Read Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery Online

Authors: Elaine Viets

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Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery (39 page)

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H
elen spent her last day as a single woman sitting by the pool

with her sister, Kathy.They drank white wine, slathered each

other with suntan oil and giggled for no reason.

“I can’t believe you talked Tom into taking both kids to the beach,” Helen said, pouring her sister more wine.

“Oh, I used a little persuasion,” Kathy said. “Good thing Tommy and Allison are sound sleepers.” She giggled again.”Phil is the real saint, wanting to go along with two screaming kids.”

“He is a find,” Helen said.”I couldn’t see Rob volunteering to take his niece and nephew to the beach. I saw Tommy Junior hauling his inflatable gator out this morning. I’m glad you have a minivan. I don’t think it would fit in a sedan.”

“Tommy Junior slept with it last night,” Kathy said.”I’m afraid he’ll want to take it to school.”

“Is Sister Philomena still teaching?” Helen asked.”She might think it’s a long-lost relative.”

“Helen!” Kathy said, and collapsed into more giggles.

When she finally quit, Kathy said, “Listen, Helen, I don’t want to spoil the mood, but Mom is getting strange.”

“She’s always been strange,” Helen said.

“No, I mean seriously off the rails. She’s more religious than ever— the way old-school Catholics were fifty years ago. She picketed the church fund-raiser movie because she said it was obscene.”

“What was the movie?” Helen said.

“
Gone With the Wind.
The Legion of Decency banned it decades ago as morally objectionable.”

“I thought the Legion was disbanded in the 1980s.”

“It was,” Kathy said. “But Mom said moral standards last forever. She also stood up in church and screamed that Bethesda Miller was a sinner who should not take Communion because she was an unmar ried mother. Father Martin tried to talk to her about charity, but Mom called him a corrupt compromiser.”

“She’s married to Lawn Boy Larry,” Helen said.”This should be his problem.”

“Mom moved out of Larry’s house and went back to hers. She says sex without procreation is condemned by the pope. She wants to get some special dispensation to renounce her marriage vows and become a sister.”

“Oh, Lord,” Helen said.”Can she do that?”

“I don’t think any religious order would take Mom. Sisters are dif ferent today.They have to love people as well as God.They have to be forgiving and kind.They’re not like the horrors in
Sister Mary Ignatius
Explains It All for You
anymore. Mom would never pass the psychologi cal tests. Tom and I think we might have to put her away in a home. She’s very disruptive at church.”

“That’s awful,” Helen said.

“It’s getting worse,” Kathy said. “Mom is taking off without telling us. She’ll disappear for three days to a week.”

“Where’s she going?” Helen said.

“She takes trips out of town. Mostly senior bus tours. Last time she went to the casinos in Tunica.”

“Mom is gambling?” Helen asked.

“She won thirty-five dollars—and gave it to the church.”

“Does she have a gambling problem?” Helen asked.

“No,” Kathy said.”She just gets on a bus and disappears for a while. My big fear is she’ll go somewhere without telling us and have a heart attack or something.”

“How can I help?” Helen asked.

“You can’t. But please understand if we have to put her in an insti tution.”

“You’ll have more than my understanding,” Helen said.”I’ll pay half the bills.”

Helen hiccupped and realized she’d better quit drinking or she would have a hangover tomorrow. She nearly dropped her wineglass when she heard a high, squeaky voice shriek,”Mommy!”

“That’s my name,” Kathy said.”Don’t wear it out.”

Allison came running up in a pink ruffled swimsuit, carrying her Little Mermaid sand castle set. A tired Tommy followed, dragging his gator.

“You got some sun,” Helen said.

“We saw a real fish in the ocean,” Allison said.”Daddy said it was a snapper, but it didn’t snap at me.We saw pelicans and I built me a sand castle and—”

“Easy now,” Kathy said.”Don’t trip over your tongue.”

The kids had had a good time. Now they were tired and cranky. Kathy shooed them inside to shower and change while Uncle Phil broiled hamburgers for dinner. Allison managed to eat half a burger before she fell asleep at dinner again.Tommy Junior wolfed down two, but looked sleepy.

Tom carried the kids to bed. “They’re both asleep,” he said. “I left the blinds open so we could check on them.”

“Steaks are ready,” Phil said. He was wearing a chef ‘s apron and carrying a long-handled fork. Kathy,Tom, Helen and Phil settled in to juicy steaks, roasted potatoes, baked beans and tossed salad.

“Dinner is done to perfection,”Tom said.”Sure beats road food.”

They sipped their drinks contentedly and listened to the chirping crickets. Tom slapped at a mosquito, and Helen lit a citronella candle. Kathy caught her yawning in the candlelight.

“Time for you to go to bed,” she said.”Tomorrow is an important day.”

“Can I say good night to my niece and nephew?” Helen asked.

“I hope they’re still asleep,” Kathy said.”But you can peek at them through the blinds.”

Helen looked at the sleeping children curled up in the roll-away beds. Tommy had his arm flung around the inflatable gator. “I can’t believe how much Allison looks like you, Kathy,” Helen said.”She even has your nose.Tommy Junior looks like a little angel.”

“That’s because he’s asleep,” his father said.

“Good night,” Helen said.”And thank you both for being here.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it,” Kathy said, and hugged her sister.

“Hey, do I get a hug, too?” Phil asked.

“If you walk me home,” Helen said.

He kissed Helen at Margery’s door. “This is our last night apart,” Helen said.”Tomorrow, we’ll be together forever.”

The next morning, Helen opened the kitchen door to see her wedding day.

The sky was clear blue with a few cotton-ball clouds.The sun was warm, maybe a little too warm, but the air would be cooler at seven that evening. Helen watched Phil and her brother-in-law set the white rented folding chairs in rows. Long tables draped in white were grouped alongside the pool.

The two men were sweating in the sun, drinking beer and jok ing. Helen was pleased to see her groom getting along with Tom. Her brother-in-law had never criticized her ex-husband, but Helen knew Tom didn’t like Rob.They rarely spoke, much less joked.

Her sister, Kathy, waded in the shallow end of the pool, splashing in the water with Allison, while Tommy Junior pretended to wrestle his inflatable green gator.They waved at Helen.

Margery carried out a basket of plastic forks and knives wrapped in napkins.

“Can’t I do something?” Helen asked.

“Stay out of my way,” Margery said.

Helen studied the bruise on her forehead in Margery’s living room mirror. It was turning an ugly yellow-green. She paced and fretted and tried to read a magazine, and finally fell asleep. At three o’clock, her landlady woke her up. “It’s time for you to get ready. I’ll drive you to the salon.”

“Phil can drive me.”

“No, I need him to help set things up,” Margery said.

Helen showered, threw on her jeans and a shirt. Margery dropped her off at the salon. “I’ll come back for you at six,” her landlady said.

“Here comes the bride,” Ana Luisa said when she saw Helen.The phone rang and the curvy blond receptionist made a dive for it.

“The MTV dancers want an appointment with Miguel Angel next week,” she said.

“The salon is so busy,” Helen said.”Do you have time for me when there are paying customers waiting?”

“Let them wait,”Ana Luisa said.”They wouldn’t be here except for you.They could have made appointments earlier.”

Miguel Angel greeted Helen with a kiss and a warm hug, a great compliment from a man who didn’t like to be touched by clients.

“Wash Helen’s hair, Carlos,” he said.”I’ll be finished in a minute.”

He was blow-drying the hair of a fifty-something woman. “Well, what do you think?” he asked. He handed his client, Elaine Frances, a hand mirror so she could see the back of her hair in the salon mirror. She studied the cut, front and back.

“Perfect. Cheaper than a face-lift,” Elaine said.”And no telltale scars. You’re the only man for me.”

Miguel Angel laughed. Carlos dusted off the chair, and Helen sat down.

“I’m not the only man for you, am I?” Miguel Angel said.

“No, but you’re in the top five,” Helen said.”Thanks for giving me yesterday off. Kathy and I had a good time.”

“I’m glad,” he said. “You enjoy your sister.You should spend more time with her.”

Miguel Angel combed Helen’s wet hair away from her face and began putting on her makeup. First, he carefully covered her face with foundation.”How is the wedding going?” he asked.

“I had a fight Thursday with Phil over something stupid,” Helen said.

“Good,” he said. “You’ve got that out of the way. Now you can enjoy your wedding.”When Miguel Angel decided her face was evenly covered, he drew those startling dark lines at Helen’s jawline, nose and under her cheekbones, the way he did for Honey.Then he began shad ing shadows with a triangular sponge into her round, rather flat face.

“I’m worried,” Helen said.

“Why? You don’t think Phil will leave you at the altar? Look up.” He lined her eyelids with dark blue.

“No. But I can’t get it out of my head that something will go wrong.”

“It will,” Miguel Angel said.”Keep looking up. No, don’t blink.” He swore softly in Spanish, then used a Q-tip to remove the smeared eye liner.”Something always goes wrong at a wedding ceremony.Your best man will forget the ring.A baby will cry.The florist will forget to send a bouquet. But you’ll still get married.”

“My other marriage was a disaster,” Helen said.

“But it’s over. You’re not that woman anymore. You are older and wiser and you’ve chosen a better man. Look up.” Miguel Angel touched her eyelashes with mascara, then painted her lips raspberry red. He added a dusting of blusher.

“Now you are a blushing bride,” he said.

“You had to paint that blush on,” she said.

Miguel Angel pulled out his blow-dryer and pretended not to hear as he dried her dark hair in sections, pulling it smooth with his power ful wrists. He was finished in half an hour. She had a shining, shoulderlength mane, sleek and silky.There was no sign of the shaved patch of hair.

He dabbed under her eyes with a makeup sponge.”There,” Miguel Angel said.”You look perfect.”

Margery suddenly appeared behind him.”You do look damn good,” she said.”I can’t even see the bruise on your forehead.”

Helen could. She felt as if that area was outlined in neon.

“I’ll stop by your apartment and put on your veil just before the cer emony,” Miguel Angel said.”You’re getting married at seven, right?”

“How can you go to my wedding?” Helen asked.”Your salon is full of customers. Isn’t that an MTV dancer sitting on your couch? And that brunette is a reality TV star—what’s her name?”

“What’s-her-name is right,” Miguel Angel said. “She’ll be forgot ten in a month. None of them would be here if you hadn’t cleared my name. Last week, I was poison. Now everyone wants me.They can wait.”

Helen stood up and swayed slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Margery asked.”Have you eaten anything today?”

“Coffee and aspirin,” Helen said.

“Nourishing,” Margery said. “You’re going to eat before you col lapse on me.”

“But what about my lipstick?” Helen said.

“Here.” Miguel Angel handed Helen a small pot of lipstick. “Take this.And eat something, please.”

Margery dragged Helen to a nearby sandwich shop, where she picked at a chicken sandwich. After ten minutes, Margery said, “Have you finished torturing that chicken?”

“I can’t eat,” Helen said.

“Then let’s go.You’re getting married—for better or worse.”