Pedicures & Prejudice

by Stephanie Damore

  Zane practically growled.

  “I take that as a yes.” It looked like Viktor was in town. “Listen, don’t do anything crazy. Let me take this information to the police. Let them work with it.”

  Zane didn’t answer. I saw him eye the bottle of whisky again.

  “I’m going to take off, but here’s my number if you think of anything else.” I felt like I needed to say something else, like Don’t blame yourself or It’ll be okay, but both sounded weak. I ended up with, “The only person at fault here is the one who killed Melanie. Don’t forget that.”

  Zane nodded, but I don’t think he was listening.

  I left it at that. Finn met me in the hallway.

  “How’d that go?” he asked.

  “The man’s hurting, bad. I don’t like him being alone.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Basically, that Melanie knew her father. He’s some rich Russian businessman, and he hated Zane. Naturally, Zane believes one hundred percent that Melanie’s father is responsible for her death.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, he doesn’t have an alibi for Thursday night.”

  “Where to gumshoe?” Finn asked me when we stepped back onto Las Vegas Boulevard.

  “I need to jump online and see what I can find about this Viktor character. I think I’ll know more where to go after I do that.”

  “Do you want to order room service and use your laptop back at the hotel?” Finn suggested.

  “Yeah, I think that’s an excellent plan.”

  Two slices of double cheese pizza and a large Coke later and I was finally making some progress.

  “Hey babe, look at this.”

  I was running a title search on Melanie’s salon when I stumbled across my first clue. I turned my screen so Finn could read it. “Viktor’s name is listed as the title holder on Melanie’s salon. Well Ivankov Trust is; I’m assuming that’s him.”

  “I wonder what other holdings they have?” Finn said.

  “Good thinking.” I put the trust company’s name in the search box and was surprised at the number of results. It looked like Melanie’s dad had an impressive portfolio of real estate holdings.

  “Look at all these,” I said while scrolling through the list. The addresses were scattered all over the country with only two in Las Vegas. One was Melanie’s salon and the other one I wasn’t sure of. I took an electronic copy of the address and opened another browser window to do a search on it. In less than a second, I had my answer.

  “Studio One,” I said.

  “What’s that?” Finn asked.

  “It’s the art studio where tonight’s networking event is set to take place. Melanie had to be involved in setting this up. No way that’s a coincidence.”

  In fact, the coincidences were starting to pile up. In the back of my mind, I had considered blowing off the networking event even though I said I would be there. However, now there was no way I would miss it.

  “I need some notecards,” I said to Finn. I was already up and looking for my purse. A drugstore was right across the street. I was sure they’d have some.

  Finn walked over to the desk and rummaged through one of the shopping bags. Finding what he was looking for, he tossed the pack of cards my way. “I picked some up at the pharmacy yesterday. I knew eventually you would want to lay everything out.”

  “Thanks babes, good thinking.” Did I ever tell you that Finn was a Boy Scout? He was in fact, always prepared.

  “I’m going to jump in the shower. I would ask you to join me, but I know your mind’s going to be wrapped up in this,” Finn said

  “That it is, but I’ll take a rain check.” I was already ripping the cellophane off the cards and looking around for something to write with.

  “The pens are in the bag,” Finn said as he shucked his shorts and walked off to the bathroom. I had to admit that I did linger on his backside before turning to hunt down those ink pens. The fact that Finn had bought scratch and sniff gel pens just made me love him all the more. Nothing like outlining a murder investigation with adorable novelty pens.

  When I was done, I had a chain of events lined across the floor with key characters branching out as needed. We knew that Melanie was last seen when Gwen dropped her off at 1 AM. The last time anyone heard from her was shortly before 1:45 AM. Between that time and us finding her body left about an eighteen-hour window when she was murdered. I was sure Detective Hart had the murder time frame narrowed down more than that.

  I then remembered Irene and Eileen, our camping heroes in the desert. I never thought to ask them if they had seen anything suspicious or when they had set up camp. Knowing that information could perhaps narrow down the time frame even further. I jumped up and grabbed my cell phone, hoping I would be able to get a message out to the two ladies. Eileen had said that cell service was spotty, which is why they had the emergency GPS locator. I took a chance and called anyway, leaving them a message when they didn’t answer. I knew that they went into town periodically and I could only hope that they would again soon and listen to their messages.

  “Hi, guys. It’s Ziva. Thanks again so much for being our heroes. I did think of a couple other questions. When you get a chance, could you give me a call back?” I left my phone number and hung up, sitting back to stare at my timeline.

  16

  Despite my best online search skills, I couldn’t find where Viktor lived. However, seeing he had met with Veronica once already that day, I was hoping she could lead us to him.

  “How do you feel about doing a little bit of surveillance work this evening?” I popped my head into the bathroom and asked Finn who was just finishing up in the shower.

  “That’s always a good time. Who’s our target?”

  “Veronica. Well, technically Viktor, but I’m hoping the two of them meet up again.”

  “Not a bad plan. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready to roll,” he said.

  I called Aria, told her I was tracking a new lead, and that Finn and I would catch up with her and Vince later. It was hard to make out what she said. From what I gathered, Vince was hitting it big playing craps and the table was a bit rowdy.

  Aria stepped away from the table just long enough to offer to call the concierge and have them pull up the Mercedes for us. Finn and I had talked about renting our own car, but accepted Aria’s offer once more. Next time I went anywhere on vacation, I was making sure I had my own ride.

  “How do you want to do this?” Finn asked me. He was behind the wheel once more.

  “Let’s do a drive-by first. Veronica’s house is about three or four down from a cross-street. I figured we could park on the cross street for a few minutes and keep an eye on her house without being parked directly in front of it.” Perhaps we could get lucky and there’d be a nearby house for sale that we could pretend to be interested in.

  “This is going to sound goofy, but go to Melanie’s salon first. That’s the only way I know how to get to Veronica’s.” I wouldn’t say that I was directionally-challenged, but it did take me driving to a place a few times before I could get there via an alternative route.

  Finn pulled in front of Melanie’s salon so I could take a minute to think the directions through.

  “I think I’ve got it,” I said to Finn. I was about to tell him which direction to go when I spotted a woman walking out of the salon. Normally I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, except she was carrying Melanie’s laptop under her arm.

  “That’s Melanie’s computer,” I said.

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “Positive. The front of her computer has that lotus sticker on it. I saw it when I was in her office Friday night.”

  “Where is she taking it?” Finn asked as the woman got into her car with the laptop.

  “Not only that, but who even is she?” Nothing about her said police. Plus, I was pretty sure the police wouldn’t just seize a laptop and put it on the passenger seat of a car. “New plan, follow he
r. We can track down Veronica after.”

  So that’s what we did, easing into traffic after she did. We didn’t have to go very far to get our answer.

  “I think I know where she’s going.” As soon as we turned onto Sunrise Avenue and her car slowed down to turn down the back alley, I was sure of it. “She’s going to Studio One. I just saw the address on the title search.”

  “What do you want to do?” Finn asked.

  “Come back tonight. Do you still have a way to contact that buddy of yours?” I asked.

  “The hacker?”

  “That would be the one. We could use a little bit of help finding out what’s on Melanie’s laptop.”

  “Yeah, but I can tell you right now it’s going to be trickier. I doubt this girl is accessing Melanie’s email. We’re probably going to have to manually install the spy tracker software or pay my contact big bucks,” Finn said.

  “On a scale of one to ten, how illegal is that?” I asked.

  “Illegal enough.”

  “Great. I might be better off calling the police and telling them we saw this girl take Melanie’s computer.”

  “That’s not a bad plan either,” Finn said.

  “I never did call Detective Hart and bring her up to speed. Guess I was hoping to make sense of it all before filling her in.” I thought for a moment. “How about we take a step back and go with our original plan of surveying Veronica and see if we can work that angle of the case. Then tonight we can come back to the gallery and I’ll see if we can find out who the girl is and why she took the laptop.”

  “Seems solid.”

  We did a drive-by past Melanie’s salon again, only this time I was able to get oriented and point Finn in the right direction to Veronica’s. Fifteen minutes later we were on her street.

  “It’s right there,” I said, motioning to the house directly ahead on the right. Finn slowed down ever so slightly and as he did the garage door started to roll up.

  “Eek! Step on it.” Finn did just that, zooming past her house, turning the corner, and pulling into the first driveway we saw. I slouched in my seat and watched the top of Veronica’s Lincoln drive past while Finn pretended to consult his phone. I didn’t even have to tell Finn what to do. A second later he reversed out after her and started tailing the Lincoln.

  For the record, it’s much easier to tail someone when you’re not driving through a neighborhood. I was relieved when she turned onto a busier street and we could hang back a couple of car lengths and still keep a visual. I had no idea where we were going. If it wasn’t on the Strip or within a two-mile radius, I was pretty much lost.

  Veronica ended up bypassing the Strip, driving through downtown and eventually hopping on I-95. We passed fast food restaurants, doctors’ offices, the post office, even the mall, yet Veronica still drove on.

  “Where do you think she’s headed?” Finn asked me.

  “I have absolutely no idea.”

  I didn’t have much time to speculate after that as Veronica finally turned into a strip mall. Finn and I pulled in and kept a safe distance, watching as she parked and walked into a store called Time Again Antiques. Normally I wouldn’t find it odd for a woman to go into an antique shop, but I had been inside Veronica’s house and her taste was modern all the way. Not only that, but her daughter was murdered a few days ago and now she’s, what, going antiquing? That just didn’t make any sense.

  “What do you think, do we follow?” Finn asked.

  “I can’t, not unless we want her to see me and I don’t think we do. I do want to see what she’s up to in there though.”

  “Okay, you sit tight. I’m going to run in and see if I can get a read on the situation.”

  “Okay, but don’t get distracted.” Antique stores were just older pawnshops and we all know Finn loved his pawnshops.

  “Aren’t you cute. I’ll be right back.”

  I swear Finn was in the store forever. I was convinced he was going to come back with an armload full of stuff that we’d somehow have to cram into our suitcases for the flight home. I was pretty shocked when he came out empty handed and even before Veronica re-emerged.

  “What’s the story?” I asked.

  ‘They have a pretty impressive vinyl collection,” Finn said with a smile. I gave him the look. “She’s buying a typewriter.”

  “What?” I said even though I heard him plain as day.

  “She’s been heckling over the price for the last twenty minutes. The owner’s ringing her up now.”

  “How much was it?” I asked.

  “I think they settled on $800.”

  “Sweet sugar, are you kidding me? She didn’t by chance say what she was using it for, did she?” I asked.

  “No, but she was adamant that it had to be manufactured in the 1940s.”

  I had no idea what to make of this. Maybe she was a collector even though I saw no signs of such a collection in her house and she didn’t mention anything about being a writer. Why else would you spend that much money on a typewriter? And why in the world would it matter what year it was manufactured? I thought back to the envelope she had given Viktor that morning. Could the two somehow be related? And if so, what type of documents was Veronica creating? I definitely had more notecards to fill out.

  Ten minutes later, Veronica indeed walked out of the shop with a heavy-looking case under her arm. Finn and I watched her pop open her trunk and place the typewriter inside before getting back in her car.

  “I’m working on a theory, but I don’t have all the pieces. Maybe if I run it by you, you can help me out.”

  “Shoot,” Finn said, pulling back out into traffic a few cars behind Veronica.

  “My assumption is that the notecards and numbers in Melanie’s desk have something to do with Viktor. He was controlling her business somehow, but Melanie was over it and wanted out. Melanie’s intern said she overheard Melanie saying she was tired of caring what other people thought and she was living her life her way now. Plus, Zane said her father told her to break the engagement off and instead she went public with it.”

  “Okay, I can buy that. Do you think Viktor would kill his daughter over it?”

  “I don’t know, but if it was as simple as that, then why is someone going after Mr. Frederick? Also, don’t forget about Lucia. I can’t ignore the feeling that they’re all somehow connected, but I can’t see how. Why would Viktor kill Lucia? And what could he have against Mr. Frederick?”

  “Maybe Viktor saw Mr. Frederick as a threat to the business. Think about it, Mr. Frederick creates this stink about Melanie stealing his designs and suddenly her reputation, and thus Viktor’s business, is in the line of fire. I’m betting Viktor went ballistic over it and I don’t even know the man.”

  “That’s a good point. I didn’t think of that. Okay, so Viktor goes after Mr. Frederick for insulting his daughter’s reputation, but then he goes off and murders her? That doesn’t add up either.”

  Finn furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “I feel like we’re going around in circles here,” he said.

  I continued on, “Then you throw in the whole vintage typewriter thing and some random girl driving off with Melanie’s computer and nothing makes any sense. I need some chocolate.”

  Veronica slowed down and turned from the main road into a self-storage unit.

  “Keep driving,” I said. Even from the road I could see the tall security fence that surrounded the perimeter. Without a keycard or passcode, we wouldn’t be able to get through unless we raced and tried pulling in after Veronica and before the gate closed, but I didn’t want to take the chance that she’d see us.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Finn said.

  “What’s that?”

  “How about we go back to Veronica’s and see if she comes home with the typewriter. If not, we know where it’s at.”

  “That’s pretty brilliant. We don’t have to keep following her around either and run the risk that she sees us.”

  Thankfully Finn was be
tter with directions than I was and he had us back at Veronica’s parked at the opposite cross street and waiting for her to come home.

  “There she is,” I said after waiting less than ten minutes. The short time frame made it most likely that she hadn’t run any other errands. As far as seeing if she brought the typewriter home, we were out of luck. The garage door went up, Veronica drove in, and the garage door went down.

  “Well shoot,” I said. I looked at the clock, it was almost 4PM. The event at Studio One was scheduled to start at 7PM. “Let’s head back and think about how we want to tackle tonight.”

  “Ziva, thank you so much for coming tonight. I wasn’t sure if you were still going to be able to make it,” Mary, the conference coordinator, said.

  “Oh no, I was planning on it. I just had a bit of emergency business to tend to this afternoon,” I said.

  “Excuse me,” Finn said as he touched my elbow and exited the conversation. The plan was for him to get the lay of the land while I worked the room and together we would keep an eye out for the computer girl. At this point I was ready to take the laptop for myself. This was the most frustrating case I’d ever attempted to solve.

  I continued to mingle with the conference guests while wait staff made their rounds. Lobster toasts with avocado, spiced warm olives, figs topped with bacon, grilled oysters, caviar tartlets, spinach puffs, and—my favorite—bite-sized red velvet cheesecakes were all presented for us to indulge in. I caught Finn sampling the hors d’oeuvres on more than one occasion. Truthfully, they were pretty darn tasty, especially coupled with the sparkling rosé.

  That was it!

  No, I hadn’t solved the crime, but I did know what to serve our guests at the wedding. From the way Finn was following after the waiter with the lobster toasts, I’m thinking he would agree. Even better was the heavy influence of seafood, which was right up my charter-fishing fiancé’s alley.

  I caught Finn’s eye and smiled as another piece of the wedding puzzle clicked into place. Just then, laptop girl cut across the room and disappeared down the side hallway. Finn nodded, seeing her too, and followed after.