divorced divas 02 - crimped to death (8 page)

I grabbed my bag and left Marlene in charge of the shop. She’d be fine and she could certainly handle the bride’s first appointment since it was only a fact gathering session on what Autumn had in mind and the colors.

It didn’t take me long to drive over to Dr. Russell’s. The lot was empty. The brown, square, brick, stand-alone boring building had minimal landscape with the small bushes going around the entire office. There were two long and wide windows on each side of the door with the old metal horizontal blinds that had yellowed over the years from the sun.

I pushed the door open and immediately the sterile stale smell of rubber and band-aids made my stomach curl. The old wood paneling hung from the waiting room walls. Carol’s sliding glass window was cracked. There was a clipboard teetering off the edge where clients checked in.

Ahem
. I cleared my throat when I didn’t see Carol behind the glass. I took the pen that was tied to the clip on the clipboard with a string of yarn and wrote my name down on the page that had the date printed very large on the top.

I flipped through the week’s worth of pages. I inwardly groaned when I saw Charlie’s name. She’d been here a couple of days ago. But the most disturbing thing was
not
seeing a lot of names on each page. I was used to signing the paper and seeing members of the community on there.

I put the board back on the edge and took a seat in one of the old plastic vinyl chairs that had cracks in all of them. I picked the one with the fewest cracks and didn’t expose the padding underneath.

“Hi, Holly.” Carol flung the window open and grabbed the clipboard. “Anything change on your insurance?” she asked and crossed off my name.

“All the same.” I smiled and picked up an Oprah magazine from two years ago. I put it back when I realized I looked at it the last time I was here.

Ginger’s description of Henry Frisk’s dental office played in my head. I’d kill to have a Keurig cup of coffee right now. There definitely wasn’t a complimentary Keurig machine in Kevin’s office, and I would bet the same grey plastic pod dental chairs were in the back too.

“How has business been?” I asked Carol, trying to get some information out of her.

“Meh,” she curled her nose. “It had slowed down a lot since Henry Frisk opened a couple months ago. But since the,” she ran her finger along her neck, “clients have called to schedule.”

“Yeah, that was terrible.” I let out a long sigh and eyed her reaction.

“It was. I have been looking over my back and catching myself checking the locks on my windows and doors at home several times before I go to bed.” She shook her head. Her lips dipped. “I just don’t know why someone would go around killing someone. Dr. Frisk always seemed nice when he stopped by.”

“He would come by here?” I asked.

That seemed odd. Why would Henry want to come see his competition? There were plenty of teeth to clean and dentures to fix from all the good citizens of Swanee to go around.

“Between me and you.” Carol stood up. She glanced behind her as if she was checking to see if the coast was clear. “I don’t think he and Dr. Russell liked each other. Dr. Frisk came in before he opened his shop and told Dr. Russell out of courtesy that he was going to open an office. I didn’t see a problem with it, but Dr. Russell was spitting mad all day after that.”

“What did he say about it?” I stood up and walked over.

“He didn’t say anything.” Her eyes grew as big as the sun. “He slammed his door, cussed, threw things and made clients bleed.”

“Bleed?” My heart pumped. I held my hand to my chest hoping that blood wasn’t going to come out of my gums after this cleaning.

“Clients called to tell me he had done a deep cleaning and made them bleed more than normal.” She rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t tell them he was mad and was probably taking it out on them.”

I clenched my teeth together. They were already hurting.

“Oh don’t worry.” Carol smiled. “He’s been in a great mood the last couple of days. You will be fine.”

“Do you mean he’s been in a good mood since?” I ran my finger along my neck.

Slowly she nodded.

“Good morning, Holly.” Dr. Russell appeared at the waiting room door. “Are you ready?” he asked. His rubbery lips sat below his beaklike nose on his thin long face. His scraggly brows dipped. “Holly?”

“Um. . .” I hesitated. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I stood up and walked through the door.

The stinky smell of the office almost made me faint. The seventies orange wall-to-wall carpet was in desperate need of an overhaul. The wallpaper had the fuzzy textured look, but most of the fuzzy had long been rubbed off.

“How is your shop?” he asked and pointed for me to sit.

“Great. I have been doing a lot of brides since Margaret’s wedding.” That was probably the last time I had seen Dr. Russell. He and his wife had sat in the corner the entire night.

I was right. The old dental chair was there. I sat down. He took the old blue plastic, paper bib combination and used the silver clips to hold it in place around my neck.

He snapped on latex gloves and ran his finger from each hand down the other for a snug fit.

I took several deep breaths to try to help slow down my racing heart. I kept my eyes ahead. The air from the pleather cushion of the rolling dental chair swooshed as he sat down on it. The wheels squeaked across the floor as he got closer.

“That’s great. My wife had mentioned she wanted to try that Wine and Bead class or something like that.” He flipped the big spotlight above my head on and pulled it over top of me. He lowered my chair.

“She should. Tell her to come on by for a free class.” Nervously I opened my mouth as his fingers came closer.

Patsy Russell had to be a good fifteen years younger than Dr. Russell. She was a born and bred southern woman through and through. She never left her house without her pearls: the strand draped down her neck, wrapped around her wrist and stuck in her ears. She was always dressed like she was going to the Kentucky Derby. A one-piece, one-color dress, heels to match and a hat to complete the outfits.

Once I had overheard her say that she was a doctor’s wife and she would rather be caught dead than in sweatpants. I just so happened to be wearing sweatpants that day.

“How has your business been?” I asked, not thinking that a killer’s hands could be in my mouth.

“It’s picking up,” he said. His stale coffee breath nearly knocked me out. “Since Dr. Frisk was found violently killed.” He shook his head. His grey eyes were busy looking around my mouth as he took his fingers and spread my lips away from my gums in all sorts of directions.

“I ‘eard ‘bout ‘hat.” My speech slurred as I tried to talk back to him.

“It’s a shame too.” His fingers left my mouth and he picked a tool from the small platter just to his left. “Just a few days ago we were at the Barn Dance Committee meeting and he had some great ideas, but they couldn’t be implemented this year since the Barn Dance is coming up. He didn’t understand that and said he would put it together.”

“Like what?” I asked before he put that scraping tool in my mouth.

“He wanted to bring a famous country band to play, but the cost was just too much for the financial committee to come up with.” The tool scraped up and down my teeth. He used the suction tool to suck up my saliva. “When I told him it wasn’t in the budget, he went crazy. He said that he was coming into some extra money and would be more than happy to pay for it. When I asked him when he was going to get the money, he said something about after he won some court case.” Dr. Russell shook his head. “If some client was suing him, it could take years to get that money. It wasn’t a gamble I was going to take with the Barn Dance budget.”

Was a client suing him? Was that why he was taking Bernadine back to court?
Was that why he moved back to Swanee?

“Oh, I’m sorry Dr. Russell.” A lively female voice came from the right side of me near the door. I couldn’t see her since I was practically on my back, scraping tool in my mouth and eyes blinded by the old spotlight. “I didn’t see Carol out there and I didn’t know you had a client.”

I recognized the voice, but couldn’t place it.

“Don’t worry.” Dr. Russell picked up the little metal mirror tool and rotated it all over my mouth and ran it along my gum lines, causing the sides of lips to open wider. Spit dribbled out of the corners of my mouth. “I’ll be with you in a few minutes if you want to hang out in my office.”

“Sounds great.” The woman’s voice was happy. “You are going to love the new designs I have put together.”

“Looking forward to it.” His grey eyes looked down at me. With one hand still in my mouth, he used his other hand to wipe my mouth with the bib.

“Gettin’ a ‘ew offish.” I tried to talk with his fingers in my mouth.

Dr. Russell flipped the spotlight off and swung it over to the opposite side of my head to get it out of the way. He sat my chair up and rolled backward on the stool to the small counter where the tiny sink was. He stood up and took out a small white cup and put fluoride in it setting it next to the sink. I took the bib and wiped my mouth off. My lips felt like they had been stretched over the entire state.

“Go ahead and rinse.” Dr. Russell was writing all over my chart. “See you in six months.”

“Maybe before that.” I slid out of the chair and walked over to the sink. I held the tiny cup in my fingers. “I’m going to see Bobbi Hart to see if I can get on one of the Barn Dance Committees.” I took the fluoride like a shot glass and swished it around before I spit it out.

“I think we have room on the decorating committee.” He plucked the gloves off his hands and tossed them in the garbage. He held his hand out. “Good seeing you, Holly.”

I extended my hand. His cold clammy hand made me gag to think they were just in my mouth and maybe what had been gripped around the knife that killed Henry Frisk.

Chapter Ten

Dr. Russell slipped out of the cleaning room and into his office before I could clean myself up and see who the woman was that was there to see him before she shut the door. I grabbed my bag and headed back down to the waiting room to check out with Carol.

“How was it?” Carol wiped the corners of her mouth with the napkin. Her Big Mac in front of her looked really good. Unfortunately there was no way I could partake. That would add the pound I had lost at Food Watchers.

“It was fine.” I reached in my bag and took out my wallet. “Here is my check card for the co-pay.”

“Oh, new policy.” She took a gulp of the sweet tea. “We are going to bill it all to your insurance so no co-pay.”

Ginger said the same thing about Henry. Did Dr. Russell get the same idea from Henry? I could only wonder.

“Say,” I gripped my check card and leaned over, “is the place getting a makeover?”

“Yes,” Carol gasped. “Can you believe it? I’ve been telling Dr. Russell for years, but he never listened to me. Then all of the sudden he wants all this fancy stuff. He even hired an interior decorator.”

“Yeah, I heard the salesperson come in.”

“She did?” Carol’s mouth dropped. “She’s early. Oh God, was Kevin mad?”

“No,
Kevin
wasn’t mad.” I drew back and stared at her. For as long as I had been coming here, I had never heard Carol refer to Dr. Russell as Kevin. “I’ve been meaning to get some quotes on The Beaded Dragonfly. Do you happen to have the interior decorator’s name and number?”

“I do.” Carol used her finger to flip through the desk calendar. “I told Dr. Russell that we needed to get a computer so I didn’t have to keep all of these files.”

She licked her finger and grabbed a piece of paper. She wrote down the name and number I had asked for and handed it to me.

“You don’t have a computer?” I thought it was strange the doctor wouldn’t invest in the latest technology, but then we were talking about Dr. Russell who didn’t have anything new.

“No,” she sighed. “I still hand write every single appointment and type all of his notes.” She rolled her eyes before she took another bite of her sandwich.

“Well.” I tapped the piece of paper on my hand before I stuck it in my bag. “I guess I’ll see you at the dance.”

“I don’t think I’m going this year,” Carol said. “I’ve got too much work to do.” She pointed over to the stack of papers on the credenza behind her desk.

“Okay. I will see you in six months.” I waved over my shoulder.

I didn’t recognize the name of the interior decorator Carol had written down. But I knew Bernadine would. Before I went to see Bobbi, I decided to call Bernadine.

“How are you?” I asked her when she answered the phone.

“They let me reopen the shop and Sadie insisted I go home.” Her voice was low and sad. “I have something to tell you.”

“I’m listening.” I started the Beetle and looked around the parking lot. The cute yellow Fiat I had seen in the Food Watchers parking lot was here.

“The knife they found that killed Henry.” Bernadine started to cry.

“Yes.” Thinking about the bloody bag that Noah Druck had laid on the table, sent goose bumps up and down my body.

“Holly,” Bernadine sucked in a deep breath. “The knife came from my home.”

“What are you saying, Bernadine?” I questioned my friend. “Did you. . .”

“Of course I didn’t kill him, but someone did and that someone broke into my house and took my knife to kill him.” Bernadine broke out in sobs. “Someone is after me. Someone is trying to frame me.”

“Don’t worry.” I gulped. “Does Noah know that it came from your house?”

“No.” She was quick to respond. “But I don’t want to say anything over the phone. I called Rush Security and Joni put me on the list to get surveillance cameras installed in the cabin. Only I’m on the waiting list. I’ll be behind bars before they get to me and not need them.”

“You aren’t going to jail. Noah will figure this out.” I slid down in my seat when I noticed Charlie from Food Watchers walk out the door of Dr. Russell’s office. She had on a short black dress that hugged her body in all the right places. “If Noah can’t figure it out, the Divas will.”