Spruced Up (8 page)
Authors: Holly Jacobs
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Holidays, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Amateur Sleuths, #Cozy, #Two Hours or More (65-100 Pages)
You look so…
much like a tangerine
. Oh, who was I kidding, I was no tiny tangerine. I was a full-on navel orange.
I sucked in my baby-pooch and wished I’d thought to bring my body-sucker. Oh, I know that’s not what it’s actually called. These days people call them by their name brand. My Grandma Mac called hers a girdle and I don’t think I ever saw her without it on. I’m pretty sure she was buried in it.
Note to my boys who would some day be in charge of burying me. Do not bury me in a body sucker.
“…so beautiful,” Tiny finally managed.
I smiled and put all of Mr. Magee’s acting classes to use by assuring her, “I love it, Tiny.”
I didn’t love it, but she did and that’s all that mattered. Too many people forget that a wedding is the bride and groom’s special day. It’s the one day when thinking about yourself isn’t the least bit selfish. If she wanted me to look like a pumpkin, then by gosh, I’d be a smiling pumpkin as I walked up that aisle.
Tiny’s wedding was three weeks away. I had promised myself I’d do everything in my power to be sure it was perfect.
Heck, I’d even found out who murdered Mr. Banning in order to see to it I wasn’t in jail for Tiny’s wedding.
Okay, truth was, I didn’t want to be in jail period. And since I’d accidently cleaned Mr. Banning’s murder scene, I was the only viable suspect.
Yeah, that’s right. I cleaned it. I washed and polished the murder weapon. I even steamed the footprints off the carpet.
My Uncle Bill went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Eventually the authorities realized he was innocent. They let him out of prison, but he came out with a tattoo. Mac’s do not get tattoos. Or go to prison for that matter.
I was determined not to go to jail and leave my boys, or miss Tiny’s wedding…or get a tattoo. I just didn’t think a tattoo would age well. I was thirty-eight, and though I avoided the sun as if I were a vampire rather than simply a fair-skinned woman, I knew that wrinkles would be forthcoming. And who wants to see a wrinkled tattoo unicorn, even if it was a declaration of my innocence?
No one, that’s who.
Thankfully, I found the murderer. Of course, he tried to kill me to keep me quiet, but I grew up with brothers and three sons. I kicked him and made it count. I rescued myself before Cal came in to rescue me.
Detective Cal Parker, my new boyfriend. It felt so odd to use the word
boyfriend
when I was the mother of three teens and almost forty (sigh) but I hadn’t come up with any better designation for him.
I must have sighed as I thought about my cute, hunky new boyfriend because Tiny laughed. “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?”
“Him, who?” I asked, trying to sound as if I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Him—Detective Sexy.”
“I was thinking about your wedding.”
Tiny laughed some more and humphed me in a way that I knew meant she wasn’t buying it.
The phone rang. I sucked in my stomach as I walked across the room in my pumpkin colored dress. I picked up the phone. “Mac’Cleaners. We do it all and we’re glad you called. How may I help you today?”
“Quincy, it’s me,” a woman’s voice said.
I didn’t need any more than that to know it was Theresa Maxwell. She was officially the worst employee Mac’Cleaners had ever had. To be honest, that whole cleaning-Mr.-Banning’s-murder scene was her fault because she was supposed to be the one cleaning the dead-body house that day, but she’d called in sick. When an employee calls in sick, Tiny and I—as the business owners—step in and fill in for them. So Theresa is why I’d almost ended up in jail for a murder I didn’t commit.
Theresa really was the worst employee ever, not just in an almost-sent-me-to-jail sort of way.
I’d like to fire her. I’d threatened to do just that, but I kept hoping she’d get better. Seriously, she couldn’t get any worse. Although this call didn’t bode well for the getting better and seemed to be pointing to worse. There was panic in her voice.
“What’s up, Theresa?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’s not what’s up, it’s what’s down. I was dusting a painting at the Gifford’s house and it fell. There’s a tear in it now.”
I’d seen the Gifford’s house when I cleaned for Theresa a month ago. The last call of the day had been the dead body house, but the Gifford’s house was part of her morning calls, which became my morning call when Theresa called in sick. I did not know much about art, but I knew enough to know their art was expensive. The Giffords lived in Hollywood Hills, an expensive part of town. I lived in Van George, where the cost of the houses sent my Pennsylvanian family into heart palpitations, but here in southern California was actually a mid-middle class sort of price.
“Oh…” I searched for a curse word I could use without being too crass or offending anyone. With three teenaged boys in the house, I really tried to watch myself.
“Boogers,” I opted for. It was a pretty perfect curse word. Gross enough to get some umph out of, but not really offensive.
“I’m so sorry, Quincy,” Theresa said. “I don’t know what to do now.”
“You’ll have to call the Giffords and let them know what happened. Please take a picture of the damage with your cellphone, just to cross all our t’s. I’ll dot our i’s by calling our insurance company to make a report. We’ve never had an accident like this happen, but please assure the Giffords we’ll make it right.”
“Okay,” Theresa said and hung up.
I hit end on my phone and thumbed over to my contact list to look for our insurance company’s number.
“Problems?” Tiny asked.
“Theresa,” I managed.
“We’re going to have to fire that girl,” we said in sync.
I called the insurance company…
Check out Book #2
,
Dusted
: A Maid in LA Mystery
Quincy’s taking classes on writing and working on a script. She’s taking care of her boys, wearing a pumpkin orange maid of honor dress for Tiny’s wedding, and oh…she’s got another case. Someone stole Mac’Cleaner clients’ artwork, and Quincy’s employee is under suspicion. This is one LA maid who’s got a lot on her plate in Holly Jacobs’ second Maid in LA Mystery, Dusted.
And watch for Quincy’s next adventure, Swept Up: A Maid in LA Mystery (4)
Quincy’s screenplay has been turned into a made (or maid
?) for TV movie on the HeartMark Channel and she’s swept up in Hollywood’s glitz and glamour. After the Mortie Award ceremony, Quincy finds herself thrust in the middle of another life-and-death mystery.
BIO
Holly Jacobs leads a life full of romance and adventure. From skydiving to jet-setting around Europe, from snorkeling in coral reefs to writing while wearing beautiful silk peignoir sets and popping chocolate bonbons, Holly Jacobs leads a life t
hat is the epitome of romance.
Well, my fictional life sounds more interesting, but not better than my real life. Really, I'm the happily married mother of four. I write for H
arlequin and Montlake Romance.
You can visit me at
http://www.HollyJacobs.com
.
Other Kindle Books by Holly Jacobs:
Maid in LA Series:
Book #1
Steamed: A Maid in LA Mystery
Book#2
Dusted: A Maid in LA Mystery
Book #3
Spruced Up: A Maid in LA Holiday Novella
Book #4 Swept Up: A Maid in LA Mystery
Everything But… Series:
Everything But a Christmas Eve
WLVH Series:
Nothing But Short Story Series:
Whedon Series:
Valley Ridge Series
:
You Are Invited…
A Valley Ridge Wedding
April Showers,
A Valley Ridge Wedding
A Walk Down the Aisle
,
A Valley Ridge Wedding
American Dads:
Wedding Mishaps:
Also available:
Found and Lo
st
(working title
: Can’t Find No
Body
)
Confessions of a Party Crasher
