The client was tightly swaddled in wet sheets that appeared to have been soaked in an herbal bath of some sort. Her face was coated with a green paste and her eyes were covered with slices of cucumbers.
Lyra shuddered. Disturbing images from the nightmares she had experienced after she had seen Boris Karloff in The Mummy flashed through her head. She made a note to refuse any treatments that involved being wrapped in sheets.
Edith stopped in front of a violet door. “This is the evaluation chamber. My assistant will provide you with exercise clothes as well as a robe and slippers. When you are ready I will perform the examination and prescribe the specific therapies, products, and exercises that you require.”
Lyra walked into another violet-hued room scented with Guppy’s signature fragrance. A three-sided mirror stood in one corner. A large metal cone-shaped device sat on a table in the middle of the space. There was a chair positioned at each end of the table.
The windows were set high up close to the ceiling. Light filtered in, but the room felt claustrophobic. Get a hold of yourself, woman. You’re here to find Raina. You have a job to do. Stick to the plan.
The plan, such as it was, had seemed like a good one when she came up with it last night in room two twenty-one. It had still appeared sound when she and Simon sat down to a breakfast of eggs, toast, and grapefruit that morning. But now, for the first time, an uncomfortable frisson of ghostly energy was sparking across her nerves.
A stern, middle-aged woman dressed in a spa uniform appeared from behind a curtain.
“You may undress in here, Mrs. Cage. Please remove all of your outer garments. You will find your exercise shorts and top on the bench. There is also a robe hanging on the hook. The slippers are under the chair. Your spa experience ends in the steam chamber. After you are finished with that treatment you will find your clothes waiting for you in the adjacent dressing room.”
A short time later, dressed in a fluffy violet-colored terry cloth robe and slippers, Lyra sat in front of the wide end of the metal cone. She inserted her face a short distance into the front of the cone.
A light came on inside the cone, partially blinding her.
Edith Guppy sat on the opposite side of the table and peered through the magnifying lens positioned at the narrow end of the device.
“My dear Mrs. Cage, you have been neglecting your complexion,” Edith announced. “Proper hydration and stimulation of the skin are absolutely essential to maintaining a youthful appearance. Never fear, by the time you leave today, you will be a new woman.”
“That will certainly be an interesting experience,” Lyra said.
Edith sat back and got to her feet. “If you will step in front of the mirrors and remove your robe we will assess your measurements and weight. I believe you are rather too full-figured for the modern style.”
“Do you think so?” Lyra got up, blinked several times to un-dazzle her eyes, and undid the sash of her robe. “Mr. Cage has not complained about my figure.”
“Well, he is unlikely to do so, isn’t he? A gentleman would hardly wish to be rude to his wife.”
Lyra smiled. “Obviously you don’t have a problem being rude.”
Edith squared her already sharply squared shoulders. “As your beauty consultant, it is my duty to point out your flaws so that they may be corrected. A wife who hopes to keep the attention of her husband must strive to perfect and maintain a fashionable figure. You would not want Mr. Cage’s eyes to wander, now, would you?”
“If I catch Mr. Cage’s eyes wandering I will put a strong purgative in his soup.”
Edith looked pained. “You have an odd sense of humor, Mrs. Cage. But never fear. I will see to it that you receive the appropriate physical exercises to tone your entire body. Your first treatment will be the herbal wrap.”
“Is that the therapy the woman who was wrapped up like a mummy was receiving in one of the rooms we passed on the way here?”
Edith was in the process of using a measuring tape on Lyra’s waist. She looked up, scandalized.
“You make the procedure sound unpleasant,” she snapped. “Rest assured that by the time it is finished you will feel relaxed and refreshed and your muscle tone will be vastly improved.”
“I’m going to skip the mummy wrap procedure.”
“I insist. The herbal body wrap and