I reminded myself that I needed to get back to Tampa if I was going to answer any of these questions. I took my extra overnight tote from the closet and quickly stuffed in a couple of pairs of shorts, a few tees, and a pair of pajamas. I raided my bathroom drawers for some extra cleanser, moisturizer, and a lipstick. That would have to be good enough for now. The rest of my beauty arsenal was still back at the hotel room with Finn. Even if I didn’t want to talk to him about our relationship status, I did need to get my stuff back. Once I was all packed up, I called Inez. She was more than willing to keep my little guy for a few more nights. I promised her I’d be back in town by Wednesday at the latest. She might not have minded keeping him longer, but I really did miss my little puppy.
9
This time my solo road trip was tear-free. I was on a mission. I’d chosen a new hotel based upon its room service choices listed online. Of course, I had to drive by my previous hotel to see if Finn’s truck was parked there. It wasn’t. “Guess you must be out celebrating your new windfall,” I said to myself, gripping the steering wheel a bit too tight. I decided I might need to do some yoga before going to bed that night. I was sure Aria would have all sorts of meditation advice if I were to call her. Sitting still and quiet wasn’t really my strong suit, but perhaps I needed to try.
I pulled into my new hotel and gave an inward smile. It looked perfect. Although, I’m not sure hotel was the right word to describe it. It was luxury personified. I couldn’t wait to escape to my room, make that—suite, which promised to “indulge my senses and renew my soul.” Yes, please.
I walked into the South Tampa retreat and relaxed almost instantly. I preferred my home a little shabby chic, but I enjoyed this hotel’s twist on urban contemporary style.
As I crossed the hotel lobby, I came to a dead stop. Right there in the spa’s front window were my products. Sugar & Sass was front and center, and boy did she look pretty. Now that made me smile. My little business sure was making a name for itself. I knew Izzy had been working on securing new contracts and product placements, and I chose to leave that to her. Like I said, she was a real people-person and people seemed eager to please her in return. We’d sent out a few samples to some local spas and they were hooked right away. I had lost count of how many product placements we had garnered in the last couple of months, but I knew I had earned enough money to pay back my original investment backer. Not that she was too keen to accept the payment. Mrs. DeVine was a wealthy woman for a reason. She knew my business was about to explode, and she was thrilled to remain a part of it. I was fine with that, and very appreciative for her initial loan, but I wanted the terms to have a more even footing, which is why I retained 85% ownership, leaving her a small slice of the pie.
My suite was everything it promised to be, and after plopping down on the super soft bed and watching the flat-screen television raise and lower out of the dresser a few dozen times, I was downright bored. Relax! I told myself. Order up some room service, binge watch Gilmore Girls. But I knew that if I ordered room service, the only thing I would’ve ended up binging on was ice cream, especially if they had mint chocolate chip. As it was, I was pretty sick of being alone all day in the car. After checking my phone and still no word from Finn, I decided to scope out the hotel bar instead.
Wouldn’t you know it, Ms. Tess herself was seated front and center at the long glass bar. What’s more, even from across the room I could tell she already had a couple of drinks in her. Either that, or she always leaned a little to the left when sitting on a bar stool. I took a seat next to her and ordered a chocolate martini. No reason to skip on dessert entirely.
“I know you,” I said to her when the bartender walked away. “You’re Ms. Hill. I’m a huge fan.”
“You are?” Tess perked right up.
“Absolutely. I love watching your jewelry segments.”
“Yes, that’s my favorite too. What’s your name, dear?”
I could’ve lied and given her a fake name, but I didn’t feel the need to. “Ziva, Ziva Diaz. I own Sugar & Sass Skincare.”
“I love your moisturizer.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Weren’t you just on the show?”
I was surprised she remembered me, seeing she’d completely disregarded me on Friday.
“I was. That was a bit of a disaster.”
“That whole place is a disaster.”
I took the opening. “I heard big changes were in store at DSC.”
“Don’t remind me.” Tess lifted her finger to signal another drink. I was surprised when the bartender started making her another one. One would think he would have cut her off. “Let me tell you about that place. They see me as washed up, but I’m still in my prime.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Tess ignored my compliment. “I’ve done everything for them. I’ve been injected, plumped, and pruned. Given them the best years of my life, and this is how they treat me?”
“It’s disgusting.”
“It is and what’s worse… Sterling was going to get to stay. The jerk.” The bartender set our drinks in front of us. Tess slid the olive off the toothpick with her lips and followed it up with a big gulp of her drink. When she looked up at me, her eyes were a bit crossed. “Don’t think I didn’t see it coming, but I thought I had more time. A few more years. The network’s doing me the honor of hosting an on-air farewell party for me. Did you hear that? They’re calling it a surprise. Of course, I know all about it. As if that makes it okay that they’re kicking me out after being a part of the show for thirty years. Early-retirement, that’s what Mr. Aldrich called it. Said I should be living it up in my golden years. I’ll show them my golden years.”
It was obvious that Tess was hurt and angry, feelings I knew well, especially as of late.
“Did you hear about Sterling?” I asked.
Tess actually snorted and I thought for a second she might’ve accidentally inhaled an olive down the wrong pipe. “That fool. That blonde bimbo of his warped his mind.” I had no idea who she was talking about, but I had a feeling it wasn’t his wife, and I said as much. “His wife? Good heavens, no. MJ might be a little plain, but she was loyal and she loved Sterling. No, I’m talking about Sterling hooking up with Marissa.”
My voice elevated an octave. “Say what?”
“Let me just tell you, they shouldn’t have been doing the dirty in his dressing room. Those walls are paper thin. And I thought she was my protégé.” Tess snorted again and I hoped she’d skip the sound effects. She obviously wasn’t that upset about her long-time co-host’s death or Marissa’s.
“And Marissa? That girl could scream.” I so did not need to hear this. “Don’t give me that look, that’s not what I’m talking about. A couple of days ago, I was waiting outside Mr. Aldrich’s office for a personal meeting when I heard her screaming and shouting on the other side. Apparently, she wasn’t happy about something. Of course, at the time, I’m sitting there all smug thinking I’m still on top. Little did I know I was about to get fired. Oh wait, I’m sorry. What did I say he called it? Oh yes, early retirement.”
I had to say that if Mr. Aldrich was ever found murdered, I’d know who did it. Tess was seething. “Any theory as to what happened?”
“Oh, I’ll give you a theory. Little Miss Blondie called off her relationship with Sterling and he went off the deep end. I’ll bet he killed her and then himself. Simple as that.” Tess lifted her finger for another cocktail.
No, I thought, it was never as simple as that. But at least Tess gave me a theory to work from, and it was very similar to the one that I had already formulated.
I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Tess sitting there all vulnerable at the bar, but she insisted that Mitch, the bartender, would assure she made it home. It took me a minute, but I finally realized that she lived upstairs in the penthouse and it appeared to be a pretty common trend for her to sit at the bar and drink away her sorrows, at least recently anyhow. Mitch nodded tha
t he would see to it, though he didn’t look all that thrilled about the prospect.
Back upstairs, I thought about it some more. Could the whole murder-suicide story be right? Was that Sterling’s way of taking care of things and telling Mr. Aldrich not to worry about it? I was no longer sure. I needed to talk to more people—specifically Mr. Aldrich, Marissa’s husband, Dr. Stewart; and Sterling’s wife, Mary Jane.
In truth, there were too many questions for me to answer. It was better that I realized that then, instead of driving myself crazy trying to track all the details down. So, I took a chance and reached out to Cee Cee Williams. I did a quick search on her credentials and she seemed like a legitimate reporter given her journalism degree and past editorial work. I used the contact form listed on her network site and shot off a quick email, making sure to mention who I was and how I was connected to the case, in hopes of a quick reply. Hopefully, she’d have some answers. The media always seemed to get the inside scoop, and that is exactly what I needed. Detective Blackwell was not going to be sharing any information with me and if Cee Cee didn’t have the answers, we would just have to work together. Divide and conquer.
10
I wasn’t ready for Monday morning and even more so once I remembered where I was and what I was trying to do—solve a double homicide. I really should have been getting paid for my investigative skills.
Today was also the day that Finn and I were scheduled to leave town. I wondered if he would call me or assume that I’d already made other arrangements. My phone rang on the bedside table and I’m embarrassed to say I jumped for it, eager to see if it was Finn calling to make amends. I answered the phone and hoped I didn’t sound as bummed out as I felt. “Morning, Izzy, how’s it going there?”
“Forget that, love. How’s it going for you?”
“I’ve been better.”
“Well, I just wanted to give you a heads-up. I ran your chart last night and, let’s just say, you’d better keep your wits about you. Try to stay out of trouble. You need to be careful, don’t trust people so much.” Of course, I thought of Finn. It was a little too late for that warning.
“Okay, got it.” Try not to get killed or have your heart broken. “How’s the store doing?”
“Awesome. I entered the new figures into the books, so go ahead and check out the link. I emailed it to you last night. Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Sales been okay?”
“Okay? They’re fabulous. You know what they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“Seriously?”
“Swear it. In fact, we’re running low on inventory.”
“Got it.” Looked like I had a ton of computer work to do. Even with Izzy running the store, there were still a lot of behind-the-scenes tasks to manage. No vacations for true business owners, I supposed.
“Hey, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about, and we can get into the details when you get back, but I was wondering what you thought about hiring someone to manage the online store? Maybe even part-time?”
I closed my eyes and pictured it. We needed the extra help, even though I hadn’t planned on bringing anyone else on board yet. The online store was a full-time job on its own. “No, that’s a promising idea. I’ll create a job posting and send it to you to look over. I’ll be back in a couple of days. In the meantime, keep sending me the daily inventory and sales figures, and I’ll make sure to log on and let you know if I have any questions.”
“Got it.”
“And Izzy? You’re a lifesaver.” I meant that in more ways than one.
I checked the email from Izzy. That girl sure is efficient. My mouth dropped when I saw the weekend’s revenue totals. “Wowzers. She wasn’t kidding.” My nest egg just became a lot bigger. I had dollar signs dancing in my eyes, and that desire from Friday night to go shopping hit me once more.
I also had an email from Cee Cee: Hey, Ziva, I’d love to meet up. Tonight okay? Say 8 P.M. at Dockside?
I sent a reply to confirm the time and got ready for the day with more enthusiasm than I had thought possible. With Cee Cee and I working together, I had a feeling we’d crack this case wide open.
Maybe it was the quartz crystal humming in my pocket, or maybe it was because I finally felt like I was getting somewhere with this case. Whatever the cause, I took my newfound optimism with me back to DSC headquarters to get some answers. Yes, I was taking a huge risk going back to the studio, but I wanted to chat with Mr. Aldrich before meeting Cee Cee tonight, and the studio was my best chance at seeing him.
Instead of trying to sneak around and bypass the receptionist, I put on my megawatt smile that said, “I’m confident!” and walked right up to her desk.
“Hi, Jenny. I don’t know if you remember me, but my name is Ziva Diaz.”
The receptionist’s wide-eyed expression told me she knew exactly who I was. “Yes, that Ziva Diaz,” I confirmed.
“Oh my word, I can’t believe you found Marissa’s body. I would’ve totally freaked out and had a heart attack right there.”
“It was pretty scary,” I replied, making sure my continuance was reflected in my expression. “And now Sterling?” I raised my eyebrows. Jenny lowered her voice and leaned forward. “They were having an affair, you know?”
“They were not!” Jenny nodded her head. I leaned in and lowered my voice to match hers, practically whispering, “How do you know that?”
“Almost everyone here knew. They weren’t secretive about it. Then, last week, Marissa’s husband confronted her about it. Right here, right in front of me in the lobby.”
“Oh my gosh! What did Marissa say?”
“She basically told him to get lost, said she couldn’t care less what he thought, and that her lawyer would be in touch. Of course, she didn’t say it all calmly like that. She was shouting, screeching like a banshee, but that was the gist of it.”
“Wowzers.”
“Yeah. From what I gathered, he’d just found out about the affair, and, man, was he hot.”
“I don’t blame him. I would be too. I don’t know if I’d have it out with my spouse like that, but yeah, when you’re mad, you’re mad.”
“And he was.”
“Did you tell the police about this?” Jenny’s sideways look was a clear indication that she hadn’t said a word. “You really should,” I encouraged her. “Trust me, it’s an important detail.”
People needed to start talking. I had no idea if Claire had taken my advice and shared her suspicions about Mr. Aldrich with the police, but I had a feeling she hadn’t. Aside from that, the more theories Detective Blackwell had to investigate, the less inclined she would be to focus on me. Of course, I could tell the detective all this, but she’d be more prone to believe it if the story didn’t come from me. I was kind of surprised that Jenny had kept mum about it. But I guess it’s one thing to gossip about a murder and an entirely different thing to get involved with it, especially when it included your coworkers. “I understand you have some reservations, but just think about it,” I said with an encouraging smile.
Jenny nodded. “The police did say to call them if we had any information.”
“I’m sure you could make it anonymous.”
Her eyes brightened at that. “Yeah, you’re right. I could definitely do that.”
With that settled, I moved on to the real reason for my visit. “So, I was wondering if you could help me. I was hoping to get some face time with Mr. Aldrich this morning.”
Jenny looked at me like I had lost my mind. I knew it would be hard to get in with the CEO, but not impossible. “It’s just… I don’t… He has a very packed schedule,” Jenny stammered.
“I know, but I only need five minutes. Is there any way you could squeeze me in somewhere, or maybe give me a heads-up about his schedule so I could “‘bump into him’” for a chat? Even the elevator would work.”
Jenny brought up what I assume to be Mr. Aldrich’s schedule on her computer. I peered
around her and saw blocks of color, indicating lunches and meetings, one stacked on top of the other. She was right; he was a very busy man. I could barely make out the writing, but it looked like he had a massage scheduled in thirty minutes. That would have to do. I told Jenny that maybe another day would work better and I would call his secretary directly to set something up. Jenny looked relieved that I had dropped the request. I told her it was nice to meet her and chat, reminded her to drop an anonymous tip for the police, and then walked out the front door and to my car.
I had a plan. A crazy plan, and I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. If I got caught, it would most likely mean jail time, especially if Detective Blackwell was called. And orange jumpsuits were not my thing!
11
It was a good thing I had dressed in business attire that day—a black skirt with a floral silk blouse—or I would’ve never been able to pull off my big plan. Various news outlets seemed to take residence outside of the building, which only added to my cover. I spotted Cee Cee front and center, motioning to the building behind her while reporting an “update” to the curious minds. The news of Marissa’s and Sterling’s deaths had rocked the entertainment industry, and the national media outlets just picked up on the story, creating a heightened sense of mystery and speculation. The twenty-four-hour news coverage had to be brutal for the victims’ families, not to mention the employees of DSC.
I sat in my car and gave myself a little pep talk. “Okay, when all this is over, you can enjoy a relaxing day of shopping therapy … if you don’t get thrown in the slammer, that is.” When the next wave of employees arrived, I made my move. I followed the group of ladies to the side entrance and allowed them to swipe their key fobs, grabbing the door and holding it open for them. As the last one came through, I turned and tagged along behind her, blending in as if I knew exactly where I was headed, even though I had no idea where Mr. Aldrich’s massage would take place. I figured it had to be some place close to his office, so that’s where I headed. I had pretty much trespassed all over the entire first floor and hadn’t recalled seeing the CEO’s office, which meant it had to be upstairs. I found the conference room first, where the gala had taken place. Some round tables draped in white cloths were off to the side and a few pieces of confetti were scattered on the floor, the only remnants of the celebration. The next door I tried was locked. However, I struck gold with the third door, which was a good thing because I really didn’t want to make small talk with the gentleman walking toward me.
Eyeliner & Alibis Page 6