the same problem with Sylvia. She had opportunity galore—she was in the hallway and had access to the scissors. She also might’ve thought that Victoria was trying to undercut her effort to get backers for her franchise. That could be a motive.”