Beauty to Die For

by Kim Alexis

  He bought them each another coffee, and when he came back to the table he told her that it was her turn to unload. “Clearly, something is bothering you too. No offense, Juliette, but you don’t seem much happier than I am.”

  Ouch. He had that right.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s like you said earlier. I’m afraid if I get started, I’ll never stop.”

  He placed a warm hand on hers. “Try. Like you said, I’ll cut you off if you go on too long.”

  And that was how she found herself sharing with him as well. She told him about her work, about what it was like to live in a world that measured human worth in terms of physical perfection. She said that even as an icon of that world, she was well aware of her every imperfection—and if she’d forget, somehow she would be reminded, and quickly. She told him how it had been at first, when designers and photographers would talk to each other right in front of her, complaining about the size of her hips or the freckles on her shoulders. That had changed as she’d become more successful, she said, and yet in a way things hadn’t changed at all. She was afforded more respect as a supermodel, of course, but all it took was an editor’s appraising glare to know that her body still wasn’t measuring up.

  Juliette told Marcus things she’d never told anyone, for fear of coming across as a diva or of seeming ungrateful. Not even her booker Didi, who was a great friend and sounding board, would’ve understood what she was getting at. And yet Marcus seemed to hear not just her words but her pain. She began to feel better. Between the two of them, there was enough angst and anger to fill a room, and yet they spent as much time laughing as they did pouring out their deepest anguish.

  Somehow just talking things through with a total stranger ended up being the one element that would turn the corner for them both.

  Part of the reason they’d been so honest, of course, was because they knew they’d never see each other again. After hours of sharing their innermost thoughts, however, they both realized they couldn’t not see each other again. Juliette had never given much credence to the idea of having a “soul mate” out there somewhere, but if that were true, she’d found him in an eastern Georgia airport on a stormy September day.

  He seemed to feel the same about her. They eventually left the coffee shop, found some comfortable seats in another part of the airport, and turned the conversation from what they didn’t want to what they did. Somewhere along the way, as he shared his dream of a job where he could focus on safety, and she talked about taking time off and getting back to the person she knew was still inside of her somewhere, they found their fingers entwining. Their gazes lingering. Their shoulders relaxed against each other as they sat there side by side.

  “You do know this can’t end here,” Marcus said finally, turning toward Juliette and reaching out to brush a tendril from her cheek. “Meeting the woman of my dreams wasn’t exactly on my agenda today, but now that I have, I’m not about to let this go.”

  Her heart pounded as she looked into his beautiful blue-gray eyes. How could she, too, have fallen so hard, so fast? She’d never experienced anything like this before.

  “On the other hand,” he continued, “if we can conclude one thing from the time we’ve spent together today, it’s that we both need to make some big changes in our lives.”

  Sitting back, she took his hand in hers as she waited to hear what he was getting at.

  “I don’t want to come to you as this guy”—he gave her a rueful smile—“this angry, confused, soon-to-be-jobless sad sack. This isn’t really me, you know. If I’m going to go back to Atlanta and do what I know I need to do, that’s got to happen first. That makes sense, right?”

  She nodded. Strangely it did, and she thought she knew why. If this was just a fun, casual dating relationship, to delay would be silly. But this felt like nothing of the sort. Marcus Stone wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to see casually.

  He was the kind of man she wanted to end up with, for good.

  She nodded. “I know what I need to do now as well. And I agree. I say we go back to our separate lives and take the big actions we need to take, and when we’re finally free and clear of all that drama, we meet back up and start from there.”

  They decided not to pick a date to reconnect nor a rendezvous point, fearing that either one might hinder them both from accomplishing their plans. If they were going to succeed at a personal relationship, their respective work situations had to be sorted out first.

  She gave him her contact information and he tucked it safely in his wallet, promising that when the time was finally right, he would be in touch.

  Eventually he took her in his arms and just held onto her for a long, long time. When they finally pulled apart it was only by inches. She wanted him to kiss her. Their lips were so close, she could feel the aching pulse of her own need. He, too, seemed almost there and yet he hesitated, placing a cheek against hers instead.

  “I want to kiss you so bad,” he whispered. “But I’m afraid if I get started, I’ll never stop.”

  Inhaling deeply she rested her head on his shoulder, fitting like a hand to a glove. Somehow she felt more deeply connected to Marcus Stone than to any man she’d ever known. It was crazy, but it was true.

  He was just so very kind and respectful, so genuinely interested in her, and so utterly different from anyone she’d ever met. The words that came to mind were old-fashioned ones that people didn’t use much anymore. Trustworthy. Dependable. Solid, both in build and in character. With him, she could see not just the man he wanted to become but the woman she hoped to be someday as well. Best of all, he was a Christian too, just like her, a man of faith who clearly walked the talk.

  Guys like him didn’t exactly grow on trees.

  All too soon their time together came to an end. An odd energy began to radiate through the terminal, and soon the announcement was official: The runways had been cleared. The airport was back in business.

  Marcus and Juliette decided to say their good-byes where they were, away from the prying eyes of her crew. His boss would arrive soon. She needed to get to her gate to catch her plane. Standing, they indulged in one more long, fierce hug. Then she simply gazed into his eyes, memorizing his beautiful face until she would see him again.

  “This wasn’t all just words, was it?” He held her close, one hand resting at the small of her back. “We’re really going to do this, I mean. I’m going to give my boss an ultimatum? You’re going to end your modeling career and give yourself a chance to heal?”

  She nodded. “I will if you will.”

  “And I will if you will.”

  “It’s a deal,” they said in unison, shaking on it, then sharing a deep smile.

  “You know,” Juliette added, “I wouldn’t have had the nerve to do this without our time together, without you. Without today. Now it seems like the simplest choice I never made.”

  He chuckled. “Me too! Now all that’s left for me is to stand firm and let the chips fall where they will.”

  “Keep your eyes on God, Marcus, and you know you can’t go wrong.”

  “Back at you, Taylor. I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

  He pulled her in for another hug and held her close, speaking into her ear. “Just be patient, okay? It may not happen right away. First I’ve got to wrap things up with this job and then I’ve got to figure out where I’m going from here. I need to do both before I can focus on a relationship. Before I can even really begin a relationship. You get that, right?”

  She pulled back so she could look into his eyes. “I totally get that, Marcus. Trust me, I’ve got plenty of work to do on my end too.” With a laugh, she added, “I do believe this is the smartest, most mature entry into a relationship I’ve ever had.”

  “Yeah, well, I do believe this is the fastest, most impulsive leap my heart has ever made. But it feels completely right. You and I feel completely right.”

  He placed his hands on each side of her face and kissed her on the forehea
d, the heat of his lips searing her skin like a branding iron. “If you can be patient, it’ll be worth the wait, I promise. When I come hobbling up to you in that nursing home and tell you I’m finally ready to get started—”

  She slapped him on the arm. “Don’t you dare wait that long.”

  Their expressions grew somber. The dings and whirs of a building coming to life surrounded them.

  It was time to go.

  Sharing one last long look, Juliette said, “All kidding aside, Marcus, don’t come until you’re ready. But when you are ready, please, do come. Come and find me.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  Those were the last words he said to her.

  She never heard from him again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Juliette woke early. her muscles were still relaxed from last night’s soak in the grotto, but her mind was eager to move forward. The time for nostalgic indulgences was over.

  She needed to spend an hour or two preparing for the retreat that would kick off later today, but otherwise she planned to spend her time until then looking into the whole Raven/Brooke situation and getting more solid information.

  Juliette’s mind swirled with questions as she got ready for the day, so finally she grabbed a pen and notepad from the bedside table and jotted them all down:

  What did Raven mean by her threat at the airport?

  Why was she here at Palm Grotto?

  Who are the men she wanted to be near?

  Why are they here under fake names?

  What was the cause of Raven’s death?

  If her death was related to her treatment, were any of the products counterfeit?

  If so, how did counterfeits end up here at Palm Grotto?

  She returned to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, her mind rolling around that last question. What her company had been finding since this whole counterfeiting issue first came to light a few months ago was that there seemed to be two kinds of nefarious goings-on that had been leading salons and spas to send back counterfeit JT Lady products rather than the real thing. When an entire returned shipment was made up of fakes, more often than not the problem traced to a disreputable distributor. When only a few random products in a shipment were fake, that usually traced to someone at the salon and spa level, such as a dishonest employee who’d been helping herself to the real thing and leaving counterfeits in exchange.

  In both cases it wasn’t hard for them to get away with it because the packaging for counterfeit products were nearly indistinguishable from the real thing—at least to the untrained eye. Everyone at JT Lady had been shown what to look for, of course, such as printing issues with the labels, or odd odors or colors with the product. But they couldn’t train those at the receiving end, and that’s where the problems came in.

  To verify the validity of the return stock, JT Lady’s project manager had chosen a couple of warehouse workers who seemed to have a pretty good eye for spotting fakes and had assigned them to verification duty. Their job was to examine each return shipment as it came in. Shipments found with even one counterfeit in them were flagged and analyzed, placing a real burden on the chemists, not to mention a major expense for the company. In the long run, their trouble would be worth it if they could stamp out the counterfeiting.

  But for now, it was a living nightmare.

  Finished at the sink, Juliette ran a brush through her hair, feeling a surge of guilt that she hadn’t brought this counterfeiting issue to the attention of the police yesterday. If they’d been aware going in that the cause of death might just have been a counterfeit jar of chai soy mud, they might have been able to save quite a few steps and expedite their investigation. The experts had talked about how counterfeits had been known to cause burns and rashes and numerous other physical complications. Whether or not they might cause an actual death as well, Juliette wasn’t sure. At the very least, she knew, they could inflict serious harm.

  Thinking about that now, her mind went to Brooke, and she was struck with a terrible thought: What if speaking sooner would’ve allowed the doctors to determine more quickly the substance that may have poisoned her—maybe even find an antidote? Could Juliette’s silence have had an impact on Brooke’s outcome?

  Pulse surging, she went straight to the phone on the bedside table and called the resort’s security department to get the name and numbers of the police detectives who were handling this case. She tried both but got only voice mail, so she hung up without leaving any messages. Juliette thought about calling the hospital next but knew they wouldn’t talk to her because of privacy laws.

  Trying a different approach, she dialed her home office back East, and soon she was on with Elsa Gresh, the project manager who’d been handling the whole relabeling program and, consequently, the counterfeiting mess.

  “Elsa, I hate to ask this, but I need to know if any counterfeit products have been found in the shipment of old-label stock returned by Palm Grotto.”

  “Just a moment, I will check.” Elsa’s voice carried a hint of her Scandinavian lilt. Juliette heard the computer clicking in the background as Elsa typed. “Here we go. Palm Grotto’s return of old-label stock . . . Hmm, there’s nothing here. Hold on.” A few more clicks. “Oh, okay, I see. They have not yet sent back their shipment.”

  “Thanks, Elsa, that’s what I needed to know.” Juliette hung up, wondering why she hadn’t thought to look into this before coming out here. It just never crossed her mind to consider whether or not Palm Grotto might be one of the spas on their watch list. This was such a classy place, one they’d been doing business with almost since the beginning. She couldn’t imagine anyone here being involved with counterfeiting. The spa’s low employee turnover made that even less likely.

  Still, until her company received Palm Grotto’s return shipment, she couldn’t be sure. Maybe when she had a chance to talk with Ty about the storage, retrieval, and preparation of the products used for mud wraps, she could also get a look at their old-label stock. If she found any counterfeits . . . she’d know to pursue the issue.

  Until the spa opened, though, she’d focus on the other questions on her list. Starting with a discreet look at the cluster of rooms where Raven stayed. The three men Raven came to see were probably still in their adjacent rooms. If Juliette could figure out who they really were and what Raven had wanted with them, perhaps she might understand her odd threat at the airport.

  Juliette pulled on her running clothes, took a long drink from the water bottle on the bedside table, pocketed her cell phone, and headed out. From all appearances she was simply a guest of the resort on an early morning jog.

  That she had plans for a little sleuthing during that jog was nobody’s business but hers.

  CRYSTAL USUALLY ENJOYED HER morning stroll from the employee parking lot to the main spa building, but today she found herself reluctant to go inside. She dreaded all the gossip and the drama. She did want an update on Brooke, but otherwise she wasn’t interested. At last night’s meeting Reggie had instructed the spa staff to refrain from discussing the situation anywhere outside of the break room, but she wasn’t sure if that was really going to happen or not. A story this juicy—Former supermodel dies on the table during a treatment! Therapist giving fatal treatment found babbling in the corner!—would not be easily contained.

  Inside the main spa building Crystal clocked in, stashed her things in her locker, and grabbed the two papers in her cubby. One was her schedule for the day, the other was a handwritten note from Andre, asking her to come to his office as soon as she got in.

  Pulse surging, she did as requested and was relieved to hear what he wanted. He asked if she would be willing to take Brooke’s place with the retreat, which meant primarily that she would lead a few morning hikes and give a lecture. She agreed, flattered to have been asked.

  She had another twenty minutes before her first massage, so with a much lighter step, she headed to the break room behind Arrowscale to make herself a cup of tea and collect
her thoughts. As she went, she wondered if they were planning to use Tamarisk today, where the woman died. Crystal hoped not. The thought seemed . . . disrespectful somehow.

  When she reached the break room, she realized too late she was coming in on a scene she would rather have avoided. Over in the kitchen area Xena was yelling at several employees, her hands clenched around an empty coffeepot, her eyes blazing.

  “How many times do I have to tell you people this?” Xena demanded. “News flash, whoever takes the last cup of coffee brews the next batch. Is that not clear?”

  The three workers nodded and apologized, all of them cowering except Ty, who just stood there with a mug in his hand, body language exuding belligerence.

  “I can do it now,” one of the younger women timidly offered.

  “It’s too late. I’ll do it myself.” Xena turned her attention back to the machine, handling it much too roughly as she went about making a fresh pot.

  Though the others seemed frozen in place, unsure whether they’d been dismissed yet or not, Ty simply headed for the door, mug in hand. As he passed Crystal, he gave her a sly wink. Ignoring the gesture, she squared her shoulders, sucked in a breath, and headed into the fray.

  JULIETTE DID A FEW stretches in her private courtyard, then began moving down the walkway in a warm-up pace. As she began to pick up the speed, the pull on her muscles felt so good she wished she really were just out for a simple jog. Maybe later. For now there were questions to ask and answers to find—and no time for a loop or two around Palm Grotto’s fabulous jogging trail.

  Instead she stayed on the sidewalks, choosing the route that would bring her directly past the cluster of rooms where Raven had been staying. When she finally spotted the building up ahead, Juliette slowed her pace and then came to a full stop beside a potted olive tree about twenty feet away. She placed one foot against the slats of the huge wooden planter and stretched her hamstrings as she allowed her eyes to wander over to the area in question.