Aretha Moon and the Dead Hairdresser: Aretha Moon Book 2 (Aretha Moon Mysteries) by Linda Ross (pdf to ebook reader txt) 📕

Darlene gasped, and I gasped.  And Kara turned on me in fury.  She knew she couldn’t get away now as even more people piled into the office behind Darlene.  I felt around the desk behind me, but all I could come up with was my World’s Greatest Bowler mug.

I curled my fingers around the handle just as Kara lunged at me, a look of pure hatred on her face.  I moved to the right and brought the mug around with a roundhouse swing as hard as I could and connected with the side of her head as the knife caught the edge of my shoulder.  The mug shattered, and Kara collapsed to the floor.  The wig was now sideways, showing her short black hair.  Time seemed to stand still.  It could have been a minute or an hour.

Someone was calling my name, and I realized I had sunk to the floor.  I heard Jimmy’s voice and Thelma’s.  I looked up and saw both of them kneeling in front of me, looking as worried as I’d ever seen either of them.  Jimmy cupped my face with his hand.

“Aretha, are you all right?  How badly are you hurt?”

“I don’t think it’s bad,” I managed to get out.  “But I don’t want to look at the blood.”

“Just close your eyes,” he said.  “An ambulance is on the way.”

“Is Darlene okay?” I asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Thelma said.  “The knife glanced off her necklace.”

“So she actually had some good luck,” I said.

“Looks that way.”

Jimmy was wrapping a handkerchief around my arm, and then his hand was cradling my face again.  “Don’t move,” he said.  And I thought, As if. I was afraid that I would crumple if I tried to stand.

The ambulance got there within a few minutes, and the crowd moved aside to let the EMTs inside.  I’d lost some blood, but they said no arteries were severed.

Jimmy rode in the ambulance with me, holding my hand, and he didn’t leave my side until I was taken back for stitches.  He took me home to his house and got me a Diet Coke.

“Is Kara all right?” I asked when he had me tucked in bed, propped up on pillows.

“The hospital is keeping her overnight to check for concussion.  We have an armed guard at the door, so she’s not going anywhere.  How did you figure it out?”

“The wig.  I’d been admiring her hair since I first saw her and wondering how she got it to always look so good.  Then Avery was talking about getting a new wig, and the pieces just came together.  That’s why I texted you to do a DNA test on the body.”

“Good thinking,” he said.

“Jimmy,” I said hesitantly.

“What?” he asked with a smile.

I wanted to ask him if I could live here in his house with him forever, but I figured it was the painkillers talking in my head.

“Do you think we could get a pizza?” I asked.

“Not just pizza.  Let’s get some cheesecake too.”

* * * * *

Thelma and I wrote up the story, and the St. Louis area papers picked it up.  Even a Kansas City one ran it.  We were hot stuff for a while.  Lorenzo even bought me a new mug.  This one read World’s Greatest Fisherman. Yeah, well, it’s the thought that counts.

I’d actually lost a pound at the next Slenderizers meeting, but that little victory didn’t last long.  A few donut and cheesecake breakfasts took care of that.

I stayed at Jimmy’s until the sling came off my arm, and then I moved back to my house with Nancy.  I think Nancy misses Jimmy.  She keeps checking the guest bedroom and sighing.  So do I.