Beauty Secrets Cozy Mystery Boxed Set 1

by Stephanie Damore

  “Let’s head back to the hotel and log in to see what we can find,” I said.

  “I have a better idea.”

  Finn did drive us back to the hotel, but only to run upstairs and grab my laptop. He then hopped back into the truck and drove around until stopping in the parking lot of a big box electronics store.

  “Are you going to fill me in here?” I asked Finn.

  “We want to make it as hard as possible for someone to trace the hacking to us. If we use the hotel’s Wi-Fi and Mary Jane finds out, it wouldn’t be too hard for her to discover that it was you, or at least cause the police to consider you further, because you’re a guest there, and I’ll bet you have to enter your room number before joining their network. Using an unsecured Wi-Fi location and hiding your IP address is the smarter way to go. It’s a little like being in stealth mode.”

  “It’s a good thing one of us is a criminal mastermind.” Finn wiggled his eyebrows and I found his expression cuter than it should have been.

  20

  What is it about engaging in illegal activity that’s just a little bit sexy? Okay, it probably isn’t always sexy, but Finn had this whole bad-boy image going and I liked it. Mary Jane’s email was pretty much typical day-to-day junk. Bill notifications, discount coupons, and flash-sale offers clogged her trash. However, the fact that she only had three unread messages in her inbox, among a slew of emails, told us that she regularly checked her account. To my disappointment, nothing looked all that promising. My foray into computer hacking looked like it was going to be a total bust. Talk about an anti-climactic experience. That is, until Finn checked MJ’s drafts. It looked as if MJ had started a response to Sterling, but never sent it.

  “Look at this,” Finn said, turning the computer so I could read. We put our heads together.

  My dearest MJ, I know you’re a fan of poetry and love songs and I hope you find those in your life again. You have always held my heart, and I yours, but that is no longer the case. For that I am sorry, but it is the truth. You deserve someone to make you smile, to make you laugh, to make you feel the way that I feel right now. I love you enough to wish you that happiness.

  That was it. MJ’s response remained blank. “What do you think this all means? Was he just breaking up with her or was this his way of saying goodbye?” Nothing in the letter directly said he was about to off himself, just that he felt his relationship with MJ was over.

  “I’m really not sure.”

  We’d hoped a letter from Sterling would provide clarity, but we were mistaken.

  Finn and I slept in the next morning after finishing the rest of the champagne and staying up late, video conferencing our friends and family to tell them the news. Aria’s reaction was priceless and I couldn’t wait to catch up with my girl.

  I was in the middle of my usual morning routine of checking email and social media accounts when a news story caught my attention. I bolted upright in bed.

  “Finn. Finn, wake up.” I jostled him awake.

  “What, what is it?”

  “MJ. She’s been arrested. Look!” I thrusted my phone in his face. A picture of Mary Jane being led into the courthouse in handcuffs dominated the screen. That got Finn’s attention.

  “What does it say?” I asked him.

  “That she’s confessed to attempting to murder Dr. Stewart.”

  “No way, let me see.” I moved closer to the screen. Finn was right. “I can’t believe she confessed.”

  “The article speculates that she dusted a handful of dishes and surfaces in his office with peanut flour.”

  “Talk about exacting revenge. Does the article say what happens next or how Brad is doing?”

  “It doesn’t, but I’m thinking she might be able to bond out. A judge might be sympathetic to her situation.”

  I shook my head, feeling sorry for MJ’s family. They had already been through so much. As for MJ, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her.

  “That definitely puts a damper on the entire suicide angle.”

  “How so?” Finn handed me back my phone.

  “Well, two things. I don’t see MJ trying to kill Brad if there was any chance she knew Sterling killed himself, and I don’t see Sterling killing himself and not leaving her a note.” I thought back to the conversation I had overheard between Sterling and Mr. Aldrich. “I also don’t see how Sterling saying he’d take care of it meant killing himself. More like he’d deal with the person responsible for killing Marissa.”

  “Okay, I can buy all that. So where does that leave us?”

  I blew out a breath. “I have no idea.” I felt completely defeated.

  “Maybe if I take a shower, I’ll be able to clear my head and figure it out.”

  It didn’t work.

  By late afternoon, I had moved on from simply jotting notes down on my phone’s app to using full-fledged, color-coded notecards of all the key players and their motives.

  Finn came back from a run and saw that I was still at it, rearranging the notecards to determine which story made the most sense. Honestly, it could have gone so many ways, and I was more confused than ever.

  “Babe, why don’t you take a break? Maybe a rest will help you figure it all out.”

  I had thought the same thing, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of giving up when I felt so close to cracking the case. Finn sensed my hesitation.

  “How about you agree to take a break and I’ll book you a treatment at the spa downstairs? Maybe a manicure to show off that sparkly little rock you’ve got on your finger.”

  That was an idea I could get on board with. “Manicure and pedicure?”

  “I’d say all that and more. With how stressful your week has been, I’ll book you the works.”

  That did sound heavenly. I took one last look at the notecards scattered around the floor and agreed to the deal. I now knew by experience it was much nicer to receive a massage than to pretend to be the massage therapist giving one.

  Tess was just finishing up with her nails when I walked around and sat down to have mine started.

  “Hi, Tess. How are you?”

  It took her a minute to place me. “It’s Ziva, right?”

  “That it is.”

  Tess spotted the sparkler on my finger and her eyes lit up. She made a whistling sound. “That’s beautiful, darling. Is it new?” She grabbed my hand to inspect my ring.

  “Just got it yesterday.”

  “Congratulations. My third husband gave me a ring just like that.”

  “Thanks so much. Have things settled down at work yet?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been there much this week...” Tess trailed off, lost in her thoughts, and I didn’t bother to pick up the conversation.

  “Watch your ring around that one,” my nail tech said to me once Tess left.

  “What, why?”

  “Notice none of us are wearing any jewelry around her.” The three girls on the other side of the stations all raised their hands to show their naked wrists and fingers.

  “Management won’t let us toss her out, but we know she’s stolen her fair share of jewelry from us and our clients. Only problem is we don’t have any proof.”

  “No video surveillance or anything?” I looked around, trying to spot a security system.

  “Not in the spa area, and she’s never seen wearing the pieces throughout the hotel.”

  I never would’ve pegged Tess as a jewelry thief. Then I thought back to the graceful way that she moved and compared it to the person I saw sneaking around Marissa’s dressing room on Saturday morning. My mouth dropped open. Sweet sugar, they could very well be one and the same.

  Does that mean she also murdered Marissa and Sterling? I needed to find a way to set her up.

  “I never would’ve said anything if you girls hadn’t brought it up, but last week when I was at work with her, my necklace came up missing.” I pulled my gold cross out from underneath my tank top. “As luck would have it, my fiancé and I came across
it at a pawn shop on the other side of town.”

  “Girl, that’s crazy,” said the one nail tech.

  “I know, totally random, and it gets better. I know for a fact that someone has been stealing jewelry from the DSC offices, and it could very well be her.”

  They all looked at one another in disbelief. “Shut up, girl. That is too coincidental. Let me get my manager,” said the same tech.

  “That’s an excellent idea,” I replied.

  “Stacy, you have to hear this,” one of the other girls told the manager when she joined us. I filled her in quickly and then said, “But I have an idea. You see that product line right there, Sugar and Sass?” I motioned to the wall display behind me. “That’s me. I own that company. So, here’s what I propose. We set up a VIP meet-and-greet for tomorrow night, maybe even a spa demo of my new product line. Heck, I could even debut my first signature fragrance. Tess has already seen my ring, and if she’s as much of a klepto as we think she is, she won’t be able to resist a chance to take a swipe at it. Only, we’ll be ready with hidden cameras and security on standby. What do you all think?”

  “I think it’s a fabulous idea,” said Stacy. “We can’t afford to have her continuing to steal from our clients. The spa’s going to get a bad reputation, and I can’t let that happen.”

  “Great, let me just call my store manager and see what promo pieces we can whip up, and if you want to personally call your favorite clients and invite them, that would be great. I’m assuming you have Tess’s phone number?”

  “We do. Leave the guest list to us, and I’ll make sure to have enough product available for purchasing.”

  “If it’s okay with you, you could also offer the same special that DSC ran on my promo spot. It’s just an idea.”

  “That’s brilliant, and we can even tie-in that you were just on the show,” Stacy added.

  “Ah, you might want to skip that part. In case you haven’t heard, it was a total disaster.”

  “Okay, we’ll skip that, but we’ll still advertise the deal and the debut of your new fragrance.”

  “Awesome, thanks!” Now I just needed to finish designing the fragrance and find a way to package it in the next twenty-four hours. Oh, and find out how I was going to get Tess to confess. Minor detail.

  I told Finn my master plan when I was back in the hotel room. He just shook his head. “I know I should be surprised, seeing you were supposed to be down there relaxing, but I’m really not. What can I do to help?”

  “I need to make a run back to the wellness store for some essential oils. My formula is just not right and I think I need lighter base notes. Can you see if you can find a replica of my ring? I’m all for setting Tess up, but I don’t want to put my engagement ring in the line of fire in case she makes off with it and we don’t catch her. It doesn’t have to be exact. I don’t think she got a good look at it. As long as the stone is pink and the band is gold, we should be good to go.”

  “On it.”

  “Thanks, babe.” My notecards were calling to me, and this time I knew exactly how I was going to lay them out. The best way to take someone down was to know their weakness, and now we knew Tess’s.

  21

  I had several bottles of essential oils lined up on the hotel room’s desk, and a bit of a headache, when I finally gave in and called Izzy.

  “Go with the jasmine.” I stared at the open bottle of jasmine in front of me.

  “Try mixing it with lime or sweet orange to cut down on the floral aspect, and hopefully it won’t make you sneeze.”

  I tentatively mixed the two together with my sweet almond oil and took a whiff. It was perfect. “How do you do that?”

  “It’s a gift. Now, what else do you need?”

  I closed my eyes for a moment. Press release. “Did we send something over for the spa to use for their guests?” I wanted to give them a bit of a script when calling to invite people for tonight.

  “Done. I did it right after hanging up the phone with you yesterday.”

  “You know you’re awesome, right?”

  “Yes, I know I’m awesome. Now you just need to wrap this stuff up and get home so we can celebrate!”

  “About that, there’s something big I want to talk to you about when I get back.”

  “You mean about you giving me my own store?” After the jasmine trick, I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Of course, I don’t know the details of when this is all supposed to take place, but I’m pretty sure that’s what my guides are trying to tell me.”

  “Your guides would be spot on. Finn did take that job down here, and we’re thinking of opening another Sugar and Sass store down in Tampa. I’ll probably bounce back and forth between the two for a while, but is that something you’re even interested in?”

  “Sweetie, I would love to manage my own store full time.”

  I found myself smiling like a fool because that was one piece of the puzzle that had to be locked down for the next phase to even be a possibility.

  “Is that the right answer?”

  “You know it. Now, about these murders, what can you tell me?” Since she was on a roll and I hadn’t asked her yet, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

  “Oh no, don’t ask me that. I don’t deal with death and trying to hack into the spiritual guides of murderers. Gives me the creepy crawlies just thinking about it.”

  Well, it gave me the creepy crawlies when she put it that way.

  “I can tell you though, just by reading you, that you’re going to solve this and come out smelling like roses, or maybe it’s jasmine I’m smelling.”

  “Ha ha, aren’t you funny. I’ll catch up with you in a little bit and let you know how tonight goes.”

  “I know you will. Take care, love.”

  My phone buzzed in my purse and I went to retrieve it while Finn drove around looking for a good place to eat. We had a couple of hours to kill before tonight’s big event and Finn thought to fill it with food. Honestly, I had been craving Thai since Brad brought it up. It was like peanut sauce had become the forbidden fruit, and I couldn’t wait to indulge.

  I looked at my phone and saw that it was Cee Cee calling. I answered it immediately.

  “Hey, Cee Cee, what’s up?”

  “I found out something interesting.”

  “Interesting, like how?”

  “First, tell me how it went with Dr. Stewart. We never got a chance to catch up. Then I’ll tell you what I know. I have a new theory and I’m hoping your impression of Dr. Stewart will corroborate it.”

  I told Cee Cee straight up what I thought of Brad, skipping the part about MJ barging into my appointment. It was sort of a moot point now. “So, yeah, it’s not him. I’d even go as far as to say that he’s being framed.”

  “Okay, so that’s what I was also thinking. Working that angle, I stopped investigating Brad and instead focused on Marissa’s and Sterling’s coworkers. I think I might have found our red herring. Tess filed bankruptcy.”

  “Bankruptcy? But she lives such a lavish lifestyle.”

  “Not for long. She’s broke. That hotel she’s living in? It’s because she lost her condo. I saw the tax liens for myself at the county court house.”

  “So, she’s living at the hotel on credit?”

  “Maybe, but she won’t be for long. I’m betting her credit’s in the toilet and her reputation is about to follow.”

  “Her motive just shot up like a rocket.” As if it wasn’t already, with the suspected thefts.

  “Right?”

  “It’s not just that she was mad that her contract wasn’t renewed, she was desperate.”

  “Desperate and with nothing to lose,” Cee Cee replied.

  “Maybe she thought that if she killed Sterling and Marissa, the network would keep her. They would have to, after all, right?” I thought Cee Cee would know more about this than I would.

  “Probably. Viewers don’t like it when you shake things up too much. They’d probably w
ant to keep Tess to maintain some sense of normalcy.”

  “And she could keep her reign as the Queen of the Daytime Shopping Channel.” From the sound of it, that’s pretty much all she has left—a title. “Have you shared this information with anyone?” I asked.

  “Just my new producer, Skip.”

  “Skip the Producer?”

  “Yeah, you know him?

  He’s…” I thought of how to describe the man, “a bit quirky, isn’t he? He seems more like a mad scientist to me than a television producer. I could totally see him mixing vials of green goo in a chemistry lab.”

  “Yeah, I can see where you get that from. I just started working with him. He jumped the DSC ship this last week and our network picked him up immediately.” I had a feeling a lot of people would be jumping ship, especially until these murders were solved.

  Finn got the gist of it by listening to my conversation with Cee Cee. We scarfed down heaping bowls of spicy noodles while discussing how Tess tied it all together.

  “I’m over the whole Dr. Stewart angle.” I had a moment of pang for the good doctor as he couldn’t indulge in this peanut-sauce goodness.

  “I agree with you that the whole thing looks like a setup.”

  “Right, and it’s something Tess could easily have pulled off. She was at the gala. I saw her there with my own eyes. She also had the anger issues, and the most to gain. She is also the most desperate. I can see her being the one to go back to the scene Saturday morning and steal that necklace.”

  “She had the motive and nothing to lose.”

  “Right, Marissa and Claire had already caused her to slip from her throne and she was on her way out. Come to think of it, both Sterling and Marissa screwed her over. Sterling for not fighting for her contract renewal, and Marissa, a girl she considered her protégé, for stealing her air time. It would seem fitting for Tess to stab Marissa in the back and do Sterling in as a bonus.”

  “All because of a job?”

  “DSC was more than a job to her. It was her life. You should’ve heard her talk about it, she truly felt she had given them everything and they repaid her by giving her the boot when younger girls came on board and boosted the ratings.”