A Justified Murder Read online

  Valerie’s face changed from sorrow to anger. “The embers hadn’t stopped smoldering before Janet showed up with a huge basket of supplies. The finest yarns, silk from India, and needles from Switzerland. Those needles! I think she ordered them before my studio burned down. I looked at her smiling face and I knew she had done it. I just plain knew it.”

  She sat down, tears on her face. The woman next to her put her arms around her.

  They were quiet for a moment, then Lyn Kelson stood up. “I know that look of hatred. It chills the soul. Janet gave it to me when I accidentally dyed her hair green. My son was in the hospital and we didn’t know if he was going to live or die. My husband and I took turns going to work and being with him. I wanted to be there the whole time but I owned the salon. I ran everything and my employees needed the work.”

  She looked down at her hands. “I messed up. It was a mistake. I was in tears of sorrow, but I couldn’t repair her hair for forty-eight hours. I was afraid it would fall out.”

  Lyn took a breath. “Two weeks later someone bought the old hardware store across the street from me. Within a month a new salon moved in. They had equipment I couldn’t afford and I couldn’t compete. Six months later I had no business. Even my regulars went to them. But then, somebody sent them seventy-percent-off coupons.”

  Lyn paused. “I thought it was all just something that had happened. Bad luck. But a couple of weeks after I closed down, I saw Janet. She said she sure hoped the new salon didn’t dye anyone’s hair green. The way she said it made me think, She did it. She bought the building and financed the new salon.

  “My suspicion was so outrageous that I didn’t even tell my husband what I thought. But I couldn’t get rid of the idea. I wanted to know the truth so I went to Tayla and asked if she could find out who had bought the property. It was a week before she got back to me. I was right. Janet Beeson bought the old store and the franchise that moved into it. It did so well that a year later she sold it and doubled her money. I work for them now.”

  Lyn’s hands were fists. “I accidentally dyed Janet Beeson’s hair green and in retaliation she put me out of business. And I was so afraid of what she might do next, that I told no one. Only Tayla knew.”

  Sara looked at Valerie. “Have you told anyone else about your suspicions?”

  “I tried to tell my sister but she said I was crazy. She said, ‘Nobody would burn down a building over a crochet contest.’ I didn’t mention it to her again, but soon afterward, Tayla came by. She gave me the Wyatt Construction card and said that Jack would rebuild my studio and he’d give me a good price.

  “I got angry because she didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t just a building but my last real connection to my husband. I didn’t mean to but I said, ‘Besides, she’ll just burn it down again.’” Valerie didn’t say any more.

  “So you told Tayla?” Sara asked.

  “Yes. She asked me what I meant and it all came spilling out. She listened. I think Tayla believed me.”

  “What did she say when you finished?” Sara asked.

  “To keep my mouth shut. To tell no one anything. The way she said it made me obey her. Until tonight I’ve done nothing but sing the praises of Janet Beeson. Even in church, I lied. I—” Valerie couldn’t go on.

  They took a break after Valerie’s revelation. The other women and Eric had sat through it in silence. Listening but saying nothing.

  They brewed more tea and the rest of the food was soon gone. The looks on the faces of the people was Who’s next? Who would be the next to confess and therefore make themselves a murder suspect? The rumor around town was that Tayla was just one of the suspects. More were to be arrested.

  When one of the women passed Kate on the way to the bathroom, she slipped a folded piece of paper into her hand.

  Kate thought, How juvenile. Just like kindergarten. She shoved the note into her pocket and hurried to the kitchen to help Sara. “The blonde gave me a note,” she whispered to her aunt. “Didn’t read it yet.”

  “It’s probably about Jack. Is he dating anyone?” She paused, a tray in her hands.

  Kate opened the note and her face paled.

  I’m Sylvia’s daughter. Janet Beeson killed my mother.

  “Get Jack back here,” Sara said.

  “I’m on it.” Kate sent him a text. Home. NOW.

  For the next hour, Sara and Kate worked to not stare at the pretty blonde woman sitting at the end of the couch. Three more women got up to tell their stories. None of them were as drastic as the first two and they were just as circumstantial. They’d done something Janet Beeson didn’t like and right after that something bad had happened to them.

  “Shades of the Salem witch trials,” Sara murmured. The only one with any proof was Lyn. Janet had bought an old building and financed a hair franchise. When she sold it, she made a lot of money. Any lawyer would argue that the new salon was an investment, not an act of revenge. And certainly not after Lyn had proven that Lachlan needed a competent salon.

  Jack returned but he didn’t join the group. He entered Kate’s suite through her bedroom and made sure she saw him. She excused herself and went to him.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  She handed him the note.

  “Lisa’s here?”

  “I guess so. Any suggestion of what to do? Aunt Sara and I are afraid she’ll escape. We don’t want to say who she is or—”

  Jack had left the room.

  She followed him and watched as he went to the woman.

  “Lisa, how good to see you.” He practically pulled her upright, kissed both her cheeks, then led her into the suite and closed the door.

  Kate looked at Sara. They were dying to hear what Lisa had to say.

  Eric was telling how Janet Beeson gave him brownies laced with drugs so he became addicted again. Unfortunately, there was no proof of this.

  One after another, Kate’s and Sara’s phones rang. Jack was giving them a way out.

  “Yes, I do,” Sara said into her phone. Jack had hung up but that didn’t matter. She looked at the people in her living room. “Okay, we have to end this. You need to keep everything said here today quiet. Don’t tell anyone what you’ve told us. Agreed?”

  “Yes,” Val said. “But I want to make it clear that I didn’t kill her.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Sara said.

  “Did Tayla...you know?” Lyn asked.

  “I doubt it.” Sara was ushering them out the door. “Thank you for coming.” She closed and locked the door behind them.

  In the next second she and Kate were running to her suite. Sara was older but she was small and lithe. She got there first and flung the door open so hard it almost hit Kate in the head.

  Jack and Lisa were sitting across from each other. Sara sat beside him, and Kate by Lisa.

  For a moment they stared in silence at one another. Now that they knew who she was, they saw that she looked like the photos they’d seen of Sylvia Alden. Tall, slim, naturally blond hair. And she had a kind of gracefulness about her that was like what they’d heard about Sylvia. At the same time, there was a light in her eyes that said she’d fit in well with a bunch of guys at the Brigade. She was a combination of beer and champagne.

  “I don’t know how much Carl has told you,” Lisa said.

  “We haven’t met him.” Kate found the photo on her phone. “Is this him?”

  “Yes, that’s Carl. He—” She stopped herself from finishing the sentence. “My mother wrote some good books.”

  “I’ve read them,” Sara said. “They’re autobiographical, aren’t they?”

  “One hundred percent. Mother said she had no imagination at all, but she had been blessed with such a colorful life that she didn’t need one. It sounds good but it caused a lot of problems.”

  “With her father and brother,”