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“Rarity Cole.” She took the card. She needed to get her hair done anyway. And with her luck, if she’d said her name was something else, she’d run into someone she knew who would rat her out. She might not be done asking questions anyway.
She left the spa and went to sit next to Jonathon. “She was here from eight to eleven thirty that day. At least that’s what the receptionist said. I have an appointment next Saturday with this Roger guy, so if we still need more information, I canask him then.”
“If not, are you still keeping the appointment?” He linked her arm in his, and they walked back to the car.
“Maybe. Probably. Hairdressers love to talk. Especially when there’s drama involved. If I throw Trish’s dead sister into the conversation, you know he’s going to blab about something or someone.” Rarity climbed into the car. “I’ll let Drew know what we found, and you drive us to the milkshake place. Maybe they have fish burgers too.I’m starving.”
* * * *
When Jonathon dropped her off at the house, he offered to wait and drive her to the shop.
“No, go on about your day. Killer will need the walk after being cooped up this morning without me.” Rarity shut the door and waved as he drove away. Drew had been quiet when she gave him the details about Trish’s appointment. If what she’d found out was true, her hair appointment gave Trish an alibi that cleared her from being charged with killing her sister. At least with her doing the deed. She still could have hired someone. Then Drew had told her to cancel the hair appointment.But she hadn’t.
And as she gathered her things for a half day at work and clicked a leash onto Killer’s collar, she didn’t think she would. She might not find out anything new about Janey’s death, but people talked when they were getting their hair done. Maybe she could find out how Trish felt about her sister. And if Trish was involved with anyone. That could be the person who actually killed Janey. Rarity wasn’t ready to give up on Trish being responsible for Janey’s death. Even if she’d been getting her hair done an hour away at the time.
Killer was ready to go, and Rarity realized they’d been standing at the door for several minutes as she thought out her plan to keep researching Trish. She leaned down and gave him a pat on the head. “Sorry, boy. I’m a little distracted today. Let’s go to work.”
He pulled at the leash until he found a spot of grass he liked. Then he was ready to go. Luckily, this time she didn’t need a bag, but she always had one on hand, just in case. They walked into town, Rarity’s head in the clouds thinking about this morning’s field trip, and Killer sniffing at every street sign and light pole on their way.
She was about to walk over and unlock her bookstore when she saw lights on at Sam’s crystal shop. Rarity still had the card from the woman who wanted a necklace, so she kept walking past the bookstore and over to Sam’s. Killer, confused, kept trying to turn around to go to the store. Finally, she picked him up and carried him the rest of the wayto Sam’s shop.
She opened the door, and bells went off. Sam was nowhere to be seen. Rarity called out, “Sam?Are you here?”
No answer.
Rarity went around the counter and into the back room, where Sam worked on herjewelry. “Sam?”
A sound came from her left, and all of a sudden, Rarity found herself falling to the floor. A blinding light flashed in front of her eyes, and a sharp pain seared the back of her head. Killer started barking, and then everything went black.
A bright light shone in her eyes. A man asked, “Miss? Hey, can you hear me?”
Killer was still barking but farther away. She reached for the leash but couldn’t find it. Why wasn’t he on the leash? She blinked again. Then she croaked out, “Killer? Whereare you, boy?”
“Killer’s your dog, right?” the male voice asked her. He was calm, which made her even more scared. She tried to focus now that the light was gone. A man’s face swam in front of her.
“Yes. Is he all right?” She tried to sit up, but something held her down, and her head hurt.Bad. “Killer?”
“He’s fine. My buddy’s got him a few feet away from you. I need to know how you’re doing before I can let him over here. What’s your name?”
Now Rarity could see the voice was coming from the man she saw above her. “What happened?”
“Answer my question, and I’ll try to answer yours. What’s your name?” The man smiled, and for some reason, she smiled back.
The action made her head hurt even more. She groaned, then answered him.“Rarity Cole.”
“Hi, Rarity. And your dog’s name is Killer? It’s a little optimistic for his size, isn’t it?”
Rarity almost laughed, but the action made the pain worse. “He came to me with that name. He’s okay?”
“He’s fine. What happened? Why are you on the floor in the back of the crystal shop? Doyou remember?”
“I was looking for Sam. Her lights were on, and I needed to give her a card.” Rarity closed her eyes again. The lights were too bright when she had them open. But with them closed, she felt like she was falling. Although she felt the floor on her back. So where could she fall to? She opened her eyes again.“Is Sam okay?”
“I’m here, Rarity. I’d gone out back for a smoke, and when I came inside, Killer was barking. Who hit you?” Sam’s face came over tothe other side.
“Ma’am, you need to stay back until I stabilize her.” The man’s voice sounded closer. He put a neck brace around her neck. “We need to take you to the hospital to be checked out.”
“Is that necessary?” Rarity was starting to wake up. She lifted her head, and a blast of pain made her close her eyes. “Okay, fine, I’ll go. Sam, can you take care of Killer? And put a sign up at the store. Just say I’m closed for the day.”
