An Uplifting Murder (6 page)

“She seemed healthy,” Josie said. “She couldn’t rip off the plastic bag because her hands were tied with that strappy bra she’d just bought. I didn’t get a good look at her, but I think she tried to fight. She’s definitely dead. Alyce, please, call 911.”

Josie didn’t like the quaver in her voice.

“I’m trying,” Alyce said. “My cell phone doesn’t work in this bathroom.”

“Look, ladies, I really do need to find a working john,” Kelsey said. “Please, let me out. I can’t wait much longer.”

“This place is going to be a crime scene, Kelsey,” Josie said. “The police will want to talk to you.”

Kelsey pulled out a tiny notebook from the purse in her lap and scribbled on a sheet of white paper. “Here’s my contact information for the police. Now I have to get rolling.”

Kelsey handed Alyce the paper. Alyce, still trying to call 911, absently stuck the paper in her pocket.

Kelsey hit the wall plate that opened the door for wheelchairs and rolled briskly toward Bluestone’s department store at the other end of the mall. Josie noticed Kelsey’s powerful arms. She might be unable to walk, but Kelsey didn’t seem helpless.

“I give up on this cell phone,” Alyce said, slamming it shut.

“I’ll call the police from the Desiree store phone,” Josie said.

“I’ll stay here,” Alyce said, “and keep more women from stumbling inside.”

“There’s no one else in this bathroom, is there?” Josie asked. “I don’t want to leave you alone with a killer.” She checked the other stall. “It’s clear. I’ll be back as fast as I can. Are you too creeped out to be alone with a dead woman?”

“Go!” Alyce said. “I didn’t like Frankie when she was alive. She can’t hurt me now that she’s dead.”

Josie ran all the way to Desiree Lingerie. She felt oddly disconnected, as if she were watching a movie. She was relieved to see her former gym teacher standing behind the counter.

“Quick!” Josie said. “Call 911. It’s an emergency.”

“Are you hurt?” Laura said. “What about your friend?”

“Alyce is fine. It’s Frankie. Someone killed her.”

Laura’s face turned white as a bridal trousseau. “No! This is awful.” The big woman swayed. Josie hoped she wouldn’t collapse. She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to catch Laura.

“It is pretty bad,” Josie said. “But I didn’t like Frankie much.”

“Neither did I,” Laura said. “I meant this is bad news for me, personally. I’ll be arrested for her murder.”

“You? Why?”

“I’m the most likely suspect,” Laura said.

“Frankie isn’t a regular customer, is she?” Josie asked.

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen Frankie since high school.”

“That’s good,” Josie said.

“No, that makes it worse,” Laura said. “When the police know our history, they’ll blame me for her death. That girl was wicked. Frankie ruined me once. She destroyed my career and my marriage. It took me years to rebuild my life. Now when it’s finally back on track, Frankie will destroy me again.”

A woman has been murdered, Josie thought, and Laura is worried about herself. She didn’t remember her former teacher having this selfish side. But what did any student know about someone she saw a few hours a week?

Laura must have read Josie’s face. “I must sound heartless,” she said, “but I have a hard time feeling sorry for Frankie.”

“It’s easy to see why you wouldn’t like her after today’s performance,” Josie said. “How did she ruin you?”

“It would take too long to explain now. I’ll need to sit down and talk to you. All I can say is I was innocent. I should have fought her and I didn’t. She would have ruined more lives than mine. I couldn’t have let that happen then.”

“You have an alibi for today, don’t you?” Josie asked. “Alyce and I have been shopping for the last hour. Weren’t you in the store?”

“No,” Laura said. “I was on my lunch break. After you left, I put on my coat and went for a walk outside—two laps around the mall.”

“When it’s two degrees?” Josie said.

“I take lunch walks, no matter what the weather. You burn more calories walking in the cold. After my walk, I came back here.”

“The other saleswomen must have seen you when you came back,” Josie said.

“No, Rosa and Trish were both in the fitting rooms with customers. I didn’t want to disturb them. Bra sizing is a delicate process and interruptions can kill sales. I hung up my coat in the office and had lunch in the food court.”

“Then you’re safe,” Josie said. “Your receipt will show the time you paid for your lunch.”

“I don’t have a receipt,” Laura said. “I brought my lunch from home: grilled chicken, fruit salad, and a bottle of water. I’m on a diet, not that it does any good.”

“Someone must have seen you eating at a table.”

“Who notices a fat middle-aged woman?” Laura asked. “I didn’t know any of the shoppers in the food court. No one said hello. How will the police track down witnesses?”

“I don’t know,” Josie said. “But we’d better call them now. Alyce is alone in the restroom with the dead Frankie.”

“I’ll do it,” Laura said. “Though it’s like a knife through my heart.” She stabbed 9-1-1 on the phone keypad.

“This is Laura Ferguson, manager of Desiree Lingerie at Plaza Venetia,” she said into the phone. “A customer says there is a dead woman in the mall restroom. She was murdered. It’s the public women’s restroom two doors down from my store. Desiree Lingerie is store number one fifteen on the first floor, near the escalator.”

There was a pause while Laura listened.

“Yes, the woman who found the body is here with me and she’s safe. Another woman is standing guard inside the restroom. I’m sure she is, but let me ask.”

Laura turned to Josie. “The operator wants to know if Alyce is safe.” She handed the receiver to Josie.

Josie took the phone with shaking hands. She said, “We checked the other stall, and it was empty, operator. I left the handicapped stall door locked from the inside and didn’t touch the woman’s body. I don’t think she needs paramedics. She looked really dead. Yes, I realize the killer could come back.”

“Please, tell the woman still inside to leave the restroom immediately, ma’am,” said the 911 operator in a professionally calm voice. “She can stand in front of the door and wait for the police. They’ll be right there.”

“I’ll stand with her,” Josie said, and handed the phone back to Laura.

“No, I won’t hang up,” Laura said into the phone. “I’ll stay on the line until the police arrive.”

Josie ran for the restroom, wondering how Frankie could ruin Laura’s life twice.

She looked up and down the mall and saw no sign of Kelsey in her wheelchair.

Chapter 6

“Is this your bra, Ms. Marcus?”

Josie’s lacy steel gray bra dangled from Detective Michael Yawney’s index finger. He arched his eyebrow. The empty C-cups bulged, as if accusing her of intentional embellishment.

In the drab little back office at Plaza Venetia, Josie’s bra looked more sleazy than sophisticated. She tried not to think about Yawney unhooking that bra.

Now that her love life was hot again, Josie found herself giving men appraising looks, sizing them up for encounters she knew she’d never have. She wondered what Detective Yawney’s thick brown hair felt like, and if his jutting jaw would be slightly scratchy with beard stubble. His ironic smile said he wouldn’t take himself too seriously. His wedding ring said he was off-limits. She shut down her wandering thoughts and wished he’d get his hands off her bra. She could feel a blush burning her cheeks.

“It’s a simple question,” Detective Yawney said. “Is this your bra?”

“Yes, I bought it this morning,” Josie said.

Yawney started to reach for the Desiree Lingerie bag again. If he takes out my thong panties, I’ll strangle him, she thought. Josie added quickly, “All that’s mine. The other bra and the underwear.”

Was he smirking? Those scraps of lace hardly deserved such a sensible noun as “underwear.”

“I bought them for a mystery-shopping assignment,” Josie said. “I work for Suttin Services on Manchester Road.”

“You bought lingerie as a secret shopper?” he asked.

“My paperwork is in my car. I’ll be happy to get it.” Josie stood up and pushed back her scuffed chair.

Detective Yawney’s desk chair creaked and he sat up straighter. “That’s okay, Ms. Marcus. Sit down. I can check later.”

“Those are my black-and-white scarves in the other bag,” she said.

The detective didn’t seem interested in the scarves. She wished he’d put down that quizzical eyebrow. He did, and his ironic smile disappeared. “I’d like to go over your discovery of the victim again. Why were you in that restroom?”

Josie swallowed hard and repeated the story for the third time for the homicide detective.

Plaza Venetia was in the exclusive enclave of Venetia Park. The town did not want anything threatening its main source of income. The police would move fast when there was a murder at the mall.

Josie’s voice was scratchy. She wanted a drink of water, but then what if she needed a restroom? Josie didn’t even want to think about using a public bathroom.

“Alyce and I were shopping and she needed a bathroom. We opened the door and the entrance was blocked by a woman in a wheelchair. She said her name was Kelsey. She wanted to leave because she couldn’t get into the handicapped stall. The other restroom was at the other end of the mall. I offered to crawl under the stall door and open it.”

“Did you know this Kelsey woman?”

“I never saw her before this morning,” Josie said.

“Did you look under the stall door first to see what was blocking it?” the detective asked.

“Yes. I rattled the door, too. It wouldn’t open.”

“Did you see the victim on the floor when you first checked underneath the door?”

“Of course not,” Josie said. “I couldn’t see anything but the gray floor. It was a big stall and Frankie was wedged in the far corner alongside the toilet.”

“How well did you know the victim?”

“I went to high school with Frankie,” Josie said. “She was a year younger. I didn’t see her after I graduated until she walked into Desiree Lingerie today.”

“When was the last time you saw the victim alive?”

“When she left the store this morning, about eleven or so. Frankie had carried in a red dress covered with a plastic bag. She bought a bra and left. Alyce and I had made our selections. I put our purchases on my credit card. We walked around, then left to do more shopping at Deep Designer Discounts. That’s where I bought the scarves.” She pointed to the DDD bag. He ignored it.

“I’m having trouble understanding something,” Detective Yawney said. “You say the handicapped-stall door was locked and you volunteered to crawl under it.”

“Yes.”

“Did you know this Kelsey?”

“No,” Josie said.

“But you volunteered to crawl on a filthy bathroom floor for a stranger?”

“She needed help,” Josie said. “Any woman would have done it. The floor didn’t look too bad.”

“What happened when you slid under the door?” Detective Yawney asked.

“I was halfway through when I saw Frankie. Her eyes were bulging and her mouth was open like she was screaming. Her face was swollen and horrible. Thin plastic covered her face. I thought it was the bag from her new dress.”