Frosted Shadow, a Toni Diamond Mystery: Toni Diamond Mysteries (4 page)

“When we slaughter our pigs we hit the carotid artery and the jugular.” She mimed slashing her own throat. “You’d be amazed how fast the animal drains. Most of it’s out in five minutes.” She nodded, looking around at them all. “That’s how I’d kill someone. Slash their throat. If you do it from behind, you could be quick and if you cut through the trachea, they’d die without making a sound.”

Toni watched the woman’s muscular arms as she gestured. “You think the killer could be a woman?”

Donna Ray looked at her and gave her a slow smile. “If I wanted you dead, Toni, you wouldn’t stand a chance.” It wasn’t a boast. “Somebody reasonably fit and determined? Sure.”

“What if the throat wasn’t slashed? What if they were stabbed in the front?”

“Ribs are your biggest issue. Get through them, hit the heart, and the deed’s done.”

The salads were removed and the wait staff began placing plates in front of everyone. “Oh, good,” Toni said to Ruth, looking down at the pale rounds of meat on her plate, “roast pork.”

As a dieting technique, Toni decided that discussing a brutal murder with a woman who butchered animals on a regular basis was extremely effective. She wasn’t the only one who pushed the meat around her plate.

Orin Shellenbach rose while they were eating and began congratulating everyone on making the commitment to themselves and their businesses and coming to the convention. Because the room was so large, they’d rigged up a projection screen behind him so he loomed over them all in close up. Toni watched the flash of white teeth in his tanned face. The man spent so much time on a tanning bed, he was starting to look radioactive. He was their usual MC since he combined the flashy good looks of a game show host with the natural charm of a snake oil salesman.

“After you finish that delicious lunch, we’ve got world-renowned expert in sales techniques, Lara Lester, to speak to us on
Five Ways to Turn No into Yes
.”

“I wish I knew five ways to turn this pork into tofu,” Ruth whispered in Toni’s ear.

“I’m just glad my daughter the vegan PETA crusader isn’t here.”

“There’s a rumor the dead woman was a new Lady Bianca rep,” Ruth continued in the same low voice.

“I’m sure she wasn’t,” Toni said and related her own part in the affair.

“Oh, my God. You mean he unzipped the … thingy and you saw her?”

“Yeah.” She pushed her plate away.

“And you’re sure she couldn’t be Lady Bianca?”

“Look around you. Who in this room is wearing cropped pants and sandals? I even went and looked at the check-in line at registration. Everyone was dressed properly.”

“How weird that she’d have one of our makeovers right before she died.”

“I know. I really wish she’d gone to the hotel salon. The police are convinced we have something to do with the death.”

When dessert arrived -- the normal signal that the keynote speaker was about to begin -- Orin took the microphone once more and asked for everyone’s attention. As Toni looked to the front of the room and the stage area she noticed the two detectives from earlier, Marciano and Henderson, standing to the side of the podium. What on earth?

“As I’m sure you all know, there was a very unfortunate incident this morning where a woman died,” Orin said. Toni almost smiled. Trust Orin, the master spin doctor, to refer to a brutal murder as an unfortunate incident.

“The police will be circulating among you with some photographs of the recently departed. I know that we will all give the police our full cooperation. If you recognize this woman or have any information at all, please give it to the police officers. The sooner we get this unpleasantness over with, the sooner we can go back to an inspiring and exciting conference, and
Five Ways to Turn No into Yes.
”

“Amen to that,” Toni said.

Of course, it was impossible to relax with cops both uniformed and plain clothes going from table to table and circulating pictures of the dead woman.

Toni took a bite of her dessert, which was some kind of cheesecake with an unfortunately bright red sauce dripping over it like…well, she just couldn’t summon the enthusiasm. She put her fork back down.

The women at her table managed to keep small talk going but it was obvious they were all on edge waiting for their turn with the photos.

It was a young guy in uniform who got to them, handing Donna Ray the photograph first. “I’d like each of you to look carefully at this picture and let me know if you’ve ever seen the lady before,” he instructed. The picture that was passed around the table was a standard 8 x 10 glossy. Cropped high enough to miss the blood stains on the woman’s shirt, while still showing as much of the blue T-shirt as possible, so if you looked quickly it could look as though the woman was sleeping. On a metal table. And she was very pale.

Some of the women looked at the picture for a long time -- the way people driving by a traffic accident stop and stare -- and a couple of the women glanced as briefly as possible and then passed the photo along with a negative shake of the head.

Nicole Freedman took a cursory glance and passed the photo on as though touching it were beneath her notice. “Too negative. Stacy, don’t spend any more time than you have to looking.”

But Stacy’s gaze was already glued to the photograph and she’d gone almost as pale as the woman in the picture. She glanced at Nicole first, nervously, then licked her lips and said in a half whisper, “I gave this woman a makeover yesterday.”

“What?”

She pushed the photograph back toward Nicole. “Remember? We did the makeover in your room. I guess I recognize her because I spent so much time on her face.”

“That can’t be the same girl.”

“It is.”

“You’re sure, ma’am?” the young officer asked her. He’d perked right up now he had some action.

She stared at the photograph another moment, flicked another glance at Nicole, and then nodded. “Yes. I’m sure.”

He signaled to Detective Marciano who must have been on the lookout for a positive ID. He strode immediately to their table. He took in all the women at a glance. His gaze rested briefly on Toni and then kept going.

“This woman here says she gave Jane Doe a makeover,” the uniformed officer said, indicating Stacy who looked confused at his words.

“Her name wasn’t Jane.”

Marciano shot a frustrated glance at the uniformed officer, then a much kinder one at Stacy. “Do you know what her name was?”

“Violet.”

“Violet?”

“Yes. I remember because I thought it was so pretty. Like a flower.”

Marciano had his notebook out. “What time did you give Violet the makeover?”

Melody glanced at Nicole. “Around four?”

Her boss nodded. “Sounds right. I can check in my book, Detective to give you the exact time.”

“You were both there?”

“That’s correct.”

Toni hadn’t had a chance to talk to Orin yet about those outdated sampler packs and now it seemed as though she wouldn’t have to. Nicole and Stacy were responsible. She could hardly believe it.

“Okay. Do you mind if we go back to wherever you gave that makeover? I’d like to take you back through the whole process and sometimes it’s easier to remember details if you return to the scene.”

“Is that okay, Nicole? It’s your room and all.”

Nicole jerked to her feet. “Yes, of course. But for heaven’s sake let’s get going and get this over with.”

“Fine by me,” said Marciano.

“Is it okay if I tag along?” Toni asked Stacy knowing she was only slightly less intimidated by Toni than she was by Nicole.

“Well, I guess. I mean, it’s Nicole’s decision but I--”

“I think it helps to have familiar faces around when you go through a stressful event, don’t you?”

“Um, yeah. I guess so.”

What Toni really wanted to find out was which of them was palming off last year’s sampler packs on makeover candidates.

Nicole didn’t realize Toni had tagged along until she entered the hotel room right behind Stacy.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I think Stacy wanted the extra support.”

Nicole might have argued but by this time Marciano was in the room and he’d shut the door behind them. Throwing Toni out was only going to make Nicole look bad so she contented herself with a glare and sat down in the chair behind the room’s desk. Stacy, always one to follow the leader, took the other armchair.

That left Toni with the bed. She perched on the end, as far as she could get from where Nicole laid her head and hatched her evil plans.

Marciano pulled out his notebook and remained standing.

“You said her name was Violet?”

“Violet Hunter, Detective.”

“Violet Hunter. You’re sure?”

“Violet’s card is right here.” Nicole removed one of the customer information cards from her desktop. “We always have our makeover customers fill out a card so we can contact them later. This should give you everything you need.” Her tone held an implied parenthetical (and stop interrupting the Lady Bianca conference.) For once in her life, Toni was in full agreement with Nicole.

She handed him the card. “Here’s your victim, Detective.”

Chapter Five

A woman without makeup is like a rose without petals. —
Lady Bianca

The information card was about as useful as Luke had expected it to be. On a scale of one to ten this information was a solid zero.

He glanced up from the card, a pre-printed affair emblazoned with the Lady Bianca logo, a stylized L and B entwined together with a crown sitting atop. The card stock was the same color as the table cloths and balloons in the ballroom and most of the packaging for the Lady Bianca cosmetics. A putrid shade of pale purple.

Nicole Freedman looked down her nose at him as though she’d solved his case for him, now she had places to be and he was wasting her time. Stacy Krump was pleating her skirt with nervous fingers and gazing at him as though hoping for praise.

The only one not looking his way was Toni Diamond. Her gaze was on Nicole and she seemed troubled by something.

He spoke to Stacy.“The address she gave is in Washington State. How useful could that be if your business is in Texas?”

Nicole answered. “In fact, we’re from Oklahoma, but Stacy would contact the rep who lives closest to the customer and she would get a referral fee, a small percentage of all that customer’s future purchases. The program’s very successful.”

What wasn’t ‘very successful’ in the Lady Bianca world?

“Violet Hunter,” he read aloud. “221B Baker Street, Seattle, Washington.” He glanced up. “I’m guessing none of you ladies is a Sherlock Holmes fan?”

Stacy and Nicole Freedman shook their heads. Toni jerked her head as her attention switched from Nicole to him. She mouthed a soundless ‘O’.

“221B Baker Street is the fictitious address in London where Sherlock Holmes lived. Violet Hunter was a character.
The Copper Beeches
, I think.”

“Copper…” Stacy looked confused.

“One of the Holmes stories.”

“You mean Violet gave me a fake address?” She flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder and stared at him through sad eyes. He wondered whether she was more disappointed about being lied to or about losing her referral income.

“Yep.” He flicked the card between his fingers. “And I doubt her name’s Violet.”

“It happens,” Toni said. “Sometimes they don’t want to be contacted. Maybe, they only want the free makeover, and of course don’t like to admit that so they give us false data. But why choose Washington? It’s possible she lived there.”

“Or she figured even…she thought you people would clue in to the fact that she wasn’t from London, England, so she picked a state far away from where she truly lives.” He focused on Stacy. “Did you two talk at all during the makeover?”

“Of course. A little. Mostly I explained all the products to her and showed her how to apply them. It’s what we’re supposed to do,” she said, shooting a half-scared glance at the dark-haired woman at her side.

“What time did you finish the makeover?”

“It takes about an hour. So around five.”

“Why did she want one?”

The women all looked at each other as if to say, only a man would ask why a woman might want a make over.

“She had a date last night.”

“A date? You’re sure?”

“That’s what she said.”

“She definitely said ‘date’ -- not ‘appointment’ or ‘meeting’?”

Stacy closed her eyes for a moment and he waited. She opened her eyes. “I’m pretty sure it was a date. We talked about earrings.”

“Earrings. Great. Did she mention the name of this guy she was dating?”

“She didn’t say, sorry.”

“What time they were getting together?”

Stacy shook her head.

“Was she staying at the hotel?”

“I didn’t ask. She didn’t have a suitcase or anything with her. But she was standing in the lobby when I went up to her, so maybe.”

“Did she happen to mention where she was going on this date? Anything at all?”

She bit her lip, thinking hard, but shook her head again.

“How did you meet this woman? You said she was in the lobby?”

“Right. I walked up to her and complimented her on her pretty blue eyes. It’s what we’re supposed to do. Compliment women on their features and start up a conversation. It’s called ‘friendly fishing.’”

He wished quite suddenly that he had a female partner who could help him out here. Henderson would be as lost as he was. “Friendly fishing?”

“That’s right. If you admire a woman’s hairstyle, then why not go right up to her and say so? It’s a great way to get into a conversation, plus you’ve made someone feel better about themselves.” She beamed. “Then we offer the makeover.”

“Anything at all you can remember about her would be helpful.”

“Well, there was one thing.”

He raised his notebook. “What?”

“Her skin was very dry. It sucked up the moisturizer like there was no tomorrow.”

Well, that should wrap things up. “Mind if I take the card with me?”

“Of course not.”

Toni looked up at him from her perch on the bed. “We know one other thing about that woman.”