by Diana Orgain
I laughed, but Paula rolled her eyes.
“Sorry, Paula,” I said.
“You just wait. Laurie is going to reach that toddler age before you know it, and she will be into everything at all times! I have baby gates everywhere, but now Danny is trying to climb them because Spiderman can climb walls, so he thinks he can too. Down one hall, we have actually stacked two baby gates on top of each other because the one was too easy for him to get over. I literally have to duck down and go through the door on the bottom baby gate to get down the hallway!”
“I hope Laurie is a little tamer than Mr. Speederman. And I’m calling your son that from now on, by the way. He’ll be eighteen, graduating from high school, and I’ll be shouting Speederman from the crowd,” I said.
Paula giggled at the thought.
“Laurie is just barely getting to where she sits up, but she pulls herself up now pretty easily,” I said. “She’s started babbling a lot too, so I’m hoping she’ll say her first word soon.”
“She’s only five months. That would be pretty early. I think Danny was almost nine months before he said his first words. I was hoping for Mama, but it was Happy Halloween!” Paula said.
“I remember.” I giggled. “We’d say Happy Thanksgiving, Danny, and he’d reply Happy Halloween!”
Paula chuckled. “He said Happy Halloween straight through Christmas and New Year’s!”
The door to the room swung open, and our laughter cut short as if we’d be chided for having a good time.
A woman in a black one-piece swimsuit entered. Her bathing suit had a little pink bow on one hip, and she smiled as she approached us. “Mind if I join you ladies?” she asked.
Paula and I smiled at her and scooted closer together to give her room.
The woman dipped into the hot tub and grinned, satisfied. She had black hair accented by a streak of silver along the right side of her face that gave her a look of maturity, but her youthful face made her appear simply lovely.
“Have you tried out the sauna yet?” Paula asked, glancing towards the side doors to the sauna room. “We’re probably going to give it a go in a minute.”
The woman smiled widely. “Oh, I’ve tried the sauna plenty of times. This is my spa.”
I sat up straight, my manners kicking in. “Well, it’s a lovely place.”
“She says that, but she’s been moaning and groaning about the yoga class we took all morning,” Paula teased.
The woman laughed and leaned over, elbowing me gently. “I don’t blame you. Sonya the instructor is a tough lady. You two took the advanced class?”
“Yup,” Paula said, flashing me a devious grin.
“What?” I exclaimed. “You had me take an advanced yoga class! No wonder I’m so sore.”
“It was the one that best fit our schedule,” Paula said, “Anyway, you’re fine. You’re tougher than you think.”
The woman laughed. “I’m Jane North, by the way,” she said.
“I’m Kate, and this used to be my best friend, Paula,” I said.
Paula laughed and waved a hand in my direction. “Ignore her.”
“Other than the evidently advanced yoga class we took, I really have enjoyed the spa. I’ll have to come back sometime and try out your facial and massage treatments.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me,” Jane said. “This spa has been a labor of love, but it seems to be paying off. We’re working on expanding.”
“We saw that when we first got here,” Paula said, referring to the construction we’d noticed toward the back of the lobby. “Are you expanding into the building next door?”
“Yeah,” Jane said. “Currently it’s a nail salon. When we book manicures and pedicures, we leverage their staff and space. So we did the most logical thing we could think of–merge.”
“Awesome! A one-stop shop for pampering,” Paula said.
“That’s the goal,” Jane said. “So what is it that you ladies do? I heard you talking about... Speederman, was it?”
“That would be my oldest,” Paula said with a laugh. “He’s going through a superhero phase right now. But I’m an interior designer by trade.”
Paula flashed me a look, both of us thinking the same thing—if she could land the spa as a client, we’d have a lot of complimentary hot tubbing in our future.
“Impressive,” Jane said.
“And Kate is a private investigator,” Paula said, throwing an arm around my neck and pointing at me with her free hand. “And she’s great! She’s fairly new to the business, but she’s already solved some high profile cases. Cases, you know, that San Francisco’s finest had trouble with.”
“That’s really interesting,” Jane said. She turned to me and gave me an appraising look. “How did you get into that?”
Before I could launch into the story of my brother-in-law’s bags being recovered on the pier along with an unidentified body, shouts from outside the spa’s doors silenced me.
We all turned toward the doors, as loud giggles followed by more noise greeted us.
“Brace yourselves,” Jane said with a wink. “The bridal party has arrived, and I’m pretty sure they ordered the deluxe package... which comes with three bottles of champagne... plus I’m certain they had a bit to drink before coming here too.”
“Should they be in the hot tub if they’ve been drinking?” Paula asked.
“Not really,” Jane said. “But we have security cameras in here, and someone is always monitoring them for safety. I’d hate to ruin a bachelorette party by being a stickler. Though if they don’t settle down soon, they’ll be leaving.”
The doors flung open, and a drunken parade of giddy young girls came wobbling in. One older and sober woman escorted the girls through. The younger girls all dove into the hot tub beside us while the older woman looked at us with desperate eyes.
“Would you like to squeeze in with us?” I asked.
The woman didn’t hesitate. “I’m the mother of the groom,” she said, nodding toward the drunken bride in the other hot tub who was wearing a plastic tiara.
Paula laughed. “How did you get stuck as the designated driver today?”
The woman pinned her bright red hair back with a black rubber and laughed. “I was kindly invited. I thought it was going to be a fun, relaxing spa day. Now I’m pretty sure Kelly just wanted me to drive everyone home.”
I laughed quietly. “I’m Kate, by the way.”
The older lady smiled. “Julie Lozano.”
“Lozano?” the owner questioned. “Do I know you? The name sounds familiar.”
“It’s just a really common Italian last name,” the woman said. “There’s a healthy population of Italian’s around in San Francisco. I’m sure you’ve met a few Lozano’s with your business being located in the heart of downtown.”
“Kelly, stop splashing!” the woman wearing the maid of honor satchel shouted at the bride.
Jane laughed. “I hate to do this to you, Mrs. Lozano, but those ladies are owed one more bottle of champagne with their package. I should probably make sure one of my employees fetches it for them.”
Mrs. Lozano sighed. “Go ahead. I suppose my future daughter-in-law and her friends do deserve a little fun before the big day, right?”
Jane stood and fetched her towel. She said her farewells to Paula and me, and exited.
“Mrs. Lozano!” one of the girls shouted from the other hot tub. “Are you hiding from us over there?”
“Maybe a little,” she said with a laugh.
“Hey, I know you!” the same woman shouted and pointed right at me. “Your picture was in the paper a while ago, right?”
I blushed. “Yes, actually,” I said, almost forgetting I’d wound up in the paper for one of the cases I solved.
“I’m Brittany, the maid of honor of this posse. This is Kelly, the lovely bride.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Paula said, and we were introduced to four more women, the last of whom had similar red hair to Mrs. Lozan
o. Paula smiled at the last woman who was introduced as Merida. “Are you two related?” she asked.
Merida laughed. “What, you see red hair, and you assume we’re both Italian, right?”
Paula blushed. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“I’m just teasing,” Merida said. “Mine is from a bottle, but Mrs. Lozano’s authentic! We’re no relation,” she slurred slightly. “Though, I did date her son for a while.” She laughed a little too hard and looked for a moment as if she might lose her bearings and take a face plant into the hot tub.
“Don’t make it weird, Merida,” the maid of honor, Brittany, warned.
“It’s not weird, Brittany,” Kelly, the bride, assured. “No one cares that Merida used to date Ryan.”
Paula piped up, “And Ryan is....?”
“My son,” Mrs. Lozano said. “Kelly’s future husband. Merida and he dated briefly before he met Kelly.”
“So... the ex-girlfriend is one of the bridesmaids?” Paula asked, and I nudged her to let her know to stop prying.
“It’s not weird!” Kelly insisted.
Merida laughed and agreed. “Not at all. Ryan and I stayed friends after we broke up, so Kelly and I became friends too. Right, Mrs. Lozano?”
“Right,” Mrs. Lozano said with an unsettled look.
One of the girls lifted herself out of the Jacuzzi and fanned her face, and I suddenly smelled that awful cloying scent again.
My head spun and I felt like I was going to throw up.
Ugh, no!
I stood and grabbed the side of the hot tub. “Have any of you had facials?” I asked.
One of the girls raised her hand as though we were in a classroom.
“What kind of face mask did they use?” I asked. “That smell is so strong.”
“I know, right?” the girl said. “But my skin is so soft!”
Jane returned with a tray of Champagne glasses in hand. “We have two more facial appointments?” she asked, looking at the bride and maid of honor.
“Save us some Champagne you greedy hoodlums!” Brittany cried, hopping out of the tub and grabbing her towel.
The bride, Kelly, had trouble getting out of the tub, her pink tiara spilling onto the floor.
Mrs. Lozano frowned. “Maybe you should have some coffee, dear.”
Brittany picked up the tiara and placed it askew on top of Kelly’s head. “She’s fine.”
Jane glanced from Mrs. Lozano to the bride. “We have a great caramel apple coffee blend that you’ll love.”
Kelly wobbled toward the door. “Maybe that’s a good idea. Do you have Stevia?” she asked. “I have a tight white dress I need to fit in soon. I can’t do sugar.”
Jane smiled. “We have Stevia.”
Kelly and Brittany opened the door to the hallway as Jane popped the cork on the champagne.
“I think I’ll take a glass this time,” Mrs. Lozano said, and the younger women cheered.
Brittany exited the hot tub room and held the door for Kelly to follow her out.
As Kelly slipped out of the room, the tiara on her head took a tragic dive onto the tile floor; cracking and splintering as the door closed behind her.
Chapter Three
Paula and I entered the sauna, eager to put a little distance between ourselves and the tipsy bridal party. The women were all nice enough, but we had come to have a relaxing day, and they were getting a little rowdy for our tastes. We left our swimsuits on, and I folded up my towel and used it as a little extra seat cushion in the sauna.
“Your tooshie is going to sweat, and you’re going to be sitting in a puddle,” Paula teased.
“I know,” I said. “But these benches are hard and I don’t have a better idea.”
Paula followed my lead and sat on her towel too. “So I’m curious, would you have become buddy-buddy with one of Jim’s exes?”
Paula nodded toward the door of the sauna where just outside the bridesmaid were all still splashing around in the hot tub like it was a community pool.
“No,” I said firmly. “Not that he dated any catches before me.” I winked slightly, and Paula laughed. “I mean, it’s none of my business, but I probably would have a hard time with that. And those two seemed really close.”
“Their bond over one man made them sisters,” Paula said and stuck her tongue out. “I mean, what do they even talk about to one another?”
“It’s a little weird,” I admitted. “My guess is that Merida didn’t date the groom for that long. So, anyway, what do you think about the spa? Maybe Jane North will hire you as a designer. They could use your help—”
A loud, horrible scream erupted from somewhere inside the spa stopping our conversation. We bolted out of the sauna, a gust of steam following us. The bachelorette party looked as stunned as we were, as they scrambled of out the Jacuzzis and grabbed their towels.
“That sounded like Kelly,” Mrs. Lozano said, panic pinching her face into a grim mask. She struggled out of the hot tub, and I offered her my hand.
We all poured out into the hall.
“Where’s Merida?” Paula questioned, and almost on cue the woman came hurdling down the hallway.
“What happened?” Merida asked. “I heard a scream.”
“Where were you?” Mrs. Lozano asked “Is Kelly with you?”
“No,” Merida said. “I was in the bathroom.”
The double doors leading into the room where the spa employees gave facials and massages swung open. Brittany ran out of the room, towel in hand, as she frantically wiped off a face mask.
“Call 911,” she screamed.
The doors burst open and a wild-eyed spa employee dressed in pink stood shaking before us. “We need a doctor! Is anyone here a doctor?”
“What’s happened?” Mrs. Lozano demanded. “Are you alright?” she asked Brittany.
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Brittany shouted, bursting into tears. “It’s Kelly! She passed out and we can’t wake her up.” Brittany pointed a finger at the young spa employee. “It’s all her fault.”
The poor masseuse looked like she was going to fall over in shock. “I...I didn’t do anything!” she stammered. “Someone needs to call an ambulance right now!” She darted for the front desk to grab the phone. She was on the line with a 911 operator quickly.
“Could it be alcohol poising?” Paula asked. “She didn’t have that much to drink, did she?”
“It’s too late,” Brittany sobbed. “Kelly’s already dead!”
“What?” Mrs. Lozano exclaimed. “Dead?”
“I thought you said she’s passed out!” Merida screamed.
“Well, we can’t wake her and the masseuse said she couldn’t find a pulse. Go see for yourself,” Brittany said.
The group of young ladies seemed to simultaneously take a step back.
Paula and I rushed into the room, followed by Mrs. Lozano.
Kelly was lying on her back on a massage table, a green mask hardening on her face. The scent of cucumber and lime gagged me, and I covered my nose and mouth with my hand.
Paula frowned at me, but Mrs. Lozano barely noticed, grabbing and shaking the bride to be frantically, screaming, “Kelly, Kelly!”
Paula took Kelly’s wrist into hand and searched for a pulse.
Mrs. Lozano stopped shaking the bride and went limp; her shoulders collapsing into herself. “What am I going to tell Ryan?” she asked.
Outside, the girls were wailing as Jane rounded the corner with an annoyed look on her face. “What in the world is all of the shouting about? Do I need to cut you ladies off?” she asked.
Brittany, now examining her face in a mirror, screamed, “I look like a tomato!” She stormed over to the masseuse and yelled in her face, “You killed Kelly and almost burned my face off!”
“The...the paramedics are on the way,” the masseuse stuttered, looking ready to cry.
“What? Paramedics? What’s going on?” Jane asked.
The masseuse ran over t
o Jane, eyes full of tears. “Ms. North, I don’t know what happened, but I called the police...”
“Police? Why did you call the police? What happened?” Jane asked, looking even more frustrated now. She glanced in Brittany’s direction. “My goodness! What happened to her?”
Brittany’s face was swollen, and there were patches of skin that had looked raw. “Forget about me!” Brittany snarled. “Your masseuse killed the bride to be! She killed Kelly!”
“What?”
“I don’t know what happened!” the young woman cried. “I mixed the face mask the same as I always do!”
“It wasn’t the mask,” Paula said stepping out into the hallway. “At least I don’t think so.” She glanced at me. “What do you think, Kate?”
Before I could reply Jane attempted to rush into the room, but the masseuse blocked her. “The police said to keep everyone out of the room...who wasn’t, you know, medical necessary...” She burst into tears.
Jane wrapped her arms around her. “Hannah, don’t worry. Everything is going to work out.”
“Work out?” Brittany snapped. “For who? Not for my best friend who was murdered by this monster!”
The masseuse, whose name was apparently Hannah, broke away from Jane’s embrace. Her face was streaked with tears and black massacre. She whined, “It wasn’t my fault—”
“Oh boo-hoo!” Brittany screamed. “I ought to slam her face—”
“That’s enough!” I shouted and stood between Brittany and the increasingly hysterical Hannah. “The authorities will be here soon. For now, everyone needs to calm down!”
And amazingly, they listened to me. The hallway turned silent as everyone suddenly sucked up their tears and looked shell-shocked.
We didn’t have to wait long, soon sirens were wailing down the crowded San Francisco streets, bee-lining toward us.
A pair of uniformed paramedics were the first on the scene. They rushed through the spa like a hurricane, pushing Mrs. Lozano from Kelly’s side.
“I just don’t know how I’m going to tell Ryan,” Mrs. Lozano said, sinking on the sofa in the lobby next to Paula.
I went to sit next to them as one of the paramedics escorted Brittany outside to evaluate her. The bridesmaids were now crying –their happy tipsy phase permanently ruined by the loss of their friend.