The Lady Has a Past (Burning Cove #5) - Amanda Quick Page 0,44
taken a wrong turn and found himself in the back of the establishment.
He rounded a corner and saw a handful of small trucks and several aging, battered cars. The employees’ parking lot. One vehicle stood out: a flashy new Buick Roadmaster convertible. It was an expensive car for a waitress or a bellhop. Maybe it belonged to someone in management.
He walked past the parked vehicles, his senses elevated, and touched the doors of each car.
He got a hot blast of energy from the driver’s-side door handle of the new Buick. It felt different from what he had picked up in room two twenty-one and on the service stairs door.
Fear. Desperation. A terrible need to escape.
He yanked his fingers off the handle. He had been right. The kidnapping of the woman in room two twenty-one had been an inside job. There was no way to know for certain that Raina Kirk had been the target, but given his strict “no coincidences” rule, he had to assume she was the one who had been taken.
He thought briefly of calling Luther but decided to hold off until he had talked to Lyra. She might have an idea of how to handle him. Pell was in an unpredictable mood, a grenade just waiting for someone to pull the pin. If he rushed to the scene and tore the Labyrinth Springs resort to pieces, they might never find Kirk—at least not alive.
In the meantime, they now had another very strong lead.
The next step was to identify the owner of the Buick, because the sense of surging panic and desperation had come from the last person who had opened the driver’s-side door.
Chapter 20
You said one of your acquaintances recommended me, Mrs. Cage?” Janet Frampton leaned over the treatment table and began painting Lyra’s face with a green paste. “I’m very happy to hear that. I’m glad she was satisfied with my services. I pride myself on delivering a superior facial.”
Lyra looked up at her. Janet was young, attractive, and enthusiastic. Her hair was pinned up beneath a violet cap. Her smartly tailored uniform was enhanced with a handsome Bakelite necklace composed of graduated violet beads.
“Lovely necklace,” Lyra said.
“Thank you. It was a gift from Madam Guppy. I was the top-performing treatment lady last month. I sold more products than any of the others.”
“How long have you worked here at the House of Beauty?” Lyra asked.
“About a year. I was employed at a spa in Los Angeles, but when the opportunity to work at Guppy’s House of Beauty came up, I grabbed it, even though it meant moving away from L.A.”
“I assume that’s because the money is better here?”
“Most of the guests from the hotel do tip generously,” Janet conceded. “But the main reason I accepted this position is because it offers the chance to learn the most advanced scientific beauty techniques. Madam Guppy trained in Europe, you know. Paris.”
“Yes, I believe her experience in Europe was mentioned in the brochure.”
“She creates all of her own formulas and she designs most of the exercise equipment. My goal is to open my own spa someday. That’s why I want to learn from the best.”
“That’s an exciting plan,” Lyra said. “Very wise of you to train with such a famous expert in the field. Where would you like to establish your spa?”
“I’ve been giving that a lot of thought,” Janet said. She dabbed green paste on Lyra’s nose. “It will have to be in a location that is easily accessible for ladies of means, of course. It will also have to be a fashionable destination. New York is out of the question. I could never afford to move there, and besides, one can hardly compete with the Red Door. Pasadena is a possibility, but it would be difficult for a small spa to stand out there.”
“Perhaps a vacation setting? Burning Cove, for example?”
“A place like Burning Cove would be perfect, but I imagine it would take a great deal of money to establish a spa there. I would have to affiliate with a big resort or hotel, I think. It would be hard to convince one to finance a newcomer like me.”
“What about the San Diego area? If you set up a location near the Hotel del Coronado you might be able to attract a few movie star clients. According to the press, stars love the Del. All you would need is one or two big names to use your services and you’d be golden.”