I walk around the pool and took photos of the body close up and zoom in on the fingers.
“You are a handsome fellow,” I say more to myself because nobody is close enough to hear me. “All this wavy hair and a chiseled body.”
I zoom in to the face and look closer at the sunglasses and noticed they were a brand that would take my mother’s entire paycheck to buy.
“How can you get so close to him?” asked Mrs. Villery bobbing her head back and forth again. “Being from New York gives you a strong stomach. I will take your advice and walk back into the house. I’ll wait for you behind the door.”
Enough of this dead guy. I’m going back over to talk with Mrs. Villery.
“I know my grandmother wishes she could come over and talk with you more,” I say. “She’s grateful for the help you have given her with the garden and would love to repay you in a trying time as this.”
“By sending you over, she has already repaid me twice,” says Mrs. Villery shaking my hands again.
Seeing the waiting courtesy SUV sitting across the street, I’m thankful for there is a place for me to go.
If I was back in my old neighborhood and a dead body showed up, we’d all be held in custody.
Wealth does have it’s privileged.
“Bye, for now, Mrs. Villery,” I say stepping out of the front door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“It will be pretty, Aleta,“
I nod in agreement to Leslie, my hairstylist, as I sit down with a smile into the black salon chair.
“I wish I could color my hair as well as you. I have created tones no box was showing in the grocery store when I bought the box of color. Just thinking about them makes my eyes water. You’ll save me from those tragedies. I have to give you and my truck my little extra money left over at the end of the month. You can make me as pretty as you like if that’s possible.
“Stop it, Aleta, you’re a beautiful girl and a good person too with all the good work you do helping your grandmother,” says Leslie as she combs through my wet hair.
“Enough with the compliments, give me the juicy gossip of the week. I have to come here to keep my ears peeled for the drama of the moment. You didn’t think I came here only for the highlights did you?”
“I heard there are two people pregnant with the same due dates,” said Leslie with giddiness. “If they were two random women simply talking at the same doctor’s office, I wouldn’t pass it on to you, but…”
“Give me all of the deets, Leslie.”
She turned around to squeeze conditioner into her hands. “They were dating the same guy and he broke up with both of them.”
“The cops will probably get a domestic call from them soon,” said Kaye shaking her head from side to side.
Leslie laughs out loud.
“You keep up with all of the latest styles, right?” I ask pulling out her cell phone and showed Leslie a picture of the expensive sunglasses.
The stylist gazed down at the picture and squinted her eyes. “I think I have seen those before, but I’m not sure. Did you buy those?”
“Ha, no way, not with my grandparents’ money.”
“You’re saving up to buy them for Christmas for me?” asks Leslie with a giggle. “How nice of you.”
“No. Leslie, I pay you to keep my hair color presentable, I’m not going to cover up your eyes with some fancy sunglasses.”
“Aw, why not?”
“Not in my budget, Leslie. You’re getting the little bit my grandmother is willing to pay for you…sorry.”
“Get your handsome boyfriend to buy them for you for Christmas. Show them to him the next time you see him and ask his opinion of them without asking for them outright.”
Kaye looked back at the sunglasses on the screen of her cell phone. “That is an interesting idea, Leslie. First, I need to be a good girlfriend to get a good boyfriend to buy me these. He may be able to afford them as a splurge, but I do not know since I haven’t met him yet.”
“You go to that fancy school with all of those rich, hot guys, right?”
“Something like that. The guys I know are rich and hot, but not good. They make me want to gag with their immaturity,” I say frowning in disgust.
“They will grow up. They always outgrow it.”
“I doubt it. Am I going under the dryer soon?”
“Almost time for it.”
“Good, I’ll be ready for my next tidbit of gossip when I come back to this chair.”
My cell phone buzzes in my hand.
“Oh, your new, rich boyfriend is calling you. Send him a picture.”
“Hello, Katelyn,” I say rolling my eyes at Leslie with a wide smile.
She leads me back to the area with hairdryers and motions for me to sit down under a hooded dryer. I’m glad there is nobody back here with me because I need to tell my girl about what I saw today.
“Hey Aleta, my day is over at the art museum.”
“Glad to know you survived your day of art.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t bad at all.”
“I told you it would be nice to soak in some culture for a change.”
“Now, I need my crime fix,” says Katelyn. “I hear some kind of background noise. What are you doing?”
“Oh, that? Leslie put me under the dryer and nobody is back here, but me, so let’s talk dead bodies.”
“Bodies?” asks Katelyn. “What. In. The. Hell?”
“No, I mean body, there is only one, in the pool…at this time.”
“Last time you checked, there was a real body, right?”
“Yes, I saw a real body. The police didn’t cordon it off,” I reply.
“I could see Lowell and Alec doing this,” says Katelyn. “You’re thinking the same
