Some Like It Haute: A Humorous Fashion Mystery (Style & Error Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

then yellow, cut in a bob with a heavy bang. She sauntered down the runway, posed at the end, then turned. Even from the back row I could make out the intricate red embroidery on the back of her jacket. The crowd applauded eagerly.
    The next model started down the runway. She wore a black leather corset over a silver pantsuit. Her orange wig was pulled back into a chignon, secured with silver chopsticks.
    The third girl stomped down the runway in a red Lycra halter dress. Her wig was yellow.
    By the time the fifth model paraded down the catwalk, it was clear that the audience was sitting up and taking notice of what Amanda was showing. Did it matter that her choice of venue was a downtown warehouse in Ribbon? Who was to say. More and more designers who had neither the money nor the connections to pull off a major event in New York City were orchestrating pop-up fashion shows, inviting as many industry insiders as they knew, and hoping for the best.
    But this was not Amanda’s first rodeo. She’d spent years interning for a famous designer before parting ways and taking a job with a local department store. On the side, she focused on her own collection, slowly building a name for herself by reinventing the classics. What I saw tonight was more than just a departure from the styles that had originally gotten her noticed. But what was fashion without risk? And who ever said that a futuristic silver jumpsuit wouldn’t one day be a classic?
    A familiar figure stepped onto the stage. It was Harper, the reticent model in the ill-fitting kimono. Her silver wig was cut in a blunt bob like the first model. Her lips, painted tomato-red, were shaped in a pout. The kimono still didn’t fit, but tonight Harper showed she was the professional they’d wanted. Her sleeves hung down to the floor, making her look like a child playing dress up. She sashayed down the platform, hips swinging from side to side, creating the illusion of sex appeal even though I knew her to be mostly skin and bones.
    A smattering of applause filled the auditorium as if what we were watching was part of the show. But something wasn’t right. A thin orange stripe appeared to hover just above the rose petals that scattered over the ground as Harper walked. First one, then another of the rose petals ignited like small bursts of glowing light. And then a whole bunch of the petals caught fire in a path that followed Harper.
    And then suddenly, her kimono erupted in flames.
     

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    The house lights came on. The sudden change of illumination temporarily blinded me. Someone screamed. As my eyes adjusted, I followed the screaming to Harper, on stage. She fumbled with the sash on the kimono. Flames climbed the sleeves from the ground up and wrapped her like a special effect in a movie. She clawed at the fabric. Smoke filled the air, compromising visibility.
    Nick appeared from behind the screen where Amanda’s name was printed. He ran toward Harper and yanked the kimono from her shoulders. She left it in a burning pile and ran toward an exit. The flames caught onto the rest of the rose petals that covered the runway. More screams , now from the crowd. People stampeded toward the exits, bottlenecking the doorways with bodies trying to get outside. The fire grew, feeding off the fabric and oxygen in the room. I lost sight of Nick.
    Dante tugged me the opposite direction of the crowd. “This way,” he said.
    I took his hand and barely kept up as we weaved past the frantic audience. We stumbled over flipped chairs and discarded drinks that now littered the floor. The fire had flashed over, climbing the walls and the ceiling. Sweat dripped from my hairline despite the cold night air. Within seconds, sprays of water shot out of the sprinkler system. We reached a set of double doors. He stepped back and pushed me forward, through them.
    We made it to the exit and fell outside. Fire trucks flooded the parking lot, sirens blaring. Professionals went to work on the fire. In the