Candy Canes & Corpses

by Abby L. Vandiver

  “Oh,” DeeDee said. “Mickey told me he thought Dana cared a lot for Dino. I wonder why Dino and Dana didn’t make a go of it, since it looks like both of them were in unhappy marriages.”

  “Not so simple,” Al said, turning the SUV into DeeDee’s driveway. “I wondered the same thing myself, and mentioned it to Dom. Accordin’ to him, those two runnin’ off into the sunset together was never an option. Maybe Dana would have left Mickey, but Dino had to stay married to Gia because of his father-in-law. It’s another open secret that their marriage was a business deal. If Dino ever left her, he woulda been kicked out of the business with nothin’.”

  Al got out of the car and went around to the passenger side and opened DeeDee’s door. “How about a quick cup of coffee before I take ya’ to the nail salon? We ain’t got much time before we gotta catch the ferry.”

  As soon as he heard Al say the word “ferry,” Balto started barking and jumping around in the back seat. Al stared at him in surprise. “Is he all right?” he asked DeeDee, opening the door for Balto, who ignored him and settled back down in the seat.

  “You mentioned the ‘F’ word,” DeeDee laughed. “I forgot to tell you about that. Looks like Balto’s coming with us to Seattle, if that’s okay,” she said as she turned toward the house.

  Al reached inside the car to ruffle Balto’s furry coat. “Fine by me. We’ll be back soon, buddy.” He left the car window open, and followed DeeDee inside.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the ferry ride to Seattle, DeeDee watched Al’s interaction with Balto on the passenger deck. Whenever Balto was on the ferry, he typically leaped around and tried to stick his head through the railings. DeeDee was glad to see that Al had him under tight control. Usually, by the end of the crossing DeeDee was exhausted trying to prevent Balto from ending up in Puget Sound. Today, however, Balto was standing calmly next to Al, who was several steps back from the railing. DeeDee sensed Al was uncomfortable on the deck of the ferry. He was uncommonly quiet, and the crossing passed in a pleasant silence. DeeDee was lost in her own thoughts about Jake, thinking back to the many romantic moments they’d shared viewing the scenery on the picturesque trip.

  “I’m not sure how you managed to calm Balto down today,” DeeDee said, when they were back in the SUV on the way to the nail salon. “I’ve never seen him so subdued on the ferry ride, ever. Most of the time he goes nuts with excitement.”

  Al adjusted his sunglasses. “Think he mighta guessed ol’ Al ain’t got his sea legs. Clever boy, aren’tcha, Balto?”

  DeeDee turned to where Balto was sitting sedately in the back seat. She marveled, not for the first time, at the husky’s sensitivity to human feelings, and was proud of him for helping Al through what seemed to have been a difficult time for him.

  Al weaved the car through the traffic in downtown Seattle and eventually stopped in front of Nails by Nikki located just off Pioneer Square. The streets were busy enough for DeeDee to feel safe without Al beside her. “You don’t need to come in,” she said. “There are plenty of people around, and I should be fine by myself.”

  A look of relief passed across Al’s face. “Maybe yer’ right. We probably wouldn’t fit in, anyway. I guess me n’ Balto don’t really look like mani-pedi kinda guys, do we, Balto?”

  DeeDee suppressed a giggle at the thought of Al and Balto having their nails done. “You know, Al, I wouldn’t put it past you to do just that, but I’m glad you’ve decided not to today. You guys go and have fun.”

  “We’re stickin’ close by, don’tcha worry ‘bout that,” Al said, as DeeDee climbed out of the SUV. She’d no sooner gotten out of the car than Balto had jumped into the front seat from the back seat and replaced her, sitting next to Al. “Tell ya’ what,” he went on, “I got somethin’ to pick up near here, then how ‘bout me ’n Balto wait fer ya’ across the street at Starbucks? Reckon if we get an outside table, I should have a direct line of vision into Nikki’s place.”

  “Sure,” DeeDee said, wondering what Al needed to collect. She didn’t have much time to spend thinking about it, because as soon as she stepped into Nails by Nikki, she was transported into another world.

  Closing the door to the hustle and bustle of the downtown streets outside, she found herself in a tranquil place of relaxation with soothing music, soft lighting, and a muted cream-colored modern decor. It reminded DeeDee of an upscale spa. She’d been expecting something along the lines of the last nail place she’d visited in a mall. Unfortunately, that had been quite a while ago, and her nails and hands were long overdue for some serious TLC. Cooking and cleaning dishes for her catering business had left the skin on her hands coarse, and her short nails were ragged.

  A receptionist in an attractive cream-colored uniform, which matched the salon’s décor, greeted DeeDee. “Ms. Wilson? Welcome to Nails by Nikki. May I get you a glass of prosecco while you choose your nail color?”

  “Yes, I’d like that. Thank you,” DeeDee said. After the last couple of days some pampering and a glass of bubbly was exactly what she needed. The first few sips of the fizzy drink went straight to her head, and before she knew it she’d selected a vampy polish by the name of Rouge Noir. The way she was feeling right then, a boring nude shade would just not do. She smiled when the receptionist topped off her glass. She silently vowed not to let the prosecco get in the way of seeing what information she could find out from Nikki.

  She didn’t have to wait too long for Nikki, but it was long enough for DeeDee to feel some of her recent worries fade away as the soothing music began to make her feel relaxed. When she was approached by a petite redhead, she guessed correctly that it was Nikki, the salon owner. Nikki greeted her like an old friend and immediately put DeeDee at ease.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Wilson,” she said. “I’m Nikki. Please follow me.” Nikki led DeeDee to a nail station, which was more like a three-sided small room. While DeeDee settled into the soft leather treatment chair, Nikki set out the polish and a small bowl of warm water into which she mixed a soapy liquid. Next, she inspected DeeDee’s hands. “Hmm,” Nikki murmured, looking up at DeeDee with concern. “I can see your nails are quite damaged, but don’t worry. By the time you leave today we’ll have them looking pretty again. Please rest your hands in the water. Are you having just a regular manicure today, Ms. Wilson?”

  DeeDee submerged her hands in the water as Nikki had instructed her to do. “Please, call me DeeDee, and yes, a regular manicure is fine. I’m a chef, so I can’t have silks or gel.”

  “That explains it,” Nikki said. “I guess with your hands in water a lot and all that chopping and cooking you do, it must be hard to keep your nails looking pretty.” She lifted one of DeeDee’s hands out of the water, patted it dry, and rubbed some cream on her cuticles.

  “That’s right,” DeeDee said. “I’ve learned from experience it’s easier if I wear them short. And, since I started my business, I find myself catering parties rather than being a guest at a party, so I don’t have them painted because I’m not going out as much.”

  “I know what you mean,” Nikki said, as she began filing DeeDee’s nails. “I had a client in this morning who goes to parties all the time. She has her nails done several times a week. In fact,” Nikki chattered, “she was at the party the other night where Dana D was murdered.”

  DeeDee couldn’t believe her luck that Nikki had brought up the subject. “Really?” she said casually. “I saw that on the news. It’s so sad, and Dana was such a character. I liked to watch the show, but I doubt it will be as good without her on it.”

  “I know what you mean,” Nikki said, lifting DeeDee’s other hand out of the bowl. “I always think that, then they get someone else, and it’s just fine. Funny thing is, that client I mentioned is really having to make some tough decisions, because she worked for the same show as Dana. Now the station has offered her Dana’s job on a full-time basis. You’d think she’d be happy about that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Is that Sonia McNul
ty?” DeeDee asked Nikki. “The woman who fills in for Dana when she’s off? I would have thought she’d snap up an offer like that in a heartbeat.”

  “That’s right,” Nikki said. “I would have thought the same thing. When she was in here before New Year’s, she was concerned because New Day NW hadn’t renewed her contract. But then it turns out she got a surprise call from a television station in Portland offering her a job on a new show doing the exact same thing Dana did on her show in Seattle. The television station said it was the chance for her to put her mark on something unique. They offered her more money than she’d been getting, and she accepted the offer on the spot.”

  “Wow,” DeeDee said. “I’ve seen her on TV, and she’s quite good. Has she decided what to do?”

  “I think,” Nikki said, massaging DeeDee’s hand and up her arm, “she’s torn. She feels an ethical commitment to the station in Portland because she’d accepted the job, but she’s known in Seattle, and it’s a much bigger market. She said she told New Day NW she needed to think about it, and she’d give them an answer tomorrow.”

  “That’s a nice position to be in,” DeeDee said, stretching out her fingers. “What’s Sonia like?”

  Nikki began to massage DeeDee’s other hand and forearm. “I don’t usually talk about my clients,” Nikki said, “but Sonia’s quite high profile, so a few people do ask. I think…mm, I’m not sure how to put this. She’s a lot better now than she used to be.”

  “What do you mean?” DeeDee said, studying Nikki’s face. “Has she been ill?”

  Nikki looked up and spoke quietly. “Depression,” she said, shaking her head. She put DeeDee’s arm down and reached for the nail polish. “The poor woman used to come in so depressed it was difficult for me to work on her. She hated everything about herself, and she had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks about appearing on television. She can still be a little jittery at times, but since she found a new doctor, the medication he’s given her has really helped.”

  “I never would have guessed,” DeeDee said, surprised. “She comes across as so confident on the television screen.”

  “I know,” Nikki said as she started to paint the deep-colored polish on DeeDee’s nails. DeeDee looked down and admired how Nikki had transformed her nails in such a short space of time. “Actually, she’s just the opposite. She needs help to put on a happy face for television, not to mention the amount of plastic surgery she’s had done. She told me that without it, she never would have had the confidence to appear on television.”

  “That’s sad,” DeeDee observed. “I never would have guessed from watching her that she has self-image problems. How come you know about her surgery?”

  “I was thinking of having some work done,” Nikki said. “So I asked her if she could recommend anyone, seeing as how she moves in celebrity circles. I couldn’t believe it when she told me about all of the procedures she’s had done, and how much they cost.”

  “From what I hear, it’s hard to stop once you get started,” DeeDee said. “I think you begin to lose all sense of reality. Sonia does look great, but I hope she doesn’t go too far with it.”

  “Me, too,” Nikki grinned, finishing DeeDee’s nails with a flourish. “I decided against breast augmentation in the end, but it just goes to show everything you see on television isn’t real. Sonia showed me a picture of what she looked like before she’d had anything done, and I could barely recognize her as being the same person. What’s sad is that she was already very pretty and really didn’t need any improving.”

  DeeDee smiled at Nikki. “I’m glad you recognize that about yourself, too. And thank you for the awesome job you’ve done on my scraggly nails, Nikki. I’ll definitely be back.”

  When her nails were dry, DeeDee paid at the counter and left a generous tip for Nikki. She walked outside and across the street to where Balto and Al were sitting in front of Starbucks. She waved her arms at them in a jazz-hands routine to show off her nails. Al smiled, lifting a large bag from a men’s store, and then he and Balto joined her for the walk back to the car.

  “Been shopping, Al?” DeeDee asked him in surprise. The only thing she’d ever seen him dressed in was black, from head to toe. The one exception she could think of was at Roz’s wedding, when he’d worn a white dress shirt under his suit.

  “Jes’ got me some new threads,” Al grunted. DeeDee left it at that.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When they returned to DeeDee’s house, she saw that the light on her answering machine in the hallway was flashing.

  “I’d better take care of my messages,” DeeDee said to Al, who was checking behind the sofa. “Did you lose something?”

  Al looked up. “Can’t be too careful. Jes’ makin’ sure’ there ain’t no unwanted visitors waitin’ fer us with any nasty surprises.” He got down on his hands and knees, and checked under the rug, before patting the underside of the sofa and armchairs. “Can ya’ hear that tickin’ noise?”

  DeeDee nodded toward the mantle. “Maybe the clock?”

  Al walked across the room and lifted the carriage clock to his ear, before wiping some dust off the mantel with his finger, and setting it down again. He winked at DeeDee. “Yer’ right. Ima gonna get out of yer’ way for a while. I need to make a few calls then see to Red before I head out fer my meetin’ with Dino.”

  When Al mentioned Red, Balto started to whine. Al raised his finger and spoke sternly to Balto. “Don’t start no funny stuff with me,” he said, and Balto became quiet. “That’s better. Plenty of room around here for both of ya’.” Al patted Balto on the head and walked out into the hall. He picked up the plastic bag from the clothing store and went upstairs. When he got to his room, he closed the door, and pressed Jake’s number on his phone.

  “Yo, it’s me,” he said, while lifting his new purchases out of the bag and onto the bed.

  “Hey, Al, what did you find out?” Jake asked him.

  Al told him what DeeDee had discovered about both Mickey and Sonia.

  “That’s interesting,” Jake said, when Al was done. “Do you think that’s enough to rule both of them out?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, it ain’t,” Al said, “but from what DeeDee was sayin’, Mickey was real tore up about Dana windin’ up dead. He was havin’ a real hard time keepin’ the waterworks from startin’. Then she told him to keep his check and donate it to Gamblers Anonymous. Hope he don’t put it on a horse, that’s all I gotta say ‘bout it.”

  “Sounds like DeeDee, all right,” Jake said. “Generous to a fault. What about Sonia, though? If she already had another job offer with more money, it’s less likely she would have wanted Dana out of the way.”

  “That’s true,” Al conceded. “But there’s no tellin’ what mighta been goin’ through her head if she has mental health issues, so let’s not jump to no conclusions there just yet.”

  “What about Dino?” Jake said. “Have you spoken to him yet?”

  “Ima comin’ to that bit now,” Al said. “Got an appointment with Dino in a little while, but what I did find out already about him, is what Dom Langello tol’ me earlier today.”

  “He was Vinny’s lawyer, right,” Jake said.

  “Yeah,” Al said. “Now will ya’ lemme talk, and I’ll tell ya’ all about it.” Al thought Jake was a good guy, but he was too quick to interrupt.

  “Sorry, Al.”

  “Never mind. Yer’ learnin’.” Al smiled. He relayed what Dom had told him about Dino’s marriage. “Seems like Dana and Dino had a real thing fer each other, but Dino was a goner if he ever left his wife, Gia, since he woulda been kicked out of the business. Maybe that’s why Dana agreed to give Mickey another chance, because she knew her and Dino would never be able to make it together.”

  “And you think Dino might have been mad enough about that to kill her?”

  Al thought it over. “Crimes of passion kinda sound romantic, but they’re really a lot darker, particularly when someone jes’ gets plain ol’ whacked. From
what I knowa Dino, I never woulda’ pegged him as the revengeful type, but I wanna see what he’s got to say fer himself when I talk with him later. I’ll call ya’ after my meetin’, and tell ya’ how it went.”

  “Thanks, Al.” Jake paused. “And DeeDee, how’s she holding up? I’m sure she’s glad to have you there with her.”

  “She’s doin’ okay,” Al said. “But I suspect she’d be a lot happier to have ya’ by her side through this, rather than me. From what I can tell, she’s sad about what happened between ya’ two, but she’s jes’ too proud to say much. Fer’ what it’s worth, I’d say if you want her back, you’re gonna have to be the one makin’ the moves, cuz’ she ain’t fer’ doin’ the crawlin’.”

  “I’ll think it over,” Jake said. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do, Al. Talk to you later.”

  Al put his phone down and eyed his new clothes. He wondered if Cassie would like the blue shirt, or the gray one. When he’d spoken to Rob that morning, Rob had given him the lowdown on Cassie being recently widowed and in the process of moving out of her home and leaving her job. Al had called her while DeeDee was meeting Mickey, and arranged to meet her for coffee later that evening. It was just a friendly call, and having coffee really didn’t mean much, he told himself. All the same, he was whistling when came down the stairs a while later, having showered and changed.

  He noticed DeeDee do a double take when she saw him.

  “Al! You look…different.”

  Al’s face fell. ‘Ya’ don’t like it?” He’d never been much of a jeans man, but the store assistant assured him that the dark blue Armani jeans were age appropriate. His blue button-down shirt was from Ralph Lauren, and instead of his customary black Italian leather brogues, he wore a more casual style that weren’t lace-ups. “Ima gonna go change,” he muttered, turning back toward the stairs. “Don’t know what I was thinkin’ of.”