That was my cue to tell Brenda about the detectives’ visit to the office, the photo of the perp and Kassandra’s and my unplanned contribution to solving the identity of the mysterious man walking away from the Psychic Fair with Miss Fortune. In retrospect, my shared news killed the mood. The rest of the evening was spent with Brenda worrying about me and offering her guest room for the night. Let’s see, do I take a chance on Mr. Smith finding his way into my own bedroom or do I spend the night at Brenda’s hoping my ex doesn’t find his way back and into the guest room? The choice came easy. I walked home with two slices of banana bread in a sandwich bag.
I had barely changed into my pajamas when my cell chimed. My heart skipped a beat as the name Tristan lit up the corner of my heart where hope flourished. Not for long, as it was only Kassandra calling.
“Once again, I didn’t get you the pregnancy kit. How pissed at me are you? Oh, and before you answer, be aware that the good guys may be listening to our conversation. They are bugging my phone in case that creep calls.” Needless to say, I felt... speechless.
“Is that why you called? To tell me about the cops listening in?”
“Oh, no, no. I’ve been doing my Tarot cards for you and this is rather strange. I keep coming up with the wheel of fortune. Maybe you’ll sell that new listing yourself or maybe something unexpected is coming your way. I’m going to sleep on this and do it again in the morning. I was hoping to have an answer regarding, you know, being late but it’s not telling me a thing.”
What got into her? Calling me late in the evening to tell me basically nothing? “Kassandra, are you scared?”
“Scared? Why should I be scared? There’s a cop watching my place. And really, I can take that sick fool. The detective told me that Miss Fortune was dead before she hit the water. Something about head trauma. The bra around the neck was more for show than anything else. Shit, why are we talking about this stuff anyhow? Okay, see you at the office in the morning. I’ll bring the test kit. Going to take a bubble bath. Night. ”
I hated myself for mentioning being scared to Kassandra. It sounded like I was more concerned about her than she was about herself. Well, she was a risk taker. Buying pregnancy test kits by the dozen? Wasn’t she practicing safe sex? Shoot, I did and look at me. I may be pregnant. Damn.
EIGHTEEN
HOLIDAY SEASON OR not, I had to accelerate my efforts to drum up business. With January around the corner, all the yearly fees and dues had to be paid, and that accounted for a nice chunk of money. Plus, because of Brenda’s incident, we hadn’t done much catering. Not much? My last paid gig was the Dumont’s fall party. Way back before Thanksgiving. The little voice inside my head kept reminding me about the $10,000 settlement coming soon to a bank near my checking account. Let’s see, I could use the money due from Tristan for his wrecked car and his injuries to pay my real estate dues? That was wrong in so many ways.
I brushed my teeth and glanced at myself in the mirror. Yuck. Thank God I had a haircut appointment today at eleven-thirty. And once again, nothing else for the rest of the day. Unless I wanted to go take up room at the office. I missed the busy days, the chatty bullpen where we gathered mostly to gossip when no clients were around. With nothing important to do, today would be a good day to go gift shopping for Kay and Tristan.
Kassandra called from the office around ten, just to announce that my luck with Tarot cards had not improved. She also mentioned that she didn’t know if the cops had the office under surveillance or if it was only something they did at night, at her place. But more important, the detectives were still trying to locate J.S. Smith to see if she could help them find her father.
“What do you mean they can’t locate her? They can’t find her? Surely her boss knows where she’s taking pics. The company supplies all the leads.”
“True that. Supposedly, she didn’t have any appointments the rest of the week, mainly due to the season. Therefore, she took three days off and headed out of town. Having been with this company only a few weeks and working by appointment only, no one knows much about her and no one answers the door at her place.”
“She has a cell phone; is anyone calling her?”
“Why are you asking me? I don’t think I’ve ever met her. Have I?”
“I bet Tristan Dumont would know where she hangs out,” I said. “They went to the same college. They may even have shared some extracurricular activities, not sure.”
“Listen to you. For someone who runs the other way when you see dream boy approach, you sure know a lot about him.”
I kept quiet. Kassandra had a point. How did I end up collecting all that info about this man? More important, what did he know about me? He knew about my pierced navel... said the devilish voice in my head.
Lisa’s hair studio, a one-person affair, sat smack in the center of Scottsdale’s night scene. But considering she closed shop at four pm, it didn’t matter to her and it didn’t matter to me. Plus, it made for easy parking until the sun went down and dozens of night spots lit up.
I was back in my car and driving off way before two pm. She cut my hair a bit shorter than usual because it grew so fast. It still brushed my shoulders and I could
