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“NOW TALK ABOUT A LUCKY break,” Gerdie Sue said, reading an issue of Vogue magazine while sitting under the hair dryer at Bea’s Salon.
Dana was next to her. Her own dryer had stopped and she lifted up the lid of the dryer. Her head felt hot, but her hair was nicely set. She couldn’t believe she let Bea talk her into getting the new look.
“What lucky break?” Dana asked Gerdie.
“Oh, that Mr. Ned Caster fellow,” Gerdie said flipping the page of the magazine.
“Why do you say that? He just lost his store just before the grand re-opening and he was suspected of murdering the guy who rammed into the store with his car.”
“Yes, but Ned got off, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but his store...his unique irreplaceable antiques are toast.”
Gerdie stopped reading the magazine, lifted the dryer hood off her head and rolled her eyes. “Child, you ever heard of insurance?” Gerdie arched her brow.
Dana raised her brow. “Of course I have.”
“Well, he may not be able to replace his stuff since they were one of a kind, but he sure had a huge insurance on them.”
“So that means he had no reason to want to kill Chuck then.”
“Exactly. That’s why he got off.”
“Well, actually, he had a good alibi. He was with us at the café when Chuck was...well, hit by the fire poker from Ned’s Antique store.” Dana felt uncomfortable talking with Gerdie Sue in the middle of Bea’s Salon. It was quieter at that time of the day, but she still didn’t want to risk being overheard.
They still didn’t have Chuck’s real killer. For all Dana knew, he or she could be lurking around at Bea’s Salon, knowing full well that Dana had a history of getting involved with inadvertently solving puzzling crimes in the small town.
“Well, anyway, his part time cashier, Tiffany, was in quite a state last week. Isn’t that right, Bea?” Gerdie called out to Bea, who was by the manicure table setting up.
“Oh, that young chick he’s seeing. Yes, she was asking me if I was hiring,” Bea said.
“She was? But why? How would she have known that Ned’s Store would be...destroyed?” Dana narrowed her eyes with suspicion.
“Oh, no child. It had nothing to do with the accident. She was yapping on about how they were losing money everyday in the business and her last two pay checks had bounced.”
“What?” Dana said, getting up from the dryer. Her heart pounded in her throat. Her stylist was ready for her to do the finishing touches. “Her last two pay checks bounced?”
“Yup. That’s right, child. Bea here had to give her a free hair cut and you know Bea doesn’t like to do anything for free.” Gerdie grinned.
“You know I’m right here and I can hear you, right?” Bea looked up and arched her brow. Her lips smacking gum in her mouth. Her gold hoop earrings dangling on her earlobes.
“Oh, I’m just teasing, Bea.” Gerdie laughed. “But I can’t believe her debit card didn’t go through. It was nice of you to give her a freebie. I would’ve made her go to the bank or wherever she keeps a stash of cash and bring it on back to the salon. Ain’t nothing for free in this world. Not even the air we breathe. Everything is priced and taxed.”
Dana grinned. Then a serious thought slid into her mind. “Ned was really doing bad, wasn’t he? But then if he had insurance, why was he worried?” Dana said quietly.
“Maybe because those stuff were irreplaceable. You can’t get some of those things again.”
“But then it could have been his cashier who did it?” Dana said almost to herself. She couldn’t wait to get back to the Victorian. It was later in the day and she needed to speak with Katie who was home right now. Katie had been getting up a four o’clock in the morning everyday for the past few weeks covering for a staffer who was off sick. Dana had told Katie to call it an early night for the next few weeks.
Grandma Rae always instilled in them work life balance. She’d always warned the girls about working twenty-hour days and how unhealthy it was. Even if a person owned a business, didn’t mean they had to kill themselves twenty-four seven with no breaks. In fact, some times working for oneself meant no time card to punch in or out and it was easy to overwork and not eat and not realize it. Thank goodness Inga, who’d been there since the beginning when Grandma Rae opened the café, was there. She was very reliable. Also, the staff they had there were good, so Dana and Katie didn’t have to be at the Cozy Cupcakes Café twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Thank heavens for that!
Later, when Dana finished up at the salon, she couldn’t wait to get home. She pulled up on Berry Lane outside her Victorian home and closed the car door shut. She fumbled for her keys in her bag and went up to the front door. But it was open.
Her heart sped up in her chest.
She gently pushed the door open slightly.
“Hello? Katie?”
Dana observed the lock. Did someone break into their home?
“Hello?”
Just then Dana felt hands on her shoulder and spun around, shocked.
“Katie! You frightened the pudding out of me!”
“Sorry, cuz!” Katie had Truffles in her arm.
“Hey, sweetie!” Dana cooed at her little Persian kitty. Her heart melted whenever she saw her beautiful wide eyes staring back at her.
“Ooh, your hair looks hot, cuz! Love the new style,” Katie said.
“Thanks. But what’s going on?”
“Oh, Truffles here got all crazy with the neighbor’s cat and kind of skedaddled out of the house. I just ran to get her.”
“Oh, thank heavens,” Dana said, stroking Truffles fur while Truffles purred gently. The kitty’s chest was heaving. She’d obviously had quite a run. The ladies then went inside the Victorian and closed the door behind them. Katie placed Truffles down and Truffles scurried away into the living room.
“So I hope you’ve had enough rest this afternoon,” Dana said.
“I did, cuz. And thanks for encouraging me to take a break from the café.” Katie sat down on the sofa.
“You remember what Grandma Rae used to say, right?”
“Right. Grandma Rae always used to say ‘Work to live, don’t live to work!”
“Exactly. And she also used to say, ‘Never get so busy making a living that you forget to really live!’”
“So true. And speaking of work?” Katie arched her brow with a grin as she eyed her cousin. “I know you’ve got something you’re bursting to tell me, cuz.”
“How do you know that?” Dana pulled off her coat and placed her bag down on the coffee table by the cozy recliner chair in the living room, by the stone fireplace.
Just then looking at the fireplace, reminded Dana of the iron fire poker that was used to kill Chuck.
“So who do you think really killed Chuck and tried to frame Ned?” Katie curled up her feet on the sofa by the fireplace.
Dana reached into her bag and pulled out her iPad mini.
“Oh, so you’re doing some more online sleuthing, are you?”
“Yup. I think I have an idea of what might have happened. I had no idea that Ned was going broke.”
“He was?” Katie leaned forward with a mug of hot chocolate that had been on the table. Just then Dana heard the pitter patter of rain on the window panes of the house.
The sky was grey outside and she was glad that she’d made it home before the rain fall. There was nothing like curling up by the stone fireplace on a couch with a fluffy throw blanket over your legs, in a grand Victorian home. Truffles was snuggled on her little kitty basket with the quilted lining.
“Yup.” Dana tapped away on her iPad mini. Her MacBook was sitting comfortably on the table in the dining room. She didn’t feel like having it on her lap right now. “According to Gerdie Sue and Bea, Tiffany’s last two pay checks bounced.”
“No way!” Katie’s jaw fell open.
“Yes, way, cuz.”
“I hear she’s obsessed and in love with Ned and she wants to be his new wife after his divorce from his ex. Do you think she had something to do with killing Chuck? I mean she seems really fatal-attraction-kind of psycho mistress, you know?”
“Tell me about it,” Dana agreed as she keyed in some information on Google.
Then...
Dana froze.
“What is it?”
“I think you’re on to something, cuz. Tiffany has her Facebook profile picture with Ned, hugging him. In fact, she has tons of pictures with him.”
“Told you. She’s a weird one, she is. She wants to be Mrs. Ned Caster, III. An opportunist who can’t wait to inherit a grand fortune like the Antiques Store. Now, Chuck went and ruined her plans of being a rich housewife, so she bumped him off with the poker stick and tried to frame you.”
“What?”
“That’s got to be it. Remember, she was giving you the funny look? Isn’t that what you were saying? She eyed you behind your back while you were speaking with Ned. She’s probably protective of him. She went after Chuck with the poker, knowing full well that you touched it...and bingo!”
Dana didn’t seem too convinced. She sighed deeply as she searched for different terms to no avail. “You do have a point, cuz. But you know something? I don’t think she did it?”
“What? Come on. She had the motive. She loves Ned and wants to be his Mrs. and inherit the store. She had the means. She knew that the iron fire poker was heavy. You even said so in the store.”
“Yes, but so did a lot of people know that. The store wasn’t exactly empty and his current wife saw me with the stick, too.”
“That’s true. But why would she kill Chuck?”
“True. Wait a minute. Maybe because that would mean there would be nothing for her to claim for in the future. I heard she was going to appeal the judge’s decision to not give her half of the store.”
“Okay, you’ve got a point.”
“Wait a minute. Let me Tin Eye him.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve heard about this website called Tin Eye that’s based in Toronto, not too far from here actually.”
“What kind of website is that?”
“Well, it’s a reverse image search engine. They use image identification technology to show you where else a picture shows up.”
“What’s that got to do with this case?”
“Everything. We’ve been looking at possible suspects but not the victim. There’s an image from the news article of Chuck online. I’m going to find out if he had any other enemies or if he was involved in some nefarious activities.”
“Other than ramming his vehicles into stores then fleeing the scene?” Katie grinned, arching her brow.
“All right, cuz. Fine. He’s obviously no saint, but there must be more to his situation.”
Dana entered in his image and did a search.
A few articles came up. “Yup. This guy’s been around all right. Lots of nefarious activities. Drug and alcohol abuse. Bar fights. Oh, dear.”
Just then Dana saw an image from an old high school year book that had been posted on Instagram with Chuck and his close buddies.
“Oh, dear.”
“What is it, cuz? What did you find?”
“You mean whom did I find?” Dana looked up at Katie. “You were right about Tiffany.” Dana then pulled out the business card with Sammy’s name and address on it. “First, I’m going to pay this Sammy character a visit.”
“You are? Are you crazy?”
“Probably. But, I think I’ve found the killer!”