Scent to Her Grave

by Yasmine Galenorn

  Debbie backpedaled as fast as she could. “No, it’s just that… she wouldn’t—I mean… She just doesn’t like unexpected company.”

  And I don’t like liars, I thought. And Debbie was lying through her teeth. “Second door on the right?”

  She nodded and at that moment, looked so young and so fragile that I wondered if I could be wrong? On one hand, for Trevor’s sake, I hoped I was right. On the other, I prayed that this was all some bizarre coincidence. The thought that Debbie had helped Colleen kill two people was more than I could stomach.

  On my way to the bathroom, I passed an open door. I glanced in and froze. The room was a very messy bedroom, decorated in shades of bubblegum pink. And on the wall, next to the bed, rested Aphrodite’s Mirror. Bingo!

  I could feel Debbie’s gaze on my back and I forced myself to continue into the bathroom, where I shut the door. There was no lock. I turned on the water full force and then flipped open my cell phone, punching in Kyle’s number. When he came on the line, I said, “Tell the judge that the mirror is here. I’m in Debbie’s apartment right now—invited, by the way. Get your warrant and get over here.”

  “Goddamn it, Persia! What did I tell you about snooping around?” Kyle’s voice thundered in my ear. “Get the hell out of there now, do you hear me?”

  “Yeah, yeah… just get over here soon.” I waited for a moment, then flushed the toilet, turned off the water, and quietly opened the door. I could hear whispering coming from the living room.

  “She saw it, I know she saw it!”

  “Quit whining. I’ll take care of this. Everything will be okay. Don’t I always make everything okay?”

  Forewarned, I stepped out into the hallway to find myself facing Colleen. She leaned against the wall, a sly smile playing across her lips. Debbie stood off to one side, fidgeting and twisting her hair around her finger.

  “Why, Persia. How nice to see you,” Colleen said. “Whatever brings you to our little abode?”

  Colleen’s right hand was in her jacket pocket and I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t playing with a set of keys. “I was in the neighborhood—”

  “Cut the crap. We know why you’re here, don’t we, Debbie?”

  Debbie swallowed. “She might mean it, Colleen. She said she was visiting Andy Andrews—”

  Colleen whirled on her. “Honey, I love you, you know that, but sometimes you are dumber than a fencepost. Persia knows about Lydia. I saw it on her face at the supermarket.” She turned back to me. “You figured it out, didn’t you? When Debbie mentioned her father’s shop, you knew.”

  I eyed her quietly. “Whatever are you talking about, Colleen?”

  “Don’t play stupid, Persia. You’re not blind.” She locked the door behind her. “I know why you’re here. What tipped you off?”

  If I could keep her talking maybe I’d be able to distract her and get out of here. At least I didn’t see a gun anywhere.

  “When Debbie mentioned her father’s locksmith business, I remembered that I’d left my purse out on the counter the day Lydia was murdered. That evening, I found my keys in the pocket of my jacket. But I always put my keys in my purse. I thought that I’d just had a brain fart, but when Debbie mentioned her father was Murv Harcourt, I knew.”

  “Pretty bright,” Colleen said.

  I edged my way toward the door, but she still blocked it. I stopped, considering the window. Three stories. Too high for a safe jump. “What did you do? Lift the keys out of my purse while I was at lunch, go over to her father’s shop, and make copies?”

  “Don’t tell her!” Debbie’s eyes were wide. “Don’t say anything or we’ll go to jail.”

  “Shut up,” Colleen said without even looking at her. “Nobody’s going to jail.” She withdrew her hand from her pocket and I saw that she had a sleek black plastic rectangle in her hand, with two metal prods on the end. Oh shit! Her stun gun! I’d forgotten all about that.

  “What are you planning on doing, Colleen? Killing me, like you did Lydia? With Debbie helping you?” I took one step back, willing myself into that quiet calm space that I always entered before an Aikido tournament.

  “No! I didn’t do anything to Lydia. I didn’t know it was going to happen.” Debbie was crying as Colleen stepped toward me, her gaze locked on mine. “It wasn’t my fault!”

  I flashed a quick look in Debbie’s direction. “Maybe you didn’t hit her, but you were there. You stole my keys and you made a copy of each one at your father’s shop. Then all you and Colleen had to do was wait until we closed and try each one to find the right match. Isn’t that the way it happened, Debbie?”

  Colleen’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t let her get to you—”

  Debbie dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face. “It’s true, it’s all true. I copied your keys. Colleen told me to. She said we’d steal the mirror because I loved it so much. I wanted that mirror. I feel better every time I look in it.” She hunched over, hiding her face in her hands.

  I backed up another step. “So Colleen, you promised Debbie the mirror to get her to steal the keys? I’ll bet you had it all planned out. You called Lydia and told her to meet you. She thought it was because you were going to demand a blackmail payment.”

  She stopped then, looking startled. Good, I’d thrown her off guard. “How’d you find that out?” she asked.

  “I have my ways. I know that you tried to extort money from Lydia. But I think you planned on killing her all along so you could take her place. You probably started out just thinking about money, but the opportunity to get rid of her arose and you took advantage of it.”

  Colleen let out a high-pitched laugh. “Miss Lydia the all-high-and-mighty. Miss Lydia the bitch queen. Where’s her crown now, huh? I’ll tell you where it is! On my head! And Debbie’s got the mirror. And everything’s going to be just fine once, I—” At that moment, she leapt forward, the stun gun held out in her hand.

  I jumped to the side as much as the narrow hall would allow, bringing my leg up to block her attack. Her arm flew back and I heard a nasty crack as her hand hit the wall, but she managed to hold on to the stun gun.

  Colleen shrieked as she whirled. I couldn’t pull back far enough to get away; the wall blocked my retreat. She nicked my arm with the stun gun and pressed the trigger.

  It was as bad as grabbing hold of a downed power line. Rocked by the intensity of the shock, I let out an earsplitting howl as I fell to the floor and my muscles contracted uncontrollably. Twitching, I rolled over on my side, unable to do more than focus on breathing as the current worked its way through my system. The next moment, I saw Colleen bearing down with the stun gun again. I screamed in reflex, panicked that the next shock might stop my breathing altogether, although I knew that stun guns weren’t supposed to do any lasting damage.

  “Stop it! Stop it! Not again, Colleen. I can’t go through this again.” Debbie’s voice rang out from somewhere near my feet, but my nerves were too scrambled to allow me to lift my head.

  Colleen paused, in my line of sight just enough for me to see that she had turned around to look at Debbie. “Damn it, don’t fall apart on me now. Don’t you see? She knows. If we let her go, we’re dead meat.”

  “Better that than live with another murder on my conscience.” Debbie’s voice had turned defiant and I silently cheered her on. Maybe she had a backbone after all. “It’s all your fault—you couldn’t be happy with second place. You had to have it all, even if it meant killing Lydia to get what you wanted.”

  Way to go, Debbie, I thought. Keep her busy until the shock works its way out of my system—which would take another five to ten minutes if the gun was similar to the ones I’d trained with. My only hope was that Debbie could keep her talking long enough for me to recover the strength to fight my way out of here.

  Colleen smirked. “Give it up. You hated Lydia just as much as I did. Look at the way she treated you! And Trevor, don’t get me started on him! He
acted like you weren’t even alive. I did you a favor when I pinned her death on his shoulders.”

  “Trevor isn’t like that! Lydia had him fooled.”

  “Oh yeah, the hunk couldn’t help himself, slobbering over the beauty queen.” Colleen turned back to me, leaning down to stare in my face. “Persia, I’m sorry you got mixed up in this, but I can’t let you go. You understand, don’t you? Debbie and I will leave town after I finish up with you. Oh hell, I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I heard her say to Debbie, “Watch her. If she moves, hit her again with the gun. You know how to use it, so don’t get all squeamish on me.”

  As she disappeared from view, I noticed a tingling in my fingers again. The numbness was wearing off. I focused my energy on slowly clenching and unclenching my hands. My grip was nonexistent, but at least I was moving. As my toes began to tingle, I realized that within a moment or two I’d be able to stand up, but I also knew I’d be dizzy as hell so I had to make every second count.

  I took a slow, deep breath and shook my shoulders to get the blood flowing. I kept waiting for Debbie to notice and shock me again, but apparently she was off in her own little world, because she said nothing.

  Colleen reappeared, holding a long knife in her hand. “I couldn’t find anything else,” she said with a cheery smile. “But this is sharp so it will all be over fast.”

  I sucked in a deep breath as she brought her arm up, the blade pointing straight down toward my heart. As it began to descend, I forced myself to twist to the side, rolling as hard and as fast as I could. The knife slammed into the floor next to me—I could feel the swish of air as it hit the carpet and stuck.

  “Shit!” Colleen stumbled back a step. I pushed myself to a sitting position and fumbled for the knife, trying to grasp the handle with my weakened grip as I awkwardly pulled myself up, using the wall for support.

  “You’ve got the gun! Get her!” Colleen screamed, waving frantically at Debbie.

  Debbie stood there, uncertain, her gaze flickering from Colleen’s face to mine, then back to Colleen’s. As I watched, as if in slow motion, Debbie brought the gun up and turned it my way. Then she whirled, catching Colleen in the side. Colleen screamed so loud I thought she was dying. She convulsed and fell to the floor. Debbie looked over at me, panting.

  “No more,” she said. “No more.”

  Just then, a pounding on the door was followed by Kyle’s voice. “Open up! Police!” The cavalry had arrived.

  COLLEEN HAD BROKEN her arm when she fell and the paramedics strapped her onto the stretcher and took her away, an officer riding shotgun. Debbie limply submitted to handcuffs, and as a policewoman led her off, she glanced back at me.

  “I never meant to hurt anybody. I didn’t want any of this. I just wanted to be liked. I tried to get Trevor off the hook.”

  “You made the phone call and left the note, didn’t you?”

  She nodded, sniffling. “Yeah, I couldn’t stand to see him in trouble. I love him.”

  I stared at her silently, not sure what to say. Debbie had gotten railroaded into something bigger than she could control, but she had the chance to put it right and she hadn’t. As far as I was concerned, she was as guilty as Colleen.

  Kyle helped me over to the sofa, where I submitted to an EMT who insisted on checking me out. Once he proclaimed me fit, just a little shell-shocked, and told me to avoid driving for a day or so, the paramedics packed up and left.

  I looked at Kyle as his men swept through the apartment, beginning the long search for evidence. “Don’t let them break the mirror,” I said, though I knew that I never wanted to see it again.

  “We’ll be careful,” he promised.

  I leaned forward, resting my head on my knees. I still felt nauseated from the stun gun attack. “Those things are legal?” I finally asked, pointing to the gun that was now in an evidence bag.

  He nodded. “Yeah, they pack one hell of a punch, don’t they?”

  “Sure do,” I said. I looked up and saw that he was holding out a bottle of water for me. I took it and drank slowly. “So, Colleen murdered Lydia. She and Debbie stole my keys while my purse was sitting near my counter, they made copies, and somehow they lured Lydia into the shop and Colleen killed her.”

  “Why did Colleen do it? All of this violence just for a beauty crown title?” He shook his head. “I don’t understand people.”

  “There was a lot of money attached to that crown, at least in Colleen’s eyes. And a lot of self-validation. You’ll piece together the rest. When you question Debbie, remember she’s not very strong emotionally, Kyle. Be careful with her.”

  “Why?” He gave me an odd look. “She helped with—or at least kept quiet about—two murders. What makes you care about her feelings?”

  I shrugged. Something in Debbie reached out to me. A longing to be accepted, a feeling that she didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t understand it, but I couldn’t deny feeling sorry for the girl. “She saved my life at the end. She turned the stun gun on Colleen instead of me. By the way, what took you so long?” I grinned at him.

  Kyle let out an exasperated snort. “You wouldn’t have needed us if you’d kept your nose out of things like I told you to! I’m just glad I followed my gut and got my ass over here when you called.” He gave me a long look, then draped his arm around my shoulders as we headed for the door. “So Colleen’s perfume tipped all of this off.”

  I nodded. “The minute I smelled it at the grocery store, I remembered that I’d smelled it before—in Marta’s apartment.”

  “That’s one hell of a nose you’ve got there,” he said. “You ever want a job as a bloodhound for the station, give me a call.”

  “You might say that I’ve got a nose for murder!” I said, laughing.

  He snorted. “Right, just don’t let it lead you into trouble again.”

  Chapter 20

  BY MORNING, THE storm had blown itself out and we were treated to clear skies and a crisp breeze coming off of Puget Sound. Auntie, Barbara, and I were walking along Lighthouse Spit, a long, narrow strip of land that stretched into the water. At the very end stood a lighthouse that was still used by the harbor. It was open to the public, and next door, the Lighthouse Café took advantage of the tourists who came to snap pictures of the beacon.

  I was feeling shaky, but better. The shock of the stun gun had worn off, but every muscle in my body ached as if I’d had a full-fledged iron workout and hadn’t bothered to stretch out afterward. Auntie had insisted that I go to the doctor even though the EMT had pronounced me fit, and I’d submitted to a thorough exam and come out with flying colors.

  Barbara, of course, had been properly horrified. She and Dorian had come over for dinner and brought with them every delicacy they made in their bakery. Auntie and I had looked at the pile of goodies and threw caution to the wind, digging in for all we were worth.

  This morning, though, I just wanted fresh air and a long walk. As we silently passed the lighthouse and came to the edge of the beach, Barbara pointed out a long driftwood log where we could sit and watch the tide as it flowed quietly into shore. While they sat on the log, I stretched out on the sand and leaned back, letting the sun beat down on my face. The air was warm enough to bask in, and it looked like we were due for some nice weather for a change.

  The sound of the gulls echoed as they soared over the water, looking for clams and oysters. Come low tide, they’d feast as the waters rolled out, leaving a smorgasbord for the critters who frequented the shore.

  I sighed. “When’s Kyle supposed to show up?”

  Auntie reached over and patted my shoulder. “He said he’d be here by nine. It’s only eight forty-five.”

  But he was early—showing up five minutes later. He joined my aunt on the log, and we all turned to him expectantly. Finally, I spoke up.

  “So? Did Colleen confess?”

  He nodded. “She didn’t have to, considering everything we got on tape,
but I guess she’s praying for an easier sentencing. She confessed to both murders. She exonerated Debbie—at least from the actual crimes. Debbie’s still an accessory, but I have the feeling that by the time this is over, she may end up in a mental hospital rather than a prison. She’s losing it pretty quick.”

  Auntie clasped her hands. “I just can’t get over it. Those girls… they’re so young. To do something so horrible, what could they be thinking?”

  Kyle shrugged. “Well, we know why she killed Lydia, and we found out what went down with Marta. Apparently, the old girl went over to borrow some coffee and she stopped in the bathroom while she was there—just like you did, Persia. Debbie’s bedroom door was open and Marta saw the mirror. If she would have kept quiet she’d still be alive, but she put two and two together and tried to blackmail Colleen. Colleen gave her all her savings—that’s where the five thousand dollars came from, but Marta wanted more. So Colleen killed her.”

  “I heard that Radiance Cosmetics is dropping their China Veils line. It was on the news this morning. Of course, they have no comment about Colleen yet—their PR department is going to have to scramble on that one.” Barbara chuckled. “Talk about what goes around, comes around. They rigged the contest and look what it did for them.”

  Kyle grinned then, and he looked almost happy. “Speaking of rigging contests, if you like their makeup I suggest you stock up on it now. I reported the whole seedy mess to the Attorney General, and I also told them about the judge who insisted Lydia sleep with him. Mr. Wallace Clifford Dover isn’t going to be keeping his job as a lawyer much longer.”

  I gasped. “Wally Dover? Oh my God, he’s one of Seattle’s highest profiled attorneys. I didn’t know he was one of the Radiance judges.”

  Kyle snorted. “Well, his fame train just jumped the tracks. And his money. His wife owned stock in Radiance Cosmetics, that’s how he got on the judging committee. But that’s a fraction of her wealth. Now he’s losing his job, and when this scandal hits the papers, you can be sure she’ll take her fortune and walk. I have a feeling that Radiance Cosmetics isn’t going to be around much longer. Not when their customers hear this whole sordid story.”