Strung Out to Die Page 6

  One by one, each student came to me with their bead boards, and I walked them back to the storage room, getting chills every time I walked over Doug’s dead spot.

  “Feel free to come in between classes and work on your projects or practice.” I wanted to encourage them to stop in any time and be able to get their money’s worth.

  But most importantly, I wanted them to come back more often, which would increase the possibility that they would purchase something.

  “Are you okay?” Marlene asked when all the students had left. “You look a little tense.”

  She was right. I could feel my shoulders creeping up to my ears. I loved teaching class and beading, but I was having a hard time getting the image of Doug’s body out of my head, and the wrapping technique she had used around her finger was, well …perfect.

  “I’m just a little tired.” I laughed it off. I didn’t want to give Marlene any inclination that she was on my short, very short, list of murderers. “Teaching really takes it out of me.”

  “Why don’t you go home for a little rest before the Divorced Diva’s meeting?” Marlene said as she flipped through one of the beading catalogues. “I can hold down the fort for a little bit.”

  There probably wasn’t much Marlene couldn’t hold down.

  “Thanks. I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” I went back to the office to retrieve Willow and we headed for home.

  Chapter Eight

  I could see that the building where the Food Watchers group meets was all lit up as I was on my way home.

  With Marlene finishing up at the shop, I’d thought taking a walk with Willow would be just the thing I needed to relieve my stress and help me get ready for tonight’s Diva meeting. But then, I thought that Bernadine might be right. Food Watchers was at least worth a shot.

  I whipped my little VW into the parking lot. It wasn’t going to hurt to check it out. I pulled out Willow’s travel water bowl and put it on the floorboard. After cracking the window so she’d get some air, I headed in to face the scale.

  The meeting was located in one big room with ten rows of yellow chairs. There were three workstations with computers and floor scales along with a Food Watcher Specialist in matching yellow shirts and khaki pants.

  “Hi, there.” Enthusiasm oozed from the size zero Food Watcher Specialist. “Are you new?” She chirped this in a voice that indicated she might bring out the ‘spirit hands’ at any moment.

  At that moment, everyone sitting in the yellow chairs rotated and looked at me as if I was on display. I bet they could smell a new member a mile away.

  Charlie was the name printed on the tag pinned to the specialist’s shirt.

  “Hi, Charlie.” I smiled and nodded.

  “Holly!” Bernadine jumped up from the front row and waved her arms while walking over. “I’m so glad Marlene caught you.”

  “Caught me?” I drew back, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

  “Excuse me, she’s with you?” Charlie clasped her hands in delight. It was a little too much delight, if you asked me.

  “She is,” Bernadine broke out in a singsongy voice. “Yes, she is.”

  Charlie took a small steel hammer and hit a bell attached to the edge of her desk. Ding! Ding! Ding! Everyone cheered. I just wanted to hide.

  Bernadine gave Charlie a high-five and then hugged me. “I’ve been waiting to get my bell.”

  Charlie took out a bell-shaped lapel pin and fastened it to Bernadine’s cardigan. Bernadine touched it with obvious pride.

  “If you bring in a new customer, they give you a bell.” Bernadine caressed her pin. “Sort of like the saying about an angel getting its wings. When we bring someone new in, we are like angels of weight loss.”

  Please. I rolled my eyes.

  “Whatever.” I sighed. “Charlie, I’m really just here to check out the place and see if it’s for me.” I turned to Bernadine and whispered under my voice, “What was that about Marlene catching me?”

  Charlie walked around the counter, never once taking her eyes off me.

  “Um…what are you doing?” A little anxiety knotted in my gut.

  Without a word, Charlie slapped a big ‘My Name Is’ sticker right across my chest.

  “Everyone wears a name tag.” Sarcasm dripped from her perfect lips.

  To keep the peace, I bit my lip and followed Bernadine to the front of the room, but not without many congratulations for the bell ringing ceremony. Marlene beamed with pride, while I beamed with a red, embarrassed face.

  “I called the shop to let you know there was a Food Watchers meeting tonight. She said that you’d just left and she’d try to catch you before you pulled out.”

  I wasn’t going to explain that Marlene hadn’t caught me.

  “If you had a cell, I could’ve just called you instead of having to tracking you down.” She patted the chair next to her so I would sit down.

  I started to ask, “Do we have to sit so close?” but I was interrupted.

  “Is everybody ready?” A loud voice boomed over the intercom.

  Bernadine and all the other Food Watchers stood up and clapped. A few even let fly with some loud hoots.

  Every single person had a beatific smile on their face, as if some Hollywood megastar had just walked into the room.

  I craned my neck to see what everyone was so excited about. The clapping and swaying was infectious. Raucous music was blaring and the strobe light in the center of the room rotated, making it hard to focus on anyone.

  My toes began to tap like they had a mind of their own. Well, a little sway too and fro isn’t going to hurt anyone I thought When in Rome.

  The Food Watchers in the center aisle parted as a tall, blonde, gazelle-like woman made her way through the crowd. She held a microphone in one hand and greeted her eager, food-deprived acolytes with the other.

  She had to be the famous “Ms. Food Watchers.”

  “Hello!” She smiled when she got to the front of the room and hopped up on the small stage right in front of Bernadine and me.

  I had to shield my eyes from the glare of her pro-white dentals.

  “Is everybody ready to lose some weight?” Ms. Food Watchers pumped her fists in the air and the crowd erupted in even louder cheers.

  Just then, something occurred to me. I leaned over and whispered in Bernadine’s ear, “This is a cult.”

  “Shut up, Holly.” Bernadine touched her bell pin and continued to clap along with everyone else.

  The meeting itself really wasn’t so bad, but the enthusiasm of the leaders and members was almost unbearable. No one had said a negative word about food until Ms. Food Watcher mentioned fudge.

  A collective gasp filled the room.

  “Fudge is not your friend,” Ms. Food Watcher whispered as if it was going to help soften the blow for all the fudge lovers in the audience. Then she patted her thighs.

  “She better not tell Agnes Pearl.” Bernadine cackled.

  Agnes Pearl. Fudge. Doug Sloan.

  “I’ll see you at the Divas meeting,” I said to her and jumped to my feet.

  “Yes!” Ms. Food Watcher pointed to me. I froze like a deer in headlights when she waved for me to join her on the stage. “You have let the words move you! Everyone on your feet!”

  Me? I pointed to myself.

  “Yes, you, Holly!” Ms. Food Watcher yelled into the microphone after straining to read the name tag plastered across my chest. “Tell us what moved you.”

  I glared at Bernadine, who was smiling from ear to ear. She was going to get an earful about this later.

  The room went silent. Everyone was waiting to hear what I was going to say.

  “I, um…realized that fudge is bad.” I stood still, but not for long.

  Everyone cheered and clapped just like Oprah’s audience on her “Favorite Things” show.

  “Thank you. Thank you.” I held my hands in the air as I casually made my way down the center aisle and straight out the door.
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  What was that? I couldn’t wait until I saw Bernadine at the Divas meeting. I was going to kill her.

  Maybe Marlene wasn’t the killer. What if it was Agnes? After all, she did threaten to kill Doug, and she could be framing Marlene for it.

  Chapter Nine

  Willow and I didn’t have enough time to make it home and get to the meeting on time, so we went back to the shop. I knew Marlene had probably already closed up and gone to pick up Agnes.

  The apartment above the shop was dark. If the light had been on in Cheri’s apartment, I would’ve gone up there and waited, but it wasn’t. She must have been at school. Or, better yet, maybe she was at the Livin’ End trying to get some scoop on the whole Doug situation.

  With Willow on my heels, I crept up the steps. Hesitating for a moment before I pushed the key into the lock, I looked up and down Main Street to see if anyone was around.

  My mind was creating havoc.

  After barely opening the door, I stuck my hand in and patted up the wall until I found the light switch.

  I didn’t have enough time to take Willow off her leash before Flora was there, standing outside, talking on her phone—as usual. Her wavy hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail at the nap of her neck.

  She waved, and I waved back. Knowing she was there made me feel a little more at ease, and I was able to go in the storage room and retrieve the Divas’ bead boards.

  I jumped over the spot where I’d found Doug and opened the door. On the far wall, was shelving where Cheri had stored all their projects.

  Carefully, one by one, I took each project down, making sure the beads didn’t roll off and into an Under.

  I smiled at Flora’s bohemian chandelier earrings. They reminded me of the one thing I’d wanted in my divorce from Sean. His grandmother had given him the most beautiful chandelier. A real chandelier; not just any old light. It was adorned with the most beautiful crystal beads in all shades of pink and red. I had no clue about its monetary value. I just knew that I loved it because of its beading elements.

  I lowered my standards and begged him to let me have it for the shop. I even went as far as offering to let him off the hook for alimony for six months, but he refused. He said I could have it when I pried it out of his cold, dead fingers. The beautiful heirloom was sitting in a box in his family room. It would’ve looked perfect hanging in the middle of my shop.

  Anyway, I tried to talk Flora out of making those chandelier earrings since they would be pressed up against that damn phone of hers all the time. I even suggested she get rid of the dang phone, but she gave a resounding, “Hell no!”

  Flora was already sitting at the table, chatting it up with Cheri and Bernadine, when I walked back into the shop.

  I stopped and looked. For a moment, everything seemed normal, but it wasn’t.

  “Do you need some help or a hug?” Cheri’s beret was sitting sideways on her head. I tried to straighten the crooked hat. She pulled away. “Stop. It’s supposed to be that way.”

  “I’ll take the hug.” I wrapped my arms around my upstairs tenant.

  I was grateful that Cheri hadn’t been home when the murder occurred. She’d been spending long hours at the library preparing for her upcoming exams.

  Cheri bent down and scratched behind Willow’s ears. Willow’s tail whirled around in excitement. She loved Cheri, because Cheri was always taking her on quick walks when I was working long hours in the shop. It was a good excuse for Cheri to take a break from studying.

  “You’re looking fit.” Flora commented on Cheri’s toned arms.

  Cheri flexed. We laughed.

  “I’ve been going to a self-defense class, and it’s getting me into shape.” She flexed her muscles. “You gals should think about it. Especially now, with a murderer on the loose.”

  She did have a point. It was something I was going to have to seriously think about. Not only for self-defense, but the toned arms was something I’d always dreamed of having.

  I did my little hop over Doug’s dead spot and went back to get Cheri’s project. It was a stretchy bracelet made from all sorts of different colored glass beads. Nothing too fancy, but she didn’t have time to get too involved because of her commitment to school.

  When I came back in, I sat her board down and I noticed Marlene helping Agnes up the shop’s two front steps. Agnes was smacking Marlene’s hands away like she didn’t need Marlene’s help, when she clearly did.

  “Hi, Agnes. You look great.” I tried not to focus on her blue hair.

  I quickly went back and got another bead board while they got settled in and put Agnes’ children’s beads on it. It would be a simple single strand of all wooden beads. The package contained beads of various colors, as well as plain, unpainted wood. I’d let her choose which ones to use.

  Agnes Pearl was rarely seen without her purple turban, but today she was just sporting her cotton candy blue hair. In fact, I was pretty sure if a child came into the shop, she might try to eat Agnes’ hair.

  “Thank you, Holly.” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I thought you looked like you’d lost weight, but it was just the way my glasses were sitting.”

  “Nice to see you.” I smiled politely, setting the board down in front of her.

  Without anyone noticing, I slipped my finger back to my elastic waistband to make sure I wasn’t delusional from the lack of sleep this morning when I noticed slack in my yoga pants.

  Sigh. There was still a little extra space. Although it was small, it was still there.

  There were a lot of unflattering things I could have said in reply to Agnes, but I kept my mouth shut. You never know what could happen if she turned up dead. Then I’d be a suspect in two murders. Or better yet, she’d murder me.

  I jumped over Doug’s dead spot again to grab Marlene and Bernadine’s projects. There wasn’t any sense in bringing out Ginger’s. There’s no way she’d come to the Divas impromptu meeting. I’d left her a message when she hadn’t answered her phone.

  I just hoped she didn’t think I killed her brother.

  “I think it’s so good how you gals got this group together. Those men can be jerks.” Agnes sure wasn’t wasting time starting the bashing session. It probably would’ve been a good one, but with dead Doug weighing on everyone’s mind, nobody even answered Agnes.

  Bernadine carefully laid out her Swarovski crystals in a pattern. She’d been working in this for the last three weeks, since we started this new project. Our projects usually take about a month to complete, and then we move on. Each Diva had picked out a new technique for the current project, which meant it was going to take us longer than normal to complete.

  “What do you think?” Bernadine asked, referring to her project.

  This was the third pattern she’d laid out. Some with ornamental Bali beads and some she’d replaced with sterling silver.

  “I think you set me up!” I said as I glared at Bernadine.

  She was crazy if she thought I was going to let her off the hook after the stunt she pulled only an hour before at Food Watchers.

  “Me?” Her wide-eyed innocence was merely a smoke screen. “You’re the one who jumped up and got the attention of…”

  I interrupted her, “Ms. Food Watcher!”

  All the other Divas looked at us.

  Cheri was the only one brave enough to ask, “What happened?”

  After I told them the quick story about the nutty scene that had taken place at Food Watchers, a wave of laughter rippled through the group. When the laughter quieted down for a second, Flora couldn’t resist.

  She stood up and walked over to Bernadine. She bent down and to examined Bernadine’s cardigan. “Well, where’s that new bell pin, Angel?”

  Flora threw her head back and cackled. It was contagious and everyone started laughing all over again.

  “Okay.” I had to get the Divas back in line. I looked over Bernadine’s shoulder at her bracelet. “I like it.”

  Of course I lik
ed it. I liked anything beaded. My opinion really didn’t matter anyway. She was going to take it apart a million more times before she put the final crimp on it. Most of Bernadine’s time was taken up by organizing and reorganizing. That was her specialty.

  “Have you talked to Ginger?” Marlene asked as she handed me her project.

  She had the gauge wire wrapped around her finger instead of the fake gem I’d given her to use. Gently, I reached over to help pull it off and show her how to wrap from the beginning…again.

  I wish she’d tell the other Divas about the rare yellow Spinel diamond she wanted to wrap into a new creation so she could wear it. She said it wasn’t anyone’s business but her own, and it wasn’t my story to tell, even though it would’ve been a wonderfully juicy gossip topic for the Divas to discuss.

  “No.” I watched over Marlene’s shoulder to make sure she was rewrapping the fake gem correctly this time. “I left her a message, but she hasn’t called back.”

  “How do you know she hasn’t called? You don’t have a cell phone and you’re not home to see if she’s called,” Flora chirped from the other side of the table.

  “No thank you. I don’t need a cell phone.” I reached over Marlene’s shoulder to help her with the wire twist. “Besides, I have the shop phone.”

  Ginger had never hesitated to call the shop before.

  “Do they know who killed him yet?” Marlene asked.

  “No, but I think Noah suspects me,” I said, thinking this was a great time to begin my nonchalant line of questioning about Marlene and her night at The Livin’ End.

  After all, she was the last one seen talking to him that night.

  Marlene dropped the wire and the fake gem on the bead board. Several 6mm sterling silver beads flew up in the air.

  I watched the beads fall to the ground as if in slow motion.

  “No!” I fell to my knees and reached out on the floor to stop them. “Damn that Spinel!”

  It was too late. The beads had bounced right into The Under.

  “Spin what?” Agnes asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear, exposing her lime green hearing aids. She nudged Marlene. “Can you turn this dang thing up? I can hardly hear the gossip.”