A Hint of Magic (5 page)

“Amy Owens is first on our list,” Parker informed Clarissa.  “Do you know her?”

“Yeah, I went to high school with her.”

“Great!  Where can I find her?”

Clarissa looked at Parker curiously.  “Liana didn’t give you addresses or phone numbers?”

“No.  She only gave me a list of names.”

Clarissa had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep from smirking.  She had to hand it to Liana: the woman really had thought this through.  While it probably wouldn’t be too hard for Parker to track folks down in the small town, Liana had basically set it up so that he and Clarissa
had
to rely on each other.  She was really determined to get them together!

“Amy’s a hairdresser,” Clarissa said, making an abrupt illegal turn in the middle of the road.

“Whoa, what are you doing?!” Parker gasped.

“The salon is the other way,” Clarissa told him matter-of-factly.

He was wise enough not to say anything more.  Well, either that or he was too alarmed by her erratic, less-than-legal driving to speak.  Whatever the reason, they drove in silence all the way to the beauty salon.

Clarissa parked - if one could call it that – outside the salon where Amy worked.  She shut off the ignition and hopped out of the car.  She was well aware that her car was crooked and the back end was sticking way out of the parking space.  She simply chose to ignore it, as she had bigger fish to fry.

“Uh, you’re sticking way out from the curb,” Parker informed her apologetically.

“So?”

He looked taken aback.  He paused and seemed to carefully consider his options.  Perhaps he was trying to determine the best way to phrase things to avoid a disagreement.  Then he sighed and held out his hand.  “Give me your keys,” he ordered.  “I’ll take care of it.”

“My own personal valet,” she joked as she handed her keys over.

“You don’t pay me enough to be your valet.”

“I don’t pay you anything.”

“Exactly,” he grumbled. 

“Meet you inside!” Clarissa trilled, enjoying his misery.

When Clarissa walked into the salon, she immediately felt out of place.  She didn’t go there very often.  In fact, most of the time she just had Liana trim her split ends for her over the bathroom sink.  It saved a lot of time, money and hassle.

“Excuse me,” Clarissa said to the first hairdresser who walked past.  “Is Amy Owens working?”

The woman, who was clad in ultra-stylish leather leggings and mile-high stilettos, turned and looked her up and down.  “Well, well!  Look who the cat dragged in,” she said, pursing her over-lined lips in an expression of muted disdain.  “Clarissa Spencer.”

It took a moment for Clarissa to recognize the person standing in front of her.  Back in high school she had been a bottle blonde with an orange spray tan.  Now she had her hair dyed black with blue highlights.  It was a dramatic look, especially for such a small town.  But at least she seemed to have figured out how to get a natural-looking tan.

“Hi Kimmy,” Clarissa said through gritted teeth. 

“I go by Kimberly now,” the woman corrected her immediately.  “I haven’t been Kimmy since high school.  Oh, it seems like so long ago!  But my, my, you haven’t changed one bit have you?  Here for a makeover, hmm?  It’s about time!  Oh, there’s
so much
we can help you with.”

Though it was said in a sugary-sweet tone, it was undoubtedly a subtle jab.

Of course, Parker
had
to walk into the salon at that exact moment. 

Clarissa reddened when she realized he had probably overheard. 

She turned an even deeper shade of crimson when she remembered how little effort she had put into her appearance before leaving the house that morning.  It figured that she would run into Parker
and
the snootiest girl she had ever known on a day when she didn’t exactly look her best. 

Kimberly Tucker had been catty, fake and mean back in high school.  It seemed she hadn’t changed much in that respect.  Clarissa wasn’t thrilled to see her.  She hadn’t liked Kimberly then and she wasn’t exactly overcome by an urge to hug her and catch up now. 

“I’m actually looking for Amy Owens,” Clarissa tried again.  “Is she in?”

Kimberly wasn’t paying attention to Clarissa anymore.  Her focus was now entirely on Parker.

“Who’s this?” she purred, her voice suddenly becoming deeper and throatier.  “I don’t recognize you.  Are you new in town?  I’m Kimberly,” she introduced herself as she batted her heavy false eyelashes shamelessly.  Apparently Kimberly didn’t do subtle.

“I’m Parker,” he said.  His demeanor was polite but aloof.  In a word, he was professional. 

“What can I do for you today, Parker?” Kimberly asked, completely ignoring Clarissa.

“Actually, I’m with her,” Parker replied, forcing Kimberly to acknowledge Clarissa’s existence.

“Oh.”  Kimberly shot Clarissa a dirty look.  If looks could kill, the snobbish hairdresser would be a murderer!  “I’ll go get Amy,” she said tersely.  Then in a huff, she turned and stomped away, her high heels click-clacking on the floor with every step.

“For the record,” Parker said quietly, “I don’t think you need a makeover at all.”

“You don’t think I could use some blue streaks in my hair?” Clarissa joked.

“Definitely not,” Parker replied.  “I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

“Hi!” Amy called, emerging from the back room with a half-eaten muffin in her hand.

“Hi!” Clarissa smiled, still glowing from Parker’s unexpected compliment.  “Sorry to just drop in on you like this.  I just wondered if you had five minutes to talk about, you know, last night?”

“Sure,” Amy replied.  “My next appointment is in fifteen minutes, so that works out perfectly.  Why don’t we step outside?” she suggested.  Leaning in closer, she grinned and whispered, “The first rule about beauty salons is that the walls have ears!”

Chuckling, Clarissa was happy to see her old friend had retained her sense of humor.  Back in high school she had admired Amy’s quick wit and fearlessness.  She was a woman who wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade.  That was refreshing.

“When I said we should catch up, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” Amy said quietly once she, Clarissa and Parker were standing outside behind the beauty salon.  She tossed the rest of her muffin in the dumpster next to the door and sighed deeply.  “Last night was really something.”

“Yeah,” Clarissa agreed.  “We won’t keep you long.  It’s just that since you saw the fight break out, we thought maybe you could answer a few questions.  We’re investigating what happened for our respective newspapers.”

Amy looked at Parker with an expression of confusion on her face.

Clarissa smacked her forehead.  “I’m terrible at introductions,” she said apologetically.  “Parker, this is Amy Owens.  She’s an old friend from high school.  And Amy, this is Parker Tweed.  He’s my uh…he’s a friend who writes for The Green City Chronicle.” 

Parker looked completely amused by Clarissa’s stumble.

“Nice to meet you,” he told Amy, extending his hand.  “I know you need to get back to work, so I’ll cut right to the chase.  Right now we’re trying to piece together what happened last night.  You were outside when the fight started, right?”

“Mmhmm,” Amy murmured, biting her lower lip.  She suddenly seemed unsure of what to do with her hands.  She crossed her arms, then immediately uncrossed them and stuck her hands in her pockets.  Then she began to shift from foot to foot.

“Can you tell us what you saw?” Parker asked gently.

“A few of us were standing around in the backyard talking,” Amy replied, her voice wavering.  “The music was too loud to have a proper conversation inside, so after a while we sort of just migrated out there.”

“Who all was there?” Clarissa prodded.

“Um, Jenny, Zack, Mikey and a few people I didn’t recognize.  Some of them were wearing costumes that covered their faces. I didn’t have a chance to find out who they were before, you know…the fight happened,” Amy explained.  “Oh, and Jenny said to say hi to you, Clarissa.”

“I haven’t seen Jenny in forever!” Clarissa exclaimed.  Then, remembering she was supposed to be conducting an interview, she got back to business.  “What else can you tell us?  Any little detail you can think of will be helpful, no matter how insignificant you think it might be.  What was the mood like, for example?”

“The mood was pretty relaxed.  Jenny and I were reminiscing about high school.  Zack and a few of the other guys were kicking around a football.  Then all of a sudden these two…figures came out of the shadows.  They just came out of nowhere.”

Amy paused and took a deep breath.

“One had the other in a headlock – the grim reaper was in a headlock.  It looked really crazy because they were both wearing costumes.  One was a gorilla and the other was the grim reaper.  At first we thought it was funny, just because it looked so absurd.”

“What happened next?” Parker asked.

“They fought for a while and some idiots started egging them on.  They ran off.  I think that was around the time you two came outside.  I really don’t know anything more than that.  Sorry I can’t be more helpful.”

“You heard that the deceased was Greg Klassen, right?” Clarissa asked carefully. 

“Yeah,” Amy confirmed, looking pained.

“You two hung out sometimes in high school, didn’t you?”

Amy immediately shook her head.  “I wouldn’t say that.  Greg was…how can I say this nicely?  He had issues with fitting in, you know?”

“He was a nerd,” Clarissa said knowingly.

“Yes, exactly…he was a nerd, and kind of socially awkward.  He was my biology partner in senior year,” Amy recalled.  “He was a smart guy – I got an A+ in biology that year and I don’t know a thing about science.”

“So you two were lab partners but not really friends,” Parker summarized.  “Is that right?”

“Yes.  I don’t think Greg really had friends.”

“Did he have enemies?” Parker wanted to know.

“Not that I remember.  I mean, he had a rough time of it with Zack and Mikey and those guys,” Amy said.  She looked at Clarissa.  “You remember how it was, right?  They were bullies.  They picked on everyone who made a good target, not just Greg.”

“I remember,” Clarissa said bitterly.  Then she filled Parker in with a single word.  “Jocks.”

“Hey, not all jocks are jerks,” Parker protested.  He looked a bit hurt. 

“Did you keep in touch with Greg after high school?” Clarissa asked Amy curiously.

“No.  Last night was the first time I talked to him since we graduated.”

That caught Clarissa’s attention.  “You talked to him last night before the…before the incident?”

Amy suddenly looked like she was on the verge of tears.  “Briefly,” she confirmed.  “He came over and had to tell me who he was.  I didn’t recognize him,” she explained.  “He said he had started bodybuilding.”

“Did he say anything else?” Parker asked.

“We didn’t talk for long,” Amy informed him.  Then she glanced down at her wristwatch.  “I hate to cut this short but I have to get inside.  My next appointment will probably be here any minute and she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Okay, thanks for your time,” Clarissa said.

“One last question before you leave, if you don’t mind,” Parker piped up.  “Did you happen to see anyone at the party who was dressed as a cowboy?”

“I – I really have to go!” Amy insisted.  Then she practically ran inside.

“That was weird,” Parker commented as he and Clarissa walked around to the front of the salon. “She seemed nervous and then she practically ran away.  You know her better than me.  What do you think of the way she acted?  You think it was weird too, right?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Clarissa replied, her eyes trained on an old woman who was shuffling down the street.  She watched for a moment, curious.  Sure enough, the woman entered the beauty salon.  That confirmed her suspicion.

“What is it?” Parker asked, following her gaze.

“Okay, Amy running off like that wasn’t weird,” she informed Parker.

“Why do you say that?” he asked, looking perplexed.

“That old woman was the infamous Irene Meddler,” Clarissa explained.  “If you had grown up here in Sugarcomb Lake like I did, that’s all I’d need to say for you to understand.  She’s a legend.  She’s feared by all and liked by none!  If
she
is Amy’s next appointment, then no wonder Amy was scared to keep her waiting!  I’d be nervous too.  Mrs. Meddler is the epitome of difficult.”

“Come on, she’s just a little old lady,” Parker pointed out.  “Surely she can’t be that bad?”

“You’d better pray you never find out,” Clarissa said ominously.  “She’s terrifying.”

“If she’s so scary then maybe you should dress up as her next Halloween.”

“Maybe I will!”  Clarissa unlocked her car.  “Where to next?” she asked before getting in.

“Umm…well next on the list is Zack Bishop.  That’s one of the guys you and Amy were talking about, isn’t it?” Parker asked.  He got into the car and then said, “Let me guess:  Zack is the winner who had me in a headlock.”