Pampered to Death

by Diana Orgain

  “Be honest with me, Jane... just how hostile of a takeover was this?” I asked.

  Jane frowned. Her shoulders slumped. “I suppose I could have been nicer.”

  “Jane,” I said firmly. “Tell me everything.”

  “I needed the extra space,” she said. “Their business had been hurting since we moved in. I pretty much told them to join me or I’d add a nail salon in the back then no one would come to them at all. I could afford to offer the same services for nearly half the price. I didn’t really give the managers much of a choice. They brought my deal back to the new owner... she signed!” Jane tapped her fingers on her desk. “Wait a minute! I can find the contract and get back to you with the name so that you can look into her. I’ll have to go home today and dig through those files. I had them here, but I brought them home last week to look over, and I never brought them back.”

  “Great! There is a good chance the new owner has something to do with this. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can dig up about some of those disgruntled employees,” I said.

  Jane nodded. “I have an appointment this morning, but I’ll run by and get the contract later.”

  “Great,” I said, rising from my seat. That, I figured, would give me enough time to take Laurie home and get her down for a nap while I made a few phone calls. We agreed to call one another later, and I headed out the door with Laurie.

  It was early, and the nail salon wasn’t opened yet.

  I decided I would go home, get Laurie settled down, work on my to-do list, and then head back this way to interview some of the nail salon employees.

  I strolled Laurie out of the spa and got her loaded up into my car. She grabbed my hair when I went to put her in the car seat and whined a bit, so I paused to hold her and give her a few kisses since she didn’t want to be put down.

  She settled in, and I strapped her into her seat.

  “I love you, cutie pie,” I told her, and she scrunched up her nose. “What, you don’t like cutie pie?” I asked, and she kept scrunching up her nose. “Okay, fine, just Laurie then.” I laughed.

  Sometimes she made the silliest faces!

  Clearly, I was in a better mood today as well. As I climbed into the driver’s seat of the car, I recalled how I had been so nauseous at the spa that day Paula had drug me to that yoga class. I laughed, realizing now that it was probably because I was pregnant.

  How could I have not realizing it sooner?

  I wondered how far along I was because wow, it seemed so obvious now with how emotional I’d been and how easily I got wozzy.

  “Ooh, you are going to be such a good big sister,” I said to Laurie, looking at her through the rearview.

  I pulled out my phone and dialed Dr. Greene’s office while I sitting in the parking lot.

  Done!

  We started to pull out of the parking lot when I was suddenly overcome with a desire for a smoked ham sandwich. And so, it begins.

  Pregnancy cravings.

  I’d been borderline insane when I was pregnant with Laurie when it came to cravings. I wanted everything. Chocolate coated bananas, corned beef, ice cream, chips, and for some reason I coated half of what I ate with sour cream.

  Baby number two wanted a smoked ham sandwich, so I swung by a sub shop on my way home. Not exactly the type of meal you eat at eight in the morning, but whatever I was suddenly starving.

  We got home, and Laurie was tuckered out after enjoying a bottle. She went right down for a nap, so I took a moment to get off my feet before I got back to work.

  Yes, I was in a much better mood today.

  No crazy Kate yelling at Jim because he did something right by getting his daughter to calm down – yeah, that makes about as much sense as the devilled eggs incident!

  Nope, I was steady that day, and I could tell right then and there that it was going to be a good day. I was going to get stuff done. It was time I found out what happened to Kelly.

  Chapter Twenty

  The nail salon employees were being very impatient with me on the phone. All I wanted was the name of their new owner, and for some reason that was just too difficult for them to give me.

  In my gut, I knew I had finally found our culprit...

  Someone’s hiding from me.

  And I’m going to find them.

  I was pumped. I was like a bloodhound on the scent. I’d caught a whiff and I was ready to chase them down.

  The employees were being way to overprotective. So, they either knew that the woman had killed Kelly and were worried about spilling the beans on their boss, or the more likely option was that the owner had forbade them from revealing her identity.

  That second one just made me suspicious. Why the secrecy? Obviously, something was up.

  I had a motive: the hostile takeover. A death at Jane’s spa would hurt her business, so it was a revenge story. The only problem was, I had no idea who this person was. The owner had either done the dirty work herself or had gotten one of her employees to do it on her behalf, but either way I was confident I had found my perp. Now it was just a matter of identifying her.

  After being hung up on by the women at the nail salon for the third time, I pulled out my to-do list for the day.

  To Do:

  Call County Records for Nail Salon Owner’s Name

  Make appointment with Dr. Greene

  Clean out the litter box

  Call Kenny about babysitting this week

  Come up with killer way to tell Jim the good news -U. R. stupid

  Get in contact with nail salon owner

  Solve this murder

  Start shopping for nannies

  I frowned when I looked at my list. I tossed the whole thing and decided to start over. I had so much I needed to do.

  Figure out name of salon owner

  Find a nanny

  Pick up prenatal vitamins

  Solve this murder

  Sure, there were only four things on my revised list, but it still seemed to be a mile long because it all seemed so impossible.

  How was I going to figure this out if no one wanted to talk to me?

  The identity of the nail salon owner was being kept a secret for a reason. The woman kept her deceased ex-husband’s name on the lease for a reason. Whoever she was had been plotting something, and my bet is that it was revenge toward Jane.

  Jane finally called me back; she gave me the name Carla Hyu. When I plugged the name into my search engines, I found out that Carla Hyu had died a month ago – long after the contracts had been signed with Jane.

  What the heck!

  Well, who owned the salon now? I called Jane back, and frankly she was at a loss as much as I was.

  “Wait,” Jane said. “If Carla is dead, who have I been working with?”

  “The manager told me her mother owned the salon,” I said.

  “Which manager?”

  “Sonya,” I said.

  “Hold on, Carla didn’t have any kids – not as far as I knew,” Jane said. “So, there’s a new owner. I had no idea Carla had even died... I guess Sonya’s mother owns it now?”

  “This is driving me nuts,” I admitted. “Why wouldn’t the new owner put the lease in her name?”

  “I have no idea,” Jane said. “Sometimes please use company names, but this is ridiculous.”

  “I’ll have to get back to you, Jane,” I said. “But thanks for the information.”

  Okay, I had a name now... only problem was that she had died long before Kelly had been killed. If Carla Hyu wasn’t my killer, then maybe this new mystery owner was?

  Realizing I was not getting anywhere just making phone calls to the salon, I attempted to do some additional digging online. I didn’t really come up with much before an idea suddenly struck me.

  I remember Paula was supposed to ask Sean O’Neil to see if he had ever met the new owner of the salon, but she must have forgotten.

  I called Sean directly.

  “Morning! This is Sean.”

&nb
sp; “Hey, Sean,” I said and smiled at the extra bit of pep he seemed to have that morning. “This is Kate Connolly. I need some information.”

  “Ooh, do tell,” he teased, sounding as though he was more than eager to get in on the game. The man was a giant cartoon character, I swear.

  “I need the name of the owner of the nail salon,” I said.

  “Hyo Kyu is the name on all my paperwork,” he said. “But, they tell me he’s dead. I know the business went to his wife...”

  “Carla Hyu,” I said.

  “Well if you knew, why did you ask me?” he said with a laugh. “Yeah, I knew Carla.”

  “Can you tell me anything about her?” I asked.

  “Not much. Real sickly lady,” he said. “Probably why she signed over half the salon to Jane so quickly. She couldn’t keep the place running on her own.”

  “Carla died a month ago,” I said.

  “Well, shoot,” he said. “Okay, that’s probably why her sister has been hanging around.”

  “Sister?” I questioned.

  “Yeah, I only met her once or twice,” he said. “Pretty sure she’s the one who has been running things over there. A real uptight lady.”

  Bingo.

  “So, you’ve met her! What’s her name?” I asked desperately – eager to hear the name of my culprit.

  “Can’t say that I know her name,” he said, and I almost banged my head against my kitchen table in frustration. Sean paused for a moment as though he was thinking really hard in order to give me some information. “Sorry, Kate, I don’t know. But, I can tell you she just left – probably to go get coffee.”

  “She was there!” I cried, moaning. I had only been there an hour ago.

  “She stops by briefly every morning and writes down a coffee order for all of her salon girls,” Sean said. “She buys whoever is working coffee in the morning before she hits the gym across the street.”

  “You’re the best! You’re saying she just now left?” I asked.

  “Just now walked out the door. Probably still in the parking lot. The coffee shop is right next to the gym across the street,” he said.

  “Thank you so much! I’ll talk to you later!” I practically shouted into the phone before hanging up. I hated to do it, but I woke Laurie up from her nap. She probably would not have been asleep that much longer anyway. I knew the hour was too early to call Kenny, and it would take Paula too long to get there.

  And there was no way I was going to risk missing the woman; I mean, what if she decided not to go to the gym that morning?

  I put Laurie and her stroller into the car, and thankfully she woke up happy as ever otherwise I’d be dealing with a cranky little thing.

  We made it to the street where the spa and the salon sat, and I spotted one and only one coffee shop across the street.

  I smiled as I pulled into the parking lot. My perp was probably inside. I could hardly contain myself. The police were still looking into friends and family, but I knew I was on the right track.

  The killer had been after Jane’s reputation – not Kelly. It seemed so obvious now; I should have trusted my initial instinct instead of listening to that crazy eyed attendant.

  Laurie was making a lot of babbling noises when I opened up the back door to get her out, and I grinned. “You must sense Mommies excitement, huh?” I asked, and I swear she gave me a thumb’s up.

  I wondered if she had picked that up from Jim; he was always doing that. I couldn’t help it. Mommy instincts took over, and I pulled out my phone to take a picture of her giving me that cute little thumbs up and sent it to Jim.

  So cute.

  Once Laurie was in her stroller, I locked up my car and headed inside the packed coffee shop. There were a lot of people in there.

  I thought about the manager I had met who had said she was the owner’s daughter; she was probably in her late twenties. If the owner was her mother, then I was looking for someone a bit older.

  There were several women who fit that description. I’ve never been in such an unusual situation. Standing there staring awkwardly at people trying to decide if they could possibly be my perp. I realized I probably should have asked Sean what she looked like.

  Then, someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Kate?” a woman’s voice beckoned, and I turned around to see Mrs. Lozano.

  Don’t jump to conclusions, I told myself.

  “Hey,” I said in a friendly tone.

  “Still working the case?” she asked. “Have you found anything out about Kelly?”

  “I heard the police arrested Merida?” I said.

  “Let her out this morning,” Mrs. Lozano said. “Though, I’m not sure what they found that made them think she was suddenly innocent.”

  “You think she’s guilty?” I questioned.

  “Oh, no! Not at all!” Mrs. Lozano said. “Merida and Kelly got along very well. I can’t imagine she had anything to do with it.”

  Mrs. Lozano being here was setting off a number of red flags.

  Was she the owner?

  I had no idea. She certainly wasn’t trying to throw Merida under the bus which seemed like something the actual killer would do.

  So, she was either the owner or was just devilishly sneaky. I suppose the simple fact that she here connected her to the nail salon, but truth be told I wasn’t willing to jump to any conclusions.

  “How is Ryan holding up?” I asked, and Mrs. Lozano sighed. She seemed a bit broken over her son’s heartache.

  “Not well,” Mrs. Lozano admitted. “To be honest, I had no idea how in love Ryan really was. He is positively devastated. I wish I knew what I could do to make it better.”

  Mrs. Lozano seemed sincerely upset.

  I couldn’t get a good read on her, and it was driving me crazy.

  “Hey, hurry up on that order for the salon girls, would you?” one of the baristas said to another.

  I went on high alert. The order was coming up. I was about to figure out for sure who owned the nail salon.

  I glanced around the shop for anyone else that looked familiar.

  The barista called out a ridiculously large order of coffees, and wouldn’t you know it, Mrs. Lozano excused herself and headed up to the counter. “Thanks, ladies,” Mrs. Lozano said. “I’m a little late getting this to my girls this morning.”

  I froze.

  Mrs. Lozano had motive on two fronts. She hated Kelly – she didn’t want her son to marry her. And, she had been cheated out of her business inheritance by Jane in a hostile takeover. Her daughter was the manager; I thought back to the video Jane had shown me.

  Yes, the manager I had met certainly fit the body type from the woman in the video. It seemed so obvious now. I could hardly believe it. Mrs. Lozano and her daughter – Ryan’s sister – were clearly the killers.

  Hadn’t it bee Mrs. Lozano who’d told Kelly to have some coffee? I remembered it clearly now. In the hot tub room...she must have know Kelly liked Stevia.

  Mrs. Lozano passed by me on her way out the door and smiled, not realizing I’d identified her as the culprit behind Kelly’s murder. “Good seeing you, Kate. I got to run – got to get these drinks to my little worker bees.”

  Mrs. Lozano looked down into the stroller at Laurie and smiled brightly. “So cute. I love the little bow you have in her hair. Bye, bye, cutie!”

  She head out the door, but she wasn’t going to get away that easily.

  Chapter Twenty One

  I bolted out the door, pushing Laurie’s stroller as I went. I had every intention of confronting Mrs. Lozano.

  Like I said, she now had motivation to murder Kelly on two separate fronts – even if her sister, Carla, had been the one to sign over the salon during the takeover. She certainly would have taken this personally.

  And, taking out the potential daughter-in-law that didn’t pass muster was an added bonus.

  I caught up to Mrs. Lozano as she was leaning over her driver’s seat to place the bunch of coffees in her passenger’s sea
t. I cleared my throat, and once she had set down the coffees she stood upright and turned to look at me.

  “Kate? May I help you?” she sounded so innocent, but honestly I felt disappointed in myself for not seeing this before.

  “Do you own the nail salon next to Jane North’s spa?” I asked.

  “Not technically,” she said with outright honesty. I realized now that this had been her game the entire time. Sprinkle a little bit of truth in with the lies to throw you off her trail. She’d admitted to my face she hated Kelly, but she had calmly assured me that that had been in the past – making me think to myself why in the world would this woman admit to hating someone who had just been murdered if she was the murderer?

  She threw me off her trail by simply being honest and only lying when necessary, and I had bought it hook, line, and sinker. And, I could tell she was about to do it again.

  “How do you mean?” I asked.

  “Well, it belonged to my sister’s husband. He died a few years ago, and then my sister took over. But, she got really sick and passed away fairly recently. That sort of left me to clean up the mess of this business deal she’d made,” Mrs. Lozano said with a slight smile as though it didn’t bother her.

  “You’re talking about the hostile business takeover,” I said. “The one where Jane pressured your poor sister-in-law, who sounds like she was on her deathbed at the time, into signing half the business over to her. That’s pretty harsh. I’m sure you have some resentment, am I right?”

  Mrs. Lozano flinched ever so slightly. “Well, I do know that Jane had hired a bunch of lawyers to write up that contract. And, Jane knew that Carla was sick. I would hardly call that ethical business practices – pressuring a dying woman into signing a contract with more loop holes than you could possibly imagine. My brother-in-law and Carla had left that salon to my daughter and me, so you can imagine that—”