Died Blonde Read Online Free

slide.”
    “Where does Thomson keep his office?”
    “He has a place by the bank. That’s where I go to pay my rent. I like to drop it off in person.”
    “How often does he come around to inspect the property?”
    “Rarely.”
    “So you have no reason to believe he’d been here earlier.”
    “I guess not, unless someone spotted him.”
    “Which you could find out if you talk to people.” He stepped closer, gripping her shoulders, staring into her eyes in a way that made her knees weaken. “What do you say? Will you help me with this one?”
    When his mesmerizing gaze turned on her, she couldn’t resist. ‘Til think about it, okay? No promises.”
    He kissed her. “I knew I could count on you.”
    She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Umm, I need some more convincing.”
    “Later,” he whispered in a husky tone before releasing her. Snickers from her staff turned his skin a charming shade of crimson. “How much?” he asked, reaching for his wallet.
    “No charge. You’re considered family now.” More tittering laughs. “Don’t mind the girls,” Marla said with a smile. “They’re just jealous.”
    She knew from experience that Detective Vail turned female heads wherever he went. Who wouldn’t admire him? He wore his broad shoulders squared back like a military officer. With his angularly handsome face and the steely glint in his fine gray eyes, he was an imposing presence. When he focused that intensity on you, it was as though no one else was present. Watching him leave, she felt a familiar warmth steal through her. The knowledge that he needed her was what ultimately drew her to him.
    It won’t hurt to ask a few questions , she told herself, but work precluded following up on Vail’s suggestions right away.
    Finally finding an hour free on Friday, after a customer canceled a coloring job, Marla sauntered over to the hardware store.
    Sam Levy, wearing an orange vest with the store’s logo, stood behind the cash register. The silver-haired gentleman beamed when he caught sight of her. Like most of the retirees in the area, he’d migrated from the Northeast. Whereas Miami qualified for international status with its Latin American constituents, Broward County defined the southern “bagel belt” for transplanted northerners.
    “Hey, Marla, how’s it going? Your detective friend find out anything new about that other salon owner?” Sam said in his New Jersey twang.
    Gossip traveled fast among shopkeepers in the same strip. “The medical examiner’s report hasn’t been released yet, but the Sun-Sentinel reporter is saying Carolyn died under mysterious circumstances.”
    “Do the cops suspect foul play?”
    Leaning against the counter, Marla gazed into his pale blue eyes. He hadn’t yet acquired a perpetual tan, but then his skin of sixty-some years already contained enough age spots to warrant avoiding the sun. Or it could be he just wasn’t the outdoor type.
    “They’re open to the possibilities. I suppose you’d have to consider me a suspect in that case.”
    “Get out of town! You may have had problems with Carolyn, but you didn’t do it.”
    “How do you know? After all those nasty tricks she played on me, I had the perfect motive.”
    “Don’t think so highly of yourself. You’re not the only one to hold a grudge against her.”
    “Oh? I didn’t realize you knew her so well.”
    Sam coughed into a callused hand. “Not me. Some of her staff members have come in here, looking for light bulbs and such. They’ve complained about the way she treated them.”
    “Ha! I’m not surprised. I used to work for her, after I graduated from beauty school. She never had a good word to say, only criticism. In front of customers, no less.” Marla remembered her humiliation as though it were yesterday.
    “Has the lieutenant spoken to her girls yet?”
    “Just in preliminary interviews.” She glanced at him curiously. “Did any of her operators say where they were from? I understand