Beauty Expos Are Murder

by Libby Klein

  “That’s right. And were you aware that eyewitnesses placed her at the scene where a young boy was shot in cold blood in his apartment last Thursday?”

  “If you mean Idel Rotnitzky, she may not be the most reliable witness. Especially after she’s been hitting the whiskey.”

  He grinned. It was friendly and warm but had an edge of patronizing. He was smug. On second thought, he wasn’t that good-looking. This wasn’t polite chitchat. He was trying to trick me into giving something away to incriminate Amber.

  “I know that Amber is a friend of yours.”

  Then you obviously haven’t looked into her past arrests.

  “And you want to help her. But I must warn you, she hasn’t been truthful with you. She hasn’t told you everything.”

  “Like what?”

  “Did you know we found a handgun on the victim’s premises?”

  “Did you?”

  “Well, that gun was confiscated in a domestic disturbance eight weeks ago. The officer who confiscated the weapon was Officer Amber Fenton.”

  I had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get right after you eat something, and the last bite tastes not quite right, and you know the day isn’t going to end well.

  “Officer Fenton filed a report on the incident and the handgun seizure, as an officer is required to do, but the gun was never logged into evidence, according to procedure. Now, what are the odds, do you suppose, that a bullet, pulled from the chest of the victim, would match that very handgun?”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Well, I’ll tell ya. About one in four hundred million.”

  I swallowed hard. “Did you check the gun for prints?”

  He tapped me on the knee like he was proud of me for coming up with that question. “We sure did. And you know what? The gun had been wiped clean. Now, why do you suppose that is?”

  “I would suppose that the killer wanted to frame a decorated officer of the law and didn’t want his fingerprints on the weapon to mess up his plans.”

  Kieran Dunne kept smiling, but his eyes flashed anger. “Why are you helping her?”

  “Who says I am? I’m only pointing out that your argument has holes in it.”

  He leaned down until we were practically nose to nose. “So, I guess we’ll be putting you down as an accomplice, Poppy Blossom McAllister.”

  “You can put me down as whatever you want. It won’t make me guilty of anything.”

  “Dunne!” An officer in a white dress shirt poked his head around the corner. “What are you doing?”

  Kieran took out a pair of tortoiseshell glasses and slid them on. “Conducting my investigation, Chief. Surely you don’t have a problem with that?”

  The man came to stand beside Kieran Dunne. He was tall, probably my height. His mink-brown hair was graying at the sideburns. He had a medium build and a slim waist, with a badge hooked onto one side of his belt that said Chief of Police. His sleeves were rolled up and he was wearing a leather shoulder holster that was soft and faded, the brass buckles having lost the shine from their finish. I would have expected the police chief to look like he had a drawer full of punch cards for Dunkin’ Donuts, but he was very fit. I sucked in my stomach.

  “We have protocols here. You can’t interrogate a witness on the floor of the station house. That’s what the interview rooms are for. Besides.” He turned and smiled at me. “Miss McAllister isn’t fully processed yet.” He put a hand on my chair. “I’ll take it from here.”

  Kieran Dunne leaned down with his hands on the arms of my chair and growled a raspy threat. “I will prosecute Officer Fenton to the fullest extent of the law and I’ll make sure you go down with her.”

  The chief’s voice was gruff. “That’s enough.”

  I glared at the IA officer. “What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Or do they only teach you how to make threats in Internal Affairs?”

  With my head held high, I stood up. My underwear did not stand up with me. They rolled down in a twist of horror that made me appear to have a rope tied around the top of my thighs under my threadbare yoga pants. Chief Fischer had the decency to act like he hadn’t noticed and led me across the room of police officers and perps being processed. With my eyes straight ahead and my knees together, I clenched and followed behind.

  CHAPTER 39

  “I’m sorry about that. Internal Affairs is the butt crack of the police force. You know they’re necessary, but you never want to see one in your face.” He flicked on the bright, overhead lights and motioned to a chair opposite his desk. “Please, sit.” He leaned back in his chair till it bounced a little. “Officer Crabtree tells me you were with Officer Fenton while trespassing in an abandoned warehouse. Is that right?”

  This might have been part of good cop/bad cop, but I was still mulling over the butt-crack analogy. I was also wondering if he’d noticed I’d hiked my underwear back up when he was turned around.

  He picked up my arrest documents to review them. “Do you want something to drink? Some coffee, tea?”

  I shook my head. “No thank you.” I caught sight of a framed photo of a collie on his desk. “That’s a beautiful dog.”

  He swiveled the photo toward me and smiled. “This is Clementine. She’s my baby. It’s my ex-wife’s name, but I’ve had more loyalty and affection from the dog.”

  The tune from Huckleberry Hound invaded my mind and I giggled under my breath.

  “So, what were you and Amber looking for?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

  “Just tell me this. Did she find anything useful to prove her innocence? She’s a good cop—maybe one of my best—and I trust her, but she’s given me nothing to work with to defend her actions, and IA is breathing down my neck to prosecute. You met Kieran Dunne. He’s a little dog with a big bark.”

  He had kind eyes, and he didn’t look down on me the way Kieran Dunne had. But this wasn’t my world in here. I didn’t know who to trust. I barely trusted Amber and I’d known her for thirty-five years. So I was careful not to give him any evidence he didn’t already have. “We know that Temarius Jackson was at the warehouse before he died because he left fingerprints on the keypad, but we didn’t find anything that proves who killed him or why.”

  Chief Fischer sighed and folded his hands. “She’s running out of time. As it is, I have to put her in a cell overnight for obstruction of justice and evidence tampering. She can bond out in the morning.”

  The officer who had pulled the gun from the dumpster walked past the office and the chief called him in. “Simmons. Come here.”

  This was the first time I’d seen Officer Simmons up close and not through a rearview mirror. He was young and pale blond, with pink skin and a broad forehead with brown eyes too close together. His lips were too pink, like he’d just eaten a cherry Popsicle. He glanced at me and held my tank top too long in his sight. Simmons was a smarmy-looking cop. The kind you’d expect to suspect you’re hiding evidence so he’d have just cause to pat you down. “Yeah, Chief?”

  “Hey, where’s Fenton right now?”

  “Pru’s got her in a holding cell with that drunk and disorderly.”

  “No. Get her out of there. Tell Officer Crabtree to put Fenton in the overflow cage. We don’t put cops in Gen Pop.”

  Simmons took off to rescue Amber. I felt sorry for her. She didn’t hesitate to lock me up, but still. This had to be hard on her. I wished I had some Juicy Fruit gum to offer her.

  Chief Fischer leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together. “I’m releasing you on your own recognizance. You’ll have some paperwork to fill out and you’ll get a notice in the mail advising you of your court date. In the meantime, stay away from Amber. It’s for your own good. And don’t worry, I’ve got her back. I’ve got my best cops working on finding the truth. We won’t let her take the rap on this.”

  He stayed at his desk, but hollered through the door, “Consuelos!”

  Officer Consuelos po
ked his head in the room and checked for me. “Yes, Chief?”

  “Have Miss McAllister sign the OR papers and make sure she gets home safely.”

  Officer Consuelos waved his fingers for me to come with him. I stood and joined him at the door.

  “And Ben, find out what Dunne is up to.” The chief quirked an eyebrow.

  Officer Consuelos nodded. “Understood.” He walked me back to his desk and gave me the paperwork to fill out. He also let me make a phone call for someone to pick me up.

  While I waited an eternity for my ride to arrive, I watched the police come and go. Their wary eyes always checking me out to see if I was a threat. Officer Simmons returned with a box of coffees and doughnuts from Wawa, and the other officers swarmed his desk. Prudence Crabtree tried to take two and said one was for the chief. She was accused of being a kiss up and put the coffee back with a rude gesture. The chief eventually came out and got his own coffee and told Simmons to bring it directly to him next time.

  A code came in over the loudspeaker and there was a sudden shift in mood. Cops started gathering their gear to go on patrol, and those who worked behind desks made themselves look busy. I heard a squgg squgg squgg come down the hallway issuing unsolicited advice. “Gladys, I love the new hair color. It matches the veins on your cheek. Mike, you’ve been hitting the doughnuts, I see. Those bad guys’ll be able to outrun you if you’re not careful. Ben, I didn’t know you worked the graveyard shift. Weren’t you at the Expo all day yesterday?” Aunt Ginny had arrived to take me home.

  Officer Consuelos didn’t get away fast enough. “Yes, Mrs. Frankowski. We’re working rotating shifts until Memorial Day. I should have left at midnight.”

  Aunt Ginny took a look at me and her eyes popped. “Holy cow! Did you walk out of the house in that getup?”

  I gave her a slow nod.

  She doubled over laughing. “Tell Carl I want a copy of that mug shot.”

  Officer Consuelos, the rat, promised Aunt Ginny he would let Carl know. I mouthed a warning to him, but it made him more amused.

  Most of the cops had scattered to their corners, and I made a show of finishing my paperwork while Aunt Ginny slipped me something out of her girdle. “I hope this is what you’re looking for. It took forever to charge on that USB cord on the computer.”

  “This is it.” I took the burner phone and held it under Officer Consuelos’s desk. I turned it on and prayed it wouldn’t sing a song or anything.

  A policewoman started heading toward us and Aunt Ginny sprang in front of me. “I want to file a complaint about a recent crime wave against my lawn ornaments.”

  She’ll regret coming to work today. The call log screen came up; I hit Redial and held my breath. Across the room, I heard a phone vibrating on a metal desk but couldn’t pinpoint its location. No one reached for anything. I was just about to hang up when a cop came around the corner carrying coffee and a sandwich. He heard the buzzing, went to the desk, put down the coffee and picked up the phone. “Yeah?”

  I heard the “yeah” come through the burner. I disconnected and, as nonchalantly as I could, walked to the hallway where Aunt Ginny had cornered the policewoman. I grabbed Aunt Ginny by the arm. “She’ll call it in later. We gotta go.”

  I dragged her to the front desk, afraid the burner phone would ring any second and we’d be discovered. I furiously tried to turn it off, but it had a will to live and refused to power down.

  Aunt Ginny collected her purse and driver’s license and we fast walked to her car, trying to avoid suspicion. “Who was it? Who’s the handler?”

  I kept looking behind me to see if we were being followed. I dove in the passenger side and shut the door. Once Aunt Ginny pulled out of the parking lot I could breathe again. “Your driving has really improved. You haven’t come close to hitting anything yet.”

  She held up a pack of gummies with one green bear left. “I think I see better with the sugar rush.”

  Aunt Ginny had shown up at the police station to bail me out high on gummy bears.

  “So? Get on with it! Who answered the burner?”

  “The head of the Internal Affairs investigation, Kieran Dunne.”

  CHAPTER 40

  “I know you don’t like it when I come into your room when you’re asleep, but we have to leave in twenty minutes to go to church with your potential future mother-in-law, so you may want to get up now.”

  My eyes popped open and my heart cranked to a sprint. I knocked my phone off the nightstand trying to check the time. I forgot to charge it. Oh no. I fell out of bed and ran to the bathroom. “Why did you wait so long to come and get me?”

  Aunt Ginny was serenely sitting at my desk in a pink-floral ensemble and a coordinating spring hat. She even had on her Sunday heels. She’d apparently been up preening for hours. “Because you said not to sneak in here when you’re sleeping anymore.”

  “Yeah, but you did it anyway. I’m just saying, why didn’t you do it sooner?” I splashed cold water on my face and dabbed some depuff cream under my eyes.

  “I started to get worried when you slept through breakfast. Don’t panic; Joanne had it covered. She made the cutest little fruit salad Easter baskets out of cantaloupe halves. I only came to get you because this is the first family event we’ve been invited to and I don’t want us to make a bad impression.”

  I didn’t have time for the elaborate hairstyle I’d been planning for days. I brushed my hair out with a dab of styling oil and wound it into a French twist with one loose ringlet down the side. At least I’d gotten all the twigs and leaves out from last night’s overzealous SWAT raid. “Did you save me a fruit salad?”

  “No. Joanne said fruit wasn’t keto, so she didn’t make you one. But she left a protein bar on the counter with a sticky note that says, ‘Happy Easter.’ I thought that was nice of her.”

  That was passive-aggressive of her, and Joanne knew I would pick up on it. I blended in some color corrector to hide my sallowness and dark circles. “How much time do I have left?”

  “Twelve minutes. We weren’t supposed to take anything, were we?”

  I stopped midswipe under my eye. “Oh crap. I don’t know. I’m sure we at least need a hostess gift. What am I gonna do now?” I grabbed my eyeliner.

  “I’ll take care of it. You can’t think of everything. You were up until past two trying to do a good deed for Amber. She always was a high-maintenance little thing. Remember when she went home early from that Halloween party because of a few peeled grapes?”

  I came out of the bathroom and threw open my closet. “Yeah. She mentioned that she was still traumatized about that.”

  “Silly girl. She’s lucky she didn’t put her hand in the Jell-O. I had your great-grandfather’s dentures in there.”

  I pulled on a pale-yellow sundress and turned so Aunt Ginny could zip me up. Figaro pushed his face against the door and wedged his way into the room. He was wearing a bright-pink bow tie and had a little tan top hat sticking off the side of his head. “Oh my Lord, just look at you. You are so handsome, Fig!” I wanted to pick him up, but I couldn’t be covered in cat hair for lunch at Momma’s house.

  Figaro dropped to a roll and lifted his back leg for a special Easter wash.

  Aunt Ginny nudged him with her foot. “That was a present from Dale and Patsy. Wait until you see Portia. They had a photo session before breakfast. I’m pretty sure there will be hell to pay later. Figaro looks irritated in every picture.”

  I grabbed my pale-yellow sweater and slipped on my chunky white heels. “Let’s go.”

  Aunt Ginny held up her hand. “Not so fast. Where are your blue diamond earrings?”

  “I can’t.”

  “You need to make a statement that you’re in this for keeps. He’ll understand.”

  I opened my jewelry box and took out the gift I’d received for Valentine’s Day. “Are you sure?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  * * *

  Portia lounged in between Patsy and Da
le on the love seat in the sitting room, wearing a fuchsia tutu, a tiara clipped in the fur on top of her head. I stopped long enough to give a snort of delight. “You look adorable.”

  Dale held up his cell phone to show me the photo with Fig. “Here they are together.”

  Portia was clearly used to posing for publication. She looked like a Cat Fancy supermodel. Figaro, however, looked like he’d been given cold oatmeal for breakfast. His ears were pinned flat and he couldn’t hold his head from the burden of the very heavy top hat. His orange eyes were slightly squinty, so I knew he was planning vengeance for later. “That’s awesome.”

  Dale asked if he could put the picture on Portia’s website, and I assured him that we would love that.

  Aunt Ginny jerked her head toward the door in a we-gotta-go move. I told Dale and Patsy I’d see them this afternoon and we headed to my car.

  * * *

  Our Lady Star of the Sea was on the Washington Street Mall, two blocks down from La Dolce Vita. A beautiful gothic church built from gray granite and limestone with an eighty-foot-tall bell tower that was now ringing the call to Mass.

  We stood on the front steps waiting for Gia, wondering what to do next.

  “Poppy, over here.” Karla waved us over from inside the Romanesque archway. “Gia has saved you and your aunt seats with the family.”

  Aunt Ginny and I followed Gia’s sister up the aisle while trying not to gawk. The interior was cream and gold and beautiful in its own right—like cathedrals I’d visited in Rome years ago. But the real beauty was in the stunning, stained-glass windows. Sparkling jewel tones depicting scenes from the Bible that were even more beautiful from outside when all lit up at night.

  Karla led us to a wooden pew at the front and indicated that we were to sit in the empty spots on the end. Farther down the pew in the middle was Oliva Larusso, Gia’s momma. Dressed in her festive Easter blacks, she grimaced when she saw me and crossed herself.

  I tried to encourage Aunt Ginny to climb in ahead of me, but she grunted and swiveled to my back. So I slid in toward Momma and left an empty spot between us for Gia, who still hadn’t arrived. I repeatedly looked over my shoulder to see if he was coming up the aisle. I was still angry about that wiseguy stunt that was pulled at the Expo yesterday, and I was hoping to get a chance to speak to him about it before Mass began. I yawned, and Momma caught me. She did not look pleased that I wasn’t giving full respect for the Lord’s sacrifice even though I’d only had a few hours of sleep and the service hadn’t begun yet.