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“I’m here to get the Eve’s Special,” she said in a low voice, as if she didn’t like the idea of being overheard.
The Eve’s Special? I didn’t remember seeing anything with that name when I’d scanned the list of treatments. I picked up the brochure the receptionist had handed me and paged through it more carefully, but there was no mention of it there.
“Of course,” the receptionist said smoothly. “I’m sure we can fit you in.”
Did her voice sound a little stiffer than before? She motioned the woman to one of the chairs without giving her a time estimate or mentioning payment. That was definitely weird, right?
Gathering my boldness, I got up and approached the counter again. “Hey,” I said, aiming for a casual but confident tone. “That special she asked for—what does that involve? I didn’t see it on the list.”
I thought the receptionist’s smile looked stiffer than the one she’d offered me before too. “Unfortunately we only offer that treatment to regular clients of a particular standing. If you make a habit of enjoying our services, one of our staff will let you know when you qualify.”
How very exclusive.
“Okay,” I said with a returning smile as if I wasn’t fazed, and went back to my seat. But my pulse had sped up a couple notches.
What kind of treatment would they keep off the regular menu and only offer to a few clients? Could it be code for something less than savory?
My instincts were twanging with an undeniable sense of alarm. If there was something suspicious about the setup here, I’d better make sure to figure it out before my time was up.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Madelyn
Iwouldn’t have thought pedicures would really be my thing, but there was something awfully relaxing about the gentle foot massage that accompanied the nail cleaning and painting, even with the tension inside me about my real mission here. I let myself sink into the padded chair, my eyes scanning the room surreptitiously as the woman attending to me did her work.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. The private treatment room was about the size of a walk-in closet with just a couple of the padded chairs, a cabinet and shiny metal cart that held various supplies, and a small sink in the corner. Everything looked polished and clean. The scent of fresh lavender hung in the air. Nothing about this space suggested criminal activity any more than the waiting room did.
The woman finished her work, surveyed my toes with a look of satisfaction, and stood up to put away her supplies and wash her hands. “All right, ma’am. Hailey should be by in about ten minutes to do your facial. She’s finishing up with another client now. There’s always a bit of a wait for walk-ins.”
“That’s totally fine,” I said with a skip of my pulse. It would give me time to do a little more poking around unsupervised.
I waited until she’d slipped out past the gauzy curtain that hung over the doorway and then got to my feet. It felt strange padding across the tiled floor with my bare soles, but I didn’t want to waste time putting my shoes back on. Ten minutes wasn’t much to work with.
Beyond the curtain, identical doorways lined the bright hallway with its baby blue walls. Soft voices carried from a couple of the rooms, but the hall itself was empty. I hesitated and then pushed myself forward. If anyone caught me wandering around, I’d claim that I needed the restroom. That would sound like a legitimate excuse, right?
I pulled my phone from my pocket and snapped a few photos while holding it as if simply carrying it, slipping down the hallway. At the far end, it branched into a T. I peeked out into the intersecting hall with my breath held.
A woman was just ducking into one of the rooms to the right, but her back was to me so she didn’t notice my presence. To my left, a figure I recognized stood by a doorway that held an actual door, half ajar.
It was the woman who’d asked for the Eve’s Special. I drew back, wondering why she was just hanging around in the hall. After a moment’s debate about how to watch without being caught, I switched my phone’s camera to selfie mode, pressed my back against the wall on the left side of my hallway, and eased my phone a couple of inches around the corner so that the camera would capture the view down there without anything more than a small rectangle being visible if someone glanced over.
As I studied my screen, another woman appeared in the doorway. She glanced up and down the hall, making me doubly glad for my precautions, and quickly held up a plastic baggie of what looked like white powder. At the client’s nod, she dropped it into a paper bag and handed it over. The woman pressed a few rolled bills to her in return.
What wasthat? It didn’t look like she was selling some regular spa product—the waiting room had a cabinet holding those up front. And surely they’d want to record any legitimate purchase with receipts and all that.
Apprehension prickled through me. Were they dealing some kind of drugs to a certain segment of their clientele through the spa? I’d definitely heard of middle class and even upper class women getting hooked on illicit substances—and they weren’t the types to want to hit up a scruffy dealer on a street corner for a hit.
I tipped my phone slightly to make sure the recording caught the spa logo painted on the wall just beyond the two women. At the same moment, they both turned toward me, their transaction complete.
My heart hitched. I yanked my phone back and hustled back to my treatment room, nearly stumbling into the wrong one on my way there but catching a whisper of a voice on the other side of the curtain just in time. Nerves jangling, I darted into the next room and spotted my shoes on the floor, confirmation that I’d made it back to the right place.
I dropped into the chair and tried to steady my breath. Less than a minute later, another woman breezed into the room. To my relief, she didn’t give any sign that she saw anything unusual about my appearance.
“Hey there, I’m Hailey,” she said in a chipper voice. “I’ll be doing your facial today. First I’ll ask you a few questions about your skin, all right?”
“Sure,” I said, managing a smile that wasn’t even all that shaky. Once I’d filled her in on the state of my face, I leaned back into the chair and let myself fully give over to the experience, even closing my eyes.
I’d already found one huge piece of evidence. It wasn’t likely there weremorecriminal activities going on here at the same time, and even if there were, I couldn’t go seeking them out when Hailey was smearing a cool gel over my forehead.
