Shoots to Kill (20 page)

I switched screens and saw her message:
Knttng mat’l arrvng Fri. Din@ hm.

I switched back to Jordan. “Looks like we’re having dinner at Mom’s house this week instead of the country club.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. Her message just said that her knitting material was arriving. Go figure.”

“What did she order, a boatload of sheep?”

“Yeah, right.”

“I think we should be scared, Abby.”

“Come on, Jordan. She took up knitting. What’s there to be scared about?” Wait. Had I actually asked that question?

When I returned with a sandwich from the deli, Lottie was taking an order from a customer in the shop, and Grace was serving coffee and scones to two groups of chattering ladies. I greeted the customers, poured myself a cup of coffee, and went to the workroom to eat. On my desk was a note in Grace’s beautiful script.
There is but one costume shop and it’s in the next county. I spoke with a gent there who will look into the purchases of red wigs and get back to me. Yours, Grace.

In the middle of eating my sandwich, my cell phone rang, so I dug it out of my purse and saw Jordan’s name on the screen. “Hey, Sis,” he said. “I found a surgeon who’s agreed to take a look at Kayla. When he finishes his rounds at the hospital later today, he’ll head across the street and have a look.”

“Cool! You’re a godsend, Jordan. Thank you so much!”

“You bet. I’ll see you at Mom’s on Friday. Say your prayers.”

I hung up smiling. Now, hopefully, I could get some answers from Kayla, and also get her the help she needed. With the clock ticking on the case, I’d have to pay her another visit this evening before visiting hours were over. I’d been looking forward to some downtime for myself, but that would have to wait until after I’d questioned her. Then I could go home, run that bubble bath and—oh, wait. I still had Oliver’s case to work on.

I turned to glance at the older of our big walk-in coolers, which was even now groaning and thunking as though it were on its last leg. “I hope you appreciate what I’m doing for you.”

“Whom are you talking to?” Lottie asked, coming through the curtain.

“The cooler.”

Lottie rolled her eyes. “Sorry I asked.”

Fifteen minutes before closing time, I got a phone call from Dave Hammond to cancel our meeting. “I have to see a client at the jail,” Dave said. “He was just picked up on a warrant. And afterward I promised my wife I’d take her out to dinner for her birthday.”

I was disappointed, mainly because I wouldn’t get to see Marco. “Tell her ‘Happy birthday’ from me. Any news from the prosecutor’s office?”

“They finished processing Libby’s yellow Corvette, but didn’t turn up anything incriminating. Libby’s prints were all over the car, but that’s to be expected. They found strands of Delphi’s hair in the trunk and on the utility blanket, but they didn’t find anything that pointed to any other suspect. How about you?”

“I talked to Libby’s former college roommate today and found out that there’s a restraining order out against Libby.”

“For what?”

“Apparently she had her sights set on a professor’s husband and stalked the guy until he was forced to file the order to get her to leave him alone.”

“Well, that’s discouraging news. Okay. I’ll make it a point to talk to her about it. I hope the prosecutor doesn’t find out.”

“I think he will, Dave. Detective Wells spoke with the roommate, too.”

“Damn.”

“On the good-news front, I’m going to see Kayla Olin this evening. She promised to answer questions for me.”

“Good work, Abby. I’ve got to get over to the jail now, so let’s plan to meet tomorrow at five. I’ll phone Marco to let him know.”

At seven thirty, a staff member at Starke-Porter accompanied me to Kayla’s room, per their rules. “Kayla’s not with a doctor, is she?” I asked.

The woman peeked inside, then shook her head. Kayla was lounging against a pillow in her bed, watching TV.

“Hi, Kayla,” I called from the doorway.

“Abby, come in,” she said eagerly, waving me in as she sat up. She had a big smile on her face, revealing beautiful teeth behind her misshapen lips. “Guess what? The plastic surgeon thinks he can repair my face! Isn’t that awesome? He’s a reconstructive specialist—he fixes people who’ve been in bad accidents. And my doctor came by afterward and said I can go home tomorrow if I want to. Oh, Abby, I can’t believe this is happening.”

Thank you, Jordan.
“That’s great, Kayla. Have you told your mom?”

“Yes, they let me call her right after the doctor left. Mom was so happy she cried. If the surgery works, I can go back to school and get my degree so I can earn decent money and help out with all the bills. It’s been really hard on us since my dad died. I can’t thank you enough.”

I smiled at her, wanting to rejoice in her good fortune, but a little voice inside urged caution. If the evidence came back strongly pointing to Kayla, there was a good chance that she wouldn’t see any of her dreams come true. Maybe I’d been unfair to dangle hope in front of her when it might be snatched away.

Then again, I could turn around and walk out without asking her anything. Don’t ask, don’t tell, or, as Grace always said, ignorance was bliss. I’d simply report back that after questioning Kayla, I’d crossed her off the suspect list—and pray like hell that she was innocent.

Yep, that sounded like a good plan. “Listen, Kayla—”

“I know. You have questions for me.” She took a deep breath. “Go ahead. I’m ready.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Why don’t I come back another time?” I told Kayla. Like in a dozen years or so.

“Please stay. I’ll answer whatever you’d like. I owe you that much, at least.”

I searched her damaged face and hopeful eyes. I’d always heeded my gut feelings before, with good success, and right now they were telling me that Kayla didn’t kill Delphi. So I decided to go for it. I pulled my notebook and a pen from my purse and readied them.

“I need to ask you about your relationship with Delphi. I know it’s a painful subject, but I want to make sure you don’t become the top suspect on the detective’s list.”

Kayla’s eyes widened in alarm. “I didn’t kill Delphi.”

“But you have to understand that in the detective’s eye you had a motive and an opportunity. You did check yourself out of here the day before she died.”

Kayla groaned, dropping her head back against the pillow. “I wanted to go home. I missed my mom. And listening to the sounds that go on here all night was making me feel worse.”

“I totally understand. Why don’t we go over your background information? How old were you when you signed up with Delphi’s agency?”

“Sixteen. I did catalog modeling for about two years. Then Delphi began to hint that I could really go places if I had facial work done. My parents refused to let me go under the knife, so Delphi stopped getting me modeling assignments. She told me no one wanted me, that my face wasn’t good enough. I kept pleading with my mom to let me have the surgery—after all, Delphi was providing it for a very reasonable cost by a surgeon she knew—until finally Mom convinced Dad to let me go ahead with it.”

Kayla’s eyes welled up. “It was horrible. I was in so much pain. I knew before the bandages were removed that something had gone terribly wrong. And Delphi never once came to see me and wouldn’t even return my phone calls, as though the doctor had warned her that he’d botched it. Then my dad died suddenly—he was only forty-two—and I know it was because of what I was going through. And I couldn’t have corrective surgery because I had to use the money I got in the doctor’s settlement to help my mom keep our house and pay off my dad’s medical and funeral expenses, because his insurance company denied most of our claims.”

Kayla wiped tears from her face and said bitterly, “Delphi Blume was poisonous. She micromanaged every one of her clients’ lives and ruined mine in the process. I hope she’s rotting in hell for what she did to me and my family.”

“I understand why you went into a depression, Kayla. No one should have to go through what you did. But feeling as you do about Delphi, why did you go to the funeral home last night?”

Kayla reached for a tissue to blow her nose, then gazed at me through bleak, red-rimmed eyes. “I shouldn’t have gone. I’m really sorry now. It wasn’t fair to her family.”

“But why did you go? Did you intend to hurt Delphi’s daughter?”

Kayla glanced at me in horror. “No! Why would I do that?”

“Why did you have the scalpel?”

“I took it when I left here because I was planning to kill myself, but then I went to the restaurant where my mom works as night manager and stood outside, watching her through the window. She looked so tired and sad that I just couldn’t put more sadness in her life. I went home and hid in the backyard that night. She found me there when she got off her late shift, and I begged her not to send me back to the hospital. She wasn’t happy about it—I think she was afraid I’d try something while she was working—but she let me stay.”

“Was that Sunday night?”

Kayla paused to think back. “Yes.”

“What time did your mother find you in the backyard?”

“It was sometime after one o’clock in the morning.”

“Can she verify that you were at home at five thirty a.m. on Monday morning?”

Kayla nodded vigorously. “Mom made me sleep in her room so she could watch me, and she doesn’t leave for her day job until nine thirty.”

“Good. That establishes your alibi. What happened next?”

“For the next two days I rested and read paperbacks. Mom wouldn’t let me watch the news or read the newspaper because she said they were too disturbing. Then on Wednesday, while she was at work, Mom’s cousin called to tell us she was thinking about going to Delphi’s viewing that evening to see the famous former model in person, and I just flipped out.”

“So you showed up at the funeral home intending to do what? Kill yourself in public?”

“I’m ashamed to admit it, Abby, but I wanted to disfigure Delphi so she’d see what it felt like to have people stare at you like you’re a freak show. I know it sounds crazy—it
was.
Then I heard her daughter cry out and suddenly I realized how insane it was to even think that Delphi would know if I did anything to her, not to mention how it would upset her family.”

“Did you have any contact with Delphi after her bankruptcy filing? Is there anyone who might have seen you talking to her?”

“I haven’t had any contact with her since the civil trial.”

“Do you know Delphi’s daughter?”

“Elizabeth? Yes, I know her, but we weren’t friends. I always thought she was a little jealous of me, to tell you the truth.”

“Why?”

“When I first signed with the modeling agency, Delphi made a big fuss over me, and I don’t think Elizabeth liked it. She never said anything to me directly, but sometimes she’d be at the agency when I stopped by to pick up a check and she was never friendly. One time . . . well, never mind.”

“No, finish, please.”

Kayla blushed. “It’s really petty, but I think Elizabeth tried to sabotage my work. One time I was supposed to do a shoot at the dunes early in the morning. Then I got a message that the time had changed. When I got there, the photographers had packed up and gone home, thinking I wasn’t coming. Delphi was furious with me, and swore she never left that message. And once there was a mysterious electrical fire in the old jail building where I was supposed to do a shoot, where, just by coincidence, Elizabeth happened to be. I told Delphi about my suspicions, and suddenly Elizabeth stopped showing up. Not long after that, Delphi started pushing me to have surgery, so I really didn’t see much of Elizabeth after that.”

“Do you think Delphi pushed you into surgery because you complained about Elizabeth?”

Kayla shrugged. “I doubt it, but with Delphi, who knows? At the time I thought I just wasn’t attractive enough.”

“Do you hold any grudges against Elizabeth?”

“She’s certainly not one of my favorite people, but a grudge? No. I think she was jealous of me because I had her mom’s attention. Honestly, after what I went through, she ought to be glad she didn’t have Delphi’s attention.”

“Do you know where Elizabeth is currently living?”

“No. Should I?”

“I wouldn’t think so. Do you own a red wig?”

Kayla gave me a puzzled look. “No.”

“Great. Okay, one more question. How do you feel about snakes?”

“
Ew.
They terrify me. I can’t even look at one without breaking out into a cold sweat.”

“That’s it,” I said, putting away my notebook. “You did a great job. Will you call me after your surgery and let me know how you’re doing?”

She brightened. “Sure.”

I held out my hand and she shook it. “Thanks for answering my questions, Kayla. I hope everything works out for you and your mom now.”

“You’ll never know how much this means to me, Abby.”

A nurse peered into the room. “I’m sorry, but visiting hours are over.”

“Good timing,” I said. “I was just leaving.”

As I walked through the facility’s spacious lobby, Marco got up from a chair and came toward me. As always, my heart beat faster at the sight of him. Would that ever stop?

“Did you see Kayla?” he asked.

“Just left there, as a matter of fact.”

“Did she talk to you?”

“Yep.” For some reason I didn’t feel like being forthcoming.

“What did she have to say?”

“What did you want to know?”

Marco gazed deep into my eyes, making me blush uncomfortably. He knew I was playing coy. He pointed to a quiet corner, where steel-framed orange vinyl chairs were grouped for conversation. “Want to sit?”

I checked the time on my watch. “I have to be somewhere in a little bit, but okay, I have a few minutes.” Actually, I had all evening, since I wasn’t planning to rendezvous at Oliver’s apartment until close to midnight, but I didn’t want Marco to know that. Better to let him think I had places to go, people to see, maybe even a hot date.