Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 03 - Haunted Read Online Free PDF Page B

exception to every rule.
    “Say, Melba, where were you yesterday before noon? You don’t happen to be diabetic, do you?” I asked. Someone once told me, you should leave no stone unturned when investigating a crime. This theory had worked for me before, so I thought I’d utilize it again. “Have you ever been to the Alexandria Inn? Did you happen to stop by there yesterday? Where were you at about eleven yesterday?”
    Melba didn’t respond, just looked at me with a hollowness in her eyes I couldn’t describe. I felt like I was talking to a hamster. Why did I even bother to ask questions? Melba wouldn’t know where she was yesterday if she didn’t even know where she was at the moment. I told her to get some rest and left the hospital. My hair appointment was in fifteen minutes.
    * * *
    Finding a parking spot on Main Street near the Klip Joint was next to impossible, so I parked two blocks down the street in front of a nail salon. It was a beautiful autumn day, great for walking. Before I drove off, I would stop in the nail salon and make an appointment for a manicure and pedicure. I’d only recently started having my nails done. In years past, I never even polished my own nails unless it was for a very major occasion. The day I married Chester was actually the only time I could remember offhand.
    I was never this high-maintenance before Stone came into my life. Now I even got my teeth cleaned twice a year, like my dentist recommended. What had happened to the lackadaisical lifestyle I’d come to know and love? Sometimes I actually missed it. Being in love could be very exhausting and time-consuming. It could also be a little expensive at times. It was fortunate for me Chester had invested wisely before his death.
    I was happy to see Beth was working today; she was my favorite hair stylist at the Klip Joint. Most of the time I had my hair done in Shawnee by a stylist I had used for years. I agreed to wait for Beth to finish up the customer she was currently working on. It looked like the customer was only getting a wash and style.
    I grabbed a People magazine and took a seat next to a heavy-set woman about my own age in the waiting area. I needed to catch up on all the celebrity gossip in Hollywood, and the scandals going on in Washington, D.C., not to mention the current fashions, as if current fashion trends would ever affect my jeans and t-shirt wardrobe. In this new high-maintenance routine of mine, I drew the line at giving up my comfortable clothing.
    “How are you today?” the heavy-set woman asked.
    “Fine,” I answered politely. “And you?”
    “Not too bad. I’m here for a cut and style. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow. It’s in Leavenworth, you see. My nephew is finally getting hitched to this woman he’s gotten knocked-up. I didn’t think I’d live to see the day he’d bite the bullet and settle down with a wife and kid.”
    She laughed, so I smiled back at her in return. It was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to read the magazine any time soon, so I took a deep breath and replied, “How nice. I’m here to get a perm. My name’s Lexie, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”
    “I’m Nadine. It’s nice to meet you too, Lexie. Say, did you hear about that Sneed boy? Melba’s son? I heard at the pharmacy he died, or was killed or something.”
    “Yes, you’re right. Yesterday, about this time in fact. It happened at my boyfriend’s inn, actually,” I told her, for no good purpose. Too late it occurred to me it would be better to leave the inn entirely out of it. Telling Nadine anything might be akin to telling the story to the town crier. She obviously enjoyed gossiping, and spreading rumors was probably one of her favorite pastimes.
    “What happened to him? Was he murdered?” Nadine’s voice rose an octave as her second and third chins rippled dramatically.
    “It looks that way,” I admitted. “The autopsy showed evidence of foul play, though no one can fathom a motive.