by Tonya Kappes
It wasn’t long until I had the hearse pulled up to the curve on Rose Lane, right in front of Stevon’s on Rose. Stevon’s was like most businesses in this area, small cottage-style homes that have been turned into high-end shops.
“May I help you?” The man with slicked-back gray hair, skintight black pants, flip-flops with toes manicured better than mine and a tight black V-neck short-sleeved knit top greeted me as soon as I opened the door, his man-scaped brows cocked. He lifted his chin, his eyes drew down his nose and he stared at me. He hugged an iPad in his hand.
“I would like to get a seaweed wrap.” I smiled and looked behind him in what looked like it used to be a family room. A head with a white towel twisted up on her head peeked over the back of the couch that faced a glowing fireplace.
“Facial,” Charlotte quickly corrected me.
“I mean facial.” I smiled.
“Okay.” Dramatically the man lifted his finger in the air, at shoulder length, and curved it down on the iPad, poking away. “I can get you in this time next year.”
“Next year?” I noticed his unresponsiveness to my are-you-joking-me tone.
Charlotte rushed into the room with the fireplace. The flames blew out. The woman on the couch turned around and looked at me and the man.
“That’s her!” Charlotte pointed. “Killer!”
I gulped and smiled at the man.
“Yes, next year.” He didn’t budge a smile or a frown. His face was stone cold stiff, along with his eyes. “One moment.”
He set the iPad on the small table next to the door and scurried over to re-light the electric logs in the fireplace.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Hardgrove,” he profusely apologized.
“Un, un.” Charlotte shimmied a little as she stood over the iPad and used her finger to poke, swipe and type. “Now tell him that you have an appointment today.”
“I had an appointment today.” My voice was less than assuring.
“No.” His face pruned. “I don’t think so.” He crossed his skinny arms in front of him. His eyes slid to the door.
“Tell him to look again,” Charlotte demanded.
“Can you just look one more time?” I asked nicely. “Please?”
He let out a long huff and did that swiping routine with his finger. While he looked for my name, I noticed there were two changing rooms on the left, a hallway and the room where Mrs. Hardgrove was relaxing.
He blinked a couple of times. His lashes flew open. He looked at me with surprise.
“Emma Lee Raines?” His voice faded to a hushed stillness. “It can’t be.” He looked again. “I’m sorry, Ms. Raines. I must’ve looked at the wrong day. We only have one client room with two clients a day. I have had the same two clients every morning, but it’s Stevon’s shop.” He flung his wrist in the air, before he pointed me to the door behind us. “You will find a robe on the back of the door and a fresh linen. When you have the robe on, you can come out here by the fireplace with Mrs. Hardgrove.”
“Mrs. Hardgrove.” Charlotte spit like the name put a bad taste in her mouth.
I smiled politely and disappeared into the changing room before whoever was supposed to be here got there and I was kicked out.
The clean, fresh spa smell was being pumped out from the floor vent. I had always wondered how a spa perpetually smelled like that. The room was all white. The furniture was all white, a bed, a chair and end table. The bed was covered in white linens and the chair had a white throw over the back. There was a fuzzy white rug in the center of the room. The bathroom was completely done in white tile, with a white claw-foot tub, and a clear glass bowl on top of a white wash sink.
“You are going to love the new mask this morning. There is a touch of peppermint added to the seaweed.” The male voice was a bit muffled and drifted up under the crack of the shut door. “I was surprised to see you had missed yesterday. It’s not like you.” His voice escalated.
I opened the door just a crack to make sure he was talking to Mary Katherine and when I saw it was only the two of them, I could confirm that Mary Katherine had missed her appointment yesterday morning. Not that it placed her killing Charlotte—it hadn’t because Charlotte was killed after I had seen her later in the morning—but it did confirm that Mary had missed her standing appointment here at Stevon’s.
I walked over to the bed where there was a white robe and fresh linen neatly folded. I took my clothes off and put them in the bin, and put on the robe as he instructed. I felt a little odd going out to the room and sitting down next to Charlotte’s killer. I might’ve been putting the cart before the horse, but everything added up for her to kill my sister.
I took a deep breath, telling myself to keep my composure, and walked out of the room.
“Hi,” I said to Mary Katherine when I reached the couch.
I sat down next to her where a small bowl of water was placed on the floor next to her small bowl of water. I mimicked Mary Katherine and put my feet in the water. Her head was leaned against the back of the couch, so I leaned my head exactly like her. Her hands were crossed in her lap and so did I. Finally, I closed my eyes like her. She never breathed a word.
I had never seen her before. She had pale white skin, pink full lips, black thick lashes. She was a very attractive woman. For a second I wondered why on earth Sammy Hardgrove would cheat on her. She did look a little like porcelain, which was usually cold to the touch, so maybe he was looking for Charlotte to warm him. Who knew? But I was here to get some answers and get out.
“Go on, ask her.” Charlotte was crouched down in front of Mary Katherine in a position I’d never thought I’d see Charlotte in. “Or just tell her that you know she killed me.”
“Good morning, ladies.” A large round woman with a heavy German accent greeted us with a big glass bowl of green slimy-looking leaves piled together. Mary Katherine stayed still, so I followed, keeping one eye open for good measure.
The woman stood behind the couch and reached around with a long piece of seaweed in her hand. She stuck it to Mary Katherine’s face in a circle, grabbing more and more seaweed.
When it came to my turn, I tried to close my eyes, but the smell of the seaweed about burned my nose hairs. It was so foul.
“Good golly.” I jumped up, flinging the damp pieces of seaweed against the fireplace. They stuck for a second before sliding down the wall and landing with a faint smack.
“I’ve never.” The German woman gasped, placing her large man hands on her big boobs. “I will not work with you.” She stomped out of the room.
I looked around. The man was gone from the front and Mary Katherine didn’t budge. Still stone. I leaned over and put my finger under her nose to see if I could feel any air coming out, because she was as still as a corpse.
“I’m alive.” Mary Katherine’s lips moved and I jumped back. “I’m just curious to know why you are here when I know that Clarice Thompson is supposed to be here. You see . . .” Mary Katherine tilted her face down and turned it toward me. The piece of seaweed on her forehead fell into her lap. “Clarice and I are best friends. We talk every morning before our treatment.” Her green eyes bore into me. “So what is it that you wanted to know about me? Are you my husband’s lover? Are you the one that is supposed to go to the Virgin Islands with him and he dumped your sorry, plain-Jane ass? Because believe me, I looked at you when you came in, and you must be a good lay because you sure couldn’t hold a candle to me.” She brought her hand up to her face and looked at her fingernails. She had one of those big diamond rings on her finger. There were enough carrots on her finger to feed a pasture full of horses. “Honey, he told me all about it last night when he was groveling for forgiveness. Begging me to keep him.”
“Hit her!” Charlotte jumped up and held her fists in the air.
“As a matter of fact, I’m the sister to your husband’s lover. The police found her dead in his apartment,” I shot back, waiting to see her reaction. “Did he tell you all that in his so-ca
lled confession to you?”
I was on fire mad. So mad, I cursed, which I usually never did. Not only did I blush on my way back to retrieve my clothes, but I was sure I’d made the devil blush. I wasn’t going to stay there a second longer.
“You didn’t get any answers.” Charlotte spat, “Some Betweener you are!”
“I can’t take it. It makes me so mad that Sammy and Mary Katherine Hardgrove can have whatever it is they want because they have money.” I jerked my sweatshirt over my head and pulled my hair out. “What were you thinking getting involved with him?”
I didn’t wait for her to respond before I got the rest of my clothes on and shot out the door.
“E-scuse me!” the man called from the front porch. He waved something in the air. “You forgot to pay!”
I stalked back up to the little house and grabbed the bill.
“Four hundred dollars? For what?” My jaw dropped and my voice escalated.
“Honey, the seaweed is only the top quality. Stevon should’ve told you that during the consult.” He put his hand on his hip and cocked his skinny panted leg out to the side. He stuck his hand out. “Cash for new clients.”
“Here is what I think about your seaweed!” I held the receipt up in front of him and ripped it in half.
“Oh!” He threw his hand to his chest and his mouth flung open wide. “I never!”
“Wait!” Mary Katherine stood in the doorway of Stevon’s. “I’ll pay for my new friend.”
She stepped out of the door and flung her wrist for the man to disappear back into the spa.
“Did you say dead?” Mary Katherine glanced at me sideways.
“I did.” I jerked a piece of seaweed that was dangling from my bangs. “You paying my bill is unnecessary.”
“It’s the least I can do for your grief.” She drummed her fingers together before she pointed behind me. “Is she . . .” Her eyes wandered to the back of the hearse.
“Do you honestly think that I’m hauling my sister around with me?” I asked.
She lifted her chin and looked down her nose at me before she tugged on the edges of the robe, gathering it together.
“You think Sammy killed her, don’t you?” Mary Katherine didn’t have a very good poker face. Nervously she rolled her bottom lip back and forth between her teeth.
I wasn’t thinking it. I knew it and I couldn’t discount Mary Katherine’s hand in it, though she did seem surprised by the news. I waited to answer her. Her eyes lowered like she was really pondering what she asked me. Granny once told me that sometimes silence was an answer, but I also knew that on those CSI shows, they wait out the suspects.
She lifted her hands and tucked the edges of the towel tighter around her head. “Do you think that he came home to come clean because he knew they would find her at his apartment?” She gulped. Her throat moved up and down. “And the wife doesn’t have to testify against the husband.” Her eyes popped like a cork on a champagne bottle.
“I never thought of that,” Charlotte grumbled. She sat on top of the hearse with her legs crossed and dangled over the side. Something else the living Charlotte would’ve never done.
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” sang from the pocket of her robe.
“Excuse me.” Mary Katherine stuck her hand in and pulled out her phone. She turned the screen toward me. “Him.”
Sammy’s name scrolled across her screen. She held up a finger and answered. I scratched an itch on my cheek.
“Hi, honey.” Her voice escalated. “What?” She paused. “Where?” Her voice held concern. “Now?” She let out a few “mms,” “okays” and “all rights” before she hung up the phone. She sucked in a deep breath, causing a piece of seaweed to fall off her face. “He needs me to call our attorney. The Lexington police have him in custody and are questioning him about her.” There was a hint of disgust in her voice.
My mind reeled. Was the tone change because she was disgusted about her husband killing my sister or because of Charlotte?
“Are you going to help me?” I asked. “Because I am going after him. I’ll do anything to see Sammy Hardgrove suffer.”
“Give me your phone.” She stuck her hand out. She had on the same ring Charlotte Rae was wearing. The Hardgroves must’ve gotten those in lots on wholesale.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m going to plug in my number and send your number to my phone. I’m going to call you when I figure out what is going on.” She jutted her hand forward. Her brows pointed into an upside-down V.
I took my phone out of my pocket and placed it in her hands. Her nails clicked away.
“There.” She gave it back. “I’ll be in touch. Do not come near our house or my husband until I give you a call or I won’t cooperate.”
She turned on her bare feet and started back up the walkway.
“Hey!” I called after her. “What’s in it for you?”
It occurred to me that she was being way too accommodating for a woman whose husband just told her that he had cheated on her and then was confronted at her daily seaweed facial by her husband’s lover’s sister informing her that said lover was found dead at her husband’s shack up apartment she didn’t know anything about.
“What’s in it for you?” My eyes narrowed when I asked her again. Something was wrong.
“Agreement!” Charlotte snapped. “Sammy was always telling me about their pre-nup agreement. She gets nothing if they just divorce. She gets it all if he cheats and she finds out.”
“I can’t be married to a murderer.” The words dripped out of her mouth a little too enthusiastically.
“Oh shit.” Charlotte sat stone-faced in the front of the hearse. “She’s going to drag him through the mud and my name . . .”
Charlotte reminded me of the conversation I had overheard between her and Gina Marie.
My phone rang.
“Granny.” My heart skipped a beat. It was the first time I’d talked to Granny since we’d slipped her a sleeping pill last night. “Hi, Granny.”
I got into the hearse and headed back toward Sleepy Hollow.
“Hi?” Granny sniffed. She whispered, “Everyone is here dropping off all sorts of crap food. Even Bea Allen dropped off a pineapple upside-down cake.” Granny huffed. “Pineapple upside-down cake. You and I both know that she uses crushed pineapples from a can. The juices are from concentrate. The nerve.” Granny harrumphed. “And your parents are off on some safari in Africa. The emergency contact people they gave me won’t be able to get them a message for at least three days!”
“Zula?” I heard Hettie Bell in the background. “Are you up?”
There was silence on the phone.
“Granny?” I asked, thinking she’d hung up on me.
“Shhh.” She waited for a few more seconds. “The Auxiliary women are taking shifts sitting outside my bedroom door. I’m about sick of this. I think Hettie slipped me a mickey in that green drink she made me.”
I’d rather Granny think it was Hettie than me. Being on the wrong side of Zula Fae Raines Payne was not fun.
“You are lucky to have such good friends,” I said, knowing that Granny needed all the help in the world despite her hardheadedness. “And you have me.”
“That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good.” My uh-oh alarm went off. Granny was up to something. And I had a feeling it was no good. She continued in her hushed voice, “I got my pistol from underneath my mattress and you are going to drive me to Hardgrove’s where I’m gonna put a piece of lead right between Sammy Hardgrove’s eyes and if we’re lucky, Gina Marie Hardgrove is gonna get what’s coming to her too.”
“Whoa.” I nearly drove the hearse over into the ditch before I jerked it back. “Granny. You can’t go around shooting people to justify Charlotte Rae’s murder.” I gripped the wheel and pushed the pedal down. I had to get to the inn quicker than a jackrabbit. Granny was about to go rogue.
“The shit she can’
t,” Charlotte chirped from the passenger side. “Get ’em, Granny!”
“You need to let Jack Henry be our advocate between the Lexington police and us. He will keep us up-to-date on what is going on. Now, what was it you said about Momma and Daddy and Africa?”
“I said that they are on some safari way out in the middle of Africa or something. Why on earth you would want to sit on a stinking elephant and sleep in the sand is beyond me, but regardless, the emergency contact your mama gave me said they won’t be able to deliver the message for a couple of days.” Granny choked back what I could only think to be a throat full of tears. “And to think their firstborn is sitting in some morgue waiting to be chopped on. My grandbaby.” Granny sobbed on the other end of the phone.
“Granny, please let Hettie in the room.” Suddenly it became apparent that Granny was losing her ever-loving mind. I understood. I was sure that if I didn’t have my gift of being with Charlotte Rae, I’d be going nuts too. My caller ID clicked in. It was Jack Henry. “Granny, I’ve got to go. Jack Henry is calling and I want to see if he knows something about Charlotte.”
“You call me back as soon as you get off with him. You understand?” Granny warned more than questioned. “Then I want you to find out when we can get Charlotte’s body home.”
“Yes, Granny.” I clicked over. “Hello?”
“Well, Sammy Hardgrove has an alibi.” Jack sounded exhausted. “He and his wife were at the airport with tickets to the Bahamas. He had an emergency at work so they didn’t go.”
“That’s a lie!” I blurted out. “He told Mary Katherine about the affair and he came begging for forgiveness. She had no idea about the apartment.”
“And Charlotte told you all this?” he asked.
“Uh-oh.” Charlotte grinned. “You just got caught.”
“Not exactly,” I muttered under my breath. I brought the hearse to a complete stop on the side of the road. I had to get my thoughts together. The files I had taken from Hardgrove’s slid off the seat and landed on the floorboard. “I . . . um . . .” I stalled for time, but then decided to just say it real fast. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. I knew it was going to hurt, but only sting for a minute. “I tracked Mary Katherine down to Stevon’s on Rose in Lexington. Charlotte told me that Mary went there every morning for her seaweed facial. Did you know that a seaweed facial is like four hundred dollars?” I asked and scratched the itch on my forehead.