Beauty Expos Are Murder

by Libby Klein

  DEADLY BEAUTY

  I bagged a couple muffins and headed to the Rubinesque booth. I let myself in through the main tent entrance and was beaten in the head with strobe lights like I had entered an underground nightclub. Not that I would know what that was like exactly, but I’d seen it on TV.

  I held up my arm to shield my face from the flashing. As my eyes adjusted, I could see that the Rubinesque booth had been ransacked worse than ours. Boxes and tubes of skin-care products were strewn all over the place. Client postcards littered the floor like my sugar packets. And hot-pink paper had been shredded like Easter grass.

  “Dr. Rubin, are you here?” There was no answer, so I followed the flashes to his treatment room and called him again. “Dr. Rubin?”

  The treatment room smelled like someone had burned a ham—that acrid smell that comes from boiling sugar until it looks like charcoal. I looked around to see where it was coming from, and that’s when one of the creepy masks looked back at me. It was lying on a treatment bed, flashing through several colors, with smoke pouring out from the eyes. The bed was lumpy, and I had a sinking feeling that I knew what I would find under the sheet. I only lifted a corner, but I would recognize that blue star sapphire anywhere.

  I reached for his wrist and didn’t find a pulse.

  This had to be Dr. Lance Rubin and he was most definitely dead....

  Books by Libby Klein

  CLASS REUNIONS ARE MURDER

  MIDNIGHT SNACKS ARE MURDER

  RESTAURANT WEEKS ARE MURDER

  THEATER WEEKS ARE MURDER

  WINE TASTINGS ARE MURDER

  BEAUTY EXPOS ARE MURDER

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  Beauty Expos Are MURDER

  LIBBY KLEIN

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  DEADLY BEAUTY

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  EPILOGUE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  RECIPES

  Notes

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2021 by Lisa Schwartz

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  The Kensington logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp.

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-3313-9

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3316-0 (ebook)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-3316-9 (ebook)

  For Tim and Gia

  Love leaves a mark on our hearts forever.

  CHAPTER 1

  I don’t care how good-looking a man is, somewhere there’s a woman who’s fed up with him.

  “Bella, it’s not what you think.”

  I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand. I bet Adam said the same thing to Eve in the Garden. “It never is.”

  Was this a joke? Did Aunt Ginny and the biddies put him up to this? The pained look on his face said this was really happening. I had to fight my every instinct to run home and cry. I could still feel his lips on mine. His heart beating against my chest. I had just declared my love to Gia only to have him blow my world apart by being married. I scanned through my memory for any mention of Alexandra. I thought she was dead. Didn’t he tell me she was dead? I distantly remember asking him if he was married. And where is his ring! If there is no ring, this isn’t my fault.

  I took a steadying breath and pulled out of Gia’s arms to look at the statuesque honey blonde, my cheeks turning to lava. All these months working side by side, he’d been stealing little pieces of my heart. We’d talked for hours, revealing the most intimate details of our lives, how does I have a wife never come up?

  A ripple of worry crossed Gia’s face and he searched my eyes. He reached to stroke my cheek and I jerked away, giving Alexandra a look of triumph. The bell to the front door chimed. No one moved. A moment later Gia’s sister, Karla, came into the kitchen, spun an about face, and made an immediate retreat.

  Alexandra took a step toward Gia and put her hand on his arm. “Giampaolo, darling, who is this that I’ve caught you kissing?”

  Tell me this isn’t happening. I felt like I was moving under water. My heart was sinking like a shipwreck. If you put your ear against mine, you’d hear a tsunami.

  Gia’s eyes flashed hot disgust as he removed Alexandra’s hand from his arm. “You lost the right to touch me a long time ago.” He reached for me again and I arched away. “Bella, please. Let me explain.”

  I was almost gone. I had my hand on the door, ready to pull the trigger, when I felt a tiny pat on my hip.

  Henry scrunched his face up and his glasses moved a fraction before sliding back down his nose. “Poppy, where are you going?”

  I swallowed hard. I recognized that scared puppy look. So small and confused. I forced a smile and kneeled to face him. “Nowhere, buddy. Everything’s fine.” I tapped Henry on the nose. “Do you know how special you are to me?”

  A grin split his face and he nodded.

  Alexandra reached for him. “Henry, come back to Mommy now, darling.”

  Henry cut wary eyes toward her and he buried himself into my side.

  Gia spoke through clenched teeth. �
��He has never seen you before today. Don’t you think you are being ridiculous?” He squatted down to face me; his blue eyes were the gray of a coming storm. “Bella, nothing is as it seems.”

  Alexandra took two quick steps toward Gia and Henry, but before the words, “Darling please,” had fully crossed her lips, Gia gave her a look so fierce and cold that it took my breath away. I didn’t understand the string of Italian he spat at her, but I knew I never wanted him to look at me that way. Alexandra crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

  Gia took my hand. “Let’s take Henry to Momma’s and I will explain everything. Please?” His eyes pleaded with mine.

  For months I’d kept my heart locked away to protect it from being hurt, and the very minute I took a leap of faith, I turned into Wile E. Coyote and plummeted. I’d always let my circumstances control me. I’d laid down under fear, shame, disappointment. I didn’t know how this would end. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or maybe I’d just repeated the biggest mistake of my life. But this time no one was going to choose my fate but me. One of these people was my enemy and I needed to find out which one. I glanced at Alexandra and told Gia, “You go. I’ll wait here until you get back.”

  Gia looked uncomfortably from me to the strange blonde in the room. I could see a battle raging in his eyes. He spoke softly to Henry as he led him from the shop. “Come, Piccolo. Nonna has chocolate milk and bom-boloni.”

  I sized up Alexandra while she made an equally visible inspection of me. As soon as the bell in the front announced that Gia had exited the shop, she grinned like a cat with a cornered mouse. Then her eyes melted into soft pools that made her look like a Disney fairy. Her hair was the color of spun gold and she was willowy and pale and beautiful like a porcelain statue. She was the exact opposite of Gia, who was dark and broad and strong. Henry clearly got his coloring and features from his . . . mother. It was like finding the last few pieces to a puzzle you’d been working on, and now that it was finished you couldn’t believe how much you had missed before. She reached for my hand, and a single tear rolled down her perfect peach cheek. She even cries pretty.

  “Please don’t think I am horrible. I don’t know what you’ve been told about me.”

  You’d be surprised at how little I know.

  “I can tell that you are very special to my son. Thank you for being here for him when I couldn’t be.” She sighed. “It’s good to be home. I’ve missed everyone terribly.” She brushed the tear away and her face brightened. “Oh, I am so ashamed. I don’t even know your name. Did I hear Henry call you Poppy? Like grandpa?”

  Her words dripped with honey but had a sting. Something about her made me unreasonably angry. I took a moment to swallow my terror. “Like the poisonous flower.”

  She smiled and nodded. “How pretty. And please, call me Alex. All my friends do.” She took a step back and leaned against the granite counter, its flecks of silver winking under the pendant lights.

  A memory flashed before my eyes of Gia holding me against that same spot, speaking careless whispers that he loved me. I swatted the memory away. “So, how is it we’ve never met before?”

  Alexandra looked around the cobalt-blue kitchen. She traced the lines on the teal peacock of the KitchenAid stand mixer that Gia had given me when I first started working at La Dolce Vita. She sighed. “I’ve been away. I guess you know that I wasn’t well after Henry was born. Gia and I were so excited to welcome our little one into the family, but then I became very ill. Gia said he would give me time to rest and get better, but he took Henry and disappeared.”

  “You’re saying Gia kidnapped Henry?”

  She twisted her hands together and hung her head.

  What is that? Is that a yes or a no?

  “Those were painful days. I didn’t have any friends in Philly. No one I could talk to. I wanted to die, and I almost did without my little boy.” She turned her face to be sure I saw the tear on her lashes before she wiped it away. Her smile was soft but reflected a hard shell beneath the surface. “I’m back now, and no matter what Gia tells you, I’m here to stay. I’m Henry’s mother and no one can take that away from me. You understand, don’t you? What am I saying, of course you do. You probably have children of your own. You are not exactly young.”

  Her words were like a kidney punch. Her eyes drilling into mine as she was waiting for me to give information that I refused to give. I held my poker face and waited.

  She started to fidget with the tie dangling from an apron on a hook. “I’m sure my husband has been up to all kinds of games while I’ve been away. He is Italian, after all. But I finally have a chance to get my family back and I’m going to fight for them. Gia is very angry with me, but soon he’ll remember that he used to call me his treasure.”

  The front bell chimed again, and Alexandra swayed toward me and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to be a home-wrecker. You’ve just been enticed by the Italian charm. But you need to walk away for your own good. Trust me, Gia isn’t who you think he is.”

  Gia marched into the kitchen, his mouth set in a grim line. In one fluid motion he put his hand on my back, broke Alexandra’s contact, and led me out the back door with a slam.

  We walked the block and a half to the beach in silence, the stress enveloping us like smoke at a medical marijuana clinic. I followed Gia up the ramp to the boardwalk and we found an empty bench overlooking the dunes. The sound of crashing waves drove my blood pressure down. How did I ever live in Virginia without this? Oh yeah . . . Pop-Tarts.

  Gia draped his arm across the back of the bench and looked toward the ocean. “It must be high tide. The waves are close.” His dark hair fluttered lightly in the breeze.

  I expect the Valentine’s Day massacre also began as a nice day. I rubbed my arms against the chill. I did not anticipate this turn of events when I ran out of the house to tell this man that I loved him or I would have grabbed a jacket. And maybe a Valium. I never expected a wife to appear after weeks of promises and innuendo. I should have known he was too good-looking to be single.

  Gia sighed. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

  Anger shot up to the roots of my red hair and a couple new freckles popped out on my face. “Yeah. I bet not! But then, what is a good way to say, ‘I’m married’?”

  He turned to me, the picture of calm with just a hint of sadness. “I haven’t been married since Henry was born and Alex took off with another man.”

  Oof. That was a punch in the heart. “She said you took Henry away from her and disappeared.”

  Gia’s eyes narrowed. He breathed out a bitter little chuckle as he turned back toward the ocean. “Alex says a lot of things. Usually whatever she thinks will get her sympathy for the moment. I did not take Henry and disappear. After Alex left us, I moved to Cape May to be with my family, and she knew that. Momma’s restaurant has been in the same spot for fifteen years.”

  My cheeks flamed and my eyes stung. “Why don’t you fill me in on your side of the story?”

  “Momma and Alex’s father are from the same neighborhood. Vincenzo Scarduzio is a very powerful man. He helped Momma get us to America after our father died. One by one we got citizenship. So, when Signor Scarduzio said he wants his daughter to come to America, he asked our family to help. He does not want her to go to her cousins in Philly. Alex was different then. She lived with us. Momma gave her a job in the restaurant at night and she went to college during the day. One day Signor Scarduzio said he wants me to show Alex around. She was young and beautiful. She made me feel very smart and very strong. I fell in love with her and we got married. She wanted to move near her cousins, so we went. That was the beginning of Hell.”

  I was starting to feel like yesterday’s pork roll left out in the sun after the beautiful, young Alex soliloquy when a couple of female Coast Guard cadets jogged past, giving Gia a long once-over. I sucked my stomach in and wrapped my arms tighter around me. I’d already felt enough jealousy for o
ne day.

  Gia shifted to face me. “I soon found out there was another Alex. Once she had a green card, the sweetness fell away and the real Alexandra came out. She would disappear for days and not tell me where she went. She emptied our bank account many times and I had to borrow money from Momma to pay the bills. I caught her cheating and she laughed in my face.” He shook his head and watched a seagull dragging a curly fry down the boardwalk.

  “Why didn’t you leave her?”

  “I was not the best husband. I work too much. I drink with my brothers too often. But I never cheat on her. I try to make it work. After two years I tell Alex I’m leaving, but she tells me she is pregnant. . . .”

  I could see where this was going. I would have to be compassionate because he stayed with her for Henry and I did not appreciate it at all.

  “Bella, Momma is very religious. She does not approve of divorce. She says I will dishonor God and the family if I leave Alex. Then things will not go well for us with Vincenzo Scarduzio. And we did not want to cross Vincenzo Scarduzio. But all I cared about was I had baby coming. So, I stay.”

  I listened to Gia closely and almost smiled through the pain. The more upset he gets, the stronger his accent becomes.

  “I try to work on the marriage. I suggest counseling. Alex agreed, but two weeks after Henry is born, Alex is gone. She left a note that she felt suffocated and does not want to be tied down. If it were not for Momma and my sisters, I do not know what would have happened to us. I do not know how to take care of a baby. So, I move back to my family in Cape May. I swear off women. I am done with love. And then you come along.” He ran his hand down my arm. “With your red hair and giant blue eyes, and that horrible pink feather dress. You wear your heart on the outside. I was caught. When you left my shop, I called Zio Alfio and told him to find Alex, whatever it takes, and make her agree to the divorce. I was ready to move on. It has taken him months, at last he found her.”