Pampered to Death: A Deadly Calm Day Spa Mystery (4 page)

After a solid night of sleep, Andrea called her boss. She wanted to know if there was any news and if he knew when he’d be re-opening the spa. She had bills to pay, and without a paycheck coming in, things would be tight. She hoped they opened sooner than later. He’d mentioned Tuesday when this first started, but she wasn’t sure if he was sticking to that day.

When Lonnie answered the phone, he was less than enthusiastic to hear from Andrea. “What is it?”

“Wow, and hello to you, too,” Andrea answered. “Do you know when the spa will be opening back up?”

Lonnie sighed dramatically. His voice was terse. “Until this mess is cleared up and solved, we won’t be open. I don’t need this over my head. It’s about to hit the papers soon, and once it does, there goes my business. I can’t have my name attached to this, my new spa is about to have its grand opening. I’ll be ruined.”

Andrea didn’t know what to say. “Okay, thanks.”  They needed to solve this, and soon. Or she’d be looking for another job. Poor Mrs. Chadwick, what did she do to deserve this? It’s not like she was one of their favorite clients, she was short with the staff, a pain at times, and way too bossy, but did she deserve to die?

It seemed as though Mrs. Chadwick had more enemies than friends, even her own daughter… Cassie was more upset about being left out of the news than of hearing her mother had died. And now, they had her tied to the bar, seen near Monica, and probably somehow got a hold of her key. At least they knew how she got inside. They’d go over and question her again, now that they knew she’d lied about not having been to town. What else was she lying about?

Andrea made plans with Jocelyn to bike over to Cassie’s. Jocelyn was trying to stay active and needed the encouragement. She hadn’t done much the last couple of days with everything going on, and Andrea knew Jocelyn’s depression would kick back in if she didn’t exercise. While Jocelyn used exercise to deal with stress, Andrea was more of an ice cream spoon-to-mouth girl. Eating soothed her nerves. She wished carrots helped as much as chocolate-chip ice cream did, but everybody had their vices.

When Jocelyn texted she was on the way over, Andrea unlocked her front door and headed to the kitchen. She was about to make breakfast and knew Jocelyn liked her granola and yogurt parfaits, so she decided to make two.

Jocelyn bounded in all bouncy and upbeat. “Hey, I was thinking-”

“Uh oh, what now?” Andrea waited for her friend to finish.

“Oh hush, you, it’s not that bad. I was just thinking that after we bike over to see Cassie, we could check in on Carmen.”

“Oh, that actually is a good idea. I’m not sure exactly how to handle that end of things, but I’m thinking once we talk to Cassie, it might clear Carmen.”

“I hope so, Andrea. I really hate the idea that Carmen could have done something like that. If it was her, it makes me realize if she snapped that it could have been any one of us that was killed.” Jocelyn shoved her hands in her pockets. “Ooh, are you making parfaits! I love those.”

“Yep, here you go. I’m not perky yet. I need time to eat and shower, then we can go.”

“I’m anxious to talk to Cassie. I can’t wait to see her face when we tell her we know she was in town,” Jocelyn said. “Do you think she’ll just flat out confess, or spin a tale? I always wonder about that when I watch documentary detective shows. Like some people just confess because of something somebody said, while and others clam up. Like the detective will say, ‘we know what you did’ and next thing you know this hulking guy is crying like crazy and confessing his sins. Others play stupid, but you know, you can see it in their face.”

Andrea laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think she’s going to give it up that easy, but I would like to hear how she tries to get out of this one.”

The girls ate breakfast, and Jocelyn sat and watched television while Andrea grabbed a shower. She called out to her, “You’re just going to get sweaty again. You should wait until after the ride.”

Andrea called back, “I’ll take one then, too.”

Once they were ready to go, the girls went to their outdoor storage lockers and got their bikes. Andrea’s was dusty from sitting unused for too long. She blew at the dust and cobwebs. She hoped her legs would keep up with her and didn’t wear down.

“This will be good for you,” Jocelyn encouraged.

Andrea groaned. That was the only response she was offering.

They headed out, riding single file on the side of the road, Jocelyn leading the way. Andrea pushed her thighs to keep moving. Oh, she’d feel this when she got off her bike later. Maybe it was time for her to take this exercise thing serious again. Flat sections of the road weren’t that bad, but when it came to hills she had to climb off and walk her bike up. When they finally arrived at the Chadwick’s estate, they parked their bikes and went to the large wooden door.

They didn’t expect Brad to be the one answering the door. Didn’t they have people who did that stuff for them? They used to. “Can I help you?” he asked, recognizing them from the country club. He was dressed in a collared golf shirt and looked as if he was about to go off and play a round.

“We’re here to see Cassie. Is she home?”

Brad told them to wait in the room to the right, a study, and went up to find her. The girls walked through the door of the study to be met with grand wooden bookshelves, pictures, and stacks of books filling the shelves.

Andrea whispered. “Do you think they read the books, or are they just for show?”

Jocelyn poked around. “I don’t know, but look at this.”

Andrea moved over to where Jocelyn stood. “Who is that?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” The picture showcased Brad standing next to a woman. She had a definite bohemian flair and wore bracelets up her arm, just like Cassie did.

When Brad returned, he told the girls that Cassie would be down shortly.

Andrea held up the picture they’d found. “Mr. Chadwick, can I ask who this is? She looks so familiar.”

“That’s my sister, Olive. She used to have this eccentric flair,” he said with a laugh. “Now, instead of being a groovy hippy as she used to call it, she’s much more business minded, but growing up will do that to you, no? She doesn’t look a thing like that anymore, thankfully, though Cassie has carried on the tradition. If you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

“Get out, that’s Olive?” Andrea whispered to Jocelyn. “That’s why she looks familiar. It’s her face, but these days her hair is styled differently, she wears glasses, and even the color of her hair has changed.”

In the photo is was a shocking and bold red color, but the last time Andrea saw her at the spa, it was a docile golden-brown with highlights, longer and straight, not crazy and wild as in the photos. She had a hard time picturing Olive as she used to be.

Cassie slid into the room, pouty that she was being bothered. “What do you want?”

“This picture, I would have never guessed that your aunt used to look like that. She’s used to be a client,” Andrea said. “And why didn’t you tell us you were in town over the weekend?”

It was the ‘aha’ gotcha moment they were hoping for, only it fell flat.

“What are you talking about?” She shook her head. “You’re seriously confused. I haven’t been to town in ages. And yeah, I adore my Aunt Olive. She was the coolest person while I was growing up. She didn’t like my mom very much though, so I guess we had that in common too. She didn’t think she was good enough for my dad.”

“I noticed the bracelets. You wear them just like in the picture,” Jocelyn said.

“Yeah, she inspired me. She’s the one that had the biggest impact on me as a kid. My mother was too busy breaking glass ceilings to care that she had a kid. She wanted a name for herself, and apparently being a Chadwick wasn’t enough.” Cassie didn’t try to hide her lack of enthusiasm when it came to her mother.

Andrea turned back to the topic of the bar. “Somebody saw you in town. I have a witness.” She studied Cassie’s face as she spoke.

“Well, your witness is mistaken. I was at the commune. There were other people with me. It’s not like I was alone. Oh, wait a minute, you don’t think…”

Jocelyn shrugged.

“That’s cold. I didn’t kill my mother. Whatever nonsense you’re trying to pin on me, you can stop it right now. There’s no way I’m getting involved in this. I had nothing to do with it, and I have an alibi and witnesses. That’s just sick. You need to leave. How dare you try to entrap me into saying something that just isn’t true,” she seethed. “Get out of my house.”

The women knew they weren’t going to get anything else out of her. They turned and left before things got ugly. Cassie slammed the door behind them. They didn’t say anything until they were off the Chadwick property. Back on their bikes, they knew what was next. They’d need to talk with Olive Mackanack. Something fishy was going on, and pieces of the puzzle were starting to shape up. While they still hadn’t wiped Carmen off of their list, Olive had a few things showing up in her column. She wore clip-on earrings, she hated Jeanie, and she might have been the one at the bar. Wouldn’t have Monica recognized her? Maybe not, she wasn’t Monica’s client, and if she didn’t look like she usually did at the spa, totally changing her look…

Out of nowhere, a car came close enough to sideswiping them that the girls were run off the road. They lost their balance and tumbled into the ravine.

“Idiot!” Jocelyn called out in anger.

Andrea’s heart raced, and her body was sore from falling. “Are you okay?”

“I’m a little banged up, but I’ll be okay. What about you?”

“I’ll figure it out when I stand up. Yikes, my ankle hurts. Hopefully if I walk it out, it will get better. Not sure if it will be easier to ride or walk my bike.” She leaned onto the frame of her bike, now down in the ravine and slowly pushed it up the small slope.

“How did they not see us? Then entire road was open, they could have moved over.” Jocelyn was peeved.

“Maybe it was intentional,” Andrea said, hating that she said it out loud. “I mean, it’s not like they made an effort to avoid us.”

“Okay, that’s creepy.” Jocelyn wrapped her arms around herself. Finally, she bent over and picked up her bike. “Do you think they meant to hit us?”

“Or scare us,” Andrea said. “If they wanted to hit us, they could have. Who do you think it was?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to stick around and see if they come back. Let’s get moving.”  Thankfully, the rest of the trip home was without incident. Jocelyn hesitated before asking, “Can I stay with you tonight? I’m kind of freaked out.”

“Sure, of course you can. Do you think we should report what happened? Maybe our imaginations are just working overtime. It was an accident, almost a hit and run. They didn’t even stop to see if we were okay. I don’t know what I think anymore.” Andrea wasn’t sure what she’d report, a careless driver or someone coming after them for digging up details?

That evening, safely home, the girls went over what they knew so far. They knew they should go to the police. Things were bigger than the girls could handle. What started out as interesting puzzle to solve, turned into something more. They didn’t catch a license plate of the car, but they did see it was an older minivan that was a dark, sort of forest green color.

The following morning, Jocelyn stretched and climbed off the sofa. She’d slept well enough, but was sore from her fall. Shock must have kept her out of pain, because today it felt like she’d been tackled by a linebacker. She squeaked as she tried to work out the kinks. She’d take a couple tablets of ibuprofen to take the edge off. After stretching a bit more, she leaned against the doorframe to Andrea’s room. “Are you awake?”

“Just barely,” Andrea grumbled. “How did you sleep?”

“Well enough. I’m going to go take a shower and get changed at my place. I’ll be back once I clean up. What time do you want to head to the police department?”

Andrea sat up in bed and yawned. “I guess the sooner the better. I’ll grab my shower, too. How about in an hour, so we have time to eat and get ready?”

“Okay,” Jocelyn answered and turned to leave. After taking two or three steps, she turned back toward her friend. “Are you sure about this?”

Andrea sighed. “I think we’re in over our heads. We should probably just let the police handle things.”

“Right,” she said. Jocelyn ran her fingers through her purple hair and added, “Unless…”

“Go on.”

“Well, what about Olive? Do you think we should talk to her?” She hesitated to ask, especially after yesterday’s close call.

Andrea climbed out of bed. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I just wanted to find an answer, but I can’t help thinking that yesterday wasn’t exactly an accident. They didn’t stop to see if we were okay or anything. I’m ready to pass this to the police. I just want things to go back to normal. I have no idea what this will do to the spa’s business as it is. We may have to find different jobs. I can’t afford for them to be closed much longer. I know Lonnie has the best place in town, but if it’s not getting any business, I won’t be able to pay my bills.”

“You’re right. Let’s just tell the police what we know and figure out how to get the spa back open.” Jocelyn nodded and turned to leave. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

Andrea trudged through her bedroom to the bathroom. As she reached into the shower to turn on the faucet, an idea popped into her head. It would only be one more thing. It couldn’t hurt, right? Andrea shook her head and tried to push the thought out of her mind. No, let the police handle it. It wasn’t until both girls were ready and Jocelyn hopped back over to Andrea’s place that they knew. “Okay, so maybe we just talk to Olive?”

“Oh good, I thought we were both on the same wave length. You always say no, but you mean…sure I’ll come along for an adventure and look for answers!” Jocelyn bounced as she spoke, excited that their sleuthing moments hadn’t ended quite yet.

“You make it sound like I solve murders on a daily basis,” she snorted with a laugh.

“No, not murders, but who found Mr. Wiggles when he got away?” Jocelyn reminded.

“A rabbit… I found a bunny rabbit. I followed his pellet droppings,” she said, “not exactly rocket science.”

“But you found him. You’ve been sleuthing since we were in school and didn’t even realize.” A smile spread across Jocelyn’s face after making her point.

“Yes, solving a class pet problem from back in my school days and looking for a killer all these years later, totally the same thing,” Andrea quipped sarcastically.

“Well, I think it’s fascinating. I mean, not that I wanted to see the lady bite the big one, but it is kind of interesting to see how it can look like one thing and be something totally different. Don’t you think?” Jocelyn’s sing-song voice filled the air with optimism. She was anxious, impatient, and raring to go.

Andrea sighed and clutched her belly, not quite sure what to expect. “Did you have a little too much caffeine this morning?”

“Not my fault that you’re not a morning person,” she sang. “Come on; let’s go to the police headquarters first, before we change our minds.”

Andrea grabbed an umbrella on the way out. “Looks like rain.”

“Oh, wait.” Jocelyn stood still.

“What is it?”

Jocelyn focused, closed her eyes, and tried to understand a message she was getting. “Cat under car…”

“What?”

“That’s what I got. Let’s check under the car before we go, just in case.” Together the women headed outside. Jocelyn squatted down to look under the car. There was no cat. That was weird. Somebody was telling her something. “Nothing here,” she said, giving the all clear.

The women got in the car. Just as Andrea was about to turn the key in the ignition, Jocelyn yelped. “Wait, don’t do it!” She hopped out of the car and instructed her friend to pop open the hood. Sure enough, a small kitten was stuck. It had climbed up from underneath, but got wedged.

Andrea went to join Jocelyn. “Oh, wow, a cat.”

They leaned forward to help the frightened animal. Pulling the kitten close to her, Jocelyn whispered to Andrea, “Can I keep her? She’s so cute.”

“We should probably see if she’s somebody else’s cat first. Let’s head to the police department, and then we can come home and make signs.”

“Okay, I’m going to put her in my bathroom with some fresh water and a blanket. We better pick up some food and a little box, just in case nobody claims her.” She shrugged, already picking out a name for her new friend.

When she came back from setting up the kitten in her apartment, Jocelyn’s face was flushed. “We need to go to the police, now.”

“Why? What happened?” Andrea was stumped. What could have happened in that short of time?

“The cat said that somebody was prowling around, trying to look inside the windows. She got scared when a mean person went by. She’d startled them, not meaning to, so the stranger stomped hard on the ground toward her, aggressively as to threaten her. That’s why the kitten scrambled and ran, which is how she got stuck in the car.”

“You got
that
from
a cat
?” Andrea worded the next part carefully. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this out loud, but did the cat tell you if it was a man or a woman?”

“No,” she sighed. “But, we might be in more danger than we thought. And you totally know I can talk to domesticated animals if they’re open to it. Not all of them talk to me. Why do you act surprised?”

“You really are a physicist, that’s amazing.” She looked at her friend, as if seeing her for the first time.

Jocelyn laughed. “I’m an animal
psychic
, not physicist.”

“Right, I get all those words confused. Why do you think you can talk to animals?” She’d seen her do it before, but it always threw her for a loop. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if it was just Jocelyn thinking she was getting information, but sometimes she was spot on.

“I have no idea. Not a clue. Believe me, I wish I knew! The gift has been with me since I was younger.”

The girls got in the car and headed off toward the police station. Andrea couldn’t help glancing at her rear view mirror a dozen times, feel a bit edgy after the last bit of information they got –
from a cat
. She shook her head, realizing how crazy that sounded. If she hadn’t known Jocelyn for a long time, she’d be more of a skeptic, but the girl had some unique gifts.

After she parked the car, Andrea spoke delicately. “I wouldn’t mention that cat. You know, the cat telling you stuff. They might not take us seriously.”

Jocelyn looked at Andrea. “You believe me, right? I’m not crazy. I get that I can’t tell everyone, but it’s frustrating to get information and not be able to use it.”

“Right, but it’s from
a cat
.” Andrea winced.

Jocelyn sighed. “Okay, I know. Let’s go tell them about yesterday and getting run off the road.”

**

When the girls went inside to report what had happened, they were shuttled into a small office to talk to one of the staff. A portly police officer plopped down into the chair behind the desk. “I was just looking through this file. We’ve got our detectives on it, but we’re sort of at a standstill. We have a lead suspect, but until we tie things together, we can’t make the arrest.”

“You have a suspect? We’re here about the case, but something happened yesterday that we wanted to add. Maybe it will clarify some things.” Andrea started, clearing her throat, wanting to sound business-like after all that earlier talk about the cat.

“It looks like your co-worker Carmen is our lead suspect. They’re bringing her in to question again, but it’s not looking good. From what we’ve got here, she had access, a possible motive, and the means to carry the plan out. Sure, she’s got an alibi, but it’s been hard for her to prove. All we need is one solid piece of evidence to link her there. I’d stay away from that one if I were you,” he warned, as if they were in on some sort of secret. “Keep your nose clean, and keep your distance.”

“Carmen? No, it can’t be her. I mean, she’s not the type…” Jocelyn started. But how well did she really know Carmen? She shook her head. “We were run off the road yesterday after we went snooping. I think we’re onto something. The Chadwick’s have something to hide. We were over talking to the victim’s daughter. We went to school with her back in the day, anyway, she said something…and Monica’s key, and there are details you don’t have.”

The officer sat up straighter. “I sure would like to catch a break. Tell me what you know. I’m tired of people overlooking me for promotions,” he muttered.

“Okay, so there was a van, it was a van right?” Jocelyn turned to Andrea, who was flicking off the edge of her nail polish.

“A dark, green mini-van, but we didn’t see the tags,” Andrea finished. “Anyway, one of our co-workers, her key went missing. We think someone might have lifted it out of her purse. Monica was at a local bar and this woman was watching her, acting weird. She can’t be certain, she didn’t see someone touch her purse, but the next day it was gone. We went back to the bar, talked to some people, and they described somebody who looked like Cassie, but not quite. Something was off. Anyway, so we went to go see Cassie to talk to her, and we saw a picture on a bookshelf of her father with her aunt from when they were younger. She looks a lot like Cassie does, but now older and with different hair. We think she might have something to do with it.”

“Good information, is there anything else?” The officer jotted down notes, adding them to the file.

“No, but that’s why we’re here. We’re looking to see what else you may have learned.” They knew they were walking on eggshells asking for information.

“I’m going to say this as gently as I can, ladies. You’re tampering with a working case. I’d step back, stop nosing around, and let us handle the rest. I think we’ll have somebody in custody soon enough. Let the police handle this.” He spoke down at them, as if they were small children.

Jocelyn grumbled under her breath. She thought better of the words that wanted to come out, but held them back.

After the officer sent them on their way, they noticed a cute cop at the front desk who wasn’t there earlier. Maybe he was covering shifts for somebody, but he looked nothing like the gray-haired woman with a pinched nose that had been there just a few moments ago. “Let’s go talk to him,” Andrea whispered.

“Got it,” Jocelyn said, taking the lead. “Hi officer, that nice police officer that we just spoke to told us to ask you to look up the information we need. He wanted to finish typing up his notes on a case.”

The cop looked at her, suspicious. “He told you-”

Andrea added in, hoping to pour on another scoop of credibility. “He said something about details and having to call a detective about a new lead. He wanted to get right on it, so they didn’t arrest the wrong person. He said you could help us.”

The girls flirted, leaned in, smiling, and happened to mention how well the young officer filled out his uniform. After a little extra sweet talk, he did a quick search, ‘just give him a second’, ‘oh, here it is’, and the girls were on their way with Olive’s address in their hand.