by Tonya Kappes
“I will, but in the meantime, why didn’t you make a report?” I asked.
“There didn’t seem to be anything taken or out of place. Just a break-in, so I didn’t see the point in going through the trouble of calling you to make a report. You are a busy woman.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m also the law and I take pride in my job.” I pointed to the desk. “Do you mind making me a copy of the client lists for the past couple of weeks?”
“Sure.” She hurried over to the desk and grabbed the appointment book. “I’ll get to it right now.” She flung the printer that sat on the front desk next to the phone open and smacked the appointment book on it.
I walked into the back room. It was just a storage room with a steel table in the middle. Tina was standing near the table where she mixed the fingernail polish, but Poppa stood by the makeup on a different table.
“Right here.” Poppa pointed to the makeup. “This one is Pink Venus.”
I swallowed hard and walked over to Poppa’s table, careful not to touch it. I needed to treat this as a crime scene where the weapon was made.
“So you use a clear fingernail polish and add eyeshadow to it to make your signature colors?” I asked. “Where were you between eight p.m. Tuesday night and four a.m. Wednesday morning?”
Tina’s head shot up.
“First you send Deputy Vincent to my house, where he found nothing.” She glared. “And now you come to my job and question it. What is it that you want from me, Kenni? Are you saying you think I harmed or killed Lucy Ellen Lowell?”
“I want the truth. Simply answer my questions.” I rested my hand on my holster. “Do you use this MAC Pink Venus to make your Perfectly Posh nail polish?”
One question at a time.
“Yes.” There was a bit of defensiveness in her voice.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’re probably the only person that Lucy Ellen Lowell came to for her manicures. And it just so happens that the day before her murder she came in here and you actually said that maybe you should’ve cut her hair and had the scissors slip.”
“You’ve got to be joking me.” She was getting fidgety and hostile. “It was gossip. That’s what we do here. Oh.” She twirled around. “I forgot. You don’t come to these sort of places. You don’t gossip. You’re the sheriff.”
I detected a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“I can name five other people here that day that also had a beef with Lucy.” She held her hand up in the air and uncurled a finger with each name. “Me, Cheree, Polly, Jolee, and Faith Dunaway.”
“Tina, Lucy Ellen Lowell was murdered.” I watched her actions.
“It wasn’t by my scissors.” Her leg jutted out to the side, her hip followed as she planted her hands on her hips. “You can’t be back here.” She flung her hands in the air just as the ringing phone followed up by the beeping of the fax machine echoed in the air.
“I think you’re going to find that the fax coming through is a warrant to not only search the salon but also collect evidence that proves the murder weapon used was Perfectly Posh nail polish laced with cyanide poisoning.” I took a deep breath before I gave the final blow. “Perfectly Posh made with MAC Pink Venus eyeshadow.”
“You are seriously accusing me of killing Lucy?” she asked.
“Where were you between eight p.m. to four a.m.?” I asked again out of curiosity because the truth was that the polish could’ve been poisoned at any time of the day, but just in case I could tie her to the scene, it’d make it a lot more solid.
“I...” She gulped. “I’m not going to answer that. Isn’t there a fifth amendment, or is it first? Either way, I’m not answering.”
“Ummm...Kenni.” Poppa caught my attention. I followed where his eyes were focused. “I think we’ve got some cyanide.”
There was a bottle sitting on the ground. There were no markings on it, but I took Poppa’s word for it.
“What are you looking at?” Tina asked.
“What is in the bottle, Tina?” I asked and walked over to it.
“I have no idea. Maybe some sort of chemical.” She shrugged, nodded, and harrumphed all at the same time.
“Tina Bowers,” I unhooked the cuffs from my utility belt, “you have the right to remain silent. I’m arresting you for the murder of Lucy Ellen Lowell.” I continued to read her the Miranda Rights. She interrupted.
“Kenni Lowry, you’ve lost your marbles.” The piss and vinegar started to pour out of her mouth. The cuffs clicked as each tooth on the lock clicked tighter around her wrists. “This beats all I ever seen. Cheree! Cheree, get in here!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“What’s wrong?” Cheree ran in with a look of fright. There were papers in her hand. She handed them to me.
“That’s wrong. Where did that come from?” Tina pointed.
I gave Cheree a chance to look over the poisonous bottle of substance labeled Cyanide.
“Cyanide?” Suddenly it appeared as if she had a quick and disturbing thought. “Tina, you didn’t…”
“I ought to smack you silly. Hell no, I didn’t.” Tina put up a stronger guard now. “Did you? Did you put it here?”
“She could’ve.” Poppa let out an anxious cough. “I mean...”
Before Poppa could say it, Tina finished it, “You’ve got a beef with her too. It’s not just me. After all, you’re the one who said we needed to not let her make appointments anymore.”
“It was you that said you’d like her dead.” Cheree came unglued. “You’re the one who complains about her day in and day out. You’re the one who does her nails. I never use your homemade fingernail polish. You know I go down to the dollar store and get fifty-cent nail polish. You’re the one being the freaky mad scientist.”
“Look.” Tina pointed at me. “She’s trying to turn us against each other. We won’t let you pin this on us. We didn’t do anything to Lucy Ellen Lowell no matter if we can’t tell you how that bottle got there.”
“Where were you the night of the murder?” I asked Tina again.
She drew her shoulders back and stuck her chin up in the air. When she curled her lips together and pinched them so tight that the edges turned white, I knew I had my answer. She wasn’t going to tell me come hell or high water what she’d been doing when Lucy Ellen was killed and I had no other option.
“Anything you say can and will be used…” I tried to continue the arrest policy when I unfortunately had to use some force. “Tina Bowers, straighten up right this minute,” I jerked her wrists closer together as she tried to pull them apart.
Both of us stopped jerking the other. Her hands stopped flailing and there we were, in a stand-off. Only I knew I was going to win.
“Don’t make me parade you through the front of the salon acting all nutso. I’m more than happy to take you out the back door,” I suggested.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m going to be using my one phone call now, thank you.” Her chin tilted to the side, her eyes drawing down her nose on me.
“You can use the phone once we get to department.” I shook my head and pointed to the door. “Go on.”
She took in a deep breath, curled her shoulders back, and took the first step out through the beads covering the opening of the storage room.
“Lookie here, y’all.” She held her cuffed hands way up over her head as she talked to her clients. “Kenni Lowry. Sheriff Kenni Lowry is crazier’n all get out. Arresting me for killing Lucy Ellen Lowell when I did no such thing.”
“Let’s go. Cheree, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna have to ask all y’all to leave. The salon is shut down until further notice.” I had to grab her by the arm and lead her out the door.
“You know what, Kenni,” Tina spat. “This is all fine and dandy if I were a criminal. But I’m not and I can’t wait for Wally Lam
b to tear you a new one.”
“Yep, me either.” I opened the back of the Wagoneer and stuck her inside. I stood by the door and watched as three women filed out of the salon with half-done nails.
“There goes rent. Right on out the door. In a few minutes, you singlehandedly ran me out of business.” Tina grunted and moaned. She leaned over to the rolled-down window. “Be sure to write in someone else’s name on the election ballot. We can’t have a nutso sheriff running around arresting people for no good reason!”
A low deep groan escaped me. “Tina, if you can prove your whereabouts and what you were doing at the time of the estimated death of Lucy, then I’m more than happy to let you go.”
Cheree walked over and leaned against the car.
“Now what?” she asked.
“I’m going to go in there and take a few things for evidence and fingerprinting. Then, Betty Murphy will call you when we release the salon.” It was standard procedure. “If you’ll excuse me.” I knew this wasn’t the last time I was going to talk to Cheree, but I wanted to get Tina out of the environment that was making her nervous and hostile.
I still didn’t have a clear-cut answer to where Cheree had been. Granted, she said she called Art Baskin and gotten food. Both of those would be easy enough to check out, but what about all the in-between?
I took a few steps away from the Jeep so I could talk to Betty at dispatch.
“Betty?” I called into the walkie-talkie.
“Go ahead, Sheriff.” She was quick.
“Please get the cell ready. I’m bringing in Tina Bowers for more questioning on the murder of Lucy Ellen Lowell.” I clicked off.
“Oh my stars.” Betty gasped. “Oh my goodness gracious.”
“Thanks, Betty.” I clicked off again and pulled my cell from my back pocket. I scrolled down to find Finn’s contact and hit the green call button.
In the meantime, Cheree was holding a cigarette for Tina to puff on.
“Not in my Jeep!” I snapped my fingers at them, only to receive a glare from Tina.
“Any luck with Cheree?” Finn asked from the other end.
“It just so happens I’m bringing in Tina. Tom called with the report and it should be on the fax machine when we get there. He was able to break down the components of the polish to the exact make of the eyeshadow.” I was trying to talk fast so I could hurry back in the Jeep and get to the department and beat the gossip.
“Eyeshadow? I thought it was fingernail polish.” Finn was all sorts of confused.
“Meet me at the department and I’ll explain all of it to you there. Oh, and I found a bottle of cyanide in the salon.”
“I found it.” Poppa poked his chest as if Finn could hear him.
“Anyway, I shut down the salon. We need to go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Tina Bowers won’t give me a valid alibi. I had no choice.” My voice drifted off because the thought of Tina being the killer was unfathomable to me.
But people killed for a lot less. And all the evidence pointing to her was found in her shop. To me that was as good a reason as any to make an arrest, though Wally Lamb might try to prove otherwise.
“He’ll meet you there.” Cheree had her cell up to her face and was talking to Tina.
“Tell him to bring me something to eat. I’m starving.” Tina sat back and suddenly looked very comfortable in the back.
Cheree gave her a hug through the window and walked away. I waited until Cheree was gone before I made sure the Wagoneer’s doors were locked and Tina was safe until I went back in and bagged the cyanide bottle, the MAC makeup, and a few of Cheree’s bottles. If there were fingerprints on the cyanide bottle, I wanted to have Cheree’s in case.
I got in the Jeep and started to pull out of the parking lot, but not without Tina giving me some lip.
“I garonteeeee,” her Southern accent had a different take on the word, “you’re gonna regret this.”
“I hope I do,” I muttered and turned toward downtown. “I really hope I do.”
Chapter Twelve
“On what basis, Kenni?” Wally Lamb paced back and forth in front of the only cell we had in the department.
Tina was all sprawled out on the small cot eating a catfish special from Cowboy’s out of the Styrofoam carryout container, not paying any attention to her lawyer or me.
“Wally, she won’t tell me where she was on the night of the murder during the period Max has estimated as time of death. Not that she had to be there, because the murder weapon was the nail polish she made. The ingredients were broken down by Tom Geary’s lab over in Clay’s Ferry. The report is right here. All the ingredients, including the cyanide, were found in her salon.”
After I’d brought Tina back to the department, I sent Finn over to the salon to see if I’d overlooked anything and clear the scene. He took more photos but didn’t find anything else.
“Not to mention what she said after Lucy Ellen left her shop the other day in front of me.” It was something I just couldn’t forget.
Wally stopped and looked at Tina through the bars. He raised his hand and dragged it through his slicked-back blond hair. He let out a deep breath through a small opening in his lips. I couldn’t tell if he was frustrated with me or with Tina. Regardless, his stress was showing on his face.
“There are no other suspects?” He finally turned around to me.
“I can’t tell you everything. I can say that the evidence is piled against Tina.” My eyes shifted between him and Tina.
Betty wasn’t fooling anyone. She was acting like she was doing some filing work, but she had one eye on the cabinet and one eye on our conversation.
“Where is this polish that you claim to be the murder weapon?” he asked.
I cringed.
“I don’t know.” I bit the edge of my lip and prepared myself for his wrath.
“You mean to tell me that you accuse my client of making deadly fingernail polish after she had gossiped in her hair salon, because we know that there’s no gossiping going on in a hair salon.” He mocked me. “Then you think she polished the deceased’s fingernails with it, but you can’t find the actual polish to test, just the fingernail of the deceased?”
“The fingernail is really all we need to prove it was tainted. I’d like for your client to hand over the bottle so we can have a murder weapon. If she can provide that, I’m sure we can come up with some sort of deal with the prosecutor.” I was laying all my cards out on the table. He and I both knew the fingernail was enough, but I knew the actual bottle the polish came from would help me seal the case.
“Besides, Tina was heard and seen making threats about Lucy,” I reminded him.
“So did half the other people in the salon that day according to you and everyone else I interviewed. I also talked to Art Baskin and he said that the alarm would only go off if someone had broken in,” he said flatly. “My client was set up and I’m going to prove it. She made a silly gesture. People make veiled threats all the time. It looks like to me that someone has set my client up. You’ve got the wrong person in custody and I demand you let her go this instant.”
“Wally.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m going to hold her for twenty-four hours.”
“Twenty-four hours?” Tina jumped off the cot. “I’ve got to do your nails and the rest of Polly Parker’s bridal party.”
Just as if the floodgate opened up, the door of the department flung open.
“I demand you let Tina Bowers go into my custody,” Mayor Ryland demanded with Polly Parker at his side.
“Yes!” Tina grasped the bars with her hands and shook them. “Demand it, Mayor.”
The scene was spiraling out of control quickly.
“First off, Mayor, I appreciate you and Polly coming down, but this is an open investigation. So you are not welcome. Secondly, I’ll let you know how the
investigation is going when I’m done here.” I wasn’t about to let him take charge.
Finn walked in and nervously looked around. His hands were filled with evidence bags.
“Thank God you’re here.” Polly put her grubby little hands on Finn’s arms and brushed down it.
It took everything in my body not to go all girl-crazy on her, but I knew I had to keep myself in check. I seemed to be the only sane one here. But I couldn’t guarantee I’d stay that way if she kept putting her fingers on him.
“You’ve got to knock some sense into your girlfriend. Take control. Be a man,” Polly pleaded with him.
“She’s the boss. She’s the sheriff. She knows what she’s doing.” Finn stepped away from her and went to his desk. He took out some evidence-processing forms while I continued to try to make order.
“Mayor, I’ve got this.” Wally Lamb knew me and had worked with me many times. He knew that demanding things and trying to make me do something someone else wanted was not only a waste of time, but I’d do the complete opposite.
“But my nails.” Polly wasn’t budging. “We need Tina to do my bridal party’s nails since Cheree can’t do all of us.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Wally pushed them toward the door.
“Kenni Lowry, you are no longer my maid of honor! I want my dress back!” she hollered at me as the mayor took her out the door kicking and screaming.
I ignored her but walked out after them.
“Mayor, can I speak to you for a second?” I asked.
He looked between me and Polly. He whispered something in her ear. She stomped back toward me.
“I’m going to Cowboy’s Catfish to get me a slice of pie.” She snarled, her big horse teeth pressed together. Her lip twitched and she glared.
“That sounds so good.” I couldn’t help myself.
The mayor and I stood in silence until the door had closed fully.
“What is it, Sheriff?” He addressed me with an air about his title.
“It’s not gone unnoticed that you’re really trying to keep me from solving this case,” I stated.