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I pulled into the parking lot of the shopping complex where the spa was located, but instead of parking in front of the spa I pulled into a space right in front of the nail salon. I didn’t want Ms. North to know I was there because realistically, I only had time to speak to the people in the salon before I needed to head back home to relieve Paula of babysitting duties.
I hopped out of my car and headed inside, and as soon as I entered I cringed at the mess that lay before me. Half of the nail salon was cordoned off for upcoming construction. There was tape on the floor marking where the future lap pool would be. There was dust and debris everywhere from the wall that was being demoed.
A group of women were gathered together in a back corner shouting and arguing with one another.
This place looks like a disaster zone.
I imagined with all of the construction business was probably suffering.
“I know, I know!” a serious looking you woman, with a square jaw, shouted at the group of employees from behind the counter. “I am doing my best, all right? Now go home those of you who are not on the schedule for today. I’ll call you all next week with your new schedules!”
The angry women dispersed, and I heard them whispering hatefully to one another about the spa next door and the construction.
Some women left while about half remained behind, but they all slumped down at different nail stations with their arms crossed not looking any more satisfied than the women who had been asked to leave.
The young woman with the square jaw, spotted me first. She smiled. “Welcome!” she sang. “How may I help you?”
I stepped forward and introduced myself. “My name is Kate. Ms. North hired me as a private investigator to help the police with the case they are working regarding the murder that took place next door.”
The entire room of women leaning closer to me.
I glanced around at them, hesitating. “Would you mind if you and I spoke privately for a moment?” I asked.
The woman nodded, and the two of us headed into a back room. “Everything all right?” she asked me.
“We’ll see,” I said. “I was hoping you could tell me more about the business merger taking place.”
“Not much to tell,” the woman said. “We’re losing business to the spa.”
“Really?” I questioned. “When I spoke to the spa owner, it sounded like the merger’s been fairly peaceful.”
“Sure,” the woman said. “I suppose so. Not like we had much of a choice, though. They were talking about adding in a small room for nails, and if they had done that it would have completely ruined us. They wanted to add in a pool too but didn’t have the room, so the owner got pressured into selling out.”
“That’s horrible,” I said, surprised that Jane hadn’t mentioned that to me. “Well, at least all the employees here are keeping their jobs, right? Or at least, that’s what I’ve been told.”
“That was part of the agreement,” she said. “But we’re having a hard time. They’re wiping out half of our salon stations to add in that silly lap pool. With half the stations available I can only have half the number of employees on at a time. So, everyone’s hours are getting cut.”
Additional shouting erupted from beyond where we stood.
The woman sighed. “I have to take care of this,” she said. “Sounds like more of the employees are fighting over schedules.” She disappeared.
I follow her, but when I came out into the main room I didn’t see her anywhere. She’d managed to slip away, and I hadn’t even gotten her name.
I snagged one of the nail stylist and asked her the name of the young woman I had been speaking to. “Sonya,” she said. “She’s the head manager – the owner’s daughter.”
“Interesting,” I said and mentally repeated the name Sonya so that I wouldn’t forget. “Is the owner in today?”
“No,” the stylist said. “She hardly ever is, honestly. Pokes her head in for five minutes once a day during the week and never stops by on the weekends.”
“Can I leave my information with you and get you to ask her to call me?” I asked.
“Sure,” the woman said, and I scribbled down my information.
Feeling like I had learned something from my adventure to the salon that day, I headed out. I knew Paula had a good bit she wanted to get done that day, so I did not bother tracking down Sonya just yet. It wasn’t like the nail salon was going anywhere.
On my drive home, I contemplated what I’d learned. Jane probably didn’t realize the hostility the women in the nail salon had regarding the merger; everyone had been able to keep their jobs, after all.
But, knocking out half of the stations and thereby cutting everyone’s hours was certainly something to hold a grudge against.
Perhaps this was my new angle!
Kelly was perfect as a human being could possibly be. No enemies – none – that I had been able to dig up. Even her future mother-in-law and her fiancé’s former fling had descent or even flattering things to say about her.
Maybe Kelly had merely been a victim of circumstance?
Maybe the whole point was to get back at Jane and her spa by disrupting her business!
Yes, I really think I might be onto something.
It was in that moment that I recalled one of my first interviews for the case. An attendant had told me how smooth the merger was going and I had written it off.
Holy cow, I had ignored my first instinct and had drifted off on this ridiculous path trying to find someone who hated America’s Sweetheart! I was suddenly feeling pretty stupid.
Finally, that new angle Galigani had been telling me to find was staring at me. Kelly had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps the true murderer had wanted to kill someone – anyone – and not specifically Kelly.
Tainting coffee, face creams tampered with, deadly saunas...
All of it could very well have been about trying to ruin the reputation of Pampered to Death.
Now, the question, was who?
A disgruntled employee of the nail salon?
The manger, Sonya, I’d spoken to earlier today had certainly seemed stressed? Was she a killer? Or the owner whom I’d yet to identify...
Oh no! I didn’t get the owner’s name!
I rolled my eyes at myself. That was stupid. I figured live and learn, though. That should be easy enough information to gather. I could look that up online or through the city records.
No big deal.
As I was mentally creating a new to do list for myself, I arrived back in my driveway. I took a breath and hit the pause button on my investigation.
I stepped out of the car and was met by Paula at the front door. She was all smiles as she handed Laurie over to me very quickly.
“Hold up, Speederman is chasing Whiskers, let me nab him before he pulls the poor things tail off.” Paula darted back into the house as I carried Laurie across the threshold of my front door.
I laughed to see Paula scoop the little man up into her arms just in time to save Whiskers from being caught in by him. I’ll admit maybe adopting a kitten with all these little ones around was probably not the best idea, but Whiskers was just too much of an adorable furry baby for me to resist. Plus, Laurie was going to get to grow up with the cat, and that was appealing to me. \
I instinctively touched my stomach.
Oh! Two babies and a kitten? What had I gotten myself into!
I quickly removed my hand before Paula could see me doing the baby bump touch minus the baby bump. I hadn’t told Jim yet, so I wasn’t about to let Paula figure it out first.
“Kitty, kitty!” Danny exclaimed as he pointed at the frightened little ball of fur darting under the couch.
“Sorry,” Paula said. “I made the mistake of letting him pet her once, and now he can’t keep his hands off her.”
“No big deal; she’s used to it,” I said. “Laurie pulls on her all the time. I’m tell her to be gentle, but she doesn’t understand.
“Probably not,” Paula said, laughing. “How did your little errand go?”
“I think I might have a new lead on the case,” I said proudly. I filled her in quickly on my new thought. “Do you know who the name of owner of the nail salon?”
“No, but I can ask Sean,” Paula said.
“Please! And let me know as soon as you have it. Otherwise, I’ll try and find it on my own.”
“Of course,” she said.
“You all want to stay for dinner?” I asked. “I have a lasagna I’m going to pop in the oven.”
“I’m going to take a rain check,” Paula said. “Going to get home to David. He’s picking up pizza.”
“Nice,” I said.
I helped Paula load her little ones up into the car before we said our goodbyes. I headed inside and popped the lasagna in the oven and played with Laurie in the floor for a bit. Jim would be home soon which was good because my house was starting to smell like Italy, and it was making me hungry.
I realized then I should probably up my calorie intake a bit; between nursing one baby and being pregnant with another, I hadn’t realized how hungry I would get!
Before Jim got home, I pulled out a pencil and paper to wrote up my to-do list for the following day.
To Do:
