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Glancing around, Ashlynn nervously waited and wished she knew how long she was going to have to stand there. She was about to pull out her phone when she spotted that bitch Sandy walking toward her.
Great.
Like it wasn’t bad enough that she was going to have to confront Becky, but did she really have to deal with Sandy too?
“Ash, maybe you should go inside?” Reid suggested, but she ignored him.
“Reid Baylor! Just the man I was looking for!” Bob Banks said loudly as he came out the station door. “Can you come inside with me? We need to talk.”
Thank God…
“Actually, Chief, I can’t. I’m here to support Ashlynn,” he announced boldly.
Oh, good grief…
“Seriously, Reid, you need to come inside now,” Bob stated.
“No can do. I already let other people convince me to leave her and I’m not doing it again. You can fire me if you have to, but I’m not going anywhere.” Then he crossed his massive arms and stared defiantly at his boss.
Sandy was getting closer and Ashlynn knew if anyone else was out here, they’d never get this over with. Undoubtedly, Becky wasn’t far behind. With no other choice, she went toe-to-toe with Reid, grabbed the front of his shirt, and whispered menacingly, “We are trying to get a confession out of Becky without any witnesses, you doofus! Now go with Bob or so help me, I will strangle you and never speak to you again!”
His eyes went wide and he looked over at Bob who gave a curt nod.
“Fine,” he mumbled. “But tonight, we’re talking.”
“Not if you don’t get your ass out of here,” she threatened, and this time—finally!—he walked away.
Letting out a shaky breath, Ashlynn turned and saw Sandy was practically at the stairs.
“Well, well, well,” Sandy sang with a confident smile. “Finally. It looks like they finally listened.”
Ashlynn frowned. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t believe it took them this long to listen to us,” she went on. “You’d think with all the evidence it would have been easy. You really should have been more careful, Ashlynn.” Then she made a tsking sound and her smile turned a little sinister. “Such a shame that your beautiful new salon will end up with a new owner.” Her laughter was slightly maniacal. “Like me!”
Oh, hell no…
“There’s no way you’re getting my salon. That’s not even an option. Besides, I’m innocent. My lawyer is going to be here any minute and this will all be cleared up.”
“Aww…poor delusional Ashlynn,” Sandy cooed. “I don’t think so. After all, your fingerprints were all over the salon where the fire started.”
“Pfft…that’s not even possible,” she challenged, but her heart was racing like mad. “I was gone from the salon for weeks, and honestly, I was happy to be gone. Why would I burn it down?”
“Payback for getting fired, of course. Jeez, you can’t be that clueless.”
Ashlynn glanced beyond Sandy’s shoulder and saw Becky’s car pulling into the parking lot and knew she had to keep up this ridiculous conversation a few minutes longer.
“Sorry, but…” She shrugged. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t care that much about the job to do anything like this.”
“Oh, please! You were pissed and we all know it! Going back to me getting the bigger booth! Everyone knew you were angry about that. And then after messing up that old bitch Hazel’s hair? You were humiliated! It’s no wonder you dumped those bottles of chemicals all over the back room!”
“Um…”
“It was particularly brilliant—but poor planning on your part—to drop that magazine with your name and address on it.” Another tsking sound. “Either way, I think the final nail in your coffin was the fingerprints on the gas can.” Then she leaned in close. “It was easy to lift them from the shampoo bottles.”
Doing her best not to react, Ashlynn heard the police officer whisper in her ear, “We got it!”
“I guess you’ve got it all figured out,” she said to Sandy. Becky was walking up to them and frowning.
