Elaine Viets & Victoria Laurie, Nancy Martin, Denise Swanson - Drop-Dead Blonde (v5.0) (pdf) by Unknown (best classic books .TXT) 📗

I wasn't even going to try to figure out what the hell my subconscious was trying to tell me.

Just as I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair I heard my sister call from the bedroom, ``Abby?''

I sighed heavily then yelled back, ``I'm in the shower! Be out in a minute!''

Annoyed that I had to rush now, I quickly ran some conditioner through my hair, rinsed, and grabbed a towel

298 BLIND SIGHTED 299 and my robe. I padded out to the sitting room, where Cat and Millicent sat bubbling with excitement.

``So what's up?'' I asked as I mopped at my hair with the towel.

Millicent nearly squeaked with excitement as she said, ``Oh, we got such good dish!''

``Do tell,'' I said smiling at her enthusiasm and sitting down on one of the large chairs with brush in hand to comb out my wet hair.

``Well! Word has it that Deirdre wasn't doing so well in the finance department as of late. Her last two books bombed and we've learned that she just bought a huge house in Malibu that she's having a really hard time making the payments on. So in desperation she signs on her man- ager, a man named Mark Hamilton--I believe you're al- ready acquainted,'' she added, tongue in cheek.

``Are you talking about the guy in the tweed jacket who was sitting at our table and who manhandled me out of the hall last night?''

``Yes, that's the one.'' Millicent nodded. ``Anyway, Deir- dre talked him into bankrolling this seminar in order to lure people to her spiritual retreat in Hawaii. We hear Mark's background is selling timeshares there, and he agreed to put up the cash for this little shindig and split the profits with Deirdre on the Hawaii deal. The markup was ridicu- lous, from what I understand.''

I nodded, remembering the ten-thousand-dollar price tag attached to the Hawaii adventure Deirdre had been peddling.

``So when Celeste got up onstage and ruined the whole thing, you can imagine how angry Mark must have been,'' Cat said, jumping into the conversation.

``Uh-huh,'' I agreed, working on a small tangle in my hair.

``'Uh-huh'?'' Cat demanded. ``That's all you have to say?''

I stopped working on the tangle and stared at my sister, wondering why she'd suddenly become offended. ``Well, what would you like me to say?'' I asked.

``How about, `By Jove, Watson, I think you've solved the crime!' ''

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and settled on staring 300 Victoria Laurie pointedly at my sister. She had to be kidding. ``Cat,'' I began, forcing patience into my voice, ``first of all, while I will admit that it sounds like a pretty good lead, we're a long way from solving the crime. I mean, a lot of people get angry when they get screwed financially, but that doesn't mean they're willing to resort to murder.''

``Abby, you said yourself that another person was in- volved in the murder of Celeste. I remember looking at Mark after he'd pulled Deirdre and Celeste apart. He was furious!''

I sighed again and sat down, my intuition humming slightly in the background of my thoughts. ``Okay, okay, it's motive, but I don't think that just that small piece of evidence we're going to convince the police that Mark did it.''

``So what would you suggest we do?'' Millicent asked, her large owl-like eyes blinking at me.

I stood up again and looked at the two of them, resigna- tion settling in my shoulders. ``Well, let's do this: Let's go to the scene of the crime and see if my intuition can pick up anything to help tie Mark to the murder.''

Cat and Millicent beamed at me as my sister jumped up and said, ``Perfect! I knew we could count on you! Go get dressed; we'll wait right here.''

On lead feet I walked back to the bedroom and got dressed, still aching with sleep deprivation and wishing I hadn't suddenly agreed to use up more energy to play Sher- lock Holmes.

Fifteen minutes later we were back in the lobby and I was standing just outside the pool entrance, which had been roped off by yellow crime scene tape and a gigantic sign that read, POOL CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Along the way, we had passed a long line of people hur- rying to check out of the hotel, and I really couldn't blame them, given the circumstances. Who wanted to stay in a hotel where someone had been stabbed in the back a half dozen times?

I looked at the yellow tape and wondered what to do. It would be best if I could go out to the actual scene of the crime, but there was no way I wanted to risk getting caught snooping around--I was pretty sure it wasn't worth the trouble. BLIND SIGHTED 301

``Can you get a feel from out here?'' Cat asked, looking at me anxiously.

``I don't know. I hope so,'' I said leaning against the wall just to the side of the door. ``Cat, do me a favor and take some notes, okay? I'm going to try to tune in and just tell you my impressions. No matter how kooky they sound, just write them down.''

I'd brought along a pad of paper and a pen and handed these to Cat.

``No problem, Abby,'' she said, taking them from me and waiting for my cue.

I smiled gamely at Cat and Millicent, then closed my eyes and tried to clear away all other thoughts, centering my energy and concentrating. When I felt focused I shot my intuition like an arrow from a bow through the wall and over to where I thought Celeste had been murdered. Several images came to mind right away, and I began to rattle them off to Cat. ``The first thing I'm getting is the number two,