by S. Y. Robins
“Hey.”
“Hi. I wondered if Gina was in.” Emma tried to make this sound like a perfectly normal request.
“Uh…” Sarah wavered.
“It’s nothing big, just something we talked about the other day. If she’s not here, that’s fine.” Emma was sure that Gina was here—they’d be short-staffed without her—but she wanted to put Sarah at ease.
“No, no, I’ll go get her.” Sarah threw a worried look over her shoulder and walked away warily, as if on eggshells.
Had Matt been right? Was the salon in trouble?
Emma waited, hands awkwardly stuffed in her pockets, until Gina appeared. The woman’s dark hair was pulled back in her usual messy bun, and her clothing was just as effortlessly perfect as ever. Emma knew that she should just ask the question and be done with it, but she felt an unexpected wave of guilt. Gina had been an almost perfect boss, charming and funny, very understanding when people got sick. More than anything, Emma had hoped that Gina would understand when she left. She had even expected that Gina would—but it hadn’t turned out that way.
“What?” Gina asked curtly. She didn’t seem at all pleased to see Emma.
“I wondered if we could talk. Just for a second.”
Gina sighed. “What is it?”
“Here’s the thing, we talked a couple of days ago and you said you were okay…” The words weren’t coming out right. She felt like she had forgotten how to make sentences,
“And?” Gina asked. She crossed her arms.
“Well…”
Gina waited. She didn’t seem ready to offer help.
“Are you really okay, having me go like this?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, Emma knew that the words were inadequate, and weeks too late.
“Am I okay?” Gina repeated. Her eyes flashed. “Am I okay?” She turned away, shaking her head. “I think you should go.”
“Gina—“
“What? What is it?”
“I just…I never meant to screw you over, okay?”
“Okay.” Gina ran her hands through her hair. “Fine. So you didn’t.”
“But you don’t think I did.” Emma was grasping at straws, torn between the desire to ask Gina what had happened the night the woman was murdered, and the simple, human desire not to have someone be mad at her. “Right?”
“Emma. I don’t need this right now.”
“You’re mad.” Emma nodded, looking away. “I get it.”
“No! You don’t get it!” Gina’s voice rose. “I’ve wanted to own a nail salon since I was five years old, and for a few years, I did. And then things started going wrong, and I did my best to hold it together, but the rent kept going up, and this place just isn’t good enough. You know what? I didn’t even want to run a business. I wanted to do nails. But instead I’ve been trying to hold everything together while it just keeps falling further and further apart.
“And then I find out that one of my best manicurists is leaving, and not just to start her own salon—to start it right where I wanted to start one five years ago. You’ve got investors, you’ve got your client list, everything is falling into place for you. But everything is falling apart for me. So no, Emma, you don’t understand.”
Emma stared at her, mouth hanging open. Behind Gina, in the shop, she could see stylists and customers craning to try to figure out what was going on.
“I…didn’t know,” she whispered finally. “Gina, I am so sorry—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Gina waved one hand. “Get out. Just…just get out.”
“Gina, if there’s anything I can do to help…”
“Help?” Gina looked around incredulously. “Helping would have been not putting the final two nails in the coffin. Get out, Emma.”
“But I—”
“Get. Out.”
And in that moment, Emma was sure without a shred of doubt that Gina had had nothing to do with the murder. She was trying to be angry and scary and the fact was, she was just hurt. Gina was looking defeat in the eyes, and she was clearly going to fight it out to the end…and then go home, defeated. Staring into her eyes, all Emma could see was frustration and the sense that none of this was fair. It was just bad luck.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, and she turned and left, trying to blink away the tears that were threatening. She had clung to the hope that she and Gina would be able to be friends when this was all over, and that everything was going to be all right. But there was too much going on here for her to have a hope in hell of any of that.
Bad luck.
She got back in her car and drove home, leaning her head back tiredly against the headrest. Vaguely, she could hear her phone buzzing, but she ignored it. If it was Gina, it was only going to be an apology she didn’t have time for that right now—and if it was Matthew, she didn’t want to hear another plea for her to get out of her lease. She parked and was halfway up to the third floor when Rob came pounding down to meet her.
“Thank God you’re here.” He reached for her hand, turning her around and leading her back down to the ground floor. “We have to go.”
“What? Why?”
He paused on the stairs, wavering. “I, uh…okay. Listen. The salon is on fire.”
“What?”
“There’s a fire. They just called. I called you, but—” He broke. “Come on, we have to go.”
“What?” She couldn’t seem to think of any other word.
“Come on. I’ll drive, you see if you can get in touch with them.” He pushed open the door and ushered her into the sunshine, plucking the keys from her hands and getting in the drivers side. He pulled out into traffic as Emma searched through her phone, listening to the messages.
“Oh God, oh God…”
“What is it?” Rob gave her a worried look.
“They don’t know how it started, but it looks like arson. Arson. Who would do this?” She sank her face into her hands.
“Do they know how bad it is?”
“No, they said someone spotted the smoke immediately and they were on their way. God, I should have picked up the phone sooner…”
“Hey.” Rob reached over to put one hand over hers. “The firemen are the ones who can put the fire out. So you just had less time to worry, right?”
Emma managed a watery laugh. “God, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His eyes were very warm. “And this is minor. Just a minor setback.” As they turned the corner and saw the cluster of fire trucks, he gave a low whistle. “Well, I can’t see flames. That’s good, right?”
“That’s…uh, I suppose so.” Emma was out of the car almost before it stopped, running along the street. “Excuse me! Hi.”
“Hi.” One of the firemen waved her over. “Are you the owner?”
“Yes. What happened?”
“Someone poured some gasoline in the back and set it on fire, is what happened.”
“Oh, no….”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I promise.” He beckoned her over to look in the window. “See?”
“I don’t see anything.” Emma squinted at the leather chairs, the red walls, the mirrors. Nothing seemed damaged at all.
“Exactly. It got the back door and some of the tile in the little entry way back there, and it started to melt a desk, but that’s all. Once you get the smell out, everything will be fine.”
“Oh.” Her heart was still pounding. “Wow. I…well, when I heard there’d been a fire…”
“If it had been anywhere else, you’d probably have something a lot worse to deal with right now. But this is Main Street, so someone saw the smoke. But…”
“But?”
“Well, all I’m saying is, whoever did this knew their stuff. And they had a key, because the lock back there isn’t busted.” He shrugged, and walked off as one of the other firefighters called for help with the hose.
“What did he say?” Rob was at her side.
“He said the person who did this had a ke
y.” Emma looked up at him. “A key.”
“And…”
“And only one person other than me has a key to this place.” Emma put her hands in her pockets.
“Oh, my God,” he said, when he realized.
“Exactly. If he couldn’t get me out one way…” She broke off as a police officer came up. “Hello. Ah, it looks like everything’s fine. But they said it was arson, so I’m not sure if I need to file a report, or…”
“Actually, I’m here to ask you about something else.” The policeman looked around himself, a bit uncertain with all the trucks and shouting.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Could you answer a few questions about the murder of Matthew Simons?”
Emma stared at him, mouth hanging open. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Matthew Simons was the man who owned this building.”
“I know that, he was my landlord. But you said…”
The policeman took in her incomprehension and his face grew gentle. “Ma’am, earlier today…Mr. Simons was found murdered.”
4
She was going to faint. The world slid sideways and Emma could only feel Rob’s arm around her and someone yelling to open the door to the salon. When she came to, she was on one of the leather chairs and Rob was cupping her face in his hands.
“Emma? Emma, are you all right?” He looked anguished. “Say something, please say something, baby.”
“They’re after me,” Emma told him.
She saw him cast a worried glance up at the police officer. “Who? Who’s after you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know! But first the woman in front of my apartment, Rob, and now this—“
“Shhh,” he said soothingly. “Shhh. Okay, listen to me. You were with me all day until about an hour ago, right? So we’ve got an alibi. And I was there at your place last night, so you’ve got an alibi for then, too. Em, I know this is scary, but they just need to ask some questions and they’ll figure out it wasn’t you, okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded jerkily and he helped her up, melting away while the officer cleared his throat nervously. This clearly wasn’t how he thought this would be going.
“I just have a few questions, ma’am.”
“Of course.” She was not going to faint again. She might, however, sink through the floor with shame that she’d fainted before. What was she, someone in a romance novel?
“When did you last see Mr. Simons?”
“Um…” Emma thought back. “Three days ago.”
“Really?” This seemed to interest him for some reason.
“Yes, he came here. To the salon. Rob was here with me, he can verify it.”
“I see.” Something in the policeman’s look said he’d be talking about this more later. “And what did you talk about?”
“He came to ask me again about giving up my lease.”
“You wanted to get out of your lease?” the policeman asked sharply.
Seeing him look around, taking in the fire damage at the back of the salon and the trucks still outside, Emma hastened to explain. “No! No. He wanted me to break the lease.”
“And when—wait, what?”
“Yes,” Emma explained earnestly. “About a week ago, he started asking me if I wouldn’t be happier moving the salon across town.”
“Huh.” The policeman scribbled something on the pad of paper. “I, uh…so you and Mr. Simons had been having bad feeling, then?”
“Well, not really.”
“Miss Thomas, why did he ask you to move the salon?”
“I don’t know,” Emma said, waving her hands. “He didn’t say. He never said.”
“Uh-huh.” The policeman’s tone said he clearly thought she was lying to him.
“I really don’t have any idea! Look, I thought he wanted me out because he’d gotten a better offer for the place, but I just said I wanted to be here. We had a lease, he couldn’t throw me out.”
“Hmm. Now, you said the last time you spoke to him was three days ago.”
“Yes.”
“But we show multiple calls between you two in the past three days.”
“Well, yes, but…” His eyes were fixed on her and she could hear how weak her words sounded. “But we didn’t see each other. We hardly even talked.”
“And what did you talk about?”
“We didn’t really, that’s the thing! He just asked if I wouldn’t consider leaving, and I said for the last time, no, I wouldn’t, and he called a few more times after that but I didn’t pick up.” Her voice was rising. “Officer, I swear I—“
“Is this really necessary?” Rob cut in. He was at Emma’s side, a comforting presence, his arm around her as he glared at the policeman.
“Sir…”
“Rob…” Emma bit her lip.
“I’m really sorry, officer, but I can vouch for her whereabouts this whole time, and I saw the conversation where he was asking her to go. She’s had a few shocks in the past few days, and I’m…well, she doesn’t need this right now.”
“And I am sorry, sir. And to you, ma’am. But the thing is…” The man swallowed. “We’ve had two murders here in a week. And unless we can find out who did this, we’re worried that things could go farther.”
“I know that,” Emma hastened to assure him. “And I’m sorry I don’t know anything more. I really am. But I just don’t know who might have done this.”
“All right. We’ll call you if we have any more questions.” He eased something out from a clipboard. “And, uh, this is the form for the arson claim.”
“Thanks.” Emma nodded, watching as he went away. She sighed. “I guess I should go check out the damage.”
“Or you could go home.”
“Rob…”
“Listen. You won’t be able to open tomorrow, anyway. Nine or ten o’clock is probably the earliest you can call any of the people to fix things, right? So just call the people who were scheduled tomorrow, and we’ll come in tomorrow and worry about it then.”
“I…” Emma wavered. He was right, though. “Yeah, okay.”
“Em, just one more thing…”
“Yeah?” She knew that look in his eyes. The look that said he was onto her.
“You went by Totally Nails, didn’t you?”
“…Maybe.”
“Em.”
“Okay, yes, I did! But think about it. This is bigger than me, all right? So maybe people think I’m crazy. But I’m learning things. Like, I thought I learned that Gina had nothing to do with the murder.”
“You…thought?” He sounded dubious. “Look, Emma, I haven’t known Gina as long as you, but I just can’t see her stabbing someone.”
“Neither can I! But then that woman died and now Matt’s dead and Rob, who else wants to sabotage all of this? Maybe he couldn’t rent to her because of me, so she killed him and tried to set fire to the studio.”
“She wouldn’t have had time to set fire to it if she was talking with you, right? And…didn’t you say whoever it was had a key?”
“Well, yes, but clearly Matt doesn’t have the key anymore.”
He was just opening his mouth to respond when they heard it: the sound of a key in the lock at the back of the building.
“This way!” Rob grabbed Emma’s hand and they piled into the corner, hiding as they heard the back door creak open. Emma saw the flash of fear in Rob’s eyes, but he held his body curled protectively around hers.
Despite herself, she wrapped her fingers in his coat and leaned her head against his chest. Some boyfriends might have told her she was crazy, or that she shouldn’t care about the murders at all, but he’d been here for her. And he was here now, protecting her.
The steps coming into the salon were tentative. Emma breathed in as quietly as she could, doing her best not to look. Rob leaned his head close to breathe in her ear.
“I think they’ll run away if we startle them.”
Emma nodded. Taking all of her courage, she drew a breath in.
“Who’s there?”
The curse was so soft that she couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female. The figure turned and ran, and all Emma caught in the mirrors was the flash of a dark hoodie and jeans.
“Call the police,” she said urgently to Rob.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going after him.” She was wearing sneakers, and she’d been pretty good at sprinting in high school. She could totally do this.
“No way! Em, that’s the person who did this.”
“I know! That’s why we have to follow him. Come on!”
“This is crazy, I hope you know that.” But he was following her out the back of the building, and as they looked, they saw a figure in a hoodie duck around the building at the end of the block. Triumph flooding through her veins, Emma took off after him.
She wasn’t shocked or scared anymore. She was angry. This person had tried to screw her over and they might have killed two other people in the process. She was furious.
They were going to pay.
5
“Hello? Yes! This is Rob Tillman, I’m calling to report a break in at 128 Main Street.” Rob was pulling the cold air into his lungs with great effort, pounding after Emma in his dress shoes. “One person. We’re following them. Yes. We’re turning up James Street.”
“Tell them he had a key!” Emma called over her shoulder.
“He had a—sorry, I’m running—he had a key. Right.” He took the phone down. “Emma! Emma. They say they’ll get him.”
“He’s going to get away!” Emma skidded around the corner, one hand out to steady herself. She could see the person running ahead of them, clothes so bulky that she still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. Could it be Gina? Would she ever wear something like that?
“Come on, Em! We shouldn’t, it’s dangerous.”
“We have to keep going!” Emma sprinted onwards, pushing herself as fast as she could. The light was fading, and she had to keep her eyes fixed on the figure ahead.
“This is crazy, we don’t know anything about this person, they could kill us!”