Authors: Traci Andrighetti,Elizabeth Ashby
Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai: a Danger Cove Hair Salon Mystery (Danger Cove Mysteries Book 5) (17 page)
She blinked her blue-shadowed eyes. "You should be,
cug
. But don't apologize again, because it's just weird."
I laughed. "I just have one question. What's up with the Egyptian catsuit?"
"I'm Bastet, the cat goddess," she replied, touching her jeweled neck collar. "What else?"
The Bangles began to play, and a group of servants and harem girls began to "Walk Like an Egyptian" down the stairs. When they reached the dryers, they broke into the Jersey Turnpike. (Again, this was Gia's version of Egypt.)
I crossed my arms. "Where did you find these people?"
"They're Donatello's gym buddies. Luckily, they have a bodybuilding competition this weekend, so I didn't have to pay for their spray tans."
Someone tapped me on the back.
I turned to see Lucy dressed as Nefertiti, and we exchanged a long, silent embrace.
"Cass," she began, her eyes filling with tears, "how I can ever repay you?"
I smiled. "You can start by not crying. Seriously, though, you helped me by agreeing to work for me when no one else in town would. As far as I'm concerned, you saved me, and I saved you, and now we're even. So get back to your client and have some fun."
She grinned. "Whatever you say, Boss."
The front door of the salon opened, and four bodybuilders came in carrying a cot with Donna Bocca dressed as Cleopatra.
I should have been shocked, but I'd seen a lot of outrageous things since I'd started living with Gia. "Why's Donna getting the royal treatment?"
"You don't think I relied solely on my flyers to get the word out, do you?" Gia gave her signature hair-flip. "I promised her that she could be the queen of the party if she used her mighty mouth to spread the word around town."
"You know," I said, "if you put your mind to it, you could rule the world." And I was half-serious.
"I just want to rule the makeup world," she said, glancing at the clock. "Oh. I have to get my station ready for my twelve o'clock appointment with Amy. I offered her a discount on a makeover, and she thinks that just involves makeup. Little does she know that she's going to leave here with two distinct eyebrows."
"Good luck with that," I said, imagining the follicle fallout.
My message tone sounded, and I pulled out my phone. It was the results of my accounting exam. I was so excited about the success of the salon that school didn't matter at the moment. But I opened the e-mail anyway, and I almost fainted. I'd passed the class with a 72 on the exam, thanks to the curve.
I turned to find Zac to tell him my good news, but he was gone. I scanned the salon and spotted him in the lobby—with the bleached-blonde brigade! I started to stomp upstairs to my room, but then I reminded myself that this was the new, courageous Cassidi. I'd fought for my college degree, my salon, my friend, and even my life. Now I was going to have to fight for my guy too.
I took a deep breath and marched over to the four of them to tell them a thing or two.
"Cassidi," Zac began, holding up his hand as though to stop me, "I'd like to introduce you to my sisters, Grace, Helen, and Jackie."
Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. "It's such a pleasure to meet you," I said. And I meant it.
Grace squeezed my hand. "Zac talks about you all the time."
"Right?" Helen chimed in.
"Like, constantly," Jackie added.
"Thanks, you guys," he said, turning pink.
Sensing his discomfort, I decided to help him out despite the fact that he'd left me in the dark about his sisters. "Would you three excuse us for a moment? I need to talk to your brother outside."
"Of course," Grace said, and then she exchanged a knowing look with Helen and Jackie.
I pulled him by the hand onto the porch. "Why didn't you tell me they were your sisters?"
He opened his arms wide. "You never gave me the chance."
"I'm sorry about that." I put my head down. "I guess I was a little—"
"Jealous?" he interrupted as he tilted my chin up to his face.
I nodded, and he pulled me to his chest.
"Good," he breathed. His lips descended on mine, and I'm happy to report that this time he didn't blow.
When we came up for air, he looked me in the eyes. "You're a hero, Cass."
I twisted my mouth to one side. "I'm sure Duncan Pickles is having a field day with the story."
"It's not just local," Zac said. "The story went national. So now everyone knows how terrific you are."
"The only one I care about is you," I said softly.
He kissed me again, longer and deeper this time.
When he finally released me, I led him to the porch steps. I had a small item that was burning a hole in my pocket, and, well, my knees were weak. "I have something you'll be interested to see."
He shot me a sly smile. "Yes, you do."
"It's nothing like that," I exclaimed as I smacked him on the arm. I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out an old silver coin. I handed it to Zac, and his eyes grew as wide as the antique currency.
"It's a Spanish peso," he said in an incredulous tone. "Where did you get this?"
"I found it wedged in a crack at the tip of Pirate's Hook."
He turned the coin over in his hands. "It had to come from Drake's treasure. His was the only ship that would've had them in this part of the country."
"I think Bart Coffyn must've hidden it there when he was put in the gibbet." I snuggled up close to him. "Did you see the scratch marks on the back? I think it's some kind of map."
"This is incredible." He turned and stared at me. "You're incredible."
I fluffed my hair.
"This means that my dad was right," he said, clenching the coin in his fist. "The treasure is here in Danger Cove."
"I think so too." I rubbed his thigh. "Wouldn't it be amazing if you bought his company back with the money from the treasure he wanted to find?"
"It would be a dream." He stared into the distance for a moment and then shook his head. "You know, Dan bought that boat I showed him. He was impressed with the way it handled in the storm. So why don't we go to The Lobster Pot tonight to celebrate?"
"Um," I hedged, "can we please go someplace that doesn't involve the ocean? Like Gino's Pizzeria, maybe?"
"Don't tell me that you're afraid of the water now," he said, pulling me close.
I laid my head on his shoulder. "Maybe a little."
"Well, you'd better get over that," he said, nuzzling my ear, "because we have a treasure to hunt."
"Oh don't worry." I looked up at him dead serious. "If precious jewels are involved, I'll recover real quick."
Fredericksburg Peach Praline Pie
As a Fredericksburg, Texas, native, Cassidi loves her local peaches. But her favorite southern pie is amazing with any peaches, as long as they're ripe. Note: If you want to "Italian this recipe up" a bit, add a splash of Amaretto to the pie filling. You won't be sorry you did.
Ingredients
1 unbaked piecrust (9-inch) or your favorite piecrust recipe
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup light corn syrup
3 eggs
3 cups fresh peaches, chopped
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Directions
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon flour over piecrust.
Add 3 tablespoons flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, corn syrup, and eggs to a mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute.
Fold in peaches and ¼ cup melted butter. Pour the mixture into the piecrust.
Mix together the remaining flour and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.
Cut in 2 tablespoons butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in chopped pecans.
Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the pie filling.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center of pie is set. Cover crust edges with foil after 35 minutes to prevent over browning.
Creole Custa
Smugglers' Tavern bartender Hope Foster serves up some really cool drinks. For the Save the Lighthouse Committee fundraiser, she chose a chili-infused cocktail created in the spicy city of New Orleans in the mid-1800s.
Ingredients
1½ oz Demerara rum
¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
¼ oz chili flake-infused Clément Créole Shrubb orange liqueur
¼ oz turbinado sugar syrup (2 parts sugar, 1 part water)
2 dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Dandelion & Burdock Bitters
Toasted benne seeds
Turbinado sugar
Directions
Mix the turbinado sugar and toasted benne seeds. Dampen the rim of a cocktail glass with lemon juice and then coat it with the sugar and seed mixture.
Add the remaining ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and double strain the liquid into the rimmed cocktail glass.
Cleopatra's Asp
Gia concocted this coffee cocktail to keep The Clip and Sip clients caffeinated and lubricated during her Queen of the Nile promotion.
Ingredients
Turkish coffee
Grappa
Directions
Brew one pot (or one cup) of Turkish coffee. Douse liberally with grappa (at least one shot per cup). If this drink doesn't bite you in the asp, nothing will!
* * * * *
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Tree of Life and Death
A Killing in the Market (short story in the "
Killer Beach Reads
" collection)
* * * * *
Grazie
for reading Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai!
Dear Reader,
I hope you liked
Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai
. When Gemma first approached me about writing a series for the Danger Cove mysteries, I was terrified. Until then, I had only written a series based in New Orleans, i.e., the Franki Amato mysteries, so I wasn't sure whether I could create a whole new cast of characters in a fictitious town. But now that I've written
Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai
, I can't imagine life without Cassidi, Gia, Amy, Zac, The Clip and Sip, and Danger Cove. And I'm anxious to see what will happen next to all of them—the salon and the town included!
Ever since I published
Limoncello Yellow
, the first book in my Franki Amato mysteries, I've been receiving e-mail and Facebook messages from readers. It's so much fun for me to hear what you think about my characters and plots, and your comments also help me to improve my books. So I would love to hear your thoughts, good or bad. You can write to me at
[email protected]
.
If you would rather not write to me directly, then please consider writing a favorable review of
Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai
. We authors are dependent on readers like you to stay in business. So thank you in advance for taking the time to write a review.
Buona lettura (Happy reading)!
Traci Andrighetti
PS—If you're a Danger Cove or a Franki Amato fan, I'd love to have you on my street team, The
Giallo
Squad. You can find information about how to join and what you'll receive on my website:
www.traciandrighetti.com
.
* * * * *