by Patrice Lyle
Go to the front desk and ask for Sasha. No security tapes, but one of the maids remembers an old lady asking to get in our room. Huge break for Operation Snookums Freedom!
Indeed. The maid's testimony would be a crucial piece of evidence that, coupled with the photo, Detective Franks would have a hard time ignoring. A tidal-wave-sized surge of excitement crashed through me, followed by a PI vibe. I quickly texted her back.
Look up Cassidy's website. See if there's anything suspicious on there. FYI, she also said something about posting before-and-after pictures using this new Sleek hair product.
Not that I'd take hair advice from a murderous model, but any anti-frizz hair tip should at least be checked out.
Aunt Alfa texted back. I'm on it, Pipe.
"We just got some hugely important evidence," I said as I lifted my phone. "Aunt Alfa said a maid remembers an old lady asking to get into our room."
"That had to be Cassidy dressed up in a wig."
"I know." I tugged him with me to the front desk, and we stood in front of a red-haired girl in glasses who was typing on a keyboard. "Excuse me, but I'm looking for Sasha."
The girl looked up and grinned. "Are you Dr. Piper?"
I nodded. "Sasha?"
"Yeah." Sasha pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Oh my gosh, I so totally love your aunt. She's so awesome. I've told all the employees here about your 91-year-old auntie."
"Even our maid?"
"Yep. I told Edith how cute Aunt Alfa was. Edith loves older people too."
"Did Edith ever see Aunt Alfa or just hear about her from you?"
Sasha beamed. "I told her and everyone here about your aunt after she gave me the energizing essential oil. I even told that model too!"
Holy chocolate babka! That explained why Edith let the fake old lady into our room.
I loved talking about the wonders of Aunt Alfa, but I had a clue to confirm. "Aunt Alfa said something about a maid having run into an older lady asking to get in our room?"
"Yeah. Edith said an older lady asked to get into two rooms. Edith wanted to be polite considering the guest's age, so she let her in."
The guest's fake age.
Sasha shrugged. "Maybe Edith might have thought the woman was Aunt Alfa?"
"Do you remember who else's room the grandma wanted in?" I bet it was Heath's room, so Cassidy could plant the evidence.
"No, sorry. But Edith probably does." Sasha grabbed a walkie-talkie and pressed a button. "Edith, are you there? Can you take a quick break to talk about the elderly lady who you let into Dr. Piper's room?"
No response from Edith. Just dead air.
Sasha pressed the button again. "Edith, are you there?" Once again, no response. Sasha set the walkie-talkie down on the counter. "Sorry, maybe she's on break."
Oh, for the love of dark chocolate mousse.
A crackling noise emitted from the walkie-talkie. Yes! A woman's voice came over the airwaves.
"I saw Edith on break over an hour ago. Can you tell her to quit slacking? I need help with all these checkouts."
Sasha grimaced and picked up the walkie-talkie. "I'll go see if she's in the break room, okay?"
"Thanks," the woman said. "I can't process all these rooms myself."
Sasha set the walkie-talkie next to the keyboard and stepped out from the front desk. "Want to come with me to the break room?"
"Sure." The faster we got a description from Edith the better. No wig could have hidden Cassidy's tall, skinny model body or her sushi tattoos.
We followed Sasha through the lobby and into a side door marked Employees Only. We passed along a linoleum-lined hallway into a break room. A couple of vending machines sat in the corner. Two round tables filled the center of the room. But no employee in sight.
"Huh," Sasha said. "I don't know where else Edith would be."
"Think she went home sick?" My mind was already formulating a plan to obtain Edith's home address if necessary.
"We don't get sick leave here, and Edith's got three kids," Sasha said. "She never calls in. The only other place she could be is the lady's restroom. It's back here."
"I'll wait here, Doc."
"Okay." I followed Sasha's lead through a black door into a small bathroom. Two feet clad in white tennis shoes with purples laces were visible in the last stall.
"Edith?" Sasha called out. "Are you all right?"
Silence ensued, and fear slithered up my neck. Oh no. If Edith were a witness to Cassidy's murderous moves that would make her Cassidy's ticket to death row. Would a killer as ruthless as Cassidy allow Edith to live?
Probably not.
"Edith?" Sasha called out again. Then she turned toward me. "Those are Edith's shoes. I know because she loves purple shoestrings. Isn't it weird she's not answering?"
Not if she's dead.
Dread churned in my gut as I approached the stall. I let out a breath and pushed open the door. I gasped and stepped back as my brain processed the sight. A woman with brown hair pulled into a bun wearing a maid's uniform sat on the toilet, slumped against the wall. A trickle of blood oozed from her forehead. Her eyes were glassy, and her skin had a pale grayish tone.
The face of death.
Holy chocolate babka!
Sasha shrieked and raced out of the bathroom while the naturopathic professional in me took over. I felt the woman's wrist for a pulse. Negative.
"You okay, Doc?" Tattoo Tex asked from the bathroom entrance.
I turned and pointed at the stall. "Someone killed Edith the maid."
Tattoo Tex's eyes widened as he joined me by the stall door. "Holy chocolate peanuts in the shell."
If we hadn't been staring at a murder victim, his words would have made me laugh. But nothing was funny about another killer being on the loose.
"How do you think she died, Doc?"
"With no visible gunshot or stab wounds, and the swelling and bruise on her cheek, I'd say she was bludgeoned to death." I peered at her head, but I couldn't see anything under her thick hair. "I bet the medical examiner will find a goose egg on her skull."
Tex elbowed me. "What's that thar?"
"Where?" All I saw was a dead body.
He pointed to the right of poor Edith. "On the floor thar?"
I followed his finger and zeroed in on the item in question. I scrunched my face because it looked familiar. My pulse took off when I realized what it was.
"That's a Sleek sample!"
My nerves were on overdrive as I fumbled to open my purse. Once the clasp relented, I pulled out the tube of Sleek that Cassidy had given me outside Fresh Flippers. I crouched down and angled my tube close to the crime scene tube. I was dying to pick up the Sleek from the floor for a closer look, but I remembered one of my PI flash cards specifically warned about disturbing crime scene evidence.
Even from here, however, there was no mistaking that the samples were the same.
I stood up and showed my tube of Sleek to Tex. "Cassidy gave this to me earlier today. She's the new Sleek spokesperson."
He furrowed his brow. "How'd a tube of Sleek get here by the victim?"
"It obviously fell out of Cassidy's pocket or purse when she murdered Edith."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
#PufferFish
Minutes later, the police swarmed the Annabelle Island Inn and collected evidence on the second murder. Tattoo Tex and I sat at the employee break-room table waiting to be interviewed. Sasha stood in the corner crying. No tears for me, however. Not that I wasn't heartbroken for Edith and her three children.
I was numb.
I felt like someone had taken a giant needle—and I truly hated needles—and numbed my heart. We'd been instrumental in getting Snookums arrested for a crime he obviously didn't commit. If I'd been a good PI and had looked at Brownie's picture more closely and had homed in on the right suspect, maybe Cassidy would be in jail right now.
And Edith wouldn't have been murdered.
"Poor Edith. She didn't deserve to die."
I was relieved Tattoo Tex was with me because he made me feel safe. What would I do without him?
Tattoo Tex laid his hand on top of mine. "It had to be Cassidy who killed her."
I nodded. "I'm looking forward to telling Detective Franks just that." A strong piece of evidence was the tube of Sleek that Tex had found at the crime scene.
The nail in Cassidy's coffin.
One of the Hardy Boy look-alikes walked over to our table. He pulled out a chair and a small black notebook.
I made a mental note to get a notebook for me. But I wanted a hot pink one.
"I need to ask you two a few questions." He looked at me first. "You discovered the body with Sasha?"
"Yes." I pointed toward the women's bathroom. "We found her in there."
"Why were you two looking for Edith?"
"Because I wanted to talk to her about an old lady she let into our room. Well, an old lady in disguise because Cassidy's in her twenties, but she was wearing a gray wig when she asked Edith to let her into our room."
The Hardy Boy look alike furrowed his brow. "Run that by me again?"
"Sorry, this story's complicated." I leaned forward and took a deep breath. I needed to tell the tale coherently, so they could arrest the real killer and let Snookums go. "Cassidy was dating Heath, aka Snookums, and since he liked old ladies, she bought some gray wigs. I mean, I assume she bought them because how else would she get them? Anyway, I found a gray wig in the trash can in the hallway outside of Heath's room, along with a piece of sushi. Cassidy used the gray wigs to gain entrance to my room to poison the Carat Cream, and to Heath's room to plant the puffer fish venom. And I also have a picture of her sushi tattoo on our balcony."
He pressed his lips together while he considered my story. "Let me go get Detective Franks. This isn't making sense to me because we already have the Carat Cream Killer in custody."
"Not the real one."
He shot me a questioning look and left us sitting at the table. Crime scene techs buzzed around the break room bagging evidence. Wheels screeched on the linoleum, and I looked behind me. The medical examiner I'd seen at Dr. J's crime scene pushed a body cart toward the door. Edith's body was encased in a black bag.
"My PI flash cards say to follow the evidence." I slumped in my chair. "I really screwed up this time. I had that picture with me the whole time."
Tattoo Tex gave me an encouraging side-hug. "Don't beat yourself up, Doc. You did the best you could. You're not even a full time PI."
I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, I'd say it's pretty obvious I'm not a real PI."
Someone coughed behind us. I turned to see Detective Franks.
"I agree with that assessment." He scratched his head and pulled out a chair. He sat down across from us and anchored his arms on the table. "What's this crazy wig and sushi story you told Officer Hardy?"
I pulled my face back. "His last name's really Hardy?"
Detective Franks' face didn't flinch. "What's your point?"
Clearly he didn't see the resemblance. Or maybe he'd never read the books?
"Never mind. Anyway the story I told Officer Hardy proves that Heath, aka Snookums, isn't the real Carat Cream Killer." I rattled off my deductions about Cassidy and the gray wigs again. I also added in a detailed account of when Cassidy gave me the Sleek sample and how she was the new spokesperson for Sleek.
"The Sleek tube at the crime scene matches the one Cassidy gave me. She obviously killed Edith to prevent her from talking to the police about her breaking into hotel rooms to poison the Carat Cream and plant the puffer fish venom." I spoke slowly and added lots of precise details like a good PI. Then I showed him the picture. "That's Cassidy's sushi tattoo on her leg, which proves she was on our balcony."
He scrunched up his face. "That looks like a picture of your pig to me."
"No, you have to blow this part up." I drew my fingers across the screen to show him the tattoo image.
But it didn't seem to matter.
Detective Franks looked unimpressed. "We already have the killer in custody, ma'am. You should be well aware of this fact because you were present for the arrest."
"I know, but it was a mistake."
He shot me a stern look. "The Annabelle Island PD appreciates your assistance in the arrest of Mr. Wiles, Dr. Piper, but I'm going to ask you to stay out of our investigation. We'll handle it from here."
Tattoo Tex tipped his cowboy hat. "What about the Sleek sample we found in thar?"
"If Cassidy was a company spokesperson, as Dr. Piper said, then it stands to reason she probably gave out numerous samples."
How could he miss the elephant in the bathroom stall? "But why would a tube of Sleek be right next to Edith's body? It obviously got there when Cassidy murdered Edith."
"Again, this is a police matter. Let us follow the evidence on this case." Detective Franks stood up and pushed his chair under the table. "One of the Hardy boys will be back to take your statements. After that, you two, the old lady, and the pig are free to go."
The detective's humorous comment about the Hardy Boys didn't compensate for the stab of panic that hit me. "What about Cassidy? Are you going to just let her go too?"
"What we decide to do with our investigation is our business, ma'am." He stalked off toward the bathroom.
I looked at Tex. "We can't let Cassidy get away."
"We can get her room number from Aunt Alfa and question her ourselves."
Great idear! I texted the question to Aunt Alfa. She responded back with the room number and a link to Cassidy's website along with a message.
Check out her blog post from last June. She went to China! She could have gotten the puffer fish venom there.
Holy chocolate babka!
I opened the link and tapped Tattoo Tex's arm. "Aunt Alfa said Cassidy went to China last summer. That's where she could have bought the puffer fish venom."
"Or at least learned about it."
"True." I tapped my fingers on the table while the website loaded. Once it did, Tattoo Tex and I huddled together to surf the website.
I clicked a link to her blog. Once I was there, I clicked on previous blog posts and searched for June. After reading several posts about her diet and exercise regimen, which consisted of eating nothing but sushi, I found the post about her summer trip.
Check out my trip to China! I modeled for Sleek, a cheap hair products company. I don't use the stuff but hey, I'm happy to pretend I do to make some money.
I knew she didn't use Sleek!
The cool thing about the trip, aside from the money, is all the sushi I'm eating! It's keeping me so skinny! I tweeted about a recent trip to a fish market that has all kinds of super freaky stuff that you see in horror movies!
I swatted Tattoo Tex's arm. "The Serpent and the Rainbow! Cassidy mentioned the movie in the bar."
Tattoo Tex gulped. "I wish I'd never seen that darn movie."
I followed a link to her Twitter account and found an incriminating post. My breath suspended in my throat as I read it.
#ChinaFishMarket #PufferFish they sell zombie stuff here! It smells freaky fishy but #zombies don't care!
Then a vanity-light-bulb moment hit me. I'd screwed up again.
"Tex, do you remember right before Dr. J demo'd the Carat Cream when Cassidy asked her what the cream smelled like? I bet she wanted to know if Dr. J could smell the fish-scented puffer fish venom." Why else would she ask?
Tattoo Tex sat back and drew his hand to his chin. "Sort of. But to be honest, Doc, all I was thinking about at the time was the 600-count comforter."
Aw. But back to the case. "I specially recall now because Dr. J said it didn't smell like anything, and I remembered thinking how much I loved the lemon scent."
Tex pointed at my phone. "That blog's proof thar, especially with your recall of Cassidy's question."
Yes! I had proof of the identity of the real Carat Cream Killer. It was obvious, however, that Detective Franks didn't find my deductions rivetin
g. No PI and police collaboration was going to happen on this case.
Unless I got a confession from the real killer.
My plan came together faster than Carat Cream blasted off dead skin cells. I leaned close to my boyfriend and whispered, "Once we're done here, we'll confront Cassidy."
"Sure thang, Doc. You better tell Aunt Alfa to hang tight in the room."
My heart seized at the thought of my precious auntie and piglet encountering murderous Cassidy in the hotel. I pounded out a quick text.
Stay locked in the room, and don't open the door for anybody! There's been another murder!
It didn't take long for a response.
Who got whacked now?
I typed back, Edith, the maid.
Bummer. That stinks. Okay, I'll hang tight here.
I was about to put my phone away when I realized Mystic Ming had gotten it all wrong. Some psychic detective he was. I pounded out quick message to him too.
Heath's not the killer. Model Cassidy is!
I dropped my phone into my purse, not caring what Mystic Ming said now. How could he have screwed up with help from the other side? Wait a second. Hope burst forth in my heart like spring daffodils breaking ground.
If he'd messed up something as important as the identity of the Carat Cream Killer, then he was probably wrong about the question the cowboy was going to pop too.
Double yes! Things were looking up. I couldn't wait for the Monster Truck Event.
It was hard to sit still while a million thoughts of Tex's proposal crashed through my mind. All I knew for sure was what my answer would be. I took several deep breaths and waited. Finally one of the Hardy Boys finished taking our statements.
Once we were done, I pushed my chair back and jumped up. "Thanks, Officer Hardy. See you later."
I have a confession to get from a killer!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Bottoms Up, Dr. Piper
A few minutes later, I rapped on Cassidy's door. My plan was simple. Confront Cassidy with the evidence and make her confess. How hard could that be?
I knocked on the door again. "It's Piper, and I have a question about Sleek. I was thinking of selling it at my wellness center." That ought to do it. She was a spokesperson after all and only cared about money. A commercial sale should interest her.