Bats and Bling (8 page)

“I don’t know. It seems odd to me. She’s out shopping and texting her dead friend’s husband?”

“I think you’re letting your imagination get the best of you.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I think she’s hiding something. I mean Willie said they hadn’t been able to find Craig and yet he’s texting Belle. Is she hiding the fact that she knows where he is?”

“Maybe she doesn’t know where he is or maybe the police haven’t asked her. Maybe she doesn’t know the police are looking for him. Presley, there are several reasons that are plausible.”             

I put my hands on my hips. “Why are you coming up with so many reasons to dispute my theory that Belle knows something,” I said playfully.

“I’m not trying to rain on your parade just trying to play devil’s advocate,” she said smiling.

We walked out on the sales floor and I saw that Belle was up at the register purchasing the one dress out of the several she’d tried on and an idea popped in my head.

“Hey,” I whispered to Katy. “Do you care if I leave for a bit?”

“No but where are you going?”
              “I’m going to follow Belle and she were she goes from here.”

“Presley! That’s insane. What if she sees you and thinks you’re a crazy stalker and calls the cops.”

“She won’t see me and if she does I’ll worry about it then. I just have a feeling she knows something that can help us figure out what happened.”

“The brooch has been found. Why does it matter?”

“Don’t you want to know who killed her?”

“Yeah, but I’m in letting the police figure it out. You should be too.”

I just looked at her.

Katy shook her head. “Well I know I can’t stop you when you have an idea in your head so go on.”

“Thanks,” I said and ran back to get my coat. I got back up to the front just as Belle was walking out. It dawned on me that she might be driving somewhere and I was parked in a different spot than our customers and would never be able to get to my car in time to get back to the customer lot and see where she was headed. However, she turned down the block opposite to the lot so maybe I was in luck and she was going for a walk. I stayed about twenty feet behind her so she wouldn’t notice me but I honestly didn’t think there was much chance of that. She hadn’t looked back once and why would she. She’d have no reason to think someone would be following her. To be honest I was starting to feel a little foolish thinking that following her was going to tell me anything about who killed Veronica. I was just about to turn around and go back to Silk, after grabbing a coffee of course, when I saw Belle turn right into the Madison Hotel. I decided to follow her just a little bit longer. See what she was doing in the hotel. Probably meeting a friend for dinner or something completely innocent. I’d never eaten at the Madison but had heard great things about the food at their restaurant.

She walked up to the hostess stand and I’m assuming told the hostess who she was meeting because the hostess grabbed a menu and started walking over to the right side of the room. I went up as close as I dared and could just barely see the table where the hostess motioned for Belle to sit down. There was already someone sitting there. Looked like a female but I couldn’t quite tell. Belle and the hostess were blocking my view. I took a couple more steps forward so I could get a better look and almost collided with a server carrying a tray full of drinks.

“Sorry,” I whispered and he glared at me. I looked back to the table and gasped. The woman at the table was Raquel from the jewelry store. What was she doing having lunch with Belle. Were they friends? I wouldn’t have guessed it by the low opinion Raquel seemed to have of Veronica. I wished I could get close enough to hear what they were saying.

“Can I help you,” a voice behind me made me jump and I turned around to see the hostess behind me with a not so friendly look on her face.

I smiled and hoped Belle or Raquel didn’t choose this moment to look over and catch me standing here.

“I thought I saw my friend come in here but I must have been mistaken. We all have our doppelgangers,” I said with a laugh, but the hostess didn’t crack a smile. She must not have a good sense of humor.

“I’ll just leave now. I don’t want to be in anyone’s way.” I quickly walked toward the entrance and before exiting, turned to catch one last glimpse of the two. That was a mistake because at the same time, Raquel looked up and we locked eyes. I could tell she recognized me but she didn’t change her facial expression so maybe she didn’t think anything of it. She turned back to Belle and I made my way to the exit. I wanted a coffee and to get home. I needed to think about what I’d seen. Maybe it wasn’t anything. It just seemed odd to me that those two would be meeting.

Issue with sale of katysboutiqueshe has to go back home?

I walked in the condo excited to tell Katy and Anna what I’d seen and have them help me figure out what it meant but one look at Katy’s face made me temporarily forget about that for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Who was that on the phone?” I asked Katy who looked upset and had her cell phone in her hand. “Nothing happened to Dirt did it?”

Dirt was Katy’s boyfriend and had recently been in trouble with the law. Though not because he was a criminal, but because he’d been in love with Katy. That was behind him now but I knew Katy still worried about him. We all did. His life had taken a much different path than what he’d expected and that wasn’t always easy for him to deal with.

“It’s not that. He’s fine. But I have to go back.”

Disappointment flooded me. I wouldn’t have made it these last few weeks without her and to lose her during this current crisis. Ugh. But that was selfish and I couldn’t be that way as much as I might want to. “Why?”

“That was the lawyer handing the sale of the salon and there’s some kind of issue.”

“And you can’t take care of it over the phone?”

“No. He said it’d be easier if I came back.”

“When do you have to leave?”

Katy hesitated before answering me, which told me I wasn’t going to like the answer. I groaned. “Don’t tell me this week.”

“Not exactly. He said I should come home now.”

“As in today?”

“Well tomorrow morning. He said unless I wanted to take the chance the buyers would back out I should come back as soon as I could and get this straightened out.”

I wanted to cry, I didn’t know what I was going to do without her, but I didn’t want Katy to feel bad. It wasn’t her fault and I certainly didn’t want to jeopardize the sale of her salon on my account. I know how much that meant to her to be able to move on from that chapter of her life and start over.

“Well you gots to do what you gots to do,” I said trying to be upbeat about it.

“I’m really sorry, Presley. I hate to leave you like this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You have to take care of your business. I’ll be fine. Plus Anna’s back and she said she’d help me while she figured out what to do.”\

“And I totally will,” Anna said.

“What’s the problem with the sale?” I asked.

“Something about the title on the land not being clear so I can’t sell until it’s resolved. I inherited land that from my grandmother so it has to be some sort of mix up. I’m sure I’ll get down there and it will take five minutes to fix everything and I’ll have wasted my time.”

“At least you’ll be able to see Dirt.”

“That’s definitely the silver lining. I miss him and I can’t wait to see him. But enough about me did your following Belle provide worthwhile or did she catch you being a crazy stalker,” she teased.

“Yes it did,” I said and proceeded to recount what I had seen. “So now I want to know how she knows Raquel. Don’t you think it’s weird they’re friends?”

“I don’t know. You can be friends with someone who doesn’t necessarily like one of your other friends. Oh before I forget Tilly asked me to have you call her. She wants to move forward with the fashion show in honor of Veronica’s memory.”

“Funny she didn’t mention that when I was walking with her.”

“She didn’t stick around long to shop after you left. And I have to say she looked much more upset over Veronica’s death than Belle.”

“Hmmm. What do you think? I don’t know if I could pull it off without you and not sure I want to.”

“I think you should call her and at least hear what she has to say.”

“You’re probably right. I didn’t get a chance to ask her what I wanted, so I guess talking to her again couldn’t hurt.”

“I brought her number home for you.”

“You think I should call now?” I asked skeptically.

“Sure. Why not? See what she has to say. I admit I’m curious.”

“Ok, give me the number,” I sighed not really relishing the idea of talking to Tilly right now but I was also curious as to her motivation in wanting to move forward.

I took the slip of paper from Katy and dialed the number. After three rings she picked up. “Hello?”

“Tilly, this is Presley. Katy said you wanted to talk to me about the fashion show?”

“Presley, sweetheart. I’m so glad you called me,” Tilly said in a tone I could only think of as fake because I’d never heard her be this nice. I got the sense she was pouring on the charm to get me to do something for her which made me instantly suspicious.

“It’s not a problem, Tilly. How can I help you?”

“I was thinking and I thought we should move forward with the fashion show in honor of Ronnie’s memory. The majority of it is already planned so it shouldn’t be too hard to execute. At least I don’t think so.”

Did she forget Veronica had fired me? “I think that’s a great idea Tilly but are you sure you want me to help? She did fire me.”

“She was just mad. I mean you did let someone steal her brooch but you already have the dresses that we picked out and it makes more sense to stay with Silk as a sponsor. Please say yes. It would mean so much to Veronica’s friends.”

I was going to let the comment about letting someone steal the brooch slide and saying no would mean losing exposure for Silk. Exposure that the store sorely needed and she was right all the hard work had already been done from a purely business standpoint saying no would be a bad move.

“Ok. We can still provide the dresses for the show. Are you keeping the same day, time, and place?”

“Oh, Presley. I’m so thrilled and the ladies will be to. Can I stop by tomorrow to talk about details?”

“Of course. I’ll be in the store all day. Just come by when convenient.”

“Thanks, Presley. Talk to you soon.”

“What am I getting myself into,” I said not really sure why I had a bad feeling about getting involved in the fashion show again, when I’d been so excited about it originally.

“I think it’s good you’re going to do the show. It will be great exposure for Silk,” Katy said.

“It just scares me a little with you leaving.”

“Hey, what am I. Chopped liver?” Anna said pretending to be offended. “I have nothing else to do right now. I’m more than happy to help. I told you that.”

“Are you sure? I feel like I’m always taking advantage of my friends here. I don’t know if I could ever repay you guys.”

“You don’t need to repay us. That’s what friends are for,” said Katy.

“You both have gone above and beyond what friends should do and I’m very grateful.”

“What do you mean the brooch you found with Veronica’s body is fake?” I said to Willie in a louder voice than I’d intended. I was just so shocked at what he’d just told me. It didn’t make sense.

“We sent the brooch to Heislerman’s to make sure it was the right one. And it’s not. The diamonds aren’t diamonds. They are paste imitations and the setting isn’t the original either. It’s a cheap reproduction.”

That’s the part that really floored me. Who would reproduce such an ugly piece of jewelry?

“Do you think that someone killed Veronica and took the real one? Except she didn’t have it. The real one. Unless the person who stole it used it as leverage to get her to meet him or her and then killed her.”

“We aren’t sure yet and we’re still looking for Craig.”

His comment about Craig made me realize I’d forgotten to call him and tell him what I saw on Belle’s phone. I’d meant to and then following Belle andtalking to Tilly about the fashion show distracted me and I forgot.

“Speaking of Craig, have you talked to Belle? I saw a text message from Craig on her phone last night.”

“How did you manage that?”

“She came shopping at Silk last night and I was taking stuff out of her fitting room and her phone was sitting on the chair. I saw his name pop up. She’s clearly communicating with him.”

As I was talking to Willie Katy walked into the kitchen and had her coat in her hand. I looked at the clock and realized she was about to leave for Alkon.

“Hey Willie can I call you back later? I need to say goodbye to Katy.”

“Sure. Tell her bye for me.”

I sat the phone on the counter and walked over to give Katy a big hug. “I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

“I know but it’s just for a short while and you have Anna. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I know and I realize I’m being selfish. You have your own business to take care of. I’ve just gotten so used to you being here. I like it.”

“I’m not that far away and we can still talk and text every day. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“I know, I know.” I walked her to the door and Anna joined us. “Is that all you’re taking with you?” I said pointing to the medium sized suitcase she had with her.

“Yes. I told you I’m not going to be gone that long. Now give me another hug for the road.” I squeezed her tight and then let her go and Anna gave her a hug.

“Drive safe,” I said closing the door as she walked out. I gave a big sigh and plopped down on the couch.

“Cheer up, Pres. I’m still here.”

“I know and I’m thrilled, trust me. There’s just so much going on I’m a bit overwhelmed.”

“Then let me take the rest of the fashion show planning off your hands. You’ve got most of it done anyway, right. Just tell me what still has to be done and I’ll do it. It’ll be fun.”

“Are you sure? I hate dumping my work on you.”

“I’ve got nothing that I’d rather do right now than help you. It will take my mind off trying to figure out what I want to do with my life from this point.”

“There was a shipment that came in when we first got here if you want to check that in there are some items in there that can come right out.”

“I’m on it,” she said and headed to the back.

“Here comes trouble,” Anna said under her breath and I looked up at her questioningly.

“Isn’t that Tilly walking in?” she said, nodding in the direction of the front xxxxx looked over.

She was right. I hoped she wasn’t right about Tilly being trouble. I wanted things to go smoothly. There had been enough drama already.

“Hi Tilly.”

“I’ve only got thirty minutes and I also have to get a dress for Veronica’s funeral tomorrow so we don’t have a lot of time,” she snapped and shoved her coat in my direction. I assumed because she wanted me to hang it up for her so I just accepted it without question.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today,” Anna whispered quietly in my ear as I hung up Tilly’s coat before escaping to the other side of the store. Traitor. The least she could have done was given me moral support.

“I think I have a dress that would be perfect for the funeral so why don’t I show you that first and then we can talk about the show,” I said and started walking over to the rack of dresses I was thinking of. I didn’t even give her a chance to say anything. The quicker I could get her taken care and out of here the better and I was feeling a bit uncomfortable that I was helping her find a dress for Veronica’s funeral. It just felt, I don’t know, a little creepy. I couldn’t help but think she was just in here trying on her own dresses a few days ago and now her friend was shopping for her funeral.

“How about this one,” I said and pulled out a black sheath dress with modest cap sleeve and a scoop neckline that was higher than most. It was a very conservative black dress and one of the few things in the store appropriate for a funeral. We didn’t have a large selection of black conservative dresses. It wasn’t what our customers normally wanted. We didn’t cater to the conservative but rather the flashy, I need a kick ass dress to outdo my friend.

“Fine. I’ll take it,” she said barely looking, which was fine with me. I walked back up to the cash wrap with the dress and quickly rang it up and bagged it, then grabbed my fashion show notebook.

“The only things we need to decide on, if you plan on keeping everything else the way Veronica originally planned it, is the music list and to confirm the catering menu for the appetizers to be passed. Here are the catering lists but Veronica said she had already made a custom playlist of music and she never shared it with me,” I said, putting the itemized food lists on the counter in front of her.

“Whatever you think is best for the food,” she said not even looking and started rummaging around in her large Louis Vuitton tote for something.

“Ok, do you want to…”

“You decide. I don’t care,” she interrupted. “Just make sure it goes off without a hitch. We are doing this in honor of Veronica. It must be perfect.”

“Got it.” No sense in arguing but if she cared so much about honoring Veronica why didn’t she care about any of the details?

“Ah ha. Finally. Here,” she said handing me a flash drive.

“What’s this?”

“It’s Veronica’s play list,” she said as if I should have known that.

“Ok.” I wasn’t even going to ask her how she came to have it. All that mattered was I had it and now she could leave. I was starting to regret ever agreeing to this. I just had to keep reminding myself that it was for the good of the business.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything. Are you and the other ladies still going to walk in the show?”

“Yes. Well except for Belle. I need you to handle that too.”

“Handle what?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer. I had a feeling it was going to be something I didn’t like.

“Call and tell her she won’t be walking in the show.”

“But…”

“I’ve got to run. I’ll touch base with you next week to make sure we’re all set,” she said and with that she grabbed the dressed I’d put in a garment bag for her and left.

I slumped against the counter breaking one of my rules of
if you’ve got time to lean you’ve got time to clean
.

“She’s quite the piece of work isn’t she?” Anna said coming back up once the coast was clear.

“You’ve got that right. You aren’t going to believe what she wants me to do. She wants me to call Belle and uninvited her to walk in the fashion show.”

“You’re kidding me. Why?”

“No idea. I’m not sure I want to know. But what am I supposed to say?”

“It sucks, but I’d just throw Tilly under the bus. You’re just the messenger. Let her be pissed at Tilly.”

“I know but I hate being in this kind of position. Ugh. I just need to stop whining and do it.”

“What’s that?” she asked pointing to the flash drive in my hand.

“The music for the show. Tilly happened to have Veronica’s play list on this drive in her purse. Veronica didn’t have it with her last time she was in. Second to last if we’re being specific, so I wonder how Tilly got her hands on it.”

“Maybe Veronica asked her to drop it to you before she died or something.”

“Yeah that’s probably it.”

“Let’s check it out. See what kind of taste in music Veronica had?” Anna suggested.

“I almost don’t want to know,” I laughed. “If it’s horrible I’ll feel bad for making fun.”

“C’mon. It might cheer you up.”

“Ok,” I said and put the drive into the USB slot on the front of our register, which was also a PC. The window asking if I wanted to open or download popped up and I clicked open. A folder opened with an audio file and another folder. I clicked on the other folder thinking that’s where the list of songs were, but a bunch of documents were listed. No audio files.

“I think she gave you the wrong thing.”

“Sure looks that way,” I said.

“Open one up and see what it is?”

“I can’t do that. These could be personal documents.”

“She’s the one who gave it to you. It’s her fault.”

“So.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious? Maybe it’s stock tips and you can earn your fortune. You don’t want to throw that chance away.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.”

“If you won’t admit you’re curious I will. Move over,” Anna said and grabbed the mouse to open one of the files. It opened and we both stared.

“What the hell?” I said slowly and looked at Anna before we both turned to look back at the screen. It was an email. One from Tilly to Craig that was of a very personal and graphic nature.

“Oh my,” Anna said and opened another one.

“What are you doing,” I exclaimed when the document opened and was more of the same.

“I was hoping this one was something to erase the images in my brain from the first one.”

“Well it’s not. It’s even worse. Close it.”

Anna closed both the documents that were open. And we just stared at each other.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking,” Anna asked.

“What? That as horrible as those two files were now I really want to see what’s on the rest.”

“Yeah.”

We proceeded to look at the remaining ones just to find they were all emails containing evidence of a sexual relationship between Tilly and Craig.

“Do we dare open the audio file?” I asked her.

“I’m sure it’s more of the same and do we really want to hear what we just read?”

“No but what if it’s something different. This is motive that either Craig or Tilly or both could have murdered Veronica. Maybe they wanted her out of the way so they could continue to do whatever it is they’re doing.”

“Didn’t you say Craig was divorcing her? Isn’t that much less risky than murder?”

“Well yeah but people murder all the time when they could just divorce. People are crazy. Open it.”

“Ok, ok but let me state for the record that I’m afraid,” Anna said.

A couple seconds went by before a voice came on and to my surprise it was Veronica’s.

“Tilly, if you’re listening to this I’m dead so listen carefully. No one is safe as long as that brooch is in the wrong hands. You must get it back. I knew helping her was going to be a huge mistake I just hope it doesn’t cost anyone else his or her life.”

“OK, now this is an official screw up. What do you think Veronica meant,” I said.

“Clearly, she was afraid of something or rather someone.”

“If she recorded a message like that for Tilly she must not have known about the fact that Tilly was sleeping with her husband,” I said.

“But when how did these emails get on the same flash drive as the audio file,” Anna questioned.

“Maybe Tilly put them on there?”

“But why save illicit emails. Because you’re right. It does kind of make them look guilty. So why bring extra attention to yourself.”

“I don’t know but I need to tell Willie about this.” I reached for the phone and Anna grabbed the flash drive and pulled it out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to take this to the back and download the contents to my laptop. Just in case Tilly comes back in ten minutes and wants the drive back. I’m thinking we should pretend we never looked at it.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Oh, hey Willie, it’s Pres. Give me a call when you get this. It’s kind of important.”

As I hunt up a customer walked in.

“Go back and copy that drive while I help this customer.”

“Ok.”