Drop Dead Beauty (21 page)

On her way to Jonelle’s she stopped at a convenience store and got a bottled water and a chocolate bar to eat on the way. She parked a block away because parking the Scene-2-Clean van in the lot wasn’t exactly discreet. She put her Mariner’s cap on and zipped up her dark hoodie. Then she walked to the rear entrance of Jonelle’s and settled in to wait on the steps. Rudie had gone for an hour-long complete-body therapeutic massage. Sadie hoped he didn’t fall asleep like she had and forget his mission. She glanced at her watch—twenty more minutes to go.

Zack texted that he had something important to talk to her about and he wanted to know if she was free for dinner. Did a guy break your heart and tell you that you’re a screwup over a good meal? Did he tell you he never wanted to see you again before or after dessert? Sadly, Sadie wasn’t proficient in the world of dating and didn’t know the answer. Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst, she replied:
Okay
.

She had just hit send when a dark Dodge Ram pulled up to the steps, blocking her escape. Spa owner and esthetician Zenia rolled down the driver’s window and pointed a gun at Sadie.

“Get in the truck.”

Sadie gulped. “N-no.”

“Get in or I’ll shoot you where you stand and then go inside and shoot your little friend Rudie too.”

Reluctantly Sadie walked around the side of the truck and climbed inside. She knew all the safety rules that said never let an assailant take you to a second location, but the safety rules didn’t apply when you didn’t want your little voodoo Wiccan friend to get blown up too.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Give me your phone, then get down on the floor and shut up!” Zenia hissed.

Sadie did as she was told. Zenia drove in a reasonable and subdued fashion so as not to attract any attention but at a quick enough pace that Sadie knew she’d be killed if she chose to make a jump from the moving truck. It felt like they were driving forever. Sadie kept going through her mind how she would overpower Zenia and save herself and her baby. Unfortunately, the only thing that had overpowered her was fear. For once in her life Sadie was out of ideas.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she whispered, patting her stomach with hands covered in a cold sweat.

“Oh, be quiet,” Zenia said. “If you think I’m going to go easy on you because you’re knocked up, think again. All I wanted was for Emilio to love me and only me. Is that too much to ask? Then I find out he’s screwing half the clientele and pocketing thousands without even cutting me in.” She looked at Sadie. “Do you believe that man?”

“I’m really the wrong person to talk to about boyfriend stuff,” Sadie grumbled.

“Yeah, well, I would’ve forgiven him for screwing clients. After all, he’d drastically improved my bottom line. I figured, hey, he’s just trying to make a living, and since things were going great between us, I let it go. Then—bam! He’s not only screwing Jane but claims he’s in love with her! He tells me he only wants her and nobody else.” She snapped her fingers. “Do you believe that guy? So I followed him to Jane’s place after work one night. She’d given him a key because they were in lo-o-ove. Oh, I pretended there were no hard feelings when Emilio told me. After all, I still needed all the ladies booked as his regulars.” Zenia threw back her head and laughed harshly. “I even congratulated Emilio and told him the next time Jane came in for a massage, it was on the house.” She growled. “Stupid men! He was all over the moon about Jane. Told me all about how the poor woman had a good-for-nothing boyfriend and a cop ex-husband who hung around with a trauma cleaner who talked to dead people.” She looked pointedly at Sadie. “I thought it was a load of bullshit.”

“Oh, ha ha. Yeah, sounds ridiculous.” Sadie’s heart was pounding viciously in her chest.

“I thought it was all just some kind of crazy ploy, but the minute I saw you in that company van the first time, I knew you were trouble. Even if your psychic stuff is all crap, I didn’t want you drawing attention to the spa. But you just wouldn’t leave well enough alone.” An angry vein stood out on the side of Zenia’s neck and her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Worst part was that Emilio was trying to convince me to welcome your talents into the spa and cleanse the area of Jane’s spirit.” She shook her head. “He loves all that woo-doo out-there crap and he would’ve outed you and asked you about Jane, but I told him if he turned Jonelle’s into a three-ring circus I’d fire him. Then I followed you around, slashed your tires, broke into your place, and even blew up your sister’s car—but you wouldn’t butt out!”

“You really didn’t have to blow up my sister’s car.”

“I was trying to send you a message! It’s not exactly easy building a pipe bomb from a recipe on the Internet. I destroyed my manicure all for nothing because you just wouldn’t stop!”

“I’ll stop now,” Sadie promised. “Seriously. You can drop me off anywhere and you’ll never see my face again.”

“Got that right,” Zenia said sinisterly. “I got it all planned out.”

She put the truck in park at their destination and looked over at her captive.

“You know it was only when Jane actually had the nerve to show up and take advantage of my offer for a free massage that I totally lost it. The nerve of her—screws my man and then screws my business!” she spat. “I keep a gun in my office at the spa. I thought of shooting her and blaming it on Emilio. Then that detective handed me the perfect cover. Emilio was so distraught he didn’t even notice when I took his keys for a while and made a copy of Jane’s key.” She held up her key ring as proof and then pointed the gun at Sadie. “We’re going inside now. My gun might be in my pocket but it’ll be pointed at your back the entire time, so if you try and make a run for it I’ll shoot you on the spot. Got it?”

Sadie nodded and climbed out of the truck. They were parked across the two driveways that ran beside each other in front of the entrance to Jane’s condo. Not good. Nobody would think to look for her here. As they walked toward the condo, all Sadie could think of was to keep Zenia talking and hopefully buy herself some much-needed time.

“I really got to pee,” Sadie said.

“I’m not falling for that,” Zenia said, shoving Sadie forward with the gun.

Sadie wished that had been a ploy, but unfortunately she really did need to use the bathroom. Zenia used a key to open the front door of Jane’s condo and then pushed Sadie inside.

“So how did you get Jane’s ex’s gun?” she asked. “Dean Petrovich is a pretty tough guy. It couldn’t’ve been easy to relieve him of his weapon.”

“That was a total fluke,” Zenia said, laughing to herself as she locked the door behind them. “First of all, Jane walks in and is all excited for her free massage. Then her ex walks in and blows a gasket right there because, apparently, she owed him money or something. So they start screaming at each other right in the middle of the reception area.” Zenia waved the gun in the air wildly. “It’s a spa for God’s sake! It’s supposed to be all Zen and relaxation and there they are starting World War III in my reception area!”

“Um. That was really tacky,” Sadie sputtered.

“Yes, and as much as I loved watching Jane get a tongue-lashing from her ex, Emilio insisted I throw the guy out. So I did.” She shrugged. “Then I had to go out to the parking lot and meet up with my mother. She was dropping off this truck for me to use because my car was repossessed. Business has been tight, you know. Anyway, so I’m in the parking lot getting the keys from my mom and I see that Petrovich detective guy going around to the back entrance of Jonelle’s!” She pushed Sadie deeper inside the condo and kept talking. “I guess he planned to wait for Jane and resume their fight. Then, as I’m walking across the parking lot, I see him just keel over and pass out!” Zenia beamed at Sadie. “Is that luck or what?”

Sadie felt sick at the thought that poor Detective Petrovich had toppled over there on the pavement and Zenia happened to be around only to make things worse.

“And you didn’t think to help him?”

“Do I look like the helping kind?” she demanded.

“Well, you do run a therapeutic spa,” Sadie said weakly. “Isn’t there some kind of oath to help people out or something?”

“No.” Zenia giggled heartily at that.

“Well, there should be,” Sadie mumbled.

Zenia grinned wickedly. “Yeah, well, a gal’s gotta do what she can to make a living, right? So once I saw the detective just lying there right in front of me with a holster exposed, all I could think about was how I could go in through the back door and shoot Jane with his gun while she was lying on the massage table in post-coital bliss. Everyone saw the two of them fighting, so nobody would think it was anybody except him who killed Jane.” A crazy crooked smile spread across her face. “Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.” Then she turned to Sadie and pointed a gun at her face. “At least it would’ve been easy-peasy if you hadn’t started coming around. Everyone thought the cop did it! They’d had a big fight in front of a ton of witnesses and nobody suspected a thing.” She kicked the laundry room door open. “Get in.”

Sadie shook her head no.

“This is where you were hiding before, right? You should feel right at home here.”

“Why were you in the town house before when I was here?” Sadie asked, trying to keep her talking. “I saw Emilio leave when I came, but you were here after him.”

“Emilio mumbled something about wanting to get over here and get Jane’s diary to prove the problems she was having with her ex. Of course when he told me that, he didn’t realize I was the one who’d taken care of Jane. As soon as I heard the bitch had a diary, I came looking for it in case she’d written something about me. Now get in!” Zenia pushed her.

Sadie stumbled inside the tight space and Zenia shoved her face against the wall and yanked her arms behind her back. Sadie struggled against her assailant, but Zenia was either studying yoga or energized by her own craziness, while Sadie was only fueled by a chocolate bar and a powerful need not to pee her pants.

“You don’t want to do this,” Sadie said hastily. “Right now, nobody thinks you’re involved. Leave things alone and everybody will continue to believe it was Dean Petrovich who killed Jane. If you kill me, they will definitely start digging and—”

“Shut up!”

Zenia screamed and cracked Sadie on the side of the head with the gun. Sadie’s knees buckled beneath her and she saw stars. Using a thin nylon rope, Zenia roughly tied Sadie’s wrists behind her, then pushed her face-first on the floor and bound her ankles.

“Sheesh, forgot the duct tape,” Zenia murmured and began rummaging through a nearby laundry hamper. “This’ll do.”

Sadie opened her lips to scream but it only helped Zenia to stuff a dirty T-shirt inside her mouth.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and someone was shouting out front.

“Hey, lady, move your goddamn truck! I gotta get to work!”

“They have so many stupid rules about parking in this complex!” Zenia complained. She straightened, then opened the laundry room door and shouted back, “Sorry! I’ll be right there.”

“Now, you just relax and count your blessings,” Zenia whispered through the closed door. “I’m going to park the truck around the block and then I’ll come back. Don’t worry. I’ll make your death quick and painless. A shot to the temple ought to be enough to make people think the crazy trauma cleaner killed herself. Once you’re dead, I put the gun in your right hand and untie you. Easy-peasy.”

A couple seconds later Sadie heard something being pushed in front of the laundry room door to block it.

Sadie knew there was no way her friends would believe she’d commit suicide in Jane’s laundry room. There’d be an investigation, and there was a good chance Zenia would eventually be locked up for good. Unfortunately, the problem with that scenario was that Sadie would already be dead.

Once Sadie heard the front door shut, she sent up a silent prayer for super powers to give her strength and to eliminate her exploding bladder. Then she rolled onto her back and slid like a worm closer to the door of the tight space. She brought her knees up to her chest and kicked as hard as she could. The door flew open, pushing aside the small chair that Zenia had placed there. Obviously she didn’t expect that Sadie would attempt to escape.

Sadie writhed against the door frame to struggle to her feet. The rope cut into her ankles but she didn’t care. She hopped like a bunny as fast as she could toward the back patio door, planning to escape just as she’d done before. As she hopped, one of her running shoes flew off and then the rope slid off like magic! She ran freely to the back door and whirled around to unlock the latch with her hands still tied behind her and her mouth still stuffed with the gross T-shirt.

Within seconds she pushed the door open and began running as fast as she could with her hands bound behind her back. She rubbed her mouth against her shoulder, dislodging the filthy shirt, and began screaming like a maniac. Sadie was rounding a corner when she heard Zenia shout a curse from Jane’s backyard.

“Stop!” Zenia screamed, but Sadie kept on running.

She heard the whiz of a bullet as it zipped by her head and prayed and begged and swore she’d never tell another lie or miss an opportunity to help the homeless if she could make it out of the situation alive. Sadie leaped over a tricycle in a neighboring yard just as the next shot was fired, and then God—testing her promises to the max—directed a bullet directly into her right buttock. Excruciating pain brought her to her knees. She tried to drag herself over to a corner of the small yard and hide next to a sandbox, but crazy Zenia was on top of her in a split second.

Zenia stood over her, clucking her tongue and pointing the revolver down at Sadie’s head.

“The cops are on their way,” Sadie said, certain she heard sirens in the distance.

“It doesn’t matter,” Zenia said. “I’m shooting you and then myself. What’s there to live for anyway?”

“Your spa?” Sadie asked. Using her feet, she scooted her body away but Zenia followed.

“The spa is leveraged up to the rafters. Even with massages twenty-four/seven and Emilio cutting me in on some of his extras now, I wouldn’t make enough to get it out of debt for another twenty years. I’m tired,” Zenia said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “I’m just sooo damn tired.”