Murder by Manicure Read Online Free PDF

demonstrated against trash disposal policies, claiming the school didn't make enough efforts to recycle. Cookie took garbage and spread it all over the cafeteria. Then there were the palmetto bugs."
    "Go on.” Marla leaned forward eagerly.
    "She felt they were a wasted source of protein, and every time the exterminator came, poison polluted the hallways. On Halloween, she brought in home-baked oatmeal raisin cookies. They were decorated with orange icing like a spider web, and she had enough to offer to anybody who wanted a taste. They were sweet, but a little too chewy.” Nicole stopped, shuddering.
    "So?"
    "We thought those black things were raisins until Cookie passed out a paper giving a nutritional analysis. They were bugs, Marla! Ground-up palmettos. We were eating giant cockroaches."
    "Lord save me!” Her stomach heaved, and she imagined what Nicole's schoolmates must have experienced.
    "You want to steer clear of Cookie Calcone,” Nicole warned. “She's not averse to taking physical action to prove her point.” Her glance strayed to the front door. “Here comes your next client. Motor Mouth will keep you occupied."
    Stifling a groan, Marla turned to greet her latest customer. The woman didn't shut up the entire time she sat in the chair. You can talk an ear off a brass monkey, Marla told her client silently, impatient to finish so she could mull over Nicole's words. Just how far would Cookie go to further her aims?
    Gossip filled the rest of the day, including speculation about why Jolene had died.
    "I think she was on dope,” confided Marla's three o'clock appointment, who was a real yenta.
    "Why do you say that?” Marla asked, sifting through the woman's damp strands of hair. Sheila had some perm left on the ends, but she would need another one by her next appointment.
    "Jolene was always so wired. That woman had too much energy. It made me tired just watching her. She helped build that chemical company from the ground up, and I'll bet she stepped on some toes along the way. I always wondered how she managed to get a building permit for an industrial plant in our community, too. Who knows whose pocket she lined?"
    "How did you meet her?” As far as Marla knew, Sheila chauffeured three kids around all day. Industrial complexes were not her normal milieu.
    Sheila's luminous jade eyes met hers in the mirror. “My husband works at Stockhart Industries in the communications department. We attend their obligatory social functions. I was surprised when Jolene wasn't offered the vice presidency when there was an opening a couple of years ago, but the new CEO didn't approve of the way she was handling things. He brought in someone from the outside for the position."
    "Was Jolene upset?” Marla queried, parting her client's hair with a comb.
    Sheila shrugged. “Not that I could tell, but then I didn't work with the woman. No one will be able to ask her now."
    "Are you talking about Jolene Myers?” snapped a customer in Nicole's chair. The slim beautician was applying coloring to the elderly lady's roots. “She was a paragon in our neighborhood. I won't hear anyone talk bad about her. If ever there was a project that needed volunteers, she would always offer her time. Jolene was a trooper, no mistake about it."
    Well, there you go, Marla thought, two different opinions. Will the real Jolene Myers please stand up?
    Not that it was any business of hers. So what if Jolene had been a client? That didn't make it her responsibility to investigate the woman's death. If she were smart, she'd heed Dalton's oft-repeated advice and keep her schnozzle out of places it didn't belong.
    Nonetheless, when Sunday rolled around, eagerness made her bound out of bed. Surely people would gossip about Jolene at the sports club. She'd ask a few questions—merely to satisfy her inquisitive nature, of course—when she met Tally there later. And if she learned something juicy, she'd pass it on to the good lieutenant when they saw each