Chapter Seventeen
After Brian left for work Friday, Chloe busied herself putting away all signs of their night spent in the massage room, and cleaned the rest of the shop, then telephoned a locksmith and arranged for her to replace the locks at both the shop and her apartment.
She was finishing up the call when Nadia arrived.
“What was that about changing the locks?” Nadia asked after Chloe had ended the call.
“When I got ready to leave work yesterday afternoon I discovered my purse was missing,” Chloe said.
“I couldn’t lock up so I spent the night here.
After midnight, someone tried to use the key to get in, but they ran off before the sheriff’s deputy could get here.
” She had told the story so often she would have thought she was immune to emotion, but her voice shook now.
“First your apartment and now the shop?” Nadia put a comforting hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “What is going on? And someone stole your purse? Who?”
“I’m pretty sure it was that woman who was in here yesterday. Bunny. She was waiting for me when I arrived yesterday, and saw me put my purse away. I left her alone up front while I made coffee. She was wearing that long fur coat that would have made hiding the purse easy enough.”
Nadia moved to the coffeepot and filled a cup. “But what would she want with your purse?”
“You remember she came in Tuesday and made such a big deal of making all these appointments with me, then failed to show up Wednesday?” Chloe grabbed a mister and began misting the ficus beside the front counter.
“Right. And she came back yesterday and said her mother was ill or something?” Nadia added two packets of sugar to her cup.
“That’s what she said.” Chloe plucked a dead leaf from the plant. “The thing is, someone broke into my apartment Wednesday, while I was here, waiting for Bunny. Then she shows up here the next day and my purse goes missing.”
“You think she wanted to make sure you were stuck here while she broke into your apartment? But why?”
“I don’t know! But the place was trashed.” She took a shuddering breath. “It was like whoever broke in was looking for something. But I don’t have anything someone could want.”
Nadia pursed her lips. “I don’t want to upset you,” she said.
“But do you think your sister could have had something? You said she got sent here to live with you because she got into trouble back in Virginia. Was she involved in drugs? Did she steal some from the wrong people and they killed her, and now they’re trying to get their drugs back? ”
“Drugs?” Chloe blinked. How naive was she that she hadn’t even considered this? “No one ever said anything about drugs. The sheriff’s department searched Sharee’s room and they didn’t mention finding anything. I went through the room, too, and didn’t find any drugs or signs that she was using.”
The only thing she had found was the photographs.
But those weren’t threatening or dangerous.
They were merely pictures of a happy family.
She had given the photos to the sheriff’s detective, except the one in her purse.
A chill engulfed her. Was her burglar after those photographs?
But that made no sense. Nothing in those pictures was a threat to anyone.
“If it wasn’t drugs, why was Sharee sent here?” Nadia asked. “Or is it a big secret?”
“It isn’t a secret. I was just trying to protect Sharee’s privacy. But I guess it doesn’t matter, now that she’s gone.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Nadia said. “I’m sorry I asked.”
“It’s all right. Sharee started stalking a guy she was crushing on and he filed a restraining order against her,” Chloe said. “That made it impossible for her to go to school.”
“Some kid filed a restraining order on a crush? That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t a kid. It was a married man. One of her teachers. And he has an ironclad alibi for her murder. I don’t see why he’d go to the trouble of wrecking my apartment, either.”
Nadia winced. “Okay. So maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with Sharee. Maybe it’s someone who’s unbalanced who decided to go after you.”
“But why do something like that?” Chloe thought of herself as so…ordinary. She worked and she went home. “I’m not a threat to anyone.”
“No matter what’s going on, it’s awful for you.” Nadia sipped her coffee. “So you spent the night here? Alone? You should have called me.”
“I wasn’t alone.” She fussed with the plant some more, avoiding Nadia’s gaze. “A…a friend came over.”
“Your guy friend? The one whose name you won’t reveal?”
“It was Brian Weeks.” Chloe’s cheeks warmed. “And his dog, Daisy. She’s the one who alerted us to someone at the front door. Brian tried to chase whoever it was, but they ran off.”
“Brian Weeks? The man the cops arrested for your sister’s murder?”
“They released him. He didn’t kill Sharee.”
“You obviously know the guy better than I do,” Nadia said.
“And I’m glad you didn’t have to deal with everything by yourself.
” She leaned back against the counter and sipped her coffee.
After a moment, she said, “You know, this is the first man you’ve talked about since I’ve known you, and that’s been, what, four years? ”
“About that.”
“So he must be pretty special.”
“Yeah.” For years she had told herself she didn’t have room for a man in her life. But she wanted to make room for Brian. Being with him made her stronger. More the person she wanted to be.
“Then I’m happy for you.” Nadia said. “But remember, he isn’t the only person you can count on for help. You have lots of friends. You can call me anytime.”
“Thanks.”
The doorbell rang, announcing an arrival, and Nadia straightened. “That will be my nine-o’clock color and cut.”
The locksmith arrived at ten and spent the next hour changing the front and back door locks. Chloe distributed new keys and put the extras in the safe, then tried to catch up on paperwork. The normal routine settled her nerves, until the phone rang right after lunch with a call from Darinda.
“Chloe, I need you to talk to the sheriff there and tell him he needs to release Sharee’s body so we can hold her service.” Darinda launched straight into the reason for the call. “Doesn’t he realize he’s adding to my pain by not allowing me to bury my dear girl?”
She sniffed, and Chloe’s heart squeezed in sympathy. “I didn’t realize he wasn’t releasing the body,” she said.
“He says he can’t let me have her until he’s finished his investigation.
Not that I can tell he’s doing anything.
I called to talk to him yet again this morning and instead of talking about Sharee, he asked me all these questions about a break-in at your apartment and one at your beauty shop.
What is going on out there? I thought SkyCrest was a ski resort, not a crime den. ”
“Someone did break into my apartment,” Chloe said. “And someone tried to break into my shop last night.”
She waited for Darinda to ask for details, or to express concern for Chloe’s well-being. After all, the woman had largely raised her, too. Instead, Darinda said, “I think the murder of a beautiful young woman in the prime of life warrants more attention than a break-in.”
Chloe pressed her lips together and pushed down the hurt. This was how Darinda always acted; why did she expect more? “Darinda, you don’t think Sharee was involved with drugs or anything back in Richmond, do you?” she asked.
“Drugs!” Darinda’s voice crescendoed. “Where did you get such an idea? How could you even think such a thing? I can’t believe you’d suggest dear Sharee would do anything of the kind.” Then she began to cry.
Were the tears real, or a performance? With Darinda, Chloe couldn’t always tell. “I didn’t say she was involved with drugs,” Chloe said. “I asked if you thought it was a possibility.”
“Of course I don’t think that. Why did you even bring it up?”
“After the break-in at my place, someone suggested the burglar might have been looking for something. Maybe drugs.”
“Then they’re your drugs, not Sharee’s. She wasn’t involved in anything like that. And if you dare suggest such a thing to anyone, I swear I’ll never speak to you again.”
“I’m not involved in drugs,” Chloe said, though she doubted if Darinda heard her over her sobbing, which had grown louder. She raised her own voice. “I never meant to imply Sharee was either. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
“What’s going on is that I can’t get my daughter’s body to lay her to rest. I don’t understand why the sheriff doesn’t arrest that ski patroller and be done with it.
He keeps saying he needs more evidence, but they know he was out to get Sharee and they found his glove by her body. What more do they need?”
Chloe wanted to tell Darinda she didn’t believe Brian had killed Sharee but that would only provoke another outburst. “I’m sorry you’re having to go through this,” she said instead.
“I don’t think the sheriff will listen to me, either, and I have no idea why the investigation isn’t progressing.
Maybe they’re looking at other suspects. ”
“Who else could have wanted Sharee dead? Everyone loved her.”
“What about Cameron Douglas?”
Darinda blew her nose, loudly. “He was the first person I asked about,” she finally said. “But I was assured he was a thousand miles away from Colorado when Sharee died.”
“Did you ever meet him?” Chloe asked. “What about him captivated Chloe so much?”
“Everyone has it all wrong about him and Sharee,” Darinda said.
“I’m positive he came on to her, not the other way around.
She was this gorgeous, outgoing, friendly young woman and he was a good-looking, still-young man saddled with a dumpy wife and two children. Of course he was attracted to Sharee.”
Chloe might have believed this if Sharee hadn’t behaved the way she had with Brian.
But she didn’t waste her breath contradicting Darinda.
“I’m wondering if Sharee met someone here,” she said.
“Someone like Cameron Douglas who, um, misinterpreted her behavior. Maybe instead of filing a restraining order, they decided to take care of Sharee themselves.”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying,” Darinda said. “That ski patroller fellow—Sharee probably smiled and chatted him up, being friendly. Maybe he got in trouble with his bosses and tried to cast the blame on her. When she objected, he killed her.”
That’s not what happened, Chloe thought. Sharee had given Brian a pair of her underwear—that wasn’t an innocent flirtation. And she didn’t believe Brian had been faking his horror at her sister’s little gift.
“Back to Cameron Douglas,” Chloe said. “What in particular about him do you think attracted her to him?”
“I told you, he led her on. And he looks like a movie star—I’ll give him that. I really think he only filed the restraining order to appease his wife. Now she is a real piece of work.”
“You know her? How?”
“I met her exactly once—three years ago. She showed up to audition for the role of Helga in my theater group’s production of Deathtrap.
” She laughed, a scornful sound. “Everyone already knew the role was mine, but since we are technically a community theater, I guess we have to hold auditions. She overacted terribly and, of course, she’s not really an attractive person.
I really wonder what Cameron sees in her.
But that’s neither here nor there. Call the sheriff, will you?
Now I have to go or I’ll be late for my nail appointment. ”
She ended the call and Chloe stared blankly at the empty phone screen. All her thoughts about the murder kept leading her back to Cameron Douglas. Was there something in the photographs of him and his family that had put Sharee in danger?
She looked back through her call history until she found Douglas’s number. He answered on the second ring. “If you keep contacting me, I’ll file a complaint for harassment,” he said.
“Mr. Cameron, I don’t want to bother you,” she said. “I’m only trying to find out what happened to my sister. I know you were in New York when she died and I’m not blaming you. I want to know if anything about those photographs Sharee took of you and your family might have put her in danger.”
“How should I know? I never saw the photographs. I never even heard of the photographs until you emailed me a few days ago.”
“They were of you and a woman and two children. I assume your wife and family.”
“It wouldn’t be anyone else,” he said.
Chloe tried to remember the photographs. “Does your wife have long, dark blond hair and a narrow face?”
“Why are you asking?”
Chloe swallowed. She hated confrontation. But this man was already furious with her, so she probably couldn’t make things worse. “I’m sure your wife was upset about what happened with Sharee,” she said.
“She was a wreck. Your sister almost destroyed our marriage. I’m still trying to calm her fears and your reaching out isn’t helping anything.”
“Mr. Douglas, where was your wife while you were in New York?”
“She was home, with our twins. Her sister was with her. She came to stay while I was away, to help with the twins and to keep Theresa company. The police have already verified this. You need to leave Theresa out of this.”
“Where is your wife now?” Chloe asked.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Is she home now?”
“Of course she is. We have two small children. She can’t just hand them off at a moment’s notice.”
“Do you think your wife hated Sharee enough to hire someone to kill her?”
“That’s ridiculous. We don’t have money for anything like that. I’m a schoolteacher and she’s a stay-at-home mom. Now I really have to go.” He ended the call, silence buzzing in Chloe’s ear.
It certainly sounded like Cameron Douglas had no love for Sharee.
And neither did his wife. Chloe recalled Bunny Allerton’s rant about women who went after married men.
She had said if a woman ever tried to take her man, she would “put the fear of God in her.” Theresa Douglas had apparently been interested in amateur theatrics.
Anyone associated with a theater would have known about stage makeup, and how to change her appearance for a role.
And how many times had Chloe seen Darinda use her acting experience to manipulate the people in her life?
But Theresa Douglas had been home with two small children and her sister when Sharee died, and was home now. So she couldn’t be Bunny Allerton, or the unknown murderer.
Chloe believed Brian hadn’t killed Sharee, and he certainly hadn’t broken into Chloe’s apartment or the salon.
That left a random stranger or unknown enemy.
Chloe didn’t have enemies—she avoided confrontation and kept her head down.
Sharee might have sparked jealousy or even anger in someone, but how was Chloe going to find her sister’s enemy when she hadn’t really known her sister?