Beauty to Die For

by Kim Alexis

  Didi stood beside Juliette in silence, the two women watching and waiting together until the second group of paramedics emerged from the treatment room. They, too, were rolling a stretcher, but it was empty. Their faces expressionless, the team put the stretcher in the back, got into the ambulance, and departed without sirens or lights.

  “Guess Raven managed to recover on her own.” Didi smirked. “Big surprise there. Okay, time to get back to business.”

  Ignoring her friend’s words, Juliette stood on tiptoe, trying to see over the uniformed personnel who once again blocked the treatment room from view.

  “Come on, Juliette, we have to go. We can find out more later. Right now we’ve got to get ready for the staff trainings.”

  Juliette was reluctant to abandon an old friend in the midst of trouble, regardless of their earlier conflict. What if Raven needed her help? Still, she knew Didi was right. They had their own matters to attend to at the moment. Exhaling loudly, Juliette agreed and they took off toward the conference center. They were just heading past the parking lot when another vehicle pulled into the fray and a man in a suit climbed out and strode toward the building.

  Raven’s lawyer, no doubt, Juliette thought, but then she spotted the white lettering on the car’s door: Coroner.

  With a cry, Juliette ran back. Police wouldn’t let her through, so she scrambled for some position that would at least allow her to see inside the room. When she finally found an angle that gave her a decent view, she saw that the client was still lying on the table, motionless, swathed as if in the midst of a spa treatment, her hair wrapped in a towel and her body encased in a white blanket from neck to toe.

  Forcing herself to breathe, Juliette watched as the coroner stood over the woman and peeled down the covers to expose her bare neck and shoulders, which were tinted a sickly color by the thin, greenish residue of the chai soy mud. Juliette sucked in a sharp breath, her knees almost buckling at the sight of the woman’s face, lifeless and pale, jaw slack, eyes closed. It looked like Raven, though from that angle it was hard to tell for sure.

  The coroner leaned in closer. Then, after a long moment, he pulled away the towel that had been wrapped around the woman’s head. Immediately her hair sprung free, hanging down from the end of the table in long, wavy locks.

  Locks of red—a brilliant, ridiculous, beautiful, vivid red.

  Raven was dead.

  Chapter Six

  CRYSTAL SAT ON THE bench, still seeing everything in her mind, over and over, as vivid as if she were watching it on a movie screen:

  Discovering Brooke.

  Calling Andre, who burst through the front door just moments later and immediately dialed 9-1-1.

  Ty coming in after him and going to Brooke, lifting her off the slippery floor as Crystal threw towels down on the oil so he wouldn’t fall.

  Ty placing Brooke in a chair then grabbing another towel and wiping the oil from her arms and hands and legs as Crystal continued to try to get her to respond.

  Andre focusing on the client, trying to rouse her, to no avail.

  Crystal leaving Brooke in Ty’s care as she jumped up to help Andre, both of them searching the client for a pulse they never found . . .

  Once emergency personnel arrived and the paramedics took over, all three had been brought into the back room, briefly questioned, then sent outside to wait until they would give a more detailed version of events later. Unbelievable.

  Dead. The client really was dead. Poor Brooke wasn’t doing much better.

  What could have happened in there?

  Judging by the chatter, everyone seemed to have a different theory, though most people found it far easier to explain the client’s death than the employee’s breakdown. Surely the one had led to the other, in Crystal’s opinion. If the client died on the table of some heretofore-unknown medical condition—a heart attack, a stroke, maybe even an allergy to the soy in the mud—and if Brooke witnessed this woman’s death and was helpless to stop it, maybe something inside of her had just snapped and sent her babbling into the corner.

  But how did the laughter and noise fit into that picture?

  And how could mere shock cause someone’s eyes to dilate so completely?

  Though Crystal had been relieved to find no signs or smells of alcohol anywhere in the room, she was still puzzling over the words she’d heard earlier, the client’s cry for “A drink! I need another drink!” If not booze, what kind of drink had she meant?

  Now, the word dead began to echo through the crowd. So it was true. The client had died on the table.

  Mind reeling, Crystal turned to look at Ty, who had been standing behind her since they’d come out here. He was gripping the back of the bench, his eyes dark and his anguish nearly palpable. She felt so bad for him. Reaching out, she placed a hand over his and gave it a comforting squeeze.

  Ty recoiled as if struck, pulling back his arm.

  “Take it easy, Ty. I was just trying to be nice.”

  His face flushed a deep crimson as he looked at her, blinking. “Yeah, well, forget about it. I’m fine. Just fine.”

  With that, he turned and walked away.

  JULIETTE COULDN'T STOP SHAKING. Not only was Raven dead, she was dead after having been exposed to a JT Lady product.

  “Are you okay?” Didi’s question came to her from somewhere far away.

  Juliette didn’t respond, but soon she could feel her friend leading her over to the fountain. The women sat on the wide stone ledge, side by side, and Didi placed a comforting hand on her back. Juliette’s mind reeled.

  All she could think about was what they’d learned in recent weeks, that counterfeit cosmetics and perfumes often used illegal substances as fillers or stabilizers or to balance out various properties such as alkalinity. The shocker was that those substances were often things like antifreeze, cleaning products—even urine—which could cause caustic rashes, burns, serious allergic reactions, and worse.

  “Talk to me, babe. Are you okay?”

  Juliette looked at her friend, whose face was finally coming into focus. “Oh, Didi. I just keep remembering what that consultant told us about the dangers of counterfeit beauty products. What if the chai soy mud used on Raven was counterfeit? What if she’s dead because of what’s been happening with our products? What if she was exposed to some horrible ingredient that killed her?”

  Didi also whispered in reply. “Not our fault. We don’t deal in fakes.”

  “You know what I mean. What if she’s dead because of a counterfeit JT Lady product?”

  “Well, then, that would be Palm Grotto’s responsibility, not ours.”

  Juliette pursed her lips. Didi didn’t get what she was saying. This wasn’t about legal liability. It was about the tragedy, the senselessness. The tentacles of evil that kept slithering out from the darkest core of the counterfeiting industry—something she hadn’t even been aware of until recently.

  Didi continued. “Then again, you have a point. Whether JT Lady is at fault or not, Raven’s death could be disastrous for us and the company. There’s the inevitable public relations nightmare, the potential of getting pulled in to a criminal investigation. Ugh. I don’t even want to think about all that right now.”

  Juliette stayed quiet, staring off into the distance. Didi was just being practical. They could discuss the less tangible implications later.

  “Given the circumstances,” Didi added, “I think we should cancel the staff trainings.”

  Juliette nodded. She felt numb. Lost. No way could she handle something like that right now.

  “Let me talk to Reggie, and then I have an idea,” Didi said. “While he’s busy down here, I think you and I should go pay a visit to Iliana in the main office.”

  “What for?”

  “To talk about Raven’s threat at the airport.”

  Juliette’s eyes widened. “What does that matter now that she’s dead?”

  Didi shrugged, glancing at a nearby officer and lowering her voice.
“Maybe it doesn’t. But considering that the woman died less than two hours after threatening to kill you, you might want to be somewhat, uh, proactive, in figuring out what was going on with all that.”

  Juliette studied Didi’s face. She was right. Counterfeit products weren’t their only concern here. If it turned out that Raven’s death wasn’t an accident, Juliette herself might be seen as a murder suspect!

  Didi disappeared into the crowd in search of Reggie, and by the time she returned, Juliette had managed to calm down and clear her head. She listened as Didi explained that the three afternoon training sessions had been cancelled, but Reggie would lead a single all-staff meeting at 6:00 p.m. instead, where she could give a single, condensed version of the trainings.

  Juliette nodded. That should give her enough time to recover from the shock—at least enough time to get through a presentation. The two women headed for the main office. As soon as they were alone and out of hearing range, Didi added yet another concern to Juliette’s already overloaded brain.

  “I hate to say it, but there’s one more thing you ought to keep in mind here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “With the whole counterfeiting mess, we already know that there’s a chance you have some very dangerous people mad at you.”

  Juliette grunted. She doubted it. The people at the top of the counterfeiting ring, whoever they were, had bigger fish to fry than the owner of some small beauty-product company.

  Didi continued. “A supermodel is now dead at Palm Grotto. You’re also a supermodel who’s at Palm Grotto . . .”

  Juliette shook her head, waiting for a better explanation than that.

  “I’m just sayin’, we need to bear in mind the possibility that someone was sent here to ‘kill the supermodel’—meaning you—and they accidentally killed Raven instead.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Didi. Nobody wants me dead.”

  They walked along until they reached the door of the main office.

  “I hope you’re right,” Didi replied at last. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t discount the thought completely. For all we know, there’s a big fat target on your back.”

  CRYSTAL WAS ANTSY. SHE couldn’t leave the area until she’d had her second, more thorough questioning by the police, but it didn’t look like they’d be ready for her any time soon. She decided to head around behind the Arrowscale building to the employee break room and see if there was anyone hanging around in there to talk to.

  Crystal let herself in through the “employees only” gate, and as she neared the break room, she was surprised at the amount of noise she could hear coming from inside. Palm Grotto was such a quiet place; this much chatter happening right at the heart of the property was unheard of. At least the structure was situated in such a way that the sound, even at its loudest, wasn’t likely to carry to any public spaces. Not only did the doorway face an enclosed service area and the back of Arrowscale, but on the other side stood a thick stucco wall, beyond which was a barbecue pit, a covered patio, and then the mineral pools of the grotto.

  When she stepped in the doorway, she was surprised to see that the place was packed—not just with spa personnel but with those from other divisions as well. Usually resort employees congregated with their own departments in their own separate areas, but right now this was the place to be, regardless of department.

  No big surprise there. People always flocked to drama.

  JULIETTE AND DIDI ENTERED the main office, weaving through the gift shop between display racks of loofahs, lotions, neck pillows, and more as they headed for check-in. The place was empty except for the woman they sought, who was standing behind the desk, keeping up with all that was happening down at Arrowscale via walkie-talkie. In her early forties, Iliana had a pretty face and a warm smile, perfect for a greeter at the posh resort. She was dressed in a fuchsia silk blouse under a multi-colored jacket, pulled together with a bold leather belt and several chunky, color-coordinated necklaces. Her outfit was bright, but she carried it off thanks to her tanned skin and lustrous black hair.

  Iliana turned down the crackling walkie-talkie and set it aside. She seemed pleased to see them—until Didi explained why they were there, saying that they had observed something earlier, out in the parking lot, a discussion between her and Raven and wanted to know more about it.

  Iliana’s lips grew thin and tight. “Why do you ask?”

  Didi shifted her weight, crossing her arms at her chest. “Come on, Iliana, you heard what I was in here telling Reggie earlier. Raven threatened Juliette at the airport, and the only reason we can think of for her to have done that was because she was starting her own beauty product line and trying to move in on our territory. We need to know what you know. Why was she here, and what did it have to do with you?”

  Iliana’s face remained hard for a long moment, then her eyes shifted downward, her face flushed. “It’s hard to explain. Raven had just come for her regular visit in January, but—”

  “Wait.” Didi held up a hand. “Raven’s been to Palm Grotto before?”

  Iliana blinked. “Of course.”

  Juliette nodded, telling Didi how Brooke had greeted Raven, not with “Welcome” but with “Welcome back.”

  Iliana nodded vehemently. “Yeah, she’s one of our oldest customers. Long before I even started here.”

  Juliette glanced at Didi, glad they’d never encountered Raven at Palm Grotto before.

  If only they hadn’t run into her this time either!

  Shoulders sagging, Iliana lowered herself into her chair and continued. “Raven had just come for her regular visit in January, so when she called the other day to book a last-minute stay for this weekend, I was surprised. For as long as I’ve known her, she has come to Palm Grotto twice a year without fail, every January and every July, year after year after year, always scheduled as far in advance as possible. That’s why it was just so strange that here it is May, and out of the blue she called and asked me to fit her in. She’s never deviated from her regular timetable before, ever.”

  “Why was she coming now?” Didi pressed.

  “She didn’t say. But I don’t think it had anything to do with you guys, or with a line of beauty products.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I’m not sure. But I can tell you this much: It was connected somehow with another one of our guests. A man.”

  “A man?”

  “Yep. Raven was adamant that she needed to come this weekend, no later, and that she wanted a guestroom as close to this man’s room as possible. She said I was to keep that part of her request a secret—especially from the guy in question himself.”

  Juliette sighed. “So she was here trying to pursue a relationship?”

  Iliana pursed her lips, paused, then looked from one to the other. “I doubt it. For starters, she wasn’t even sure of his name.”

  Chapter Seven

  JULIETTE GLANCED AT DIDI, who was scowling at Iliana.

  “Let me get this straight,” Didi said. “Raven called you and said she wanted to book a stay for this weekend and in a room that was as close as possible to the room of another guest, a man whose name she didn’t even know? I don’t understand.”

  Iliana shrugged. “I didn’t either, but she’s been such a loyal customer here for so many years I tried to accommodate her wishes as best I could. We always try to do whatever it takes to keep our clients happy.”

  “But how could you do what Raven asked without a name?”

  Iliana shook her head. “Oh, I had a name—she provided a whole list of names, as a matter of fact—she just didn’t know which one she wanted. Raven dictated that list to me over the phone and asked me to check it against our guest roster, saying that whoever on that list was staying here, that’s where she wanted to be. Turns out, there were three people on the list who were going to be staying here this weekend—three men who had requested rooms near each other. That made things easier for me. I just had to do a little shifting so that
I could assign them to a cluster that had more than three rooms. Then I booked Raven into the fourth and that was that.”

  Her cheeks colored. “Of course, ethically speaking, I wasn’t at liberty to share any guest details with Raven, or even confirm that I’d gotten any hits from her list. The most I could say was that I felt sure she would be pleased with these particular accommodations. That’s all she needed to hear. She showed up today and checked in as expected.”

  “That’s it?” Didi demanded. “That’s the whole story?”

  The woman shrugged. Obviously there was more she wasn’t saying.

  Juliette gave it a shot. “What were the two of you talking about outside, by the limo? Seemed like quite the conversation.”

  “I’d rather not say.” Iliana’s bottom lip began to tremble. “It could cost me my job. Haven’t I given you enough info already?”

  “Everything’s going to come out anyway.” Juliette kept her voice gentle.

  “Why would it? She’s dead now.”

  “Exactly.”

  With a deep sigh, the woman placed her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. “Fine. It’s not like I did anything illegal. I just violated company policy. If Reggie wasn’t such a stickler for doing things by the book, it wouldn’t even matter. You know as well as I do, when you’re dealing with celebrities, sometimes you have to bend the rules a little.”

  Juliette nodded. “And how did you bend the rules for Raven?”

  “I gave out info I shouldn’t have.”

  “About the three guests?”

  “I’m afraid so. Not on the phone, just once she got here. She was so excited, she started throwing all kinds of questions at me at check-in—were the men here yet, how long were they staying, had they scheduled any spa treatments, and on and on. I didn’t want Reggie to overhear her and find out what I had already done, so I managed to shut her up until she was all checked in, then I walked her out to her car.”

  “Where you proceeded to answer every one of her questions.”