Murder in Cottage #6 (Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) (9 page)

“One of the claims was
that Dave used his influence with the county to have the highway diverted a few
miles from Red Cedar to benefit some people who ran cattle on that land. After
that happened a lot of maximum donations from people who either worked at the
ranches, or were relatives of the owners, made their way into Dave’s campaign
fund. You can only give a maximum of $500 in a mayor’s race.

“Gene asked my opinion as
to what he should do with the information his investigator unearthed, and I
told him to let it go. He simply didn’t have enough evidence for me to print it
or for him to put it in writing in a campaign flyer. If Gene had put his
suspicions in writing in the form of a political campaign hit piece, Dave would
have sued Gene for everything he had. He’s not a wealthy man, and with two kids
in high school he couldn’t afford to risk it.”

“Do you think Gene hated
Dave enough to murder Barbara as a vendetta for Dave winning the election?”

“No. He hates Dave, no
doubt about that, but what would he gain? Everyone knows that Darcy and Dave
are seeing one another, and a lot of people know that Barbara was very active
in the Catholic Church. It’s not much of a stretch to assume she wasn’t big on
divorce, so if Gene killed her, he’d actually be doing Dave a favor by freeing
him to marry Darcy. No,” he said, shaking his head, “I can’t see that
happening.”

“Well, if that’s not a
scenario that will work, can you think of anyone who might have a reason to
murder Barbara?”

He stuck his thumbs in his
red suspenders and walked over to the window. After a few moments, he turned to
her and said, “You’ve mentioned several people you’ve talked to and outside of
those I can’t think of anyone else who may have wanted to murder Barbara. Let me
ask you this. Is there anyone who would want to see the spa get a bad
reputation because someone was murdered while there as a guest? Do you have any
enemies? Is someone at the spa disgruntled? Have you fired anyone recently?”

Liz was quiet for several
moments and then answered, “Bart, I’ve never even considered that possibility.
I don’t do the hiring. I’ll have to talk to Bertha, she’s the one who runs the
spa, but no, I can’t think of anyone. Sure, the spa is becoming popular, and
I’m certain there are other spas around that may be jealous of our success, but
they’re far enough away that we’re not competing for the same clients. I’ll
have to think about it.”

“I wish I could help you.
I’m sorry I don’t have more time to spend with you, but I need to look over
some articles before I okay them for tomorrow’s edition. If you find out
anything more or want to talk to me, give me a call. I’m not going to put
anything in the paper about Barbara being murdered right now. I will have to
put in tomorrow’s edition that her body was found because it’s common talk
around town, but out of deference to you, I’ll hold off for a day or so
printing that she was murdered.”

“Bart, I really appreciate
your seeing me on no notice and not printing immediately that Barbara’s death was
a murder. If I find out anything, I’ll let you know. Again, thanks!”

“Anytime, and for you and
your spa’s sake, I hope you find out who did this sooner rather than later.”

She left the building and
walked to her van. “Okay, Winston. Back to the spa. Judy should be finished
with her treatment by now, and I need to talk to Bertha.”

When Liz returned to the lodge, Judy
was waiting for her in the great room, dressed casually in jeans and a
tee-shirt, her face free of make-up and her long black hair casually caught up
in scrunchy. Tall and graceful, and even though she was in her early 50’s,
she’d never lost the ability to turn everyone’s head whenever she entered a
room. She and Judy met when their children were in preschool together. They’d remained
close friends for all of the years in between.

When Judy was a young
woman, she came to California lured by the film industry. In the small rural
Kansas town where she grew up, she was the acknowledged beauty, but in
California she was just one more beauty. Liz remembered Judy telling her about
the moment she knew with certainty she’d never make it big in the movies. She
was sitting in a movie director’s reception area getting ready to read for a
part in a movie. Judy told her she’d looked around the room at the other women
who were there to read for the part, and realized every woman in the room was
just as beautiful as she was. She couldn’t handle another rejection and walked
out. A few months later she married a movie producer and gave up any thoughts
of trying to become a star. The marriage lasted only seven years, but Judy
walked away from it with a large financial settlement.

She’d met an internet
mogul from San Francisco a short time later, moved there, and married him. The
marriage lasted ten years, and once again Judy managed to leave the marriage
with a large divorce settlement. It probably hadn’t hurt that she’d caught
husband number two in bed with their housekeeper. When she opened the bedroom
door and found them in a compromising position, a light bulb went off in her
head, and she knew her husband had fathered the housekeeper’s son. Something
about the little boy’s appearance had always bothered her. Her husband and the
little boy shared a striking resemblance to one another. She’d angrily
confronted him, and he hadn’t denied it. A few days later he instructed his
attorney to make sure the divorce settlement to her was generous. It may have
been guilt money, but Judy felt he owed it to her. Since then there had been a
number of men in her life, but not one special man. She had vowed to Liz that
two marriages were enough. She made a promise to herself she would never marry
again.

Liz walked over to where
Judy was sitting looking out at the ocean. “Hey, lady, glad you could come up.
How was your massage?” she said, giving Judy a big hug.

“It was great, but is this
the guy Roger gave you? You didn’t tell me he was this big. I don’t think I’d
ever worry about my safety if he was protecting me.”

“I don’t, now that I have
him.” Liz turned to Winston, “Winston, I want you to meet Judy. Judy, this is
Winston.”

Winston walked over to
Judy, sat down next to her, and extended his paw as if to shake her hand.

“Are you kidding me? This
is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Does he do other tricks?” she asked,
shaking his paw.

“He does, but I haven’t
had time to go over them. Remember, I only got him yesterday, and my mind has
been on a few other things.”

“I understand, and I want
you to tell me everything, but first I have a question. Why did you name this
place the Red Cedar Spa? I mean, I know there are a lot of red cedars in the
area, but there are also a lot of other kinds of trees, why red cedar?”

“If you remember, after
you and I first came here I went back to San Francisco and convinced Joe we needed
to buy it. It was named ‘Spa By The Ocean’ at the time, and I kind of wanted a
better name, something a little more descriptive. Anyway, I thought the forests
around here were pretty spectacular, so I searched the Internet to find out
what I could about them. I ran across the legend of the red cedar. It’s a
Native American legend which describes the origins of the Western Red Cedar.
According to what I found out, the legend talked about a generous older man who
gave the people whatever they needed. When he died, the Great Spirit said a red
cedar tree would grow and multiply where he was buried, and it would give the
people what they needed, just as he had done. The trees would provide roots for
baskets, bark for clothing, and wood for shelter. I’ve placed a piece of
parchment paper in each of the cottages with the words of the legend written on
it, and it concludes by saying ‘We hope the Red Cedar Spa will give you what
you need.’”

“I’m impressed, Liz. Who
would have thought that anyone who can cook like you do could also be so good
at marketing? Nice job!”

“Thanks. Now that I’m
looking at the potential for a lot of bad publicity, maybe it will help us keep
the doors open. Anyway, I’m starving, and I’ll bet you are too. I’ll make some
lunch for us, and I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned about the murder and
the possible suspects.”

“I’d appreciate it,
because I’m dying of curiosity, and I’m pretty hungry too. What are you
offering?”

“Thought I’d fix a crab
Louie salad. I haven’t had one in a while and it’s not something I serve at
dinner. I’ve also got some sourdough bread that I’ll heat up, and that should
be plenty.”

An hour later Judy sat
back and said, “You’ve definitely had a few full days. I may have to move here
just to make sure you’re not getting into any trouble. Seems like you have your
hands full at the moment. Would you mind if I lived here permanently? You could
cook all this fabulous food, and I could just sit and look at the ocean and
pretend I know something about solving crimes, but I do love it here. What’s
next on today’s agenda?”

“You know you’re always
welcome here. As far as this afternoon’s agenda. I have a facial at 2:00, and
you have one at 3:30. I took the earlier one so I could be back in plenty of
time to get tonight’s dinner ready. We have a full house.”

“I’ll help. Just tell me
what to do.”

“Thanks. I meant to ask
you what you thought of your massage therapist this morning. She was the
therapist who gave Barbara, the woman who was murdered, a massage the day she
died.”

“I like her. I’m not real
big on talking when I’m being worked on, but she gave a great massage and
couldn’t have been nicer. I really don’t have much of anything to say about
her.”

“Okay. I’d also like your
opinion on the woman who’s going to be giving you your facial this afternoon.
She gave a facial to Barbara the day she died.”

“Will do. Anything else I
need to know or do?”

“Not that I can think of.
Why don’t you go back to your cottage and relax until your facial, or feel free
to stay here and look at the ocean. I need to talk to Bertha before I have my
facial, and I don’t have much time. I promised Roger I’d take Winston with me
everywhere I go for the time being, so he’ll be coming with me when I have my
facial.”

“Like I said when I talked
to you on the phone, any guy who gives a woman an expensive present like that
is pretty serious about her.”

“Come on, Judy. He gave me
a dog. It’s no big deal.”

“Yeah. Well, believe me,
he spent as much on that dog as he would have spent on a very expensive diamond
bracelet, and if he’d given you expensive jewelry I don’t think you’d be
saying, ‘Come on, Judy’ in that tone of voice, would you?”

“Hadn’t thought about it
that way. No I probably wouldn’t.”

“I think I’ve made my
point,” she said walking over to the door. “What time is dinner?”

“Wine and appetizers are
at 6:30. Dinner is served at 7:15. Why don’t you come around 6:00 or so, and
we’ll have a chance to compare facials.”

“Consider it done. See you
then. Bye, Winston.”

Winston gave a short bark
at being acknowledged and raised one of his paws.

You have got to be kidding
me. If the spa goes south, just might put him in the circus.

Liz knocked on the door marked
“Manager” and entered the large office that overlooked the ocean. “Bertha, do
you have a minute? I need to talk to you.”

“Of course. You sound like
you’re serious, what is it?”

Liz told her about the
conversation she’d had with Bart regarding the possibility that the spa was
being targeted in connection with Barbara’s death. “You’re the one who does all
the hiring and firing. Have you fired anyone recently or have there been any
disgruntled employees that you can think of?”

Bertha was quiet for a few
moments, deep in thought. “Liz, I can’t think of anyone who has been unhappy.
There seems to be a genuine camaraderie among the employees at the spa and,
believe it or not, I can’t remember ever having to fire anyone. You pay well,
and the employees seem to love working here. Just to give you an example of the
tight knit group we have, I just hired a facialist by the name of Gina. I think
you briefly met her the other morning. She was the one who gave Barbara her
facial prior to her death. Anyway, the day I hired her she was talking to a
couple of the employees at the spa about finding a place to live, and two of
them offered to let her share the cabin they were renting.”

“I thought that’s pretty
much what you’d say. I was sure if there had been a problem, you would have
alerted me to it. That’s interesting about Gina. I’m having a facial in a few
minutes from her. I didn’t realize she was that new.”

“She is, and I’ve gotten
very good feedback on her. I called the spa she’d been working at previously,
and they gave her a glowing referral. They were sorry she’d left, but knew she
was ready to move on to a bigger spa.”

“Well, I guess that’s a
dead end. If you think of anything else, let me know.” She turned and was
walking towards the door when Bertha called her back.

“Liz, there is something I
meant to tell you. I’m sure it’s nothing, and with everything that’s happened
over the last couple of days, it slipped my mind. I’m sorry.”

“I can certainly
understand something slipping your mind. What is it?”

“When I came to work the
morning I found Barbara, I noticed that the security lights weren’t working.
They come on at 6:00 p.m. this time of year and stay on throughout the night
and don’t go off until it’s fully light. I think this time of year they’re on
until 7:00. That particular morning I came to the lodge a little early, because
I had to take Hank to work since his car was in the shop. You know he works as
the manager of the supermarket in town, and he wanted to be there about 6:30,
so I probably got here about 6:40. Anyway, I noticed the security light we have
as you turn off the highway onto the lane wasn’t on. Then when I drove up to
the lodge parking lot, I noticed the spa and lodge security lights weren’t on
either. I thought maybe a circuit breaker had blown. When Zack came back to
work yesterday, the first thing I had him do was check on it, and sure enough,
he had to trip one of the circuit breakers to restore the lights, and they’re
working fine now. I don’t know how this fits in with anything, but as I said, I
meant to tell you, but it slipped my mind.”

“Thanks, Bertha, now that
you mention it, I do remember they weren’t on yesterday morning when a friend
of mine left early. Interesting. It is strange, but I don’t see how it would
play a part in Barbara’s death. I better go now, or I’m definitely going to be
late for my appointment. See you later. Come on, Winston.”

*****

Delores reached down and scratched
behind Winston’s ears and then stood up and escorted Liz to a room identical to
the massage room she’d been in earlier and told her to lie down on the
treatment bed, face up. There was a knock on the door and a young woman said,
“Hello, Mrs. Lucas. It’s Gina, we met the other day.”

“It’s good to see you
again. I hope you don’t mind that I brought my dog with me. I just got him
yesterday, and I’m trying to acclimate him to his new surroundings.”

“No, that’s fine with me.”
She knelt down and put her hand out to pet Winston. As she did so, they both
heard a low growl coming from him.

“Winston, no. I’m sorry,
Gina. As I said, I just got him yesterday, and something must have spooked
him.” She looked down at Winston who was as close to her as he could be without
getting up on the table with her. “Easy boy, easy.”

“Don’t worry about it,
Mrs. Lucas. Some people have a way with dogs. I don’t. They never seem to like
me. It’s okay, I’m used to it. I need to ask you if you have any skin
conditions I should be aware of.”

“No. My skin has never
been a problem. I’ve had a few facials, but none recently.”

Gina mixed a compound and
placed a soft mask over Liz’s eyes, examining her skin with the help of the
light from a strong lamp. Liz felt Gina’s hands gently moving over her face.

“Your skin’s in very good
condition. What I like to do with someone in your age group is a peel. It seems
to work well. You may experience a little pinkness afterwards as well as a
tingling sensation, but those will go away in a couple of days. Is it all right
with you if I do that kind of a procedure?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I
understand you’re living with two of the other women who work at the spa. How
did you happen to come here? This spa is a little off the beaten track.”

“I like it here,” Gina
said, stroking Liz’s face with soft pads soaked in a cleanser, “I live nearby
in a small cabin with Stephanie and Nikki. I got my aesthetician’s license in
Seattle and planned on practicing there, but my mother and I had a
disagreement. Actually, I surprised her with a visit one weekend and found her
in bed with my boyfriend, Scott, so I packed up and left the state. I really
feel fortunate to work here. Among spa employees, you have the reputation as
being the most selective about who you hire.”       

“Thanks, but how horrible
for you! Your mother and your boyfriend? How long ago was that?”

“Over two years ago, but
my mother called me last night,” she said with a catch in her voice, “to tell
me she and Scott had gotten married. I’m still a little shaken up by it, and I
have no idea how she got my cell phone number. Maybe she got it from Scott. I
know the only reason she married him was to hurt me. She’s hated me ever since
I can remember. My father left her when I was very young, and she always told
me I reminded her of him, because I looked so much like him.” Her hand shook
slightly as she applied gel to Liz’s face.

“Gina, I can’t imagine how
painful that must have been. Do you have brothers or sisters?”

“No. I’m an only child. I
don’t know what happened to my father. My mother and I were never close. Please
don’t talk anymore because I need this gel to set. I’m going to put a heat lamp
on you to dry it out a little faster. I’m also going to put some mitts on your hands
and wrists. They have a warm moisturizer in them. Just relax. I’ll be back in a
few minutes.”

Liz’s face was tingling,
and she was very aware of heat coming from the lamp. She wanted to scratch her
face, but figured that probably wasn’t a good idea. Plus, her hands were
covered with the mitts. Her thoughts turned to Gina.

How hard it must be for
her. I can’t imagine a mother doing that to her child. Sounds like she had a
miserable childhood. Who wouldn’t be upset by a phone call like that? I can
understand why her hand was shaking when she applied the gel to my face.
Liz drifted off for a few
minutes and was awakened by a knock on the door and seconds later, the sound of
the door opening.

“It’s Gina, Mrs. Lucas.
How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, but my face
feels itchy.”

“That’s perfectly normal.
I’ll take off the gel and apply a soothing aloe product on it that will counter
the effects from the peel. Your skin will soon feel like a newborn’s.” She
gently removed the gel and applied the aloe based lotion. “I’ll be back
shortly. Again, just relax.”

Whew, that feels a lot
better,
Liz
thought
. I can’t wait to see what my complexion looks like.

Gina returned in a few
minutes, removed the aloe lotion from Liz’s face, and the mitts from her hands.
“I’m applying a moisturizer to your face. I like to close these sessions by
massaging the neck and shoulders. Will that be all right?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“All right, Mrs. Lucas,
I’m finished,” she said a few minutes later.” I think you’ll be very happy with
how you look. As I said earlier, you might be a little pink, and your face may
feel a little prickly, but it should be gone by tomorrow.”

“Gina, I wish you well.
I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, but don’t judge all people by what your
mother and Scott have done to you. There are a lot of really good people out
there. Think about trying to find one of them, and I’m sure your life will be
much better.”

When she got back to her
apartment and went into the bathroom to take a shower, she noticed how pink her
face was, but decided it was a healthy look
.

I don’t think I’ll need
any makeup tonight other than a little mascara and lipstick.