Page 11 of Gem Warfare
“That would look great,” I agreed. “Very chic too.”
“I suppose I could ask the eventual contractors if that’s possible. I don’t like the idea of anyone being able to access the salon like that again.” Marie gazed at the salon in disbelief. “I think the shops were all one big home improvement store at one time. They must have left the winch mechanisms behind when the store was turned into smaller shops. My gosh, is that what’s been happening all along?”
“It appears so but once the police get into the crawl space and find all the stolen goods, they’ll have a better picture.”
“Do you know who they are?”
“No, but I think one or both of them worked for one of the other shops. For someone called Liv.”
“Liv owns the pet store. I feel so ashamed that I thought one of my employees might be stealing from me.” Marie’s lower lip quivered.
“You did say you couldn’t imagine it was any of them,” I reminded her, “and now there’s proof. I just wish I didn’t have to leave you with all this mess.”
“You really fell through the ceiling?” she asked, looking me over from head to toe. The last time she’d seen me was when I left the salon, gorgeously coiffed. Now I looked like a sewer rat.
“Four people to be precise,” I said, “but I’ll put it all in a report for you and send it to you in the next day or two.”
“I look forward to reading it.”
“This is Detective Graves,” I said as Jord walked over. “He’s in charge.”
I left Marie with my brother and Solomon walked me to my car. “I can follow you home or we can take my car and I’ll sendsomeone to pick up yours,” he said.
“Follow me home. I can drive.” Foam dripped off me and I attempted to wipe the last remaining plumes from my shoulder. I had a picnic blanket in the car that I threw over the driver’s seat, then I hopped in and headed home, entirely unsure whether I’d had a weirder evening recently. Then another thought hit me: Lily would be so disappointed to have missed this.
I grimaced. She’d have to watch the rerun on the bystander’s video.
At home, I stripped off my clothes and stuffed them and the picnic blanket in the washing machine. After attempting to wipe away the puddle on the floor, I hopped in the shower. By the time I dressed, sadly putting aside my fairy-winged kittens-in-crowns pajamas, in favor of yoga pants and a t-shirt, I was squeaky clean, dry and still smelled like a salon. Plus, the cut I’d been given was so good, it stood the rewash and home-dry test.
I was in a good mood when I joined Solomon in the kitchen where he was making sandwiches. He pushed a bowl of salty chips towards me and a glass of wine.
“Any news?” I asked.
“None. I assume Jord is busy interviewing the thieves. Your parents don’t seem to have caught wind of this yet.”
“Good.” I thought about the guy filming on his phone. It was only a matter of time before that got out. “Mom can’t complain. I was barely in any danger.”
“Are you sure?”
“They didn’t have any weapons.”
“You crashed through a ceiling.”
“Accidentally.”
“You could have been seriously hurt.”
“The thief broke my fall.”
Solomon laid down the knife, walked around the island andpulled me into a hug. “Why do the weirdest things happen to you?” he asked, his breath ruffling strands of my hair.
“Hard to say but Ididsolve the case. After I’ve delivered the report, can I take the day off?” I asked.
“Of course. What’re you going to do?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Take the whole week if that’s the case. It’ll stop me wondering what the heck you’re doing if I know you’re actively doing nothing.”