Ice Blonde

by Elaine Viets

  “Just looking at her ruined my lunch,” her companion said as she washed her hands and dried them on a monogrammed club towel. Between pumps on the china hand lotion bottle, Lydia heard these terrible words: “And talk about fat. Did you see the way she shoveled in the creamed chicken on toast – and asked for extra bread and butter?”

  Their mocking laughter wounded Lydia so badly she waited until the ladies room was empty, then slipped out the service door and never returned. She resigned from the club the next day.

  Bella passed the crucial interview, but was not chosen to be the Daughter of Versailles Queen. She wasn’t even permitted to be a Maid. Her entire family was barred from ever attending a DV Ball again. Bella, who’d always hated the DV, felt oddly unhappy now that she couldn’t attend.

  Her father’s “donation” to the Daughters of Versailles Committee was not refundable. The committee kept it.

  Too bad. The family needed the money. After Juliet’s funeral, her parents filed a substantial civil suit against Lydia and Curtiss Du Pres for serving liquor to their daughter. They settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. The LaRouche family used the money for a scholarship in Juliet’s name.

  Business suddenly dried up for Curtiss Du Pres, once a top earner at the Forest Mortgage Specialists. He lost his job and was forced to sell “starter homes” for a Toonerville real estate company. Thanks to Lydia’s extensive sales experience at the Savant Shop, she was able to get a job at the Plus Size Warehouse in Toonerville, as well as a ten percent discount on their clothes. Bella’s car was sold. On weekends and in the summer, she worked as a server at the Burger Den, and took the bus to work. Brock did not date her when he returned home from Switzerland that summer. In fact, he passed right by her, as if he didn’t know her, but said loudly to a friend, “Do you smell fried onions?”

  Brock’s parents imported a handyman from St. Louis to fix the hole where Brock put his fist through the wall in the Du Pres’s party room. They also paid for new wallpaper and rugs in the room. Bella’s family signed an agreement that the incident would never be mentioned, effectively papering over that unpleasant incident. Once the repairs were made, the Du Pres family put their mansion up for sale and moved to a condo on the edge of Toonerville. Lydia told her co-workers that her life is much easier now that she doesn’t have to worry about taking care of that big old house.

  Dexter Gordon recovered from his injuries. His parents wisely decided the boy should not come back to the Forest. He moved in with his maternal grandparents in California and finished high school there. Attorney Montgomery Bryant filed a civil suit against the company that owned the West Forest Mall. My mall cop video convinced the mall to settle out of court for an undisclosed amount. Monty also sued the three people who attacked Dexter, and the boy was awarded more than two hundred thousand dollars for those assaults. Dex used the money to go to college in California and now works for a company designing what it calls “the cars of the future.” His father’s auto body shop continues to thrive. Prentice LaRouche’s efforts to sue the family were unsuccessful.

  I am superstitious about the first person to cross my threshold in the New Year. I believe that person sets the course for the rest of the year. I spent the first day of the New Year alone and on call, and I was relieved I wasn’t needed to investigate any deaths. I wasn’t needed on the second day, either. My shift ended at seven o’clock that night, and I built a roaring fire and settled in with a good book. I’d just gotten the fire blazing the way I liked when my doorbell rang. Katie was at my door with a box of dark chocolate, two wine bottles, and a big smile.

  Once my friend stepped over my threshold, I was relieved. This would be a good year.

  Katie looked fresh and rested. “Happy New Year!” she said, breezing into my living room. “The wine is for me, the sparkling grape juice is for you, and we’re both going to eat the chocolate. Monty put his nephew on the plane home yesterday, making it truly a happy New Year for me.”

  “Judging by your glow,” I said, “I suspect you had him all to yourself last night.” Katie ignored me and said, “Where’s my wine?”

  I poured the drinks, and we toasted.

  “To good times and a good year,” I said. “And next year, we’ll both toast with wine.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Katie said.

  And so we did.

  ALSO BY ELAINE VIETS

  ANGELA RICHMAN, DEATH INVESTIGATOR

  Brain Storm

  Fire and Ashes

  Ice Blonde (Novella)*

  DEAD-END JOB MYSTERIES

  Shop till You Drop*

  Murder Between the Covers*

  Dying to Call You*

  Just Murdered*

  Murder Unleashed*

  Murder with Reservations*

  Clubbed to Death*

  Killer Cuts*

  Half Price Homicide*

  Pumped for Murder*

  Final Sail*

  Board Stiff*

  Catnapped!*

  Checked Out

  The Art of Murder

  Killer Blonde (Novella)

  JOSIE MARCUS, MYSTERY SHOPPER

  Dying in Style*

  High Heels Are Murder*

  Accessory to Murder*

  Murder with All the Trimmings*

  The Fashion Hound Murders*

  An Uplifting Murder*

  Death on a Platter*

  Murder Is a Piece of Cake*

  Fixing to Die*

  A Dog Gone Murder*

  FRANCESCA VIERLING MYSTERIES

  Backstab

  Rubout

  The Pink Flamingo Murders

  Doc in the Box

  SHORT STORIES

  A Deal with the Devil and 13 Short Stories

  *Available in JABberwocky eBook editions

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Elaine Viets has written 32 mysteries in four series: the bestselling Dead-End Job series with South Florida PI Helen Hawthorne, the cozy Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper mysteries, and the dark Francesca Vierling mysteries. With the Angela Richman Death Investigator series, Elaine returns to her hardboiled roots and uses her experience as a stroke survivor and her studies at the Medicolegal Death Investigators Training Course. Elaine was a director at large for the Mystery Writers of America. She’s a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and anthologies edited by Charlaine Harris and Lawrence Block. Elaine won the Anthony, Agatha and Lefty Awards.

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