Wave Good-Bye (29 page)

Chapter Forty-eight

BACK AT THE SHOP, I ASKED CAROL IF SHE’D LIKE TO join me for a quick bite at Subway. I was more determined than ever to figure out who killed Lisa Butterworth, and to clear Eve. My invitation was met with hesitation. Carol looked me over as if deciding whether I was worthy of her company or not. A part of me wanted to snap at her. After all, why not be pleasant? We were coworkers and I rented my apartment from her aunt, Mrs. Jones.

Instead, I bit my tongue and relaxed my shoulders to disguise my annoyance.

“You buying?” she asked after a while.

“Of course.” I smiled.

“Okay. Let me stop in the restroom first.”

Eve looked up from the reports she was studying as
I watched the woman clomp away. “Don’t let that bug you. She’s aloof, but she’s dedicated to the salon. You’re accustomed to being frugal, I bet, so you two will get along. That’s her big bugaboo. That and following rules. She’s a big one for rules. When Lisa decided not to let Mr. Jasper finish the salon as I had specified, Carol was on the phone with me right away.”

“Why didn’t you get it fixed then?”

“The call came the same day that I moved my dad into an assisted-living facility. That week was rocky.” She looked away. “He was there for two weeks before they called and told me they couldn’t handle him. I had to find a facility that was dedicated to handling Alzheimer’s patients. Since it was short notice, that wasn’t easy.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t. That’s a shame, Eve. Why did you decide to put in such a big tank? I’m sure it was expensive.”

Eve turned back toward me with a smile. “Actually, it’s a cost-saving device. You see, aquariums have been shown to have a calming effect on people. They lower the blood pressure, reduce stress, and reduce anxiety. In kids with ADHD, they’ve been shown to settle down significantly. There’s even research that shows that watching fish can reduce pain. So while it’s costly at the outset, we’ve been experimenting with large tanks. There are significantly fewer complaints about stylists running late in our salons with tanks. In fact, we get fewer complaints overall in the salons with tanks.”

“Fascinating,” I said, and it was.

Carol stepped up behind me. “Of course, for some people, aquariums have been known to be lethal.”

An awkward silence followed.

“You ready to go?” I said to the accountant. “Eve, do you want us to bring you anything?”

“No,” she said. “Wynn and I are going to lunch together in about fifteen minutes.”

With that, Carol and I left on foot to walk to Subway. “I rent from your aunt,” I said, hoping to start a conversation.

“I know.”

She said nothing else for a block or two. I made desultory remarks about the fall leaves and the brightly colored mums we passed. Carol’s lips were sealed. Finally, I’d had enough. I stopped in my tracks. “Look, if you have a problem with me, I prefer to get it out in the open.”

“I had my apartment cleaned for mold a couple of weeks ago, so I stayed over at my aunt’s house. You had a man sleep over. I know because I saw him go in at night and not come out until the next morning. That’s what loose women do.”

“Oh.” This was not what I expected. A problem with me being competition, yes, that I could handle. A concern about me taking Lisa’s place so quickly. Either of those would have been expected. But to throw my personal life at me? That was bush league. I knew Mrs. Jones paid no attention to my personal life, so I naturally assumed no one else did, either.

A slow burn started at my collar and worked its way up my neck. “You have no right to intrude on my privacy, but for the record, the man who stayed over is a man I have been dating exclusively and just broke up with. It’s not like there’s a regular parade in and out of my bedroom.”

Her mouth twisted up while she considered all this. I used the opportunity to glance at her left hand. No ring. This wasn’t about her religious beliefs. It was about jealousy.

“Is that why you pushed Lisa Butterworth into the fish tank? Because she was sinful? What does that make you, huh? A murderer?”

Carol staggered backward. As she did, she misjudged the terrain behind her and fell hard on her butt. I stared down at the woman. Growing up in the South, you learn never to talk about politics or religion. This altercation reminded me why. I understood that people had strong feelings about premarital sex, but I didn’t appreciate the lecture, particularly since I’d shown such admirable restraint the night before.

Her face turned petulant as she sat there. “I didn’t do it! I know that ex-husband of yours thinks I did because he keeps coming round and asking me questions, but I didn’t! I can’t help it, but he’s making me feel all fidgety.”

“He has that effect on people,” I said with a sigh. “Come on. Let me give you a hand up.” With a grunt, I pulled the other woman to her feet. Brushing the bits of grass off her pants, she thanked me and continued with, “All I did was loan Mrs. Goodman my car. That’s it, that’s all. The Goodmans only have one car down here, and her husband—that awful man!—had hers.”

Finally, we were getting somewhere. “When did you loan it to her?”

“On Friday afternoon, we were going over last month’s figures. We know that someone has been taking money from the till, but we don’t know who. We also know someone is playing with the invoices, and I’m certain that is—was—Lisa. Mrs. Goodman went over the books with me because she wanted to make absolutely certain that the person messing with the invoices had taken more than three hundred dollars.”

“Why?”

“Because any dollar figure over two hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, it’s a felony. Mrs. Goodman was mad as heck. She wanted to put Lisa away for a long time. She even said that it would serve Lisa right if her
baby was born in jail. I don’t think she really meant it, but maybe she did because she’d just heard that Lisa was pregnant—and she was claiming it was Wynn Goodman’s baby!”

“How’d she get that news?”

Carol’s stubby fingers waved away my question. “It was all over the Internet. I think that made Mrs. Goodman the maddest. She thought everyone was laughing at her because it took her so long to get pregnant.”

“So when did you loan her your car?”

“Right before closing time. Ten ’til five. She asked if she could borrow my car. Said she’d drop me off at home, and she did. Promised she’d fill up the tank for me. You know how expensive gas is. So I let her keep it until Saturday night.”

I nodded. Our walk had taken us to the heart of downtown St. Elizabeth, where pedestrians filled the sidewalks, hurrying to grab lunch before they went back to town hall or the stores where they worked. “Let’s postpone this discussion until we grab our food and talk in private.”

Once inside Subway, she chose a foot-long sub with everything on it, an extra-large cola, two bags of chips, and two cookies. Evidently her cost-cutting methods included soaking other people for more food than she could possibly eat. I said nothing but ordered my regular turkey on whole wheat with green peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, and mustard, plus a diet Coke, and paid for everything. Carol could barely carry all the food the clerk handed her.

Lucky for us, a table opened up in the far back of the narrow restaurant. “Grab it!” I told Carol, and she moved surprisingly quickly toward the surface.

“Do you think Eve killed Lisa?” I asked as soon as we sat down.

“No. I mean, I don’t think so, I mean, she could have, but…”
Carol’s lower lip trembled. “I hate to think I’m working for a murderer.”

“How did she act when she borrowed your car? Was she in a bad mood? Was that when she said she wanted Lisa’s baby born behind bars?”

“No.” Carol took a big bite from her sandwich. “She said that when she heard about Lisa being pregnant. That was mad talk. She said that on Thursday, and she was over it by Friday. Except for the part about checking the books. Mrs. Goodman is a very nice boss. Understanding. When I asked her why she didn’t call the police right away when I told her, she said that she wanted to be sure. That anyone could come up short and borrow from the register. It happens in the other salons all the time. As for the invoices, well, sometimes there are discounts or special deals, like deducting the cost of shipping. Those can change the final payment amount. At least that’s what Mrs. Goodman said. She wanted to check everything over carefully before she gave the thief a chance to pay it back.”

“But that never happened, right?”

“Right.” Carol smashed several chips into her mouth.

“Was it Lisa? Could Lisa have guessed that you were onto her?”

Carol shook her head no, and a piece of orange barbecue chip fell from her bottom lip onto her sandwich. “Lisa paid no attention to me. I overheard her call me ‘the troll in the back who guards the gold.’ I was a nonperson to her.”

“Who do you think killed Lisa Butterworth?” I picked up a slice of pickle and bit into it, savoring the way it made my mouth pucker.

“I’m pretty sure it was Suzee Gaylord.”

“Oh?”

“The roof blew off on her duplex when Horatio hit. Turns out the shingles had been stapled on rather
than nailed on like they were supposed to be. Happened to a lot of people. The building inspectors looked the other way. Rain soaked the entire place and ruined all their appliances. Of course, all that wetness caused mold to grow. Suzee’s daughter has asthma, so she has had to move out and stay in a cheap motel until a contractor can clean the mold out.”

“So she’s paying for her duplex and for a motel room?”

“Uh-huh. Suzee’s tried to track down the builder, but he’s long gone.” Carol’s straw gurgled as she chugged the last of her soft drink. “I know she’s behind on her credit card payments. Creditors call the salon all the time and ask for Suzee. So maybe she was taking money from the till and skimming the invoices—and maybe Lisa figured it out. Or maybe Suzee just wanted Lisa’s job.”

“As manager? The job that Eve Sebastiani Goodman gave me?”

“Could be. That’d help her get out of hock. All I’m sayin’ is that if I were you, I’d watch my back.”

Chapter Forty-nine

SUZEE HAD MANAGED TO AVOID ME MOST OF THE morning, but that was easy for her because we were both busy. At one point, she disappeared from the floor. When she returned, she was talking with Eve. Whatever they were discussing, Suzee seemed pleased. In fact, her face beamed with joy.

Mom, Stella, and Althea came in as a group to fill out job applications. Stella stood at the counter with eyes wide as bread plates, gazing in wonder at the workstations and the displays. Althea acted as if she’d had a cool infusion, disregarding her surroundings entirely. Mom glanced around and smiled. I took all of them into the back. Eve stopped her work to say hello and encourage them to join the Snippets’ crew.

“But when Violetta’s opens, we’ll go back there,” said Althea, her jaw jutting out defiantly.

Mom smiled at her friend.

Today Althea was dressed in bright green, bright red, bright yellow, and bright orange stripes broken by fields of black. The high collar on her long robe suggested a priest’s clerical neckline, but the addition of a large pendant quickly set the record straight. “Can we take our customers back to Violetta’s when we go?”

“Absolutely. I told Mrs. Terhune and Grace Ann as much,” said Eve. “I realize this might well be only a stopgap measure. On the other hand, whether it’s permanent or not, I can offer a competitive plan of benefits.” Reaching down into the desk drawer, she pulled out two four-color brochures outlining the many advantages that Snippets offered their personnel.

I could tell that Althea was impressed because she didn’t automatically toss the paper into the trash. She’s not one for using her words when her actions will do. Stella kept swallowing, her Adam’s apple bobbing like a kite in the wind. “We would get all of these benefits? You mean I can add my daughter and husband to my insurance?”

“Of course, if you decide to stay longer than ninety days. That’s the insurance company’s decision, not mine.”

Stella’s stiff posture buckled with relief. Her fingers loosened their grip on the denim skirt she was wearing.