Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 03 - Buyer's Remorse (14 page)

Alice
had a legitimate reason to go into the back office at the dress shop. It was time to get her next order, but her stomach was a complete mess as she went to Neveah’s Wardrobe. She opened the door and tried to smile as naturally as possible. She owed it to Lara and to Mitzy to see what she could find.

“Hey Renata,” she said. Renata continued to stack the shelves that lined the walls. She nodded but didn’t say anything. “Is Fiona in?”
Alice
gripped the shoulder strap of her purse with one hand to keep from shaking.

Renata sighed and rolled her eyes. “She left an order for you in the office. She stepped out for some coffee.”

“Thanks. I’ll go in for it. Do you know if she wanted to talk about the order today? Make any custom requests?”

Renata turned and scowled at
Alice
. “I’m not her secretary. Ask her yourself.”

Alice
nodded and went into the office. She kept her purse slung across her shoulder and looked for the month’s order. She should get that in hand first. The paper she was looking for was on the desk.
Alice
read it. Fiona was making a very small order this time. One more reason to think business wasn’t hopping. She folded the paper in half and put it in her purse. Usually, if the order was that small it meant Fiona had custom requests to make.
Alice
’s stomach lurched. She didn’t want to stay and talk about custom work today.

Fiona’s purse was on the floor. Using the cuff of her coat to keep her fingerprints off the purse handle,
Alice
picked it up and set it on the desk in front of her.

Alice
opened Fiona’s purse, her heart quaking in her chest. She thought it must be loud enough to hear. She held the open purse up to the desk lamp but was careful not to touch anything inside. She shifted the purse so that the contents slid around a little.

Dust coated the interior. Grayish powder clung to the satin lining. Something made a clunk-clunk sound as she shifted the purse back and forth. With one eye to the office door
Alice
pulled a tissue out of the box and pinched it in her hand. She put her hand in the purse and moved things around so she could see
better
. There were three pieces of broken ceramic in the purse. They looked glazed and greenish in color. Each piece had a finished edge and a broken edge.

It looked an awful lot like the broken platter Mitzy had told her about.
Alice
put the bag down on the desk, the top opened beneath the desk light. She shoved the tissue in her pocket and pulled out her phone. She took pictures of the contents of the purse. If Fiona was leaving threatening messages for Mitzy then Fiona must be the murderer. The office door swung open and Fiona came in, her palazzo pants swinging around her legs. Her shawl cut sweater hung almost to her knees. Her eyes were red rimmed and sad until she saw the purse on her desk.

“What have we here?” she whispered to
Alice
.

“Excuse me, Fiona,”
Alice
said as loudly as she could. She stood up; her own purse clutched to her chest and pushed her way past Fiona. She swung the door open and continued in her loudest voice, “I’ve got to get going now Fiona. I’ve got your next order. If you need anything else, just message me.”

Fiona followed her into the store, her scarlet lips pursed in an unhappy frown. “There’s no one but us here, darling. And the place is all locked up.”

Alice
, phone still in her hand, dialed 911 as quickly, as she could,
hoping
she didn’t draw notice to herself.

Fiona walked around
Alice
so she was between her and the front doors. She reached out her elegant hand and drew the curtains closed. “Were you poking into my purse sweetie?
Because that’s just not good manners.”

Alice
saw beads of sweat breaking out on Fiona’s forehead.
“Of course not.
Why would I do that?”

“To lift my wallet?
To steal my identity?
I don’t know what would make a sweet young girl like you start a life of crime. But I’m awful glad you’ve called the cops. I’d like to press charges for the theft.” Fiona’s red-rimmed eyes were large and innocent, but her cheeks were flushed and her jaw was tense.

“What theft, Fiona? What do you mean?”

Fiona smiled. She sauntered over to
Alice
, hips swaying. When she was so close it was all Alice could do to keep from brushing against her, Fiona unclasped the Rolex that was glittering on her wrist, dangled it for a moment and the let it fall into the little gap at the top of Alice’s bag.
“That theft, my dear.
I just don’t know what makes young girls like you go
bad
.”

“You just put your watch in my purse. That’s not theft,”
Alice
cried out. She shoved her hand in her bag fishing madly for the watch in her cluttered stuff.

Fiona kept smiling. “The clasp is broken so I keep it in my purse and there you were, digging through my purse and the watch is gone. What will the police say?” Fiona asked
,
hand folded in front of her, her eyes looking up and to the left.

Alice
paused long enough to disconnect the call on her phone. “What police?” she finally gripped the watch, and yanked it from her purse. She tossed it across the room so that it slid under the register desk. “I don’t know where your watch has gone, but I’m sure if you look you will find it.” She pushed past Fiona who was still sweating and still too close to
Alice
.
Alice
made it to the door and pushed on it.

“We’re closed for inventory, aren’t we, my dear? I can’t open up until we’ve finished.”

Alice
took a deep breath to keep from panicking. There was more then one way out of Neveah’s. “In that case, go count your product. I’ll wait.” She leaned on the door handle, trying to look relaxed.

“Yes, I do believe you will wait.” Fiona walked with maddening slowness back to the office.

Alice
had spent a lot of time in Neveah’s and if she took just a minute to think she could figure a way out. As she tried to remember Lara’s tricks she walked over to the register counter. Didn’t they have a spare key hidden there? She ran her hands around the underside of the counter. She couldn’t find a key, but she did find a button. She hit it. Was that the silent alarm? She waited at the register to see if Fiona would notice. After just a moment the phone rang. She picked it up before Fiona could.

“This is the alarm
company,
did you just trigger the alarm?”

“I did, I’m so sorry,”
Alice
said. “I’m Alice McNinch and I’m inside of Neveah’s Wardrobe right now and I can’t get out.” She took a deep breath. Fiona was behind her. She could feel her hot breath on her neck.

“Damn you,” Fiona hissed.

“Okay, first I need you to give us the secret word,” the man from the security company said.

Alice
turned and looked at Fiona, one eyebrow raised, “Secret word…” she mouthed.

Fiona pursed her lips but then spit out the word, “Artichoke.”

“It’s artichoke,”
Alice
repeated into the phone.

“All right.
Can you call someone to bring you a spare key or do you need someone to come out to you?”

“You had better send someone out,”
Alice
said, keeping her eye on Fiona.

“Okay. I’ll have someone there in 10 minutes.”

“Thank you,”
Alice
said.

She put the phone down with her hand over the mouthpiece. “What shall you have? They know I’m here, and they are on their way. Will you let me out and then call them back to say that you showed up and got me out? Or will you need them to come all the way here and let me out themselves?”

Fiona walked to the front door and unlocked it. “Don’t ever let me see you here again,” she
said,
her voice like a knife.

Alice
let go of the phone receiver and ran out the door. She ran down the block to her car. By the time she reached her car her chest was burning and her breath came in ragged puffs. She needed to see Mitzy right now.

Alonzo left the highway at Hermiston to check the nearest gas stations for Mitzy. He watched for the lowest price on gas; he knew that’s where he’d find her.

He found the station that was ten cents cheaper than the one right at the exit. A little red Miata with a big head of blonde hair at the wheel was leaving it. “Thank you God,” Alonzo prayed. He tried to get right behind her and followed her as she got back on the highway. He honked his horn but she didn’t turn around. He grabbed his phone and called her number. She still wasn’t answering. He was willing to follow her to the end of the earth, and it looked like he’d have to.

Mitzy left Hermiston with her full tank of gas. Night was beginning to fall. She’d be in town before morning and could pull over and sleep before she went into the woods. She could probably even grab a coffee too. As far as she could tell, nothing could go wrong. She checked her mirrors. Lights in the far distance seemed to follow her. Of course, they were on the same road so they would seem to. Mitzy shivered. She had chosen a dangerous job for herself, but that was no reason to be paranoid. She ran through her plan again. It seemed to her to be completely flawless. She’d wait and call Alonzo after she found the drugs operation. There was no point in calling now and getting him worried.

There was less traffic in the waxing light of morning. Alonzo had gunned it for miles and finally caught up with Mitzy, but now the bright sun glared off of the road, blinding him as they drove into the sunrise. He wanted to flash his lights at her and make her pull over, but he was sure she wouldn’t be able to see them. If she wasn’t going to answer her phone he was going to have to keep following her and stop when she finally stopped. Even if she didn’t stop until she hit the
Rockies
.

Dawn broke with a swath of orange sky spread across the Eastern horizon, and filled Mitzy with hope for success. She marveled at the blue sky as the sun rose, in the middle of December. It was freezing. It hadn’t snowed in a while and didn’t look like it would. The lid of clouds that closed the sky in
Portland
was nowhere to be seen.

In spite of the inspiring sunrise, Mitzy hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that she was being followed. She tried to believe it was just that paranoia born of driving in the dark. But then again, she could hear the engine of something big not far behind her. It would be nice to get off the road and let whoever was back there
pass
.

She pulled out the map she had printed while in Alonzo’s work trailer. From town she had to go southeast to get into the forest. The address should bring her to the somewhat iffy house in the woods. Her plan, for now, was to find the house and then pull over somewhere out of eyesight and hike until she found the forest of drugs.

She found the house on the first try. If you didn’t count the thick hedges and the long driveway, it wasn’t really hiding.

She went about a mile up the road to the first wide shoulder and pulled over. Once outside of her car she folded her arms and rubbed them a few times to warm up. The air was bitterly cold. She stamped her feet. Her boots looked good but were unlined. She hoped she could find what she was looking for quickly.

Alonzo yawned. Mitzy had turned up a narrow road into the woods. He was stuck behind the last light in town. He rubbed his eyes and then his jaw. She wasn’t far ahead. He sat for another minute before he realized it was a blinking red. He ground his teeth in agitation and hit the gas.

Up the road he took the same turn he had watched Mitzy take. He raced the empty road trying to find her. At the first curve he glimpsed a spot of red off to the side. After driving all night Mitzy had finally stopped in the woods outside of a tiny town in
Idaho
. What on earth was she doing?