An Uplifting Murder (5 page)

“Rosa was right,” Josie said. “That new bra does bring out the curves in your figure.”

“Nobody will mistake me for Jennifer Aniston,” Alyce said. “But I do have a waist now. I want to show it off with a new belt.”

“Deep Designer Discounts is straight ahead through the forest of ficus trees,” Josie said. “Shall we go in and get one? This is my kind of store. Deeply discounted designer clothes and accessories, as well as good knockoffs.”

DDD’s accessories, displayed at its mall entrance, were an attractive lure for shoppers. Alyce pulled a beige leather belt off a sale table and fastened it around her waist. “What do you think?”

“I like how it sets off your blue sweater,” Josie said.

“I mean, how does it look on me, Madame Chunk?” Alyce asked.

Josie winced. “Don’t beat yourself up like that,” she said. “The belt looks good on you. If it didn’t, I’d say so. Friends don’t let friends buy ugly.”

“I can’t believe you ran into your old high school gym teacher and Frankie the mean girl, both in the same day. How weird is that?”

“Not very,” Josie said. “Not in St. Louis. This is a big small town. Everyone stays in their own neighborhoods. I only go to Plaza Venetia when I’m mystery-shopping. I can’t afford to buy here on a regular basis.”

“Plaza Venetia advertises itself as ‘where the best people shop the best stores,’ ” Alyce said.

“They mean the richest,” Josie said. “It would make sense that an expensive lingerie store would be located here. Mrs. Hayes—I mean Laura Ferguson—was the best of the best when I was in school. She was good at dealing with difficult situations. She’d be a natural fit for an upscale-store manager. As for Frankie...”

“I’d hardly call her one of the best people,” Alyce said.

“Definitely not,” Josie said.“But she’s decorated with designer logos like a Christmas tree covered with ornaments.”

“And she looks just as flashy,” Alyce said.

“Meow!” Josie said.

“I hope Rosa the bra fitter will get a good mention in your report,” Alyce said.

“Absolutely,” Josie said. “The whole store will get top marks. The sales staff stayed courteous, despite Frankie’s vicious attacks.”

“What’s with her?” Alyce asked. “I felt like I walked into a play without having the script.”

“I was trapped in a time warp in high school,” Josie said. “What the hell was wrong with me? I don’t care what Frankie thinks.”

“You shouldn’t stand there and meekly take her insults,” Alyce said. “Frankie attacked you for no reason. She insulted me and Cody, too.”

“I guess she was insulting Cody,” Josie said. “Her voice sounded like she was taunting him, but the words weren’t that mean. Why would she call Cody a hero? Was that some kind of subtle insult?”

“No, Cody is a real hero with the medals to prove it,” Alyce said. “Didn’t you recognize Cody John Wayne? He’s the carjacker hero.”

“Never heard of him,” Josie said. “Cody sure didn’t enter Desiree Lingerie like a hero.”

“That’s a guy thing,” Alyce said. “Lingerie scares married men. If I rinse out my stockings and hang them in the shower, my husband, Jake, acts like I’ve let loose live snakes. I have to go in and remove the offending underwear.”

“Ted actually likes live snakes,” Josie said. “I haven’t tested his reaction to stockings in the shower.”

“Does he bring his pets when he visits you?” Alyce asked.

“Only the dog,” Josie said. “Ted’s love of snakes is his one flaw, but he never brings his slithery friends around me.”

“Glad the romance with your hunky vet boyfriend is still on,” Alyce said. “Think you’ll be Mrs. Dr. Ted Scottsmeyer?”

“It’s been three months,” Josie said. “My daughter likes him. My mother likes him. Even our cat likes him.”

“You’ve found the perfect man,” Alyce said. “He’s even the perfect age. Thirty-five is just right—young enough for fun, but not too cranky and set in his ways.”

“I’m waiting for something to go wrong,” Josie said. “You never answered why Cody is a hero.”

“You must remember the story,” Alyce said. “He saved a newlywed couple. They lived in the subdivision near mine. Ten years ago, you couldn’t turn on a television without hearing about the carjacker hero.”

“Amelia was a baby then,” Josie said. “I was trying to cope with colic, three a.m. feedings, and no sleep. My daughter cried so loud, I was sure she’d be an opera singer.”

“Cody was a decorated veteran of the Gulf War,” Alyce said. “He came home and tried to find a job in construction, but didn’t have any luck. He worked in a convenience store for a while, then landed a guard job at a warehouse near Manchester Road.”

“Those ones along the railroad tracks? They need guards,” Josie said. “That area is deserted at night. You can hear the wind howling around the buildings when you wait at a stoplight. I wouldn’t want to walk around there late at night, even if I was armed.”

“Well, Cody had a gun and it was a good thing,” Alyce said. “This young couple went to a party in Rock Road Village and made a wrong turn trying to get back to the highway. The couple got lost and wound up driving past Cody’s warehouse at one in the morning.

“Two men tried to carjack them. They dragged the husband out of the car and pistol-whipped him and were trying to rape the wife. Cody heard her screams, called 911, then ran out and confronted the carjackers. They ran away after firing six shots at Cody. He took a bullet in one lung and his right leg. It’s a good thing Cody had called the police. By the time they arrived on the scene, he’d passed out.

“Television loved the story about the veteran who’d come through the Gulf War unscathed and was wounded at home. They had nightly updates on Cody’s condition and interviews with the cute couple he’d rescued. Cody needed surgery. He had to go through months of rehab. A fund was started to cover his medical bills and support his wife and little boy while he healed. The carjackers were caught and Cody limped into court to testify against them. A year later, the young woman he saved was pregnant and the couple named their baby after Cody, the man who saved the mother’s life.”

“Cody didn’t limp when we saw him,” Josie said.

“He recovered, though he’ll never be strong enough to work in construction,” Alyce said. “But his story has a happy ending. He got a medal for bravery and a check for one thousand dollars. Cody’s wife and seven-year-old son were at the ceremony. A big store hired him as their director of security for more money than he made as a guard. TV even covered his first day on the new job. The building had a banner on it that said, ‘Welcome, hero.’ Cody dropped off the radar after that.”

“Why did Frankie call Cody’s son a hero?” Josie asked.

“Haven’t a clue,” Alyce said. “A lot of what Frankie said didn’t make sense. Hey, there are the Chanel scarves Laura talked about.” She dragged Josie to a sale table.

“I’ll get one for Mom and one for me,” Josie said, pulling two black-and-white scarves out of the pile of jumbled stock.

“Even though they’re knockoffs?” Alyce said.

“They’re good knockoffs,” Josie said. “The only way you can tell they’re fakes is if you study the design details—and only Ted is getting that close.”

After they paid for their accessories, Josie said, “Let’s get some coffee.”

“Not till I find a restroom,” Alyce said. “There it is, on the left.”

They walked to the restroom near the lingerie shop. There was barely room to squeeze through the door into the utilitarian gray room. A woman in a wheelchair blocked the entrance. Her long blond hair hung over the back of her black chair. She wore a long black coat and plain black wool gloves. A Bluestone’s shopping bag was hooked on the back of her wheelchair. The blonde had the face of a fashion model, with clear skin and large blue eyes, but a bulky body.

“Hi,” the wheelchair woman said. “Sorry I’ve blocked your way, but there’s not much room for me to maneuver. My name is Kelsey. I’d been trying to get into that handicapped stall. The door is either locked or blocked from the inside.”

Kelsey backed up her wheelchair in slow, awkward movements so Josie and Alyce could enter. The handicapped stall took up most of the restroom. Josie knelt down on the gray tile floor and tried to look under the door. “I can’t see anything. I’ll crawl under the door and open it.”

“Ew, don’t do that,” Kelsey said. “It’s a bathroom floor. There’s another restroom in the mall. I’ll use that one.”

“It’s okay. I’ll open the door,” Josie said.

“No, no, it must be out of order. I’ll just go.” Kelsey tried to roll past them.

Alyce stood in front of her. “The other restroom is at the other end of the mall. You might not get there in time.”

“I’m wasting time here,” Kelsey said. “Please, let me leave.”

“Nonsense,” Josie said. “I’ll get under that door in a second. The floor doesn’t look too dirty.”

“Wait!” Alyce tore off long strips of brown paper from a towel dispenser by the row of sinks. “Put this under your chest and your hands, so you don’t touch that floor.”

“I’ll be fine,” Josie said.

“It will save you a dry cleaning bill,” Alyce said.

“Please,” Kelsey said. “Don’t go to all that trouble. I don’t mind using the other restroom.”

Alyce ignored her. She spread the paper strips on the floor. Josie lay down on them and put two more pieces under her hands, then slid under the wide metal door.

She was halfway under when Josie started screaming.

Chapter 5

“She’s dead,” Josie said. “Frankie’s dead.”

She was shaking so badly, Josie could hardly drag herself out from under the stall door.

Alyce reached down and helped her friend off the dark gray bathroom tile. The paper towels Josie had used as a quick shield were scattered across the floor.

“You’re pale as unbaked pastry,” Alyce said. “And there’s something icky on your coat.”

“If I’m lucky, it’s water.” Josie sat on the edge of a sink and tried not to look at the stall door. It seemed to grow bigger, darker, and wider as she stared at it, like the entrance to a metal mausoleum.

“I don’t understand,” Alyce said. “How can Frankie be dead? She was fine when we saw her an hour ago. Did she do an Elvis and die on the john?”

“No, worse. She . . . she’s...” Josie couldn’t say the words.

“Is there a lot of blood?” Kelsey asked. Her eyes glittered with unnatural interest. “Was she shot? Knifed?”

Josie could see Frankie clearly in her mind. Her mouth was open and her eyes were wide. She seemed to be pleading for help. Blackness started to close in around Josie, as if her mind was trying to blot out the horrific vision.

“Don’t faint.” Alyce grabbed Josie’s arm to steady her, then reached over and turned on the water in the next sink.

“I’m not some wuss.” Josie’s voice was a ragged whisper.

“I didn’t call you one. But you’ve had a shock. Run cold water over your wrists.” Alyce looked shocked, too. Her face was bleached bone white.

Josie pushed up her sleeves and dutifully held her wrists under the water. She shivered, but not from the chilly water. She took deep breaths until she was calm enough to talk.

“It’s horrible,” Josie said. “Remember when Frankie came in the store with that dress in a plastic bag? Now the bag is wrapped around her face.”

“She suffocated?” Alyce asked.

“It looks that way,” Josie said.

“Why couldn’t this woman tear a flimsy plastic bag away from her face?” Kelsey asked. She’d parked her wheelchair back in the narrow passage by the door. “Was she old or sick? Was she disabled?”