Blonde and Fabulous

by anna snow

  In true Mandy fashion, she came too close to the three small stairs leading up to the VIP area. The toe of her shoe hit the bottom step, and she stumbled.

  Everything was suddenly in slow motion.

  Arms flailing, Mandy fell into one of Fernando's men, who then fell backwards. His huge body hit the floor with a thud, and Mandy came down half on top of him with her head in his lap. The tray she had been balancing in her free hand launched through the air like a professionally tossed Frisbee and landed right in the lap of the guy seated next to Fernando. The drinks on the tray flew off and landed on Fernando's chest, in his lap, and of course, directly in my face as the guy the tray landed on jumped to his feet.

  Fernando leaped out of his seat, tossing me to the side at the same time, and shrugged off his suit jacket.

  "What in the hell is your problem?" he yelled at Mandy where she was still struggling to get her head out of the irate man's lap and back on her feet.

  Cindy rushed over, helped her up, and grabbed the pen cam from the floor where it had landed when Mandy took her nose dive.

  "Do you have any idea how much this suit is worth?" he continued his rant, his face reddened with anger.

  Then it hit me. Everyone's attention was on Mandy. The club owner Roy was rushing across the floor toward us.

  Fernando had tossed his now soaked suit jacket practically on top of me when he'd taken it off. I kept my eyes on him and his cronies as I reached into the suit jacket pocket and grabbed his cellphone. I know, not exactly legal, but I had to do something.

  Roy came up the stairs and started apologizing profusely to Fernando. I shoved the phone down the side of my cleavage—not exactly a great hiding place since there was now a big rectangle where my boob should be—and jumped up from the couch then hurried down the stairs before Fernando decided he needed his phone.

  Cindy had promptly hurried Mandy down the long hallway, through the back entrance, and out to my car.

  I pulled off my shoes and began running toward the back door we had entered through earlier, when I heard Fernando call after me. I looked back in time to see him and his goons chasing after me, and they were closing the distance fast.

  They were all big dudes with long legs. I had no doubt they were going to catch me, when suddenly I was hoisted over someone's shoulder like a fifty-pound bag of dog food. The butt bobbing in my face didn't give me any clue as to who had hefted me over his shoulder. I was about to start struggling, but then the scent of his cologne hit me, and I knew right away that it was Silas.

  We burst through the back door and met Cindy.

  "Did you get what you needed?" she asked in a hurry, not even a little bit out of breath.

  "I hope so," Silas said as he yanked open the driver's-side door and shoved me in. "Can't talk," he said as he ran back to the door and shoved a chair under the knob then raced around the side of the car and jumped in. "We got company."

  Starting the car, I pulled the phone from my top then held it up for Cindy to see as I threw the car into reverse.

  "That'll do." She grinned. "Get out of here. I'll deal with Fernando and call you in the morning."

  The words had barely left her mouth when the wooden chair Silas had used as a block burst into pieces, and Fernando and his men poured out of the club.

  In the rearview mirror I caught a glimpse of Cindy attempting to soothe Fernando as we sped out of the parking lot.

  "So, what was all of the commotion?" Mona asked, still turned around staring out the back window.

  As much as I knew Mandy didn't want to relive her humiliation, I had to tell Mona what had happened, or she wouldn't leave it alone until I did.

  "Mandy pulled a Mandy and spilled an entire tray of drinks on our target." I summarized.

  "And you, by the looks of it." Mona started chuckling, which was soon a full-on laugh.

  Silas was smart enough to keep his snarky comments to himself.

  "I'm so sorry, Barb," Mandy said, looking disheveled and humiliated. "You know I'm not good at this kind of thing. I'm so sorry." She pressed her palm against her forehead.

  When we stopped at a red light, I pulled down the visor and flipped open the lighted vanity mirror. Mascara was streaked down my cheeks. The eyeliner I wore was smudged around my eyes so perfectly that when I stepped out of the car, I would probably need to beware of any randy raccoons that may be in the vicinity.

  I flipped the mirror closed and pushed the visor back into place. "Don't apologize. Your tumble actually helped me get the best piece of information of the night." I handed the phone over to Mandy.

  "Is this Fernando's?" Her eyes lit up. "You lifted his personal phone?" She gaped at me in disbelief.

  "Well, don't sound so surprised. I am pretty good at my job," I defended myself.

  "Of course you are," she said and laughed. "But this is excellent. We can find out who he's been doing business with and who he talked to the nights Kiki and Tammy were killed."

  "My thoughts exactly."

  "Let's go back to your place. I could use a glass of wine after the night I've had," Mandy said and leaned her head against the headrest.

  "Sounds like a plan to me, and I can check on Kelly while we're there," Silas said.

  I shrugged. "Then to my house it is," I said and steered in that direction.

  Ten minutes later, I pulled into my driveway and shut off the car.

  "Does that old coot never sleep?" Mona asked and frowned when she got out of the car and closed the door behind her.

  I looked over at Mr. Kasmire's house, and sure enough, he was looking out the front window holding Buster. Both wore their usual scowl.

  I grinned and waved. His scowl deepened, and he flicked the curtains closed.

  "What in the world did you do to that man to make him dislike you so much?" Mandy asked as we made our way up the front steps. "It can't just be the threat of the pound." She chuckled.

  "It's a long story," I hedged and let us into the house.

  Once inside, I disengaged the alarm, tossed my shoes and purse on the floor at the end of the sofa, and headed straight for the kitchen. Silas, Mona, and Mandy followed me and took seats at the table.

  All of us being in the same house with someone who had the flu wasn't exactly a smart idea if we wanted to keep healthy, but Kelly was our friend, and we were all exhausted. The flu was the last of our worries at the moment.

  I prepared each of us a cup of coffee and took a seat.

  Silas started chuckling softly.

  "What's so funny?" Mandy asked.

  "Good grief, woman." He grinned over at her. "It's like an alien takes over your body when you work in the field."

  "I don't ever want to do that again," Mandy said and took a sip of her coffee.

  "Don't worry because I don't want you to ever do that again either," I said and shook my head.

  Silas stood. "I'm going to peek in on Kelly and see how she's doing."

  A few moments later, he retook his seat beside me.

  "How's Kelly?"

  "She's sleeping. I saw a packet of Tamiflu on the nightstand, so I'm going to assume my doctor friend came by and gave her some that he had on hand. Looks like he wrote her a couple of prescriptions too. I'll make a call and have them filled and delivered in the morning."

  "That's great. Those little pills are a life saver when you have the flu. The flu is a witch with a capital B," Mona said and finished off her coffee. "So, what are we going to do about that phone you lifted?"

  "Well, first we have to see if we can get into it. If you're up for it, Mandy, I'd like to give it over to you. Hopefully you can hack into it and see if you can find out who Fernando's been talking to. It's possible he deleted the call and text history, so any calls or texts he made would only be recorded on the phone records."

  "I'm up for it as long as you swear to never make me work outside the office again."

  "No problem," I said and laughed. "I've learned my lesson."

  Silas yawned a
nd stretched "Well, I'm beat, and I have an art client coming in to pick up a painting in the morning. Would you two like a ride?" he asked Mandy and Mona.

  They both nodded.

  "That would be great. Thanks," Mona said.

  They stood and grabbed their purses and followed him to the front door.

  "I'm thinking that with the meds the doctor gave Kelly, she'll sleep the rest of the night. Try to get some rest," Silas said and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek the way he always did, which still bugged the living life out of Tyler.

  I closed the door behind him then made my way to the guest room and eased the door open. The room was filled with the scent of Vicks from the vaporizer Silas must have set up beside the bed to help Kelly with her congestion when he checked on her earlier. Kelly was sound asleep, snoring like a little bear hibernating in the middle of winter.

  I closed the door quietly and went to my bedroom. After a quick shower, I collapsed into bed.

  With my suspect list up by one disgruntled dancer and a suspicious bouncer, I had some more digging to do…in the morning.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The morning came sooner than I would have liked.

  I reached over and slapped the alarm that was blaring its little heart out on the nightstand and groaned when a stream of sunlight hit my eyes as it spilled in between the curtains covering the bedroom window.

  Mickey meowed his displeasure as I moved him off my feet and stood to make my way to the bathroom. After I finished up my morning routine, I went to the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans, a University of Texas hooded sweatshirt, and slid on my comfiest pair of black Converse.

  Kelly was still snoring when I peeked into the guest room. She seemed to be resting well, so I left her alone, fed the cats, and headed out to my car.

  As much as I wanted to pin the murders on Fernando, I didn't really have any solid evidence against him. He didn't seem too broken up that Kiki was dead. Of course, he could've been hiding his feelings the way some macho men liked to do. Or he could have been the one who killed her. But in order to figure out if Fernando really did kill Kiki and Tammy, I needed to figure out whether or not he had a motive to kill both ladies. A motive to kill his girlfriend, sure. To kill her best friend? That was a little trickier. It was possible that Tammy had some dirt on Fernando that caused him to take her out. But it was all just speculation at this point. And what about Dillion, the cheating bouncer? He was someone I definitely needed to look a little deeper into. And then there was Rena, with her nasty attitude.

  From the few minutes I'd talked to her, she seemed like a really mean, careless piece of work. She'd openly admitted that she disliked both Kiki and Tammy and that she wasn't upset they were dead. But did that mean she killed them? I needed to do a little digging into Rena's life as well.

  I pulled up outside the office and got out of the car. The rain had started up again, so I jogged across the street and hurried inside.

  Mandy looked up from her computer screen. "It's really starting to come down out there. How's Kelly?"

  I shrugged. "She was sleeping like a log when I left. As far as I know, she slept all night. Hopefully the medication the doctor gave her is already making her feel better."

  "I hope so. The fact that she's sleeping so well is a good sign."

  I nodded my agreement and sat down across from her.

  I motioned to Fernando's phone on her desk. "Do you think you can get past the passkey on that thing?"

  Mandy shrugged. "If it has just a simple numerical code, I should be able to get in without any trouble, but if it's his thumbprint, we might have some problems. Let me see."

  I waited while she picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons. "Looks like we're in luck. Fernando seems to be one of the only people left in the world who doesn't use his thumbprint as a passkey."

  A couple of beep-boop-bleeps later, she handed the phone to me with a smile.

  "I'm not even going to ask what you did." I shook my head and laughed then started scrolling through the text message history.

  "Should I be worried about this thing having one of those trackers in it?" I asked.

  "No need to worry. You're clear. Anything?" Mandy asked curiously.

  I chuckled. "So far there are only a few messages from his mom asking when he's coming home for dinner."

  "Wow, that's some incriminating evidence right there," she said sarcastically and laughed as well.

  I scrolled some more. "Here's something." I leaned forward to show the screen to Mandy. "There's a lot of messages to our old pal Tommy Two-Toes."

  "Makes sense," Mandy said. "If Dickie was telling the truth, and why wouldn't he, Fernando is selling drugs, and Tommy, being a small-time drug dealer himself, would want a piece of the action. Especially if it meant he'd be making more money."

  "These texts are asking for a few more guys to man the trucks. I'm thinking Two-Toes was renting Fernando some of his dealers to drive the trucks and sell his drugs since they know the area well, and Fernando, according to Dickie, is fairly new around here. That would definitely give Two-Toes some extra cash."

  I looked through the rest of the messages and call history but came up with nothing of any use.

  "Can you hack the phone records?" I asked and handed the phone back over to Mandy.

  "I don't know why you even waste time asking such ridiculous questions." She chuckled and took the phone then turned toward her computer and started clicking away on the keyboard.

  "Last night while I was waiting on that group of businessmen, I got a lead on one of the other dancers. According to Cowboy Hat, this dancer really had it out for Kiki and Tammy."

  "Did you talk to her?" Mandy asked, still clacking away.

  "Yes. She's a real piece of work, and that's putting it kindly. I'm going to do some digging and see what I can come up with. We might have been looking in the wrong direction all along."

  "It's a possibility." Mandy shrugged.

  "Then there's the bouncer, Dillion."

  Mandy looked over at me. "What about him? Did you find something?"

  "Well." I gave her the rundown of what he'd told me at the club.

  She ticked off points on her fingers. "So, he cheated on Tammy with Kiki, and then Tammy got with Gary, and she forgave Kiki but not Dillion?"

  "That about sums it up."

  "That would give Dillion motive to kill Kiki."

  I nodded and pushed my ponytail off my shoulder. "My thoughts exactly, but I need to dig a little deeper. Which is why I was kind of hoping you could get his basic info for me."

  "Consider it done."

  I stood. "Thanks. I'll be in my office if you need me."

  I went to my office and fired up my computer. While it was booting up, I grabbed the phone and called Cindy. I wasn't sure she'd be awake after working all night, but she answered on the second ring.

  "Hey, Barb. Is everything alright?"

  "Everything is fine," I said. "I was just wondering if you could give me some information on Rena. Do you happen to know her last name?"

  "Salazar. Wait, do you think she had something to do with Kiki's and Tammy's deaths?" She sounded concerned.

  "I really don't know, but something she said to me last night made me wonder."

  I filled Cindy in on my conversation with Rena, and she groaned.

  "Rena isn't a nice person, but I never pegged her for murder. She's just too…something," she finished lamely.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Rena isn't nice to anyone unless that person is shoving money in her waistband. She was raised as an only child, and her mom and dad were loaded. I'm talking Ritchie Rich loaded, according to her. They left her a ton of money when they died last year. The only reason I know that is because she always brags about how much money she has."

  "If she's so rich, why does she still work at the club?"

  "Rena's an attention hog. Says she has too many fans to just up and quit on them," Cindy scoffed. "As horrible as Ren
a is, I still can't see her straining herself with the exertion of murder."

  "Hopefully she didn't, but I'm going to look into it just to be sure."

  "If you'll hold on for a second, I can grab her address for you," she said.

  My eyes widened. "Wait. You're still at work?"

  "No way," she laughed. "I left about an hour after you made your grand escape. I'm just in picking up my check."

  "I see. Well, if you can get the address, I'd appreciate it."

  "Just a sec."

  A few minutes and the sound of some rustling papers later, Cindy's voice sounded over the line again as she rattled off the address.

  "Hey, before I go, can you tell me anything about the bouncer I met at the club last night? Dillion?"

  "What do you want to know?"

  "Do you know anything about him having a relationship with Tammy or Kiki?"

  She made a short humming noise. "Not that I can recall. I'd never seen them together or anything. Why do you ask?"

  I filled her in on my conversation with Dillion.

  "Holy cow," she said. "I know Dillion. He's a nice guy. I just can't see him murdering someone, but then again, I had no idea he was seeing Tammy, and he works almost every night."

  "Do you know if he was working the nights Tammy and Kiki were killed?" I asked.

  "Not that I can remember. If I'm not mistaken, he took his vacation the week Kiki was killed then had some kind of family emergency he had to attend to when Tammy was murdered. I can check the schedule for you though, just to be certain."

  I tapped my pen on the desk. "Thanks. I'd appreciate it. I'll let you know if I find anything," I assured her. "Talk to you later."

  I didn't mention it to Cindy, but just because Dillion wasn't at work the nights the ladies were killed, it didn't mean he was innocent. He could say he was out of town all he wanted, but simply saying it didn't make it fact. He could very well have made the excuse that he was out of town then stuck around, snuck into the club, and killed the girls. I needed to find out where he was the nights of the murders before I could rule him out. Until that time, I still had other avenues to trod down in search of answers.

  I tossed the pen I held onto the desk and leaned back in my chair.