Petty Crimes & Head Cases
Page 25
Yes!
“I’d like to meet this Deepak. After all, we only have his judgment. If he really believes the video proves your innocence, we’ll go to bat for the laser techie who won’t give up the tape without immunity. We can slap him with obstruction of justice, bribery and other offenses, but that action would be counterproductive if it makes him destroy the evidence.”
You’re damn right.
“We want this video to see the light of day. We want it to go viral. We want public opinion on your side.”
Right on!
Carl nodded. “We’ll arrange a meeting between you and Deepak this afternoon,” he said.
I stopped sniveling now. There were tears on my hankie, but there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Some weeks later I was marcelling Mrs. Oscar’s hair. The video had gone viral, just as our lawyer knew it would, and Mrs. Oscar couldn’t talk about anything else.
“Your husband sure is nimble,” she said. “He looks like Mohammed Ali dodging that tire iron!”
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
“And that last swing,” she cackled. “I thought for sure Carl’s head would fly off!”
“I couldn’t watch it,” I told her.
“You’re the only one who hasn’t seen it then,” she said. “It’s had more than five million hits.”
Sigh.
I was thrilled life was almost back to normal but I hadn’t enjoyed the notoriety. People stopped me on in the supermarket and talked about my husband as if he were Jean-Claude Van Damme. Young twenty-somethings would squeal, “Your husband is so HOT.”
That was a different worry.
I finished twirling my curling iron and spun Mrs. Oscar around. “How’s that?” I asked.
Her response was interrupted by the owner of Live Signage Marketing. Sarah Binford shot into my workroom waving her arms as if she were flagging down vehicles in front of Wendy’s Wooden Weejuns.
“Tracy, I’m being nibbled to death by ducks!”
“What do you mean?”
“Somehow my credit card is being charged fifty cents extra for this and twenty cents extra for that and I don’t know who’s doing it.”
“Sounds like skimming to me!” crowed Mrs. Oscar.
I had no idea what skimming was, but I aimed to find out.
Don’t Miss the Sequel:
Cutting for Fun & Profit
Tracy Lemon, owner of the Citrus Salon in a small western city, thinks she’s married to the handsomest, sexiest policeman on the planet. But deep inside, husband Carl is still haunted by charges of police brutality after killing a Ute Indian in self-defense. Chief of Police Fort Dukes has passed him over for a detective position and hired Dwight Bassoon from the Los Angeles police force. When Carl is demoted to the traffic division, his feelings of remorse and despair trickle over into the couple’s private life. Since Carl is barred from assisting Bassoon in any cases, Tracy and her friends must prove the innocence of Dixie Service, gas station cashier and mother of five, who is arrested for “skimming” credit card information. Meanwhile, the cousin of Tracy’s 85-year-old client Mrs. Oscar returns from the Korean War after suffering from amnesia for 50 years. He cuts open an old safe and discovers a scandal that could cost Chief Fort Dukes his job. Margaret, Tracy’s main partner in crime, is dating a luxury safari tour leader, and Linda Ironback, the oil field roustabout who’s desperate to find a man, may just hold the key to making Detective Bassoon rush back where he came from.
About the Series
Cutting for Fun & Profit is the second in a series of Citrus Salon mysteries. In the first novel Petty Crimes & Head Cases, Tracy Lemon learns how to help her policeman husband solve crimes for the sole reason of furthering Carl’s career. Nine cases explore today’s pressing social issues—petty theft, prescription drug abuse, Medicare fraud, meth cooking, animal cruelty, gay rights, and police brutality. Told with subtle humor about a quirky cast of characters, Petty Crimes & Head Cases conveys the humanity in today’s cops who have difficult bosses, tender family ties, and a deep sense of moral justice.
About the Author
At the turn of the millennium, Lola Beatlebrox changed her hair color. Since then she’s logged more than 500 hours in the hairdresser’s chair. The Citrus Salon mysteries were born from an infatuation with crime news stories that cause readers to marvel at the folly of mankind. Lola lives on a ranch near Park City, Utah, with her husband, three dogs and four llamas.