An Uplifting Murder (20 page)

He didn’t have to sound so offended, Josie thought.

“I want you to mystery-shop a movie theater, Chick Flickers, in West County. You’ve seen the ads: ‘All women, all the time.’ ”

“Sounds like a strip club,” Josie said.

“Can’t I tell you anything without getting slammed?” Harry asked. “You whined about the salad place and complained when you had to shop a lingerie store.”

“Where a customer was murdered,” Josie said.

“So? It wasn’t you,” Harry said. “Now I want to pay you to watch a movie and I get sarcasm.”

He’s right, she thought. Jobs are scarce these days. “What’s the movie?” Josie asked in a softer voice.

“Ursula Unbound,”
Harry said.

“Never heard of it,” Josie said.

“It has all the stuff chicks love: shopping, hair, guys groveling to get back in bed with them after a big fight.”

I could spend the rest of the day straightening out this lamebrain, Josie thought. Or I could take the assignment and shut up.

“What do I have to do?”

“Go to the afternoon show. Buy a ticket to
Ursula Unbound
. If anybody wants to sell you 3-D glasses, buy them and remember what happens. Order a large popcorn.”

“That’s it?” Josie said.

“Take your friend what’s-her-name, too. As long as she asks for 3-D glasses.”

“Alyce has a little boy,” Josie said. “I don’t know if her nanny is working today.”

“Chick Flickers has free babysitting.”

“I forgive you for the broccoli,” Josie said.

“Yeah, yeah, just remember to take notes and fax the results as soon as you get home.”

By noon, Alyce was parking in the movie-theater lot. Josie sat next to her in the front seat. Alyce’s toddler, Justin, was strapped in the child-safety seat in back, crowing his new word: “Boozer. Boozer! Boozer!”

“Who’s Boozer?” Josie whispered.

“Bruiser,” Alyce said. “He can’t quite get the
r
in our Chihuahua’s name. At least he doesn’t pull the poor dog’s ears so much anymore.”

Alyce looked back at her son. “Brrruiser,” she said, rolling her
r
like a Spaniard. “Your doggy’s name is Brrruiser.”

“Boozer!” Justin said.

Alyce rolled her eyes.

“Brrruiser is your friend, Justin,” Josie said.

“And we’re going to meet some more new friends.” Alyce unbuckled Justin from his safety seat and adjusted his hat. He held his mother’s hand and chugged through the plowed parking lot toward the Pepto-Bismol pink building.

A fuchsia sign proclaimed, “Free babysitting! Movies when Mom wants them! Get your quality time, ladies, and we’ll get you out in time to pick up the kids!” A pair of pink high heels danced next to the words.

“You would know they’d paint the theater pink and stick a giant pair of heels on it,” Alyce said. “As if any mother in high heels could run after kids.”

At the box office, Josie paid for two tickets.

“Can I interest you in our special 3-D glasses for one dollar each?” the cashier asked. She wore a pink uniform and a name tag that said DENISE.

“It’s a 3-D movie, right?” Josie asked.

“Definitely,” Denise said.

“We’ll take two,” Josie said.

Justin could hardly wait to get inside the playroom. “Ball! Ball!” he yelled, excited that he knew the word for the blue toys in a yellow bin.

“That’s right,” Alyce said. “And you can play with one.” She gave her contact information to Gina, the playroom employee watching four preschoolers.

Gina gave Alyce a beeper. “Just in case, but I know this little sweetie won’t be a problem.” Justin was so enraptured with his ball, he didn’t notice when his mother and Josie left.

“Our next assignment is to get a large popcorn,” Josie said.

“I like this job,” Alyce said.

There was no one behind the concession counter in the hot pink lobby. Josie and Alyce waited. “Even the ceiling is pink,” Alyce said. “I feel like I’ve been swallowed by a giant mouth.”

“Hello,” Josie called after a long wait. “Anybody here?”

A fiftyish woman emerged from a back room wearing earbuds and a pink uniform that clashed with her red Jell-O hair. Her name tag said SUE.

“Help you?” Sue asked.

“A large popcorn,” Josie said, “and two waters.” She took the water bottles out of a self-serve cooler. Sue scooped popcorn into a big pink box and handed it over with insolent indifference.

“Ya need any 3-D glasses?” Sue asked, with slightly more animation.

“Got ’em,” Josie said, and held up hers.

Josie and Alyce walked into a pink cave, put on their glasses, and watched the movie. Josie didn’t recognize the star, a cute brunette with her hair twisted in a French roll. She thought the shopping spree and ritual guy groveling were dull. She had trouble focusing in the 3-D glasses. Josie took hers off, waited for her eyes to adjust, then said, “Alyce, the movie looks the same without the stupid glasses. In fact, it looks better.”

“Then why charge a buck for these things?” Alyce asked.

“I bet it’s a scam,” Josie said.

“Sh!” said the woman sitting in front of them. She turned around and glared. She was not wearing 3-D glasses.

Josie and Alyce sat in silence for the rest of the movie. They stopped by the playroom to pick up Justin. The little boy ran to his mother and buried his head in her coat. Justin’s hair was silky with a slight curl. Josie remembered Amelia at that age and felt a pang of longing. Amelia had been such a happy baby.

“Someone’s tired,” Alyce said, gently buckling her son into his car seat. Justin was asleep almost before the car left the lot.

“So what did you think?” Josie asked.

“The popcorn tasted like salted foam and the concession service was terrible,” Alyce said. “The chick movie didn’t do much for this chick. The heroine was an airhead. I also didn’t realize that shopping was a contact sport.”

“You’ve never been to a ‘final markdown’ sale,” Josie said. “This should have been an action movie.”

“It was pretty amazing when Ursula leaped a counter to corner the last sale purse,” Alyce said.

“And she did it for her mother,” Josie said. “She was a hero.”

“I didn’t like her hair,” Alyce said. “When Ursula wore it down, she looked like Medusa. Maybe it was the 3-D.”

“I thought she looked better with long hair,” Josie said. “She certainly got more men that way. Was that the meaning of
Ursula Unbound
—she was a freer woman when she let her hair down?”

“Moviemakers can’t possibly think we’re that shallow, can they?” Alyce asked. “What was with that French roll style? In 3-D, it looked like a sausage.”

“Did I tell you that Amelia put her hair up in a French roll?” Josie asked.

“How’d she look?”

“Older. More mature. Completely different, actually. Oh, my God, that’s it! I know who the strange woman was in the doorway!” Josie said.

“What doorway?” Alyce said.

“Remember that woman who came into Desiree Lingerie the day of Frankie’s murder? The one who wanted to know if she had to take off her top? When the salesperson said yes, she disappeared. I thought someone I saw later looked like her, but I wasn’t sure. It was the hair. I know who she is and where to find her. Let me see how long she’ll be there.”

Josie opened her cell phone and called a number from the menu. “How late will your office be open today?” She listened, then said, “Six thirty. Thank you.

“Hurry!” Josie said. “I need to get home, then pick up Amelia at school before I go. You have to take Justin home for his nap.”

“You’ll have to go alone,” Alyce said. “That’s not safe.”

“Clayton is perfectly safe at that hour,” Josie said. “I don’t think the man she’s with will use his knives tonight.”

Chapter 21

Josie found a free parking spot during rush hour in downtown Clayton, a modern miracle. It was a few minutes past six o’clock. Josie had been running nonstop since she leaped to her conclusion about Frankie’s killer.

After Alyce had dropped her at home, Josie had picked up Amelia at school, faxed her mystery-shopping report to Harry, then sent her daughter upstairs to Jane. The two planned to make pecan-encrusted catfish and chocolate volcano cupcakes. Amelia would spend the evening with her grandmother, cooking, eating, and lobbying for Stuart Little.

That gave Josie enough time to confront the mystery woman and visit the St. Louis County Jail.

Fine mother I am, Josie thought, fobbing off Amelia on her grandmother so I can go to jail. At least the kid is doing something creative instead of staring at a computer screen.

Josie fought against the herd of homebound suits pushing toward their cars on the shoveled Clayton sidewalks. Her legs were sideswiped by sharp-cornered briefcases, but Josie barely noticed. She arrived at the office of Dr. Tino Martin at 6:06.

Even the silence in the plastic surgeon’s medical suite seemed expensive. One woman waited on a blue chair. She frowned as she read a fat document, no doubt creating more lucrative work for Dr. Tino.

Shannon, the same full-figured receptionist, was guarding the gates to Dr. Tino’s sculpting service. Today, her rich brown hair was plaited into a crown. Josie was sure this was the same mystery woman who’d appeared for a moment at Desiree Lingerie.

The frowner put down her reading and whined, “How much longer do I have to wait, Shannon? My appointment was for six o’clock.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Craig,” Shannon said. “The doctor is running a few minutes behind.” She turned to Josie. “May I help you?”

“I hope so,” Josie said. “You were at Desiree Lingerie. It was a day I won’t forget. Dr. Tino Martin’s wife, Frankie, was murdered soon after you left the shop.”

The receptionist’s head snapped back as if she’d been slapped. “What shop? Where? I never went shopping.”

Josie heard the fear in those lying words. She raised her voice loud enough to attract the frowning Mrs. Craig.

“I have three witnesses who can place you there,” Josie said. “Answer a couple of questions and I won’t tell the police.”

Now Mrs. Craig was obviously listening and the receptionist was definitely panicked. “Step out into the hall,” Shannon said, her voice barely audible. “As soon as I show in this patient, I’ll talk to you. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Josie left, followed by Mrs. Craig’s stare. In the hall, she stood between two doors. One was the patients’ entrance. The other was marked STAFF ONLY. Unless Shannon climbed down the outside of the building, Josie would get her.

True to her promise, the receptionist came out two minutes later. Her braided crown had slipped and she seemed ready to burst into tears. “Please,” she said. “What do you want?”

“Answers,” Josie said. “You’re having an affair with Dr. Tino.”

“Uh...” Shannon was hyperventilating. She towered over Josie, but was so frightened she couldn’t speak.

“I know you’re having an affair,” Josie said. “Lie to me, and I’ll go to the police.”

Shannon seemed to shrink into herself. “Yes, we’re in love. We’re getting married now that Tino is free.”

“Did you help speed up your marriage by murdering his wife, Frankie?” Josie asked.