Chapter Fifteen
Chloe stared at the space where her purse should have been. She always put it here. Had she been so distracted by Bunny’s arrival this morning that she had stored her purse somewhere else?
She retraced her steps that morning—to the back to turn up the heat and start coffee.
Then to the front once more to take care of Bunny.
She checked the storage closet and the filing cabinet where she stored invoices and receipts.
No purse. She opened the drawer again, knowing the purse wasn’t there.
But she had a distinct memory of putting it there.
While Bunny stood beside her, watching. A chill engulfed her. Had Bunny taken the purse? Why?
But why had someone trashed her apartment? Had she been right that Bunny was connected to that as well? What was she looking for?
She pulled out her phone, intending to call the sheriff, but hesitated.
She pictured the deputy taking the report.
Are you sure you didn’t leave your purse at your boyfriend’s house?
Or you have customers in here all day—any one of them could have taken it.
Why are you so sure this particular woman took it?
She didn’t want to risk them refusing to listen to her.
She went through a mental inventory of items in the purse.
Her wallet with a single credit card and a few dollars in cash, as well as her driver’s license.
The keys to her car, and to the shop and her apartment.
She gripped the edge of the counter, trying to steady herself.
Had Bunny stolen the purse to get the keys, intending to come back here and trash the spa, the same way she or her accomplice had wrecked the apartment?
Chloe couldn’t walk out of here and let that happen.
She’d have to risk the embarrassment of reporting the theft and her suspicions.
But she didn’t have to do it alone. She hit the button to make a call. A familiar voice answered on the second ring. “Hey, Chloe. I was just going to call you. What would you like for dinner? I’ll pick something up.”
“I can’t come to your place right now,” she said. “Something came up at the shop.”
“Oh? What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when you get here. That is, if you could stop by.”
“I’ll be right there.”
He had given the same response last time, when she called him about her apartment. No questions. No hesitation. Did he have any idea how much comfort she took from those four simple words?
brIAN LISTENED WHILE Chloe told him about her second encounter with Bunny and her missing purse. “It does sound like she had the opportunity to take it,” he said. “But where did she hide it to get it out of here?”
“She was wearing a full-length fur coat,” Chloe said. “She could have hidden ten purses under that thing.”
“You need to let the sheriff know,” he said. “They should be able to track her down and at least question her.”
“I know.” Chloe straightened her shoulders and picked up her phone. “I wanted to wait to call them until I had someone here with me. Someone who wouldn’t dismiss my concerns.”
Her vote of confidence warmed him, and he moved in closer as she held the phone to her ear. “This is Chloe Anderson,” she said. “My purse was stolen from my shop, Moon Glow Spa and Salon, today.”
A long pause. “Yes, I’m positive it’s stolen. And I think I know who took it. She may be the same person who broke into my apartment yesterday.”
Another pause. “I’ll be waiting.” She ended the call and pocketed the phone.
“They’re sending someone to take my report.
” She looked around the silent, chill room.
“In the meantime, I guess I’ll have to spend the night here.
The keys to the shop were in my purse and it’s too late to call someone to change the locks.
I can lock the door from the inside, but I can’t leave and lock the door.
I can’t risk having this place trashed like my apartment. ”
He rubbed her shoulder. He really wanted to sweep her up and carry her away from any hint of danger, but that wasn’t really practical or helpful.
He’d have to settle for trying to play bodyguard.
“Then Daisy and I will stay with you.” At the sound of her name, the golden moved from where she had been sniffing around the stylists’ stations to join them by the front desk.
Chloe patted the dog. “I hoped you would say that. I’m going to ask the sheriff to patrol here, also.”
“Maybe they’ll get lucky and catch her in the act,” he said.
She shuddered. “Maybe. Though I hope it’s the cops who catch her, not us. I would just as soon never see her again.”
He followed her into the back of the building. “There’s a sofa back here,” she said. “And a little floor space. Not the best setup for sleeping.”
“I’ve got camping gear at home—sleeping bags and a foam mattress. We can make it comfortable.”
A knock on the door alerted them to an arrival. Deputy Schneider waved from the other side of the glass door and Chloe opened it for him. He nodded to Brian, then turned to Chloe. “Did you find your purse?”
“No. The purse was stolen.” She led him to a waiting area with three chairs and sat.
“I’m pretty sure a woman who identified herself as Bunny Allerton took it.
She was waiting for me to open up this morning and watched me put the purse in a drawer behind the front counter.
I then went to the back of the building to turn up the heat and make coffee.
She had plenty of opportunity to take it while I was away. ”
“When did she leave the salon?” Schneider asked.
“She was here about an hour. She had a manicure.”
“She left this morning but you’re just now reporting the theft?”
“I didn’t discover the theft until I got ready to leave to go home.”
“Did you have customers all day? And staff going in and out? Could one of them have taken your purse?”
“They could have. But this woman has acted suspiciously since we met.” Chloe smoothed her hands down her thighs. “Bunny is the woman I told you about yesterday—the one who booked appointments all afternoon, guaranteeing I wouldn’t be around when my apartment was broken into.”
“What excuse did she give today for not being here yesterday?” Schneider asked.
“She said her mother in Florida had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The neighbor who notified her didn’t know how serious the problem was or where her mother had been taken.
She said she spent the rest of the day phoning hospitals, trying to locate her mother, then trying to learn more about her mother’s condition. She forgot all about calling me.”
“Have you tried calling her this evening?”
“Yes, and I got a message that the number is no longer in service.”
“Give me the number.”
She recited the number and Schneider made a note. “Do you know where she’s staying in town?”
“She didn’t say. And she paid for her manicure in cash. I don’t have any verification that her name even is Bunny Allerton.”
“What’s her description again?”
“Long white-blond hair. But I suspect it’s a wig.
And lots of makeup. Even today, when she looked less flamboyant, more washed out, up close I could see she still had foundation applied pretty thickly.
And long false lashes. Her nails were in terrible shape—the polish chipped, a couple of them broken.
She blamed the damage on her distress over her mother, but maybe it was from tearing apart my apartment. ”
“Have you figured out what she was looking for?” he asked.
“I don’t know. And there’s nothing valuable in my purse. Only a single credit card and a few dollars in cash. And my keys.”
“Is that all that was in your purse?”
She hesitated.
“What else?” Schneider prompted.
She sighed. She didn’t have the energy to lie.
“There was a photograph. A Polaroid photo of a man named Cameron Douglas, and a woman and two children. I assume his wife and children. I gave a bunch of similar photos to Detective Renfro. My sister was sort of involved with Douglas and I think she took those pictures. I found them in her closet after she died.”
“But you kept this one photo?”
“Yes. Douglas was one of Sharee’s teachers and she had a crush on him.
I guess she stalked him, really. He took out a restraining order against her, so our parents sent Sharee here to live with me.
I kept looking at that picture, trying to figure out what she saw in that man, and why she had held on to those photos. ”
Brian cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him. “Did Bunny look anything like the woman in the photo?” he asked. “Cameron Douglas’s wife?”
Tiny lines bunched above the bridge of Chloe’s nose as she considered the question.
“Not really. I mean, the woman in the photo had brown eyes and dark blond hair. Bunny had blue eyes, and her face was a lot fuller. Bunny looked at least a decade older, too. Even if the hair was a wig…” She shook her head.
“Maybe? But it seems pretty far-fetched. After all—Cameron Douglas didn’t have an affair with my sister.
He stayed with his wife. She may have hated what Sharee put her through, but that’s not reason enough to fly across the country and commit murder, never mind harassing me.
Besides, we know Mrs. Douglas couldn’t have killed Sharee—she was in Virginia with her two children and her sister when Sharee was murdered. ”
“We can double-check on Mrs. Douglas’s current whereabouts,” Schneider said. “And we’ll look for anyone who matches the description of Bunny Allerton. If she’s staying in town, someone must have seen her. She sounds like the kind of person who would stand out in a crowd.”
“She would definitely stand out,” Chloe agreed.
The deputy left. Chloe locked the door after him, then turned to Brian. “What now?”
“I need to go back to my place and pick up a few things so I can stay here,” he said. “But I’ll leave Daisy with you. She’s not exactly fierce, but she’ll make a lot of noise if anyone tries to break in. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”