Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (10 page)

The appetizers were in the oven, the
wine was uncorked, and the candles had been lit. The only things missing were
Judy and the guests. Liz went downstairs, fed Winston, and came back upstairs
just as Judy walked through the front door.

“You look great,” Liz
said. “Maybe a little pink, but Gina said I’d probably be that way for a day or
so, so I guess you will be too.”

“I’m fine with the pink,
just wish this itching would go away. I used a lot of the spa moisturizer you
provided in the cottage. Maybe that will help. Do you have any aloe vera?”

“No, I’ve been meaning to
tell Zack to plant some, but I keep forgetting. I need to do that. When we
lived in San Francisco I had some right next to the back door, and I can’t tell
you how many times I cut that plant and used it when I’d burn my hand on
something I was cooking or the kids got sunburned. If we’re still itching
tomorrow, I’ll go to the drug store in town and get some aloe vera gel. So what
did you think of Gina?” she asked, handing Judy a glass of wine.

“I thought she was very
good. My complexion looks like a newborn’s. She’s nice, but since you’re
asking, I’ll be honest with you. I thought there was something a little off
with her. It’s nothing I can put my finger on, just a sense.”

“I think I know why.” Liz
told Judy about the conversation she’d had with Gina regarding her mother and
Scott. She concluded by saying, “If that had happened to me and my mother had
called me and told me that my boyfriend and she had gotten married, I’d
probably be a little off, too.”

“I agree, and it certainly
could be the reason I felt that way. Now, what can I do to help you tonight? I
need to pay you back for the all this kind hospitality.”

“Just be your normal
charming self and entertain everyone while I put the finishing touches on the
meal. Everything’s ready to go, so it should be easy peasy.”

“No problem. That’s what
I’m best at.”

*****

Liz closed the door after the last
guest left and Judy was putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher.
“Judy, I need to let Winston out. It’s been awhile and I sure don’t want him to
have an accident on this nice wooden floor. Winston, outside.”

When she and Winston
returned, Judy said, “You mentioned the trainer who brought Winston to you also
gave you a sheet of instructions. I’m curious what else he’s trained to do
besides shake hands and act like a human being.”

“I’ve got it downstairs.
Be right back.”

Liz handed Judy the sheet
of paper that Ed had given her. Judy spent a few minutes looking at it and
said, “I can’t believe any dog can do these things. That man must have spent
hours working with him. I don’t want to try any of the things he can do since
he’s your dog, but did you notice the warning signs he wrote, things that you
should take note of if they happen?”

“No, as I told you, I
haven’t had time to read it thoroughly. Why, did you find something
interesting?”

“Well, let’s put it this
way. I’m just glad he didn’t growl at me when he met me.”

“What are you talking
about?”

“It says here that if
Winston growls when he’s introduced to someone, you should be on alert. He’s
been trained to warn you if there’s danger, particularly when it’s a social
situation rather than a situation where physical force is necessary. Like I
said, glad I wasn’t the target of a growl.” She looked over at Liz, who seemed
to be deep in thought. “What are you thinking about?”

Liz was chewing on her
lower lip, a habit Judy remembered meant she was concerned about something.
“Judy, when I introduced Gina to Winston, Gina bent down to put her hand on
Winston, and he growled. It was the first time I’d heard him growl. I was
surprised and gave him a command to be quiet. Gina pulled back, saying that
dogs generally didn’t like her. I can’t figure out what that was all about.”

“I told you I thought
something was off with her. Maybe Winston agrees with me. Keep it in mind
because this Ed guy was very clear when he wrote that you should take notice if
Winston growls in a social situation.”

“I don’t know where to go
with this, but I just remembered something else. I was lying on the table in
the room when Gina walked in. Winston immediately came over and stood next to
me. Actually I think if I’d asked him to, he would have jumped up on the table
to be close to me. It was almost as if he was protecting me, but from what?
Gina?”

“I have no idea. I’m just
telling you what it says on the instruction sheet Ed gave you. Anyway, I’ve had
a long day. I had to get up early to make sure I wouldn’t get caught in traffic
and miss my massage. I’m taking my itchy face and heading back to my cottage.
See you in the morning. Have any plans for us tomorrow or are we just going to
sit and watch the ocean all day?”

“No major plans. I’m going
to call Roger after you leave and see what he found out about the Tiffany lamp
guy. Other than that, I’m not sure what else I can do to try and find out who
killed Barbara. I suppose I could talk to the possible suspects again, but I
have a feeling I’m missing something. I’ve always had something I like to call
a niggle. It’s like an inner voice telling me something. Obviously I can’t turn
it on or off or control it, because if I could I wouldn’t have this feeling that
I’m missing something. Maybe it will come to me during a dream tonight,” she
said laughing as she opened the door for Judy. She turned to Winston, “Say good
night to Judy.”

“Woof,” he barked to Judy
as she walked out the door grinning. “Love that dog,” she said to Liz over her
shoulder. “Might just have to contact that guy about getting his brother or
sister for me.”

*****

“Hi Liz, I’m glad you called. I tried
calling you earlier, but you must not have had your cell phone on you. How is
everything?” Roger asked.

“Before we talk about
what’s going on in my life, I want to hear about your trial. What’s happening?
Did you finish selecting the jury?”

“Yes. The prosecuting
attorney will start presenting his case tomorrow. From what I’ve seen, I think
it will take several days, and then I’ll be on with my witnesses. My two week
estimate is going to be pretty close. Now tell me about your day.”

She spent the next few
minutes filling him in on her meeting with Bart, her conversation with Bertha,
her spa treatments, and Judy’s remarks about Winston. She ended by asking, “Was
Sean able to find out anything about Henry Sanchez’s whereabouts on the night
Barbara was murdered?”

“Yes, evidently our boy is
a bit of a drinker and frequents a neighborhood bar near his home. Sean found
out he was in the bar early on the evening of the murder but left about ten
saying he had to go to a meeting. No one at the bar thought much about it
because he’s such a strange bird, but without actually having him arrested and
having to provide an alibi, I don’t think there’s much more we can do with him
right now. However, I definitely still consider him a possible suspect.”

“From everything I’ve
heard about him, he does seem sort of weird. Maybe he was meeting someone about
some antique they wanted to sell him.”

“Could be. Liz, I want to
talk to you some more about what Bart said. Can you think of anyone who would
want to see the spa fail or who would want to harm you?”

“No. When Bart said that,
I was really surprised. I can’t think of anyone I would consider as an enemy,
and as for the spa, like I said earlier, I’m sure there are people who are
jealous of our success, but we’re not really in competition with any other spa.
There’s no other facility like ours for miles around, probably the closest one
would be in San Francisco. That just doesn’t make sense.”

“All right. Let’s look at
this from a different angle. Who would know how to trip the circuit breaker for
the security lights? Zack, of course, but is there anyone else? Would any of
the employees even know where the circuit breaker is located?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t
think Bertha knows much about things like that, plus she’s the most loyal
employee I have. As for the other spa employees, why would they? I’ve been told
I pay better than any of the other spa owners, and they all seem to sincerely
like working here. If something happened to the spa, they’d lose their jobs, so
it’s certainly in their best interests to keep it going.”

“I agree with everything
you’re saying, but two things concern me. First of all tripping the circuit
breaker to the security lights. Evidently that was done the night Barbara was
murdered. That’s a very odd coincidence, and I don’t believe in coincidences.
If someone didn’t want to be seen entering Barbara’s cottage, what better way
than to get rid of the security lights?”

“The only person I can
think of who would know how to do that is Zack, and we’ve already talked about
how having Barbara dead would help Dave, and we agreed that Zack wouldn’t
knowingly do anything to help him. I’m at a complete loss. What’s number two?”

“This thing with Winston.
If Winston felt that Gina was a threat to you, I have to believe she is. I know
that’s hard for you to believe, but knowing how thoroughly Ed trains his dogs,
I think you need to find out more about her. Actually, I’m going to call Ed in
the morning and tell him what happened. He might have some insight into it.
I’ve got to do a little more trial preparation for tomorrow, so I’m going to
have to sign off. Remember, I want you to keep your gun and Winston with you.
Promise?”

“Yes, I promise, although
it’s probably not too necessary tonight, because the cottages are full.”

“I’m glad to hear that,
but since nothing is making a lot of sense right now, I’m not going to rely on a
full house to keep you safe. Sleep well.”

“You too, and Roger,
thanks for all your help and concern.”

“If I haven’t said it
before, I’ll say it now. I really care about you, and I’m really concerned
about this situation. Be safe.”

It was a long, miserable night for
Liz. Sleep eluded her as the fiery heat and itching on her face became more and
more unbearable. She got up several times in the middle of the night to apply a
moisturizer. Each time she looked in the mirror, her face seemed to be redder
and getting bigger.    

Gina said I might have
some redness, but this is ridiculous. I wonder how Judy’s doing.

In the morning, she waited
until the guests had finished breakfast and then went upstairs to get some
coffee. It was still too early to go over to Judy’s cottage or to the drug
store. She got dressed and waited as the minutes slowly ticked by.

At 9:00, Bertha walked
into the kitchen where Liz was reading the morning paper for the third time.

“Liz, are you all right?
Your face is really red!”

“If it’s any consolation,
it feels as hot as it looks. I’m just waiting for the drug store to open, so I
can go into town and get some aloe vera.”

“I wish you’d said
something earlier. I have a tube of it in my desk. My hands bother me from to
time, and it really seems to help, but before I get it, I need to talk to you.”

“Of course. What is it?
You look worried.”

“I am. I just got a call
from Delores over at the spa, and we might have a problem. Gina didn’t show up
for work today, however her two roommates are at the spa, and the three of them
always ride to work together. Delores asked them where Gina was, and they said
they didn’t know, that she’d never come home last night. The problem is the spa
is almost fully booked today. I have a friend who’s a retired facialist. I just
called her and asked her if she could fill in for the day, and she said she’d
be here in a few minutes, so I can cover today’s appointments, but I’m
concerned about Gina. I thought you and I should talk to her roommates and see
if we can find out anything from them. They’ll be here in a few minutes. They
each have a little time to spare before their next appointments.”

“Thanks, Bertha. When I
had my treatment from Gina yesterday she didn’t mention anything to me about
not being able to come to work today. I don’t know what it could be.”

“I don’t either. Maybe I’m
just spooked from Barbara’s death and the mystery of the security lights not
being on, but I thought we should find out what we can. I’ll go get the aloe
vera.”

She returned a few minutes
later and handed it to Liz.

“Thanks,” she said,
slathering the aloe vera on her face. “Oh, that feels so much better. Mind if I
keep it until I can get some of my own?”

“Of course not. I don’t
need it.”

*****

The two massage therapists, Nikki and
Stephanie, walked into the kitchen looking concerned. Before either Liz or
Bertha could say a word Nikki asked, “Mrs. Lucas, what in the world has
happened to your face?”

“Nikki, I have no idea.
Gina said it would be a little pink and itchy, but this seems way beyond to
me.”

“I’ve never seen anyone’s
face look like that after a treatment.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,
but that’s not why we asked you here,” Liz said. “Bertha and I are worried
about Gina. You mentioned to Bertha that she didn’t come home last night. Is
there anything you can tell me about her? Is that unusual?”

Nikki and Stephanie
exchanged glances, and Liz could see they appeared to be reluctant to say
anything about Gina. “Please, if Gina’s in trouble, I’d like to know. Bertha
mentioned to me that she’s only been here for a week. Did either one of you
know her before? What made you decide to ask her to share your cabin?”

Stephanie took a deep
breath and began to speak. “No. We didn’t know her. When she was hired, she
said she was going to have to find a place to live, and she asked me if I knew
of anyone who needed a roommate. Nikki and I had talked about getting someone
else to share the rent, and it seemed very natural to ask her to join us, so we
did, and she moved in with us. Privately, after the first day or so, we
wondered if we’d made the right decision. She seemed a little odd. It was
nothing we could put our fingers on, but something didn’t seem to be quite
right with her.”

“Did anything happen this
week to reinforce that feeling?”

Once again they looked at
each other and then Nikki began to speak. “Yes. She’d mentioned she was
estranged from her mother. She actually said she hated her. A couple of days
ago she mentioned that one of her clients looked exactly like her mother. I remember
her laughing and saying her mother would get what was coming to her someday
soon. I didn’t know what she meant by that, but I thought it was kind of
strange.”

“I agree. I think that’s
very weird. I wonder what she did mean,” Liz said. “Gina told me her mother had
called night before last and told her that she and Gina’s old boyfriend had
gotten married. Gina seemed quite shaken by it. Were either one of you there
when she got the call?”

“We both were,” Stephanie
said. “She was pretty hysterical after the call. I remember she threw her phone
down on the floor and started crying and screaming. She kept saying how much
she hated her mother. I think I said something about how her mother couldn’t
hurt her because she lived so far away. I also told her she was the best
facialist at the spa and how happy her clients were with their treatments. We
tried to calm her down without much success. Finally she went into her bedroom
and collapsed on her bed.”

Nikki interrupted her.
“What really scared us, Mrs. Lucas, is that it was kind of like something
inside of her just snapped. It’s as if whatever we’d sensed before had come
undone. We heard her crying all night and saying over and over she wished her
mother was dead. Steph and I even talked about suggesting she get some help,
you know, like from a shrink.”

“Good grief. On one hand I
feel very sorry for her, but on the other hand I really do find this
frightening. How was she yesterday morning? I know she came to work yesterday,
because she gave me a facial.”

“She seemed much better. I
woke her up and took some toast and jam to her. She said she’d be ready to go
to work in fifteen minutes, and she was. Actually, she seemed like a totally
different person from the night before. I thought maybe she’d decided to accept
the situation and move on. Now I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” Bertha
asked.

“We always met by the
front door when the spa closed. The two of us waited for her for about twenty
minutes yesterday after the spa closed. We thought it was kind of odd that she was
late because she liked to get back to our cabin before it got dark. She’s
really into herbs and plants and she liked to go out in the forest as soon as
we got home and look for things. She usually returned when it got dark with a
big sack full of stuff. I don’t know anything about them, but she seemed to be
pretty knowledgeable. She said she sometimes used them in homemade formulas she
made for her clients. There was no sign of her, so we left and went back to our
cabin. She never came home last night.”

“Weren’t you concerned
about that?” Liz asked.

“Not really. It’s not
unusual for the employees to go into town to Eddie’s Place and have a few
beers. Once in a while there’s an attraction between one of them and one of the
guys in there, and they get together for the night.”

I’m not going to say
anything about that kind of social activity. I’ll just come off looking like
some old woman completely out of touch with current times and how the younger
generation acts these days.

Liz looked at the kitchen
clock. “You two need to get back to work pretty soon. Is there anything else
you want to tell me? Do you know where Gina’s mother lives?”

“Yes,” Nikki answered.
“One time Gina mentioned that she’d grown up in Bellingham, Washington. I think
she said her mother still lived there and now so did Scott.”

“Thank you both. If you
think of anything else, please let Bertha or me know.”

When they were gone, Liz
turned to Bertha and said, “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I’m going
to post a job opening on our web site, because I have a feeling she isn’t
coming back. I don’t know where she went or why, but even if she returned, I
wouldn’t want her back. That kind of behavior is totally unprofessional, and if
I ignored it, it would set a bad precedent for the rest of the staff.”

“I agree. As always,
thanks.”

Bertha reached down and
patted Winston. “Love this dog, Liz. He’s a keeper.” Winston responded to the
attention he was getting by sitting up and lifting up his paw, as if to say,
“Thank you for saying such nice things about me.”

“Couldn’t agree more. I’m
off to see how Judy’s doing this morning and then into town to get some aloe
vera. Winston, come.”

When Judy answered Liz’s
knock on her door and opened it, the two of them spent a moment simply staring
at each other in shock. The extreme redness and the swelling on their faces
were identical.

“Quick. Come inside,” Judy
said. “I don’t think either one of us should go out in public looking like
this. I know Gina said I might be pink, but this isn’t pink. I’m verging on a dark
red plum color, and as swollen as my face is, I probably look like one.”

“I brought you some aloe
vera. It really helps the itching. I’ve had to keep my hands by my sides trying
to control the urge to claw at my face. I wonder if something was wrong with
whatever Gina put on us.”

“Don’t know. I was just
getting ready to go over to the spa and ask her.”

“Unfortunately, you’re not
going to be able to do that. Actually, there’s a little excitement going on at
the spa at the moment.” She filled Judy in on her conversation with Nikki and
Stephanie.

“Swell. Now we don’t even
know what we can use to get rid of this. I’m going to call my daughter. She has
a good friend who’s a facialist. Maybe she can find something out. I’ll come
over to the lodge and tell you what she says after I talk to her and take a
shower. Thanks for the aloe. We definitely need to get some more of this. I
wonder if the spa sells it. If they do, we could avoid going into town and
frightening people.”

“Good thought. I’ll call
Delores and if they do, I’ll have someone from the spa bring it to us. See you
later.”

*****

Liz returned to the lodge and dialed
Roger’s number. She knew he’d want to know what was happening concerning her
investigation into Barbara’s death. She fully expected to leave a message,
certain court was already in session.

“Good morning Liz. How are
you today?”

“Actually, I was ready to
leave a voice mail. I thought you’d be in the courtroom doing your thing. I’ll
just be a minute as I’m sure your time is limited. I think it’s a good thing
you can’t come up for a week or so. I’m having a terrible reaction to the
facial I had yesterday, and believe me, it’s made me look absolutely horrible,
not to mention the extreme pain and burning sensation I’m having. Judy’s having
the exact same reaction. I don’t think you’d even recognize me. My face is
terribly swollen and red. As if that wasn’t enough, we’re having a bit of a
crisis at the spa.”

She told Roger about the
conversation she’d had with Nikki and Stephanie.

He was quiet for a minute.
“I have a dermatologist I use occasionally as an expert witness in court. Let
me give him a call and see what he says. I’m in the hallway outside the
courtroom, and I don’t know if I can get through to him before court starts,
but if not, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. And about this Gina woman.
She sounds deranged. I’m glad she’s not there. You don’t need someone like her
working in the spa. Bertha is absolutely right about getting someone else to
replace her. Uh-oh, gotta go. Looks like we’re going to start and don’t want to
irritate the judge this early in the trial. Talk to you later.”