Murder of a Botoxed Blonde Read Online Free Page A

You may get yours delivered to the school library, but I need to wait until I get home. Besides, what does the town newspaper have to do with capturing the vandal?”
    “There was an article about the new spa on the front page. It said that there’s a hidden treasure on the Bruefeld Estate, and the house and grounds are cursed.”
    “You’re kidding.” Skye fought her curiosity.
    “Nope. It said that the property was originally owned by a millionaire, who, when he lost everything in the crash of 1929, killed his wife, then committed suicide. The newspaper even dug up a story that before the crash, the wife hid a million dollars in jewels that have never been found. The estate’s next several owners also either lost money or their lives, and the property has been unoccupied for the past thirty years.”
    “Interesting.”
    “So, what do you think?” Trixie asked. “Is it jinxed?”
    “I doubt it. The ‘curse’ sounds like something the newspaper dreamed up. I’ve never heard of it, and considering that several of my aunts are the queens of gossip around here, I’m sure I would have.” Skye considered the estate’s history. “My guess is that something that old, that big, and that costly is bound to have an out-of-the-ordinary history. I’m sure the paper just didn’t report the happy families that lived there.”
    Trixie shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll bet the vandal that’s been bugging the new owners is someone who already knew about the treasure and is looking for it. The holes in the ground and in the walls are obviously a result of someone searching for the jewelry, and the other vandalism is to delay the spa from opening to give the person more time to find the treasure.”
    “You know,” Skye scratched her chin, “that’s not a bad guess.”
    “It means we could set a trap for him or her, and catch ‘em in the act without breaking a sweat.”
    “Maybe”—Skye’s tone was stubborn—”but I’m still not going to take Margot up on her offer.”
    “Why not?”
    “First, Mom would kill me if I missed Thanksgiving with the family.”
    Trixie finally sat down. “You don’t have to. The spa is five minutes from your mom’s house. I’ll drive you myself.”
    “Second, this will be the first holiday I’ll celebrate with Wally since we’ve been dating.” She’d started dating Wally Boyd a little more than a month ago, after breaking up with her longtime boyfriend Simon Reid, whom she had caught cheating on her at the end of the summer.
    “Again, the spa is five minutes away. You can see your precious police chief.” Trixie ran her fingers through her short faun-colored hair. “What’ll that take, a couple of hours? It’s not as if you two are sleeping together.”
    Skye scowled at Trixie, got up to close her office door, and sat back down. Even though it was nearly impossible in a town of three thousand people, half of whom Skye was related to, she was trying to keep her love life private. “How do you know we’re not having wild monkey sex?” She and Wally’d had a thing for each other for years, but only recently had all the circumstances finally been right for them to date. Skye was determined to take it slow and not jump into bed before they had established a solid relationship.
    “Because neither of you has that glow really great sex gives you. So, either he’s no good in bed, which I would have trouble believing because that man is so hot he sizzles, or you’re making the poor thing wait and prove his devotion to you.”
    Skye chose to ignore her friend’s baiting and went back to her original conversation. “Third, I really don’t feel like playing Sherlock Holmes. This has been a tough fall for me, and I need a break.”
    Trixie shrieked, “What could be more relaxing than a spa, for heaven’s sake?”
    “Which brings me to the most important reason; I don’t want to do it. Spas freak me out.” Skye indicated her ample curves. “Why would I want to go to a place