Fallen Angels 05 - Possession Read Online Free Page A

bury.
    What a waste. What a further reminder that you have to live while you can—because you never knew when the ride was over.
    “Look at vat vee haff.”
    Pablo spun her about to face the mirror, except for a moment she couldn’t look away from what was in her hand. But then she lifted her eyes and…
    “Oh … wow,” she whispered.
    Soft, shimmering waves fell from the crown of her head, the frizziness gone, the new highlights popping out, the length not much different at all.
    Pablo’s accent got rolling as he described the weight he’d taken off, and how that had freed her hair to express itself more completely. Blah, blah, blah—it was just vocabulary she let wash over her. What she paid attention to was how much younger she looked. Or maybe it was more … feminine? Vibrant?
    This was some serious butterfly shit, as her brother would have called it.
    She glanced down at the hair between her fingers, and let the strands fall to the ground. There was no rewind button you could punch, no going back … only ever forward. She had learned that when she was twelve, her first grown-up lesson at a very young age.
    And Sissy’s death had recently reminded her of that fact.
    “My hair is … perfect,” she heard herself say.
    Cue the smiles from Pablo.
    After he whipped the cape off her shoulders, she went back to the dressing room, put her clothes on, and got another load of
whoa
. Her hair elevated the black slacks and simple sweater to something that might have come from Saks. Even her red Coach bag took a step up, looking downright Italian all of a sudden.
    As she walked out of the dressing room to pay, she felt like she had television-commercial hair, the kind that bounced with every step, and shined under even low lighting, and made men and women stop short.
    At the reception desk, she got out her checkbook, and felt her eyes bulge even though she’d known how much this was going to cost.
    “
Vuld yoo lick ta mayb yoo next abbointment?
”
    Cait glanced up from the zeroes she was filling out. Right behind Pablo, there was a floor-to-ceiling mirror, and over his right shoulder, she caught sight of her new look.
    Excellent marketing device, she thought, as she stared at herself and began to nod.
    She left five minutes later with considerably less in her checking account, and an appointment card for a touch-up in six weeks in her purse.
    As she walked out and went over to her Lexus, she couldn’t believe she’d done it. But at least she was getting familiar with this feeling of buyer’s shock. Heck, she still had it over her new car—well, the SUV was “new” to her. CarMax had given her a great deal on a used one, and she had to admit, it was the nicest thing she’d ever driven.
    But she continued to have the head spins over the thing from time to time.
    The second she got in her SUV, she cranked the rearview mirror down and fluffed her goldie locks. What good timing, she thought—considering that for the first time in God only knew how long, she was meeting a friend after hours.
    Starting her engine, she pulled out onto the empty road and retraced her route away from the wealthy enclave. Her “date” was actually her old college roommate—
    As the past began to bubble up, she turned on NPR to cut the quiet, and hit the brakes at a red light. Leaning in, she couldn’t resist glancing into the rearview again—
    “Oh,
crap
…”
    Cait turned her head to the opposite side, even though that was silly. But at least she hadn’t lost both her earrings.
    The thing had probably come out in the dressing room. Her sweater had a tight neck, and those little gold shells had iffy backings. As the light turned green, she hit the gas and told herself to just leave it—
    That didn’t last long.
    The earrings were solid fourteen-karat, but more than that, she’d bought them on her one Bahaman vacation right after graduation.
    Wrenching the wheel left, she executed an illegal turn and headed back to reclaim what