The Infinity Wellness Center was located across the street from the lot where we’d parked, in an unassuming one-story building that had once housed a veterinarian’s office. I remembered the vet from one of my trips to Gloucester with Richie. We’d rushed Rosie I here after she’d eaten a big bag of Mallomars. Not the greatest memory—in fact, I’d blocked a lot of it—but everything had worked out in the end. I hoped the same for this particular expedition. I also wanted to stop remembering Richie for a few minutes.
From the outside, only the sign was different. The waiting area had changed, though. The walls had been painted a pale violet, and there was soft sitar music playing, comfortable chairs, cubbyholes for patrons’ shoes, and potted bamboo plants. A small Zen garden was perched on a slate table at thecenter of the room, and the magazine rack, stocked with old issues ofCat Fancy, was long gone. But something about the place still exuded vet energy. Rosie even whined when she came in.
The woman behind the front desk looked like she’d walked right out of wellness community central casting—from her long silver hair, to her Indian print blouse, to the clusters of multicolored stones and crystals adorning her ears, wrists, and neck. But it was only when she looked up at us and did a full-on double take that I realized how out of our element Tony and I were. Him in his Zegna suit and his expensive haircut. Me in my black Jil Sander shift and my equally expensive haircut. I wished we’d had time to change. This woman probably thought we were here to serve her a summons.
“Can I help you?” She wore a name tag that readLarch. Was it pronounced like the tree? Or was it an odd spelling of Lark? I had no clue.
“I hope so, Larch.” I pronounced it like the tree. She didn’t correct me. I gave her what I hoped was a disarming smile and asked if I could speak to Natalie Blythe.
Rosie barked.
“Is that an emotional support dog?” Larch said. “I ask because we usually don’t allow animals.”
“That’s funny,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because this place used to be a vet’s office.”
Larch didn’t even crack a smile.
“Anyway,” I said. “Yes. She is. And she doesn’t bite.”
“I should hope not.” She gave Rosie one of those wary looks I found hard to tolerate, given how obviously sweet my dog is.
I scooped Rosie into my arms and refrained from saying something sarcastic. “She won’t bother you,” I said. “I promise.”
Larch kept her wary gaze on me. She picked up a phone and told Natalie she had visitors. When she asked for our names, I told her mine, and then Tony took a step forward. “Tony Gault,” he said. “She’ll know who I am.”
Larch repeated Tony’s name into the phone. After a few moments of listening, she spun away from us and spoke to her boss in a voice so low, I couldn’t even make out consonants.
“Natalie will be right with you,” Larch said. “I have to check on one of the Reiki tables.”
Larch left, and then Natalie Blythe walked in. She was disarmingly tall—nearly Tony’s height, and he was well over six feet. She was dressed very expensively, in pale pink yoga pants I recognized from the Lululemon catalog ($200), an embroidered Dior “Dioramour” T-shirt (around $1,500), and a diamond tennis bracelet and earrings that could have easily set her back half a million. I no longer felt intimidating in Jil Sander. I started to introduce myself, but Natalie had eyes only for Tony. Her benefactor. She didn’t seem very happy to see him. “I’m hoping you just happened to be in the neighborhood,” she said, “and that you’ll be leaving soon.”
“Nice to see you, too, Natalie,” Tony said.
“It isn’t personal,” she said. “I just know who you work for.”
“Understood,” Tony said.
“He isn’t delivering bad news,” I said.
“Not necessarily,” Tony said.
“What are you talking about?” She looked at me as if she was just noticing me for the first time. “Who is she?”
“Sunny Randall,” I said. “I’m a private investigator.”
Her gaze shifted from Tony’s face to mine and back again. “Is Melanie Joan missing?”
“No,” I said.
“Well, then, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Are you Book Babe?” I just blurted it out. Like ripping off a bandage. Tony gaped at me. He probably didn’t think it was the best approach, but I didn’t care. If we kept dancing around like this, we weren’t going to get anything other than thrown out of Natalie’s spa.
Natalie blinked at me. Her earrings glittered. “What?” Her expression was as noncommittal as it could possibly be.
