2 Multiple Exposures (9 page)

While I say I didn’t want the scene, my words when they came seemed to have thrust me into the role whether I liked it or not. “Apparently, she made herself at home in your house, Spencer.”

“I didn’t know that either,” he said, and my simmering anger ticked a few notches higher.

“She broke in? Shouldn’t you arrest her?”

He frowned and ran a hand over his head. “No, she didn’t. I’m not making myself very clear.”

“No,” I agreed. “You’re not. Should I come back later?”

“Makayla,” he growled. “I can do without the sarcastic attitude.”

I offered nothing more as I waited. He gritted his teeth.

“I was going to take her to a hotel. I got called away. I intended to—”

“Spencer, honey, there you are.”

We both turned. In walked the object of our conversation. She had changed clothes. This time she wore a navy trench coat synched at the waist to show off a very curvy and sexy figure, black tights and nose bleed high black pumps.

Seemed she knew a lot about Spencer, where he lived, where he worked. So interesting. I hated the feelings rising in my chest, and I wanted them gone. My lovely new life didn’t appear to be holding steady at the moment, and I had thought I had made all good choices. Even as Penelope approached in her gracefully elegant way, I held out hope.

I swung my gaze from the beauty to Spencer, and I don’t know what I expected. Certainly not the awkward man before me. Who was he? I blinked at Spencer in wonder. Was this what it was to be loved by Spencer Norwood?

“Makayla,” he said, gesturing jerkily to the woman, “this is my wife, Penelope. Penelope, this is my friend, Makayla.”

“Your wife…” I croaked. “Your
friend
…?” Further words escaped me, and Spencer flushed. He saw his mistake right away, but the woman moved forward, clinging to his arm, chattering away with her cute gestures and her high-pitched voice.

After a few moments, I cleared my throat, and Penelope paused to take a breath.

“You have a list for me, Spencer?” I said.

My query produced confusion in him, and I held out my hand. “The list of patients…”

He tensed, seemed to consider whether he would accept my help, and then relented. I followed him to his desk, ignoring the beauty. I was starting to think of that description with a capital B and maybe some quotes.

Spencer paused before he handed over the list he had compiled. All of the patients were listed with the ones whose pictures he had found on Dr. Bloomberg’s computer and on the camera pen highlighted. “I need to talk to you, Makayla.”

I smiled. “That’s nice.” He glared at me, but I spun away, headed toward the door. “It was nice meeting you, Penelope. Y’all have a good day, okay?”

I clicked the door gently closed behind me.

Chapter Nine

The next day…

“Makayla!”

I jumped and knocked my head against Louisa’s hand. The comb she had been using to pull through my hair went flying, and clattered to the floor. She first glared at me as if it were my fault and then at Allie Kate as she whipped through the door like a nor’easter.

“Is it true?” Allie Kate Brinlee demanded, scarcely taking a breath. The scarf about Allie Kate’s neck fluttered in the air behind her, and I thought it was a little too tight about her throat and could be dangerous. She, wild-eyed—and
hair
—didn’t notice. I started to answer her worried questions when Pattie Lane swept into the salon. Pattie’s appearance compelled one to think “mousy,” but she sported blonde, shoulder-length hair that had just a touch of body to it. Louisa made sure to keep Pattie’s wispy locks styled to the best of its ability.

The poor thing wouldn’t be so plain on her own, but both her best friends were vibrant, striking women with personalities to match, which had the unfortunate impact of diminishing her presence on most occasions.

“I just heard something awful.” Tears glistened in Pattie’s eyes, and her voice scarcely made it above a whisper. When she spotted me, she made haste to join Allie Kate. While I hadn’t known that morning I would decide to have my hair recolored and that Louisa would again fit me in, this time with far less condescension, it seemed everyone else knew where to find me as well.

I had been in the salon only a scant fifteen minutes, and now Allie Kate, the joint owner of Beautiful Nu U, had sought me out, as well as Pattie, the—hmm…what did Pattie do for a living? I wasn’t sure.

“Back off, you two,” Louisa said in defense of me. “Give her space.”

Now here was a shocker if ever there was one. Louisa Strombeck, owner of the salon where I currently sat, had accused me of killing the man she loved. Not only that, she normally treated most of the citizens of Briney Creek as being beneath her. The two she tolerated most were best friends, Susan Aston and Pattie Lane. Yet, it seemed after Alvin’s death and Louisa learned of his deep love of Peony, Louisa had come down off her high horse. Who would have thought it? I supposed death could make a person reevaluate their existence and what’s important in life.

When she was sure the two ladies wouldn’t attack me, Louisa strode over to where the comb had landed and retrieved it. Rather than begin using it in my hair again even though I was going to have a wash after she put on the dye, she placed the comb with others that needed to be cleaned and sterilized and brought another from her drawer. I admired her for her dedication.

“Is it true?” Allie Kate asked again when she couldn’t contain herself any longer. She flopped down in one of the salon chairs, her gaze trained on me. I was thinking it was a good thing no one had been in the seat. “Was Dr. Bloomberg murdered, and did he…?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but Louisa cut me off, waving the comb at Allie Kate. “If you’re going to take up that seat, Allie Kate, at least let someone fix that hair. Did you leave the house that way or were you running a class?”

Allie Kate raised a self-conscious hand to her hair and frowned. “Oh, Louisa, please. I have to know. It’s all over town about what he did. He took pictures of his patients.”

Pattie paled and swayed. Louisa snagged her arm and dragged her to a chair. “Sit before you fall down.”

“I’m afraid it’s true,” I confirmed, and Allie Kate shut her eyes, looking a bit green around the gills. I leaned toward her to touch her hand, but Louisa pulled me back. “Were you a patient, Allie Kate?”

A look of panic came into her eyes. “Who me? No, of course not. Well, not for many years. I switched to a new doctor a long while back. Dr. Bloomberg and I didn’t see eye-to-eye.”

Her admission surprised me about her not getting along with Dr. Bloomberg, but perhaps I was doing her a disservice thinking that way. Allie Kate and her husband were very free-spirited when it came to intimacy, and with Dr. Bloomberg’s perversion, I couldn’t imagine him chastising her if she had been honest with him about her history. Then again maybe he had. After all, she was living what pleased her, and he had had to keep his obsession in the dark lest he be arrested.

I happened to know, although I wouldn’t tell the ladies, Allie Kate’s picture was not among the ones Spencer had found on Dr. Bloomberg’s computer. I planned to tell her later when we were alone to ease her mind.

“What do the police know, Makayla?” Pattie asked.

I shared what I could. “The doctor was poisoned, sometime the night before I found his body. It was arsenic.”

Various expressions of horror touched the faces of the ladies. No one needed more of an explanation than the very word arsenic, which held a lot of weight by itself.

When I arrived at the salon earlier, I had found Edna already there, and as usual, she popped her head out of the dryer when the conversation got interesting. “I bet you feel cursed, dear, always finding the bodies?”

Louisa signaled for Edna to get back under the dryer.

“You didn’t do it, did you, Makayla?” Pattie’s question wasn’t accusing, but really, to suspect me of all people.

“No, I didn’t even know him.”

“But you were there,” Edna said, and I knew she just wanted to contribute. We had discussed what happened. “The gossipmongers—and by that I mean Talia and Ollie—are saying you were naked.”

I made a sound of protest. “You didn’t tell them that, did you, Edna?”

“No, I would never say such a thing about you, even if you
were
naked.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

Edna chuckled. “I suspect Ollie got it from someone else who was there at the time, and Talia decided to juicy the story up a bit.”

“Lovely,” I groaned. “For the record, ladies, I was visiting Dr. Bloomberg for the first time in a professional capacity.”

They blinked at me, wondering just what kind of profession I could mean under the circumstances. They were worse than Edna, or rather Talia.

I clarified. “I was there to identify the camera.”

“Ohhh,” said the group, nodding heads.

“And I did, but it was too late for Dr. Bloomberg, I’m afraid. Someone had already poisoned him the night before, or so the ME’s report says. Now the police have to figure out if the motive was the obvious one and who might have found out.”

I decided not to share what Lissa had told me about a possible partner or supplier. The ladies were already fearful with just the knowledge of the photos, and I didn’t blame them. I wasn’t a victim for sure, but I still felt somewhat vulnerable.

“What I want to know is who is on that list,” Louisa said, and she looked at me. All the others did as well.

I feigned innocence. “Ladies, I’m not on the Briney Creek police force. I don’t know why you’re looking at me.”

“Because you are the only one any of us can ask,” Louisa pointed out. “What did Spencer tell you?”

“Nothing. I told you about how the doctor died. I don’t have any more details than that, and neither do the police.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” Louisa gave my hair a yank, and when I yelped, she apologized, but I didn’t hear the sincerity. Let’s say she hadn’t wholly turned over a new leaf.

“Well, I for one have enough on my plate without adding that doctor to the pile.” Allie Kate hopped to her feet when one of Louisa’s girls came toward her with a cape. Allie Kate gave Louisa an apologetic smile. “I can’t… This month is just…”

“Sit down,” Louisa ordered. “It’ll be on your tab.”

Allie Kate flushed. She remained standing, but Louisa left her station to push Allie Kate into the seat. The stylist snapped the cape in the air and brought it around Allie Kate’s neck to clip in the back. Poor Allie Kate hung her head in embarrassment. For a few minutes, no one said anything, and I scoured my mind for conversation that didn’t have anything to do with Dr. Bloomberg.

“Well, it’s good to have Reeza and Pete back in town, isn’t it?” I suggested.

Allie Kate perked up but indignant rather than happy. “That girl, married a minute and already she’s changing.”

I frowned. “Changing how?”

“Late to work, early to leave.”

Edna stuck her head out from under the dryer. “If I had a husband, I’d be late every day. Maybe I wouldn’t show up at all.” She cackled at this allusion to staying home to entertain her husband, and I shook my head.

“I’m glad she’s back. I mean I was more than within my rights to fire her for leaving without notice and then coming back when she was good and ready. Honestly, I’m not sure how long I can keep her on,” Allie Kate lamented. “Since she got married, she hasn’t been careful with her figure, and we must all keep ourselves in top shape as the best advertisement for Beautiful Nu U.”

Several pairs of eyes rolled when Allie Kate fell into her commercial for the gym mode.

“Well jeez, Allie Kate, it hasn’t been a minute. Could she have changed that much?” This was Louisa with a hand on her slender hip.

Allie Kate raised her chin in firm defense of her stance, but she said nothing more.

“Give her time to settle in,” Pattie suggested, and her voice dropped lower to add, “if it’s about the weight and not…something else.” Something else being if Allie Kate couldn’t afford to keep Reeza on the payroll. I felt terrible for her and worse that everyone in the room, maybe in the town knew the financial trouble John and Allie Kate were still in.

“What are you going to do when Inna moves away?” Edna had completely abandoned the dryer. Her gray hair stuck up in points where it was dry and sagged to the side in a sorry heap where it was still damp. Louisa would skin her.

Allie Kate’s mouth turned downward. “I will miss my baby when she goes away to school, but in a way, I’m glad.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because she’s started to neglect her studies.” She frowned. “You know how smart she is, Makayla, not like me. She takes after her father. John is a genius.”

“Not with business though,” Edna quipped.

Someone snorted, and Allie Kate reddened. I looked around at the faces, angry that they could joke about her situation. No one met my gaze, and Edna poked her lips out, apparently ashamed at her quick tongue. She hadn’t meant any harm.

I turned back to Allie Kate. “Inna is pretty driven. I’m sure she’ll get back on target soon enough. What’s got her so distracted?”

Allie Kate huffed. “Her new boyfriend.”

“Brandon?”

“You knew about him?” Allie Kate glared at me accusingly as if I had anything to say about an eighteen-year-old’s heart.

“I knew she liked him. I wasn’t sure, um, what direction it would go in.” By direction I meant my other friend, David, was also interested in Brandon, and it looked like poor David was out in the cold with this one. I hoped a new prospect would come along for him to find love.

“Well, he’s not the best influence,” Allie Kate said. “Just the other day, she was out all night with him. I don’t like it!”

“She’s a legal adult,” Louisa pointed out. “Get used to it, Allie Kate. There’s nothing you can do about it from now on.”

“I know, but I still lectured her because I won’t be there to watch over her when she’s in New York. Oh, that awful city! Sorry, Makayla.”

I held up my hands. “Don’t worry about me, honey. I know how bad it can be, but like you said, Inna’s intelligent, and she’s tough. She’ll do fine out there. Just you wait and see.”

Allie Kate didn’t look convinced.

“So, I’m wondering,” Pattie said into the lull in conversation, “why no one has mentioned that the sheriff’s wife is in town.”

“
Ex
-wife,” I snapped before I could catch myself.

Gasps went up all around the room, and gazes swiveled to me. I sat like a statue as if that would make them think it was nothing to me if Spencer’s ex-wife, who he still called
wife
was staying with him, and he didn’t tell me about it. Me, his
friend
. Not that I expected him to introduce me as his girlfriend or even his lover. I don’t know what I expected, just not
that
.

Edna touched my hand and then balled up a knobby little fist. “I’ll make him sorry he used my granddaughter.”

“Used her?” Louisa said. “Isn’t she just in town? Did something happen?”

“No, no,” I rushed to say. “Spencer and I were not serious.”

“The ex was at his house,” one of the stylists put in unhelpfully. “I don’t think she’s there now.”

“No,” Pattie agreed. “She’s staying at the inn.”

The
inn, they always said. There was more than one in Briney Creek, well two, but the one, I had heard, was better than the other—far better.

“Oh, your place?” Allie Kate said.

I looked at Pattie. “Your place?”

“Makayla, don’t you know by now?” Louisa met my gaze in the mirror as she worked dye through my hair. “Pattie owns
the
inn.” There was that emphasis again. Now I knew what Pattie did. Good to know. I pressed my lips into a thin line and held my hands together in my lap. Aware I looked bothered, I couldn’t help myself. Yet, the ladies seemed unable to resist continuing to gossip around me.